New Tongs

[Lin Rhea]

I just finished these tongs for working small blades. The length is about 20 inches, but the jaw size is roughly 3/4 to 1 inch. Joe Keeslar has had some similar to these for years and I got a good look at them a couple weeks back and decided to immitate them.

I've been praticing making tongs at work and I think I got it to where I can make a fair resemblance now. Lin

 

 

 

[kbaknife]

How much?

[DANA HOLMAN]

Lin, I'll take a pair. Nice job on them. I have watched guys on the Internet make them you have done good
Dana

[Lin Rhea]

Thanks but I better get where I can make them consistant. I ruined the first pair, then made two pair that were bad ugly. One worked good, just dont look good. This one turned out ok. I started with 1/2 in round 13 inches long.

[Steve Nuckels]

Nice Lin!  When you decide to sell them I would be interested too.

Question, what are Cap tongs, and the use?

Steve
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Potomac Forge

[Scott Roush]

man those are nice. put me on the list!

[Ray Hammond]

as always, Lin....your understanding of metal and tools is insprational.

I hope you have a great Thanksgiving

[Cody D Works]

I need to make a pair of tongs ... What size stock and what type metal do you use? Will I have to order it or does lowes or somewhere like that carry the right stock?

[Scott Roush]

Cody.. not to discourage you to try.. in fact you should try.. but I would get a couple of well made tongs from Centaur or Blacksmith Depot (or even Lin Rhea Tongworks) first.  They aren't that easy to make. I made some from rebar when I first set up my forge and it was fun to try, but they aren't that great for holding stock when I'm really giving steel the hammer.  In fact.. I'm happiest when I'm not even using tongs... either forging the end of really long stock or I weld rebar onto the blade for a handle.

I bought a couple of Blacksmith Depot 'bladesmith' (I visited their shop during a hammer-in) tongs in different sizes and have found good 'wolf jaws' at flea markets.

As to stock... any kind of mild steel round stock from Lowes or wherever should be fine.  But rebar is cheap and easy to find and good for practice.

Lin... let us know when you wanna make some to sell!

[Lin Rhea]

Scott, I probably wont sell any. I have come to appreciate how much work is in them. I do believe I can turn them out pretty fast once I get my methods down to a habit, but I am so busy I am not planning on that right now.

I used 1/2 inch mild steel 13 inches for each side. I plan on making some again soon and will try to use 9/16 or 5/8 stock and shorten the starting piece to about 10 1/2 to 11 inches. That will allow me the option of leaving the "boss" wider and thicker so they dont have quite as much spring when gripped hard.

It took me 4 or 5 tries to get a set I was happy with. So by extra material and plan it out.

[Scott Roush]

I certainly understand... I wish I had more time to play with the traditional smithing...