Tongs and a japanese hammer

Sam Salvati

Sam Salvati

Joined
Aug 6, 2007
Messages
5,060
Here is some sets of tongs i made, 1 for a customer, 1 for a trade and one for me. I made the flat bar duck bill tongs for bladesmiths as part of a trade, the long rein tongs for holding 7/8", 1", and 1 1/4" for a customer, and the set to hold the 1 1/2" round for me for making hammers. Also, some shots of a japanese style cutler's hammer i am working on, only a temporary handle and dressing, it iwll be properly dressed and handled up very nice when it is HT'd. Tongs are mild steel and the hammer head is 1045.

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Good looking tongs and hammer. I made a hammer like that once, didn't like the feel of it personaly, may just be a matter of getting used to the ballance.

I wish I had time to learn to make tongs, thouse look great!
 
Nice stuff Sam :thumbup: :thumbup: The hammer looks very primal with that rough cut handle, I like it !! :)
 
Thanks guys! The hammer will have a nicer handle, but it does look kinda cool as is though:D.
 
sam,i would be very interested in learning to make tongs like that!,thats awesome,where might one pick up plans?
 
Erik GOTTA PAY FOR IT SOMEHOW~!


Kevin, there are no plans for the way i make em, but you can see a good way to make a cool set here. I would be glad to show you guys how to make these tongs, they are not my design though(only sort of), the way the jaws are is modeled after the "woop tongs" design by world famous blacksmith Uri Hofi, with the reins modeled after Tom Tongs with a few small changes. Next time I have some spare time and I have to make a pair I will shoot some pictures.

Here is a blueprint on how the woop tongs Mr Hofi makes are done.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/blueprints-1000/bp1004-hofi-woop-tongs.html

Thanks to IforgeIron:D.
 
I'm curious as to how the hammer is heat treated, what's the proper way to make a hammer such as this? I got a calendar from japan woodworker a couple years ago with some japanese tools and the hammers were the best looking tools.
 
Nice looking hammer, Sam!
And the tongs are really nice too - how much of your KMG can I pay for in exchange for a set of those hammer tongs?

Japanese hammer digression...
There are lots of ways to harden a hammer out there. Here is one...

I was taught to heat and harden the single face of a japanese forging hammer by pouring warm water from the tea kettle onto the upturned face of the hammer. About the time the kettle is running low the hammer has cooled enough to drop in the water bucket. A little salt is sprinkled onto the face of the hammer before starting to pour the warm water, the salt melts and coats the hammer face. I'm not sure what exactly the salt layer brings to the process, I can imagine several reasons, but don't have a scientific answer.

I do mine this way, and for 1045 - 1095 type steels it works just fine. Before I "knew anything" I used to dunk them face down in the quench bucket, I'd sometimes get ring cracks around the edge of the face, or on small hammers even a crack in the body near the "waterline".
 
Luke Sheridan said:
I'm curious as to how the hammer is heat treated, what's the proper way to make a hammer such as this? I got a calendar from japan woodworker a couple years ago with some japanese tools and the hammers were the best looking tools.
Click to expand...

I have not had too much expeirience with 1045 hammers or 1045 for that matter, though i will probably try and normalise, warm water quench them completely, then temper at 400 for an hour and see how they work. The japanese hammers are very cool looking, i cannot stop picking this one up to look it over and heft it, such a different hammer type and feel than the ones i am used to.

dburnard said:
Nice looking hammer, Sam!
And the tongs are really nice too - how much of your KMG can I pay for in exchange for a set of those hammer tongs?

Japanese hammer digression...
There are lots of ways to harden a hammer out there. Here is one...

I was taught to heat and harden the single face of a japanese forging hammer by pouring warm water from the tea kettle onto the upturned face of the hammer. About the time the kettle is running low the hammer has cooled enough to drop in the water bucket. A little salt is sprinkled onto the face of the hammer before starting to pour the warm water, the salt melts and coats the hammer face. I'm not sure what exactly the salt layer brings to the process, I can imagine several reasons, but don't have a scientific answer.

I do mine this way, and for 1045 - 1095 type steels it works just fine. Before I "knew anything" I used to dunk them face down in the quench bucket, I'd sometimes get ring cracks around the edge of the face, or on small hammers even a crack in the body near the "waterline".
Click to expand...


VERY INTERESTING HT'ing info! I am gonna have to try that one! I would say the salt would sort of act like brine, and give the water nucleation points to "grab" onto the steel and cool it faster, lessening the bubbles and/or size of the bubbles. You would get the cracks at the waterline due to, i forget the name for it, but you should have agitated the peice in the water. The regular cracks come from quenching in the non proper quench medium. Or just completely quenched it in the proper medium(be it oil or water or brine) then tempered by drawing the colors, then tempered in the oven at your personal preference temperature, or just temper in the oven at personal preference temperature.


Thanks D! Shoot me an email for tongs types and and pricing at my email address:

SamSalvati@hotmail.com
 
cool sam thanks,ifone were to say...wish to help you pay for your kmg by buying a pair from ya,how much might they be?,hehe
 
Robert i will hopefully be able to get in touch with you this Saturday! I am anticipating that old stone wheel grinder nearly as much as my new KMG, i have been searching for one of those for years. Thanks again!
 
Sam,
Life is getting real good for you lately, huh Buddy!:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::D
-Mitch
 
Sam,

I'll send you an order when I get a look at the size of my hammer stock.

For a fully hardened small hammer I didn't have the cracking problems, only when I was trying to face harden.

I couldn't think of an easy way to agitate when I was only trying to put the face of the hammer into the quench water... I tried shallow quenching in a quickly overflowing bucket, but all I got was wet feet and a cracked hammer. :(

Pouring the water on the face solves the agitation problem. If I could just get the water to pour *up* I could harden two faced hammers too. Let's see a small fountain plus the tea kettle ought to do it. Until I get that plumbed up I'll have to keep through hardening my small hammers. ;)
 
Whenever you are ready D. I remember seeing a design in Practical Blacksmithing of a quench tank with a pump for quenching power hammer dies.
 
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