Tong question

Justin Presson

Justin Presson

Well-Known Member
I working on forging a set of tongs, my question is do I need to put groves on the inside of the flat bill?
Didn't know if it needs any for gripping or anything or just leave them smooth?

Here is the pair I'm working on, I plan to use them for light blade forging and heat treating.
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Not to rain on your parade but to rain on your parade I personally think that wolf jaw tongs like that are probably the worst design for forging blades. V jaw tongs or chain makers tongs work much better by giving you more control of your work.

Doug
 
Doug, you are probably right but wanted to keep it simple for my first set.

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Justin, grooves on the inside will aid in holding round stock. I'd suggest you size the jaws to the thickness of the stock you will be working so that you keep as much surface contact on the steel as possible. If you only hold the steel with the outside edge of the tongs, it will swivel all over the place and be very difficult to work. I'm a big fan of the box jaw tongs for holding the work piece secure.
 
Looks like you've got a good set there, I think they're called "duckbill" type?

I'm sure you know this but you almost need a different shape tong for each type of work. The flat "duckbill" tong you're showing seems to work only on fairly thin flat material. The space between the bills when closed is almost the thickness of the material you're holding. I don't think simple shallow grooves will make any difference. I use a tongs almost like those for putting SS foil wrapped blades in the oven. Works just right for holding the thin layer of SS foil.

Here's a link showing many different shapes:
http://www.blacksmithsdepot.com/products/tongs-pliers/forge-tongs.html

Now I've shared what little knowledge I have on tongs, I'm sure Ed and some of the other "real" experts will share their great knowledge.

Good luck and have fun making and using tongs.

Ken H>
 
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That is the beauty of tongs and smithing. If they aren't working as well as you want, heat them up and reshape them.
 
"box" jaw tong are what I recommend for blade forging. I have a scar on my forehead from about 25 years ago, when I tried to use a set of flat jaw tongs for forging a blade.....turned it on edge, and with one blow the blade flipped out of the tongs and into my forehead.....lesson learned! :)

Something you can do with that set to make it safer for blade forging is to take a piece of 1/4" X 1" angle iron....cut an are of it one side out (the closer to the width of stock your forging, the better). Weld that piece onto the outside of the bottom jaw and you have some protection from hot steel "jumping" out of the tongs. I'll get a pic and post it later.
 
Next pair will be box jaws, but these are done not the best pair, i think I got them a tad thin seems like they need to be a little more stout bit hey they will work for quenching blades.
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