Ancient tongs

[FirstPairOfTongs]

Do y’all know what the oldest know tongs would have looked like? Or have any links to tong history? What do you think the first pair of tongs looked like?

[anvil]

probably not too different than the first pair of tongs I made,,,    

[BillyBones]

A while back i read an article on a grave that was found in either Sweden or Denmark, cant remember which off the top of my head, but the grave was dated to 8th or 9th century and it contained a set of tongs. They look pretty much like the ones we use today. 

 

[George N. M.]

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming.  Glad to have you.

There is an Islamic legend that Allah gave the first pair of tongs to the first blacksmith because you need a pair of tongs to make a pair of tongs.

In reality, the first tongs were probably made of green wood.  Yes, they burn up but they are a consumable like fuel.  The center of a green stick would be crushed to make a hinge so the pivot point is at the back like modern kitchen tongs.  Early metal, copper, bronze, iron was too rare and expensive to use for a mundane tool like tongs.  It would be like a goldsmith using golden tongs (which sounds like the basis for some medieval morality story or play).

Once metal, probably bronze or, later, iron became cheap enough to use as tongs they would have probably looked much like what we use today.  Form follows function.  The earliest tongs I can recall seeing in illustrations were Greek or Egyptian and looked like our modern tongs that flare out in front of the pivot and then come back together at the gripping part.

Tongs as a "grabber" probably go back way earlier than than metal working and were used to remove hot things from a fire, e.g. moving hot stones from the fire to place in a pot or waterproofed basket to boil food.

Here is an illustration of a pair of Etruscan tongs from the late 3d or early 4th century BC in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC:  https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/247084

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Welcome from the Ozark mountains.

Then we move into the Viking era 1000 or so years ago with the Mastermyr chest & contents. Tongs look like they are made today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mästermyr_chest

 

 

[ThomasPowers]

For "Ancient" we generally consider Greek and Roman era and earlier.  May I commend to your attention: "Egyptian Metalworking and Tools", Bernd Scheel, Shire Egyptology ISBN 0 7478 0001 4  copy right 1989

The Berlin Foundry Cup, early 5th century BC, also has a number of metal working tools shown on it but mainly bronze casting stuff.

[FirstPairOfTongs]

On 3/11/2023 at 1:19 PM, George N. M. said:

Welcome aboard from 7500' in SE Wyoming.  Glad to have you.

There is an Islamic legend that Allah gave the first pair of tongs to the first blacksmith because you need a pair of tongs to make a pair of tongs.

The Islamic legend comes from a story in the Talmud, and that’s why I’m asking.  I know it’s not true, green wood makes a lot of sense, but I love this story anyway.

Edited March 27, 2023 by Mod30
Trim quote.

[ThomasPowers]

The ones shown in the Egyptian metalworking book look like tweezers.

[Charles R. Stevens]

Hazel and other similar woods are actually twisted to separate the fibers and make it flexible. Infact it can be used as rough cordage. 
TMI, as pointed out hot stones to boil water pre pottery or metal cooking vessel were most likely handled with just such primitive tongs. The idea that copper was handled just that way is reasonable. Buy the time iron hit the seen , bronze tongs would be in common usage. TP may know what bronze tongs looked like. Many bronze tools looked different than iron tools wile others look much the same. 

[Frosty]

I've made tongs with willow, alder and birch and they do the job well enough. Birch was my least favorite and willow the best. I split the sapling back almost to the grip end after wrapping it with wire to limit the split. Then I drove a wedge through the split about 2" from the butt end to hold the "bits" open. 

They worked well until it got too short to trim, the char got too slippery to get a good grip on the work.

Frosty The Lucky.