tong recomendations

Charlie Lewis

Charlie Lewis

Joined
Nov 14, 2010
Messages
84
I would like some tong recommendations. So far all of my forging has been done with long stock or welding rebar to whatever I am working on or vise grips. I know I should make my own tongs, but I want to buy a ready made pair of tongs. I mainly make small blades out of ¼ stock. I am not sure what to order or what would work best for me

Charlie
 
I thought of welding some round bar to the handles of a pair of pliers. Any tips?
 
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I really do like my Tom's Tongs. Great quality, and good balance. My favorites are the 1/4" Z box tongs (basically an offset U-box which allows you to hold longer pieces of flat stock) as well as the flat jaws. And a set of wolf jaws and pick-up tongs is always handy.

--nathan
 
I just received a pair of Glen Stollmeyer's blade tongs and could not have been happier with the quality of the product, the professionalism of the communication, or the speed of the transaction. Please don't let the fact that he is working out of Taiwan fool you, shipping is comparable with state-side companies (he eats some of it) and, as I said, it was lightning fast from commission to on my anvil.
http://www.gstongs.com
Hope it helps.
 
If I only had one st of tongs, it would be a 1/4" Z-box Tom Tongs.

For those who want some of the fun of making their own tongs , but want a better product than starting from round bar, Polar Bear Forge offers tong kits with the pieces water jet cut. You forge or weld additions to the jaws to get the shape/function you want. Very affordable and lots of fun. I use them for teaching.
http://www.polarbearforge.com/for_sale.htm
 
Go with the ORIGINAL design, by Grant Sarver of Off Center IE Blacksmith's Depot, Tom Clark may he rest in peace was a great american, compiling ideas from all over the world and selling them IE Hofi hammer and anvil and tom tongs. BUT the original design was by Grant Sarver, and they are still made by Grant himself not by pakistani labor like Tom Tongs.

Buy the original, IMO they are better tongs also.
 
Sam Salvati said:
Go with the ORIGINAL design, by Grant Sarver of Off Center IE Blacksmith's Depot, Tom Clark may he rest in peace was a great american, compiling ideas from all over the world and selling them IE Hofi hammer and anvil and tom tongs. BUT the original design was by Grant Sarver, and they are still made by Grant himself not by pakistani labor like Tom Tongs.

Buy the original, IMO they are better tongs also.
Click to expand...

+1 !!! :)

I do really like the pairs of TT I own, but one pair broke and I NEVER could get anyone to help me out with any kind of solution at all.

The majority of my tongs are from Grant, and they are pretty much bullet proof---- In the very VERY odd situation that you managed to break them somehow, Grant guarantees them, PERIOD.

I think making tongs is fun and a great skill to learn, but I can't make tongs of anywhere the same quality as Grant's, especially for what he charges. :)

I wish I had went down and met Glen when he still lived in WA... he was 20 minutes from me! The house I'm buying now is actually in the same town he used to live in.
 
My favorites:
Glen Stollenmeyer's
Tom Tongs
Offset blade tongs, off-center forge

I could get by with just the 3 sizes of blade tongs, the Tom Tongs (bolt tongs, good for round, square, or flat), and my set of wolf jaws. I HAVE another 3 or 4 pair because I like v-box and flat box for some things, and some itt-bitty Tom Tongs to grab tangs during heat treatment.

But, if you are trying to get a few of the best first, get one each of Glens, Tom Tongs (bolt jaws), and a set of Wolf Jaws. 3 sets, and you will be able to hold most everything from 1.5" flat to 1" round or square down to thin stick tangs. The little round depression in the center of the wolf jaws is great for really thin stick tangs.

this works for me, anyway. I have less experience than most, though.
kc
 
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Thanks to everybody for your input and experience.

I think I will end up getting several pairs the Polar Bear Forge tong blanks. I think I can modify them to fit my exact needs.

Thanks again

Charlie
 
Making your own tongs is great practice. Im not gonna lie and say its real easy..It takes a few dozen pair before you get real good at it.After a while you can churn them out though..
Theres nothing wrong with buying them but its nice to make your own so you can make specialty pair when you need them..
 
This video shows how to make a really simple pair of tongs. Using this method as a framework you can vary the technique to make pretty much any type of tongs you can think of. You can look at pictures of commercially made tongs to get ideas. For flat stock (and most knives become flat stock by the end) it's hard to beat box-jaw tongs. They're tricky to make but they are worth it.

- Chris

ETA: forgot to add the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O32wl0jQtl8&feature=related
 
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