Tong making tuorial

[Sam Salvati]

At the risk of putting myself out of some business, here is a demo on how I make tongs,I get better with every pair too. I try and try everytime to make tongs as good as Grant made, he really set the bar high. Tongs should be light yet tough springy yet strong gripping. I make them from mild steel, I start with 1" wide by 3/8" thick by 8" long, this gives me enough for a good bolt tong with about 16" reigns, for pickup or pincer tongs I start with a 7" piece cause you don't need so much for the jaws.

Starting stock:

Here is an illustration of the shouldering I will do, I layout measurements, 1" square area for the actually part that grips the metal, then 1 1/2" for forging into the jaw neck, then another 1" square area for the rivet area then shoulder off and draw the reigns.

I dimple the steel in the locations I need, I can see this dimple while the steel is hot but it does not effect the finished forging, like a hot cut mark or a center punch mark would.

 

[Sam Salvati]

Here is my offset shoulder tool, it is made from 1" wide by 5/8" thick A36, which I water quenched no temper. In my opinion and experience this makes an excellent tool for under the powerhammer, cheap too . Being quenched mild steel it is tougher then regular mild steel, yet still softer then your dies therefore the tool will wear out before your dies, it's easier and quicker to forge one of these out again instead of regrinding your powerhammer dies. As long as your steel is hot the tool won't really wear either.

Now you can work two ways under the dies, a mute point if you have nice big dies like on a saymak or the bigger anyang, but my dies are 1 1/2" by 3", I am working the wrong way here for this tool the steel should be along the length of the dies and the tool perpendicular.

And this is the first heat:

you can see what the tool does here, you have to work it regular, forging the width thinner of course bulges the thickness, so I do a little bit over the tool then under the dies to squish it back, then over the tool then under the dies.

Marking the stock with the dimples in the same spots, starting with the same diameter stock, and careful forging practice should yeild very close identical parts:

 

[Sam Salvati]

Next we do it all over again for the other shoulder. Care must be taken not to take that big of a bit with the shoulder tool, or when you move down the bar it could cause a cold shut, see here I have stepped my way into the shoulder. You could also use a triangle tool to set these shoulders.

here we go:

With the same heat used to do the second shoulder, start to draw the reigns.

future Jaw area:

If you have different lengths, there is a little wiggle room in the jaw area if you have slightly different length in each jaw, just draw a touch more on the short one or upset the long one. pretty close here:

and draw the reigns:

 

[Sam Salvati]

Bust out the hot chisel and hammer, or you could use a hacksaw or you could use a bandsaw to cut a slit in the jaw area. Take care to keep it centered and go slow.

A light line at first to make sure you are on center:

then slit away

use the corner of the anvil to open up the slit

bend the jaws over in the vise, here it is halfway done. I do it so that the jaw bends back almost 90, then bend it up so the jaw is parallel with the reign but offset.

I really need to make a bending jig for this, A hossfeld type bender I think would be perfect. But not too bad:

 

[Sam Salvati]

I did not get pictures of drilling the hole (too much distortion when punching, then you have to size the hole, I just drill), but use good layout techniques and go carefully to center your hole. For these I use a 3/8" rivet, with a hole drilled in the tongs 1/32 over 3/8", again in my opinion this makes for a nice tight rivet joint that moves freely. In this size hole a 3/8" rivet actually swells in diameter into the hole as well as heading over. I am bummed I didn't get pictures of this as the way I do it doesn't require making a rivet IE heading 3/8" round then inserting then riveting. I just stick it in hot then bang away (yar) under the dies which heads both sides and gives me a nice head on both sides. This will be TIGHT, a hot riveted joint is steam tight it is amazing. Heat up the rivet and jaw area next to do two things, one is loosen the rivet which allows you to two fit the tongs to the stock you wish them to hold. I do this by grabbing (awkwardly) the stock I wish the tongs to hold (while the tongs are hot) then clamping this in the vice. I always use square stock as square stock fit jaws will hold round and square, whereas round fit jaws won't hold square very well.

Bada bing, wire wheel/brush them and oil em up they are ready to go:

 

[Sam Salvati]

Another thing I forgot to mention, there is such a thing as left hand and right hand tongs, you will notice one of each in this photo.

 

[Leading Edge Fab]

Great thread Sam!

 

[Sam Salvati]

dang, I wish i got paid to do these tutorials HAHA! Thanks Mark!

 

[David Loukides]

That is some Nice Work Sam!!!!

 

[Matthew Gregory]

You're awesome, bro.
Your faith in ShopTalk is noteworthy. Likely a fool's hope, but admirable, nonetheless.

Thanks for sharing, you really are an inspiration!

 

[12345678910]

Awesome posts !

If you wanted to cover the different jaw types, I'd love to see that too.

 

[Mike Craddock]

Thanks Sam

Mike

 

[Burton Harruff]

Awesome Sam, thanks for sharing.

 

[dperk]

Excellent info Sam. I find this WIP extremely helpful!

The Reigns look very comfortable and light. Thanks for posting!

 

[silver_pilate]

Those tongs look awesome. Bet they are a joy to use. Thanks for posting this!

--nathan

 

[ranchmanben]

Awesome post. I tried making my first set of tongs last week, they look look like hell. I wish I had been able to read this first. Any tips for someone without a power hammer?

 

[David Sharp]

Awesome posts !

If you wanted to cover the different jaw types, I'd love to see that too.

I second that! Great thread!

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

Great thread Sam! Thanks!

 

[Sam Salvati]

Thanks guys, glad you like it!

Matt, perhaps but I won't say I didn't go down the good guy.

Nathan, yes they are, light and flexy counter to what you might think light springy reigns are better then thick beastly ones, and grab with as much force with less exertion.

Ranchman, you can do the same process by hand, just use the close and far corners of your anvil for the shouldering.

Count, you got it.

 

[Bo T]

Those are fantastic. Is there any difference in how left and right handed tongs are used and is the right handed one the one that is to the right in the picture?