Recommendation? Best Tongs for holding the blade end of a chefs knife

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Tyler.t76

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May 19, 2022
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I’m having trouble forging hidden tangs out on some chefs knives I’m working on. I’ve gotten it done several times but it is a slow and annoying process trying to hold onto the thin blade with my wolfs jaw tongs while hammering the other end, bounces all over the place. What tongs do you guys use for getting a good stable grip on the blade while working the tang? Prefer something easy enough to make myself, but if there’s a super nice option that you recommend just purchasing that works too, thanks!
 
I call what Stacy posted offset tongs. I've bought a lot of blanks from kens iron store i think he calls his tongs that are similar to what Stacy posted "knife tongs", nothing but good things to say about that, easy to make and budget friendly, get a variety of types and fit them for the work you do.
 
Skiller1nc said:
I call what Stacy posted offset tongs. I've bought a lot of blanks from kens iron store i think he calls his tongs that are similar to what Stacy posted "knife tongs", nothing but good things to say about that, easy to make and budget friendly, get a variety of types and fit them for the work you do.
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These look like a good deal, for these knife tongs in particular they look like they by default are fit for smaller stock 1” wide maybe? Could they easily be modified to fit say 2.5” wide?
 
Might I offer some unsolicited advice and suggest you are forging your chef knife backwards. I typically start by forging the point and preform profile, at this point it’s much easier to hold (you don’t need 2.5” wide tongs at this stage) I’ll use v-bit tongs at this point and flip the piece and forge my tang to 80% (I forge the profile the way I need it minus drawing out any thickness) then hold by the tang to finish forging the blade, again smaller tongs can be used here and often I can just use wolf jaw tongs if my stock is thin enough already otherwise I use bolt tongs that are a bit smaller than my v-bit tongs. Then all I have to do to the tang after forging the blade is finish thinning it down which again I can just use wolf jaw tongs as I’m only working flat and not on edge. I believe my bolt tongs at 5/8” and my v-bit are 1” but will do well even holding up to 1.5”-1.75” wide which is more than enough ti hold my preform and forge my tang before I widen the blade.
 
Joshua Fisher said:
Might I offer some unsolicited advice and suggest you are forging your chef knife backwards. I typically start by forging the point and preform profile, at this point it’s much easier to hold (you don’t need 2.5” wide tongs at this stage) I’ll use v-bit tongs at this point and flip the piece and forge my tang to 80% (I forge the profile the way I need it minus drawing out any thickness) then hold by the tang to finish forging the blade, again smaller tongs can be used here and often I can just use wolf jaw tongs if my stock is thin enough already otherwise I use bolt tongs that are a bit smaller than my v-bit tongs. Then all I have to do to the tang after forging the blade is finish thinning it down which again I can just use wolf jaw tongs as I’m only working flat and not on edge. I believe my bolt tongs at 5/8” and my v-bit are 1” but will do well even holding up to 1.5”-1.75” wide which is more than enough ti hold my preform and forge my tang before I widen the blade.
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I’ve found I prefer forging my blade to about 80% before starting the tang, I’m forging the blade from a bar of steel and just holding the steel for the blade work and then cut it off the bar once I’m ready to do the tang. I’m mostly doing it this way because I’m trying to keep them to certain specifications, and I am not too good at controlling where mass moves yet so I like to get my blade done before I pinch it off too short on accident. I will try this method on the next one though! I’m doing 10, and I just finished the 3rd so I’ve got some time to play with it and see what I prefer. I went ahead and ordered two sets of those tong blanks so I can play with them and see if I can make them do what I want haha.
 
Yes, they are also called offset U-box tongs.
Tom's Tongs from Blacksmith Depot (Kayne and Son) is a great tong and hammer source.

I said1/4", but that is the U size. You order them by the width of the bar stock or blade width you will use. I use them in 1" and 1.5" mainly.
 
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