Blacksmithing Tongs the traditional approach
Good tongs are a vital tool in any blacksmith shop. Forging welding tongs can be faster and more efficient than making tongs from a single piece, especially if you don't have a power hammer. There is however the need to have tongs to work with while making tongs.
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00:00 - Forging the jaws
05:37 - Buying tongs
08:38 - Vevor tongs
11:29 - Preparing the tong reins
14:14 - Forge welding
18:43 - Assembly
25:12- Completed tongs
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#blacksmithing #forged #blacksmith
Blacksmithing and related activities can be hazardous. These videos are not a substitute for competent professional instruction. Your safety is your sole responsibility. Always use appropriate safety equipment including eye and ear protection when working in the shop. Follow manufactures safety guidelines for the use of all equipment. In the event something shown in one of these videos seems unsafe, it is up to you to make the appropriate changes to protect yourself.t yourself.
Nobody hates a big boss. Thanks John. Those are great
I actually prefer to slit and drift the holes for my tongs
I couldn't find the normal place too comment on here.. weird
There's just a cool factor to this style of tongs. Thanks for talking about left and right-handed tongs .
I couldn't see what shop you were in at first and thought I was having a stroke could hear the coal forge and see the old anvil! Still the greatest virtual teacher I have ever seen!
I've never held a pair of tongs nor struck a piece of iron on a anvil but boy do I want to after watching your videos. You really are inspiring and a pretty cool dude on top of it all. Thanks for the video
Its highly rewarding. Invest around 800 bucks to get started and it will quickly become an exercise in mastery of each individual skill.
This is like Deja vu. I remember watching your video years ago on tong making and you were forging on your old Hay Budden. That anvil has since found a new home and a different Hay Budden found you.
I admire your hammer control. This looks far easier than it is for me…
I have always had great admiration for his hammer control! I pray that one day I might be half as good.
From Toledo Spain , thank you for the valuable information... Greetings!
Viví en Sonseca por un par de años. Hecho de menos Bermejo Fabrica de Armas, pero por lo menos todavia hay Martó.
As usual John a grate looking finished Project. Between you Mark Asbery, Tubel Caine and a few others were richly Blessed with grate Blacksmithing Instruction. Historically speaking Blacksmith Shops are Like Barbershops, a wonderful please to go Visit with you Frands and Nighbor's and learn may things.
The coal is much quieter than the gas and I can almost smell the coal from here. I had a dream the other day that someone signed me up to forge one thing on the anvil in front of a crowd and tell the crowd what I"m doing at a big blacksmith event. I was nervous as a long tail cat in a room full of rockin chairs but was saved by the alarm. LOL! I have made some nice stuff but never with a crowd. I have built two coal forges, several pliers, several towel racks, toilet paper racks, paper towel racks all still in the house and sad but glad at the same time, they will outlast me no doubt about it.
I usually do a little hobby blacksmithing in the winter when I have time, but It has not been a very cold winter this year, so I have not gotten in the shop much (40's today in Maine), but this video has made me want to get out there.
Great video John. Something I really want to try in my own shop if I can eventually get the hang of forge welding with the propane gas forge.
If you want to try it you can whip up a charcoal forge with a hairdryer in 15 minutes and just do it. Then you'll know what to look for with your finicky forge.
I came here to say this. A pile of fire bricks, some air, a bag of hardwood chip charcoal for BBQ from the hardware store. You can make a pretty decent temporary forge setup for under 50 dollars. You can also do the Adobe, Cob, or clay domed oven thing (like a pizza oven. Check out the videos from Townsend on building mud ovens). If you have a can or metal bucket with some holes drilled in it, you can pick up free wood that people are clearing out of their yards and cook it down to charcoal yourself.
@@douglasyoung927 There are so many people selling their gas forges because they can't make it work. And everyone wants one because it's clean and tidy. I have involuntarily used one one day for a class, the room got unbearably hot and the air was bad but everyone thought that was just part of the blacksmith experience. But for short periods of time it is excellent for things like hardening large kitchen knives, you can really see the phase change well
I have a video of this on my channel where I do the weld in a propane forge. It needs to be hot and clean! If your welds aren't working it was not hot or clean enough. Use flux, it is pretty much a must, in propane for this type of weld! There are some signs you can look for like seeing the flux "swimming". But also run your forge as hot as possible and wait until the your piece is the same colour as the inside of the forge. Admittedly I don't have a ton of welds under the belt but I have had some success. Good luck!
Thanks for the remarks, suggestions and encouragement! I suspect that my homemade self-aspirating burner and forge might not be generating quite enough heat. Should be capable (based on David Hammer's super c forge design), but there are a few variables I haven't explored. Or I may just need to try being a bit more generous with the flux. Anyway, again your feedback is much appreciated! And thanks again John for the years of shared knowledge and wisdom! I have plenty to learn, but a good amount of your lessons have stuck with me over the last 5+ years!
A good alternative to a drop-the-tongs weld for beginners I've found is to upset enough material into the ends, split the end of the reins and the end of the jaw piece in two, and butt them together. Letting the two V's wrap around each other and grip onto each other helps keep them as one piece in the fire, so when you move it to the anvil, you don't have to worry too much about the pieces moving around too much and you can focus more on the weld. If you have a welder, it's also not cheating to tack weld the two pieces together and finish the weld in the fire. Great vid as always, John!
Thanks John. Just made some box jaw tongs for 20mm bar from an old bolt (19mm thick). Being very old I thought it would be fairly soft metal and easy to move but how wrong was I. Took quite a few hours of hammering and I went to bed last night suffering sparodic cramps in the hammer arm. Definitely forge welding the reigns next time.
Depending on the original use for the bolt, it could have actually been tool steel. Heavy machinery, engines, aircraft & marine, and all kinds of things use special bolts.
Great video as usual, John. This one feels a lot like one of your old ones. I'm looking forward to finally meeting you at the NWBA meet.
Nice work John. Having made quite a few pair of tongs with just my own muscle power I do love my powerhammer! And I totally agree on making tongs is great learning.
Thank you. So enjoyable and informative.
Thanks John. Great design for a beginners set of tongs. 👍
thanks for the tong tip. A Buddy and i are just getting started with some local classes, and i was about the pull the trigger on buying some. tired of using the shops set. ill check out off center and quick n dirty.
These turned out very nice!
Great comment about cleaning up the hinge point with a file. Almost always a problem area for me. Super video as usual!!
Thanks for watching!
LOL😂 I literally received that exact same set of Vevor tongs on Friday (2 days before this video posted) got mine for $62 via ebay Planned on making a set of Kens Rapid tongs with them for a lighter tool ...but had to start somewhere. Also received a stainless 2 burner propane forge w/ doors for $85 off Amazon at the same time
I bought my first pair of tongs, made from rebar, from a local shop that supports Reforged (a program for veterans and first responders). I used those tongs to make my own pair from blanks by Ken's Custom Iron. Once I finish the entire set from Ken's, I will begin making my own from stock.
Great video John! I made a set a few weeks ago but it had been years since I had made a set this way and I forgot to upset my 3/8 round bar at the end so my weld was a little thinner than I would have liked it. Thanks for the video.
I bought a set of 3 tongs from Vevor to see what they were like, I was interested to know if they were worth recommending to newbies as a starter set. I was highly impressed, half the price of the tongs available through normal suppliers, and very functional. The bolt and offset tongs were very good. The wolf jaw were a bit how ya going, more akin to a set of flat tongs, which they worked as quite well. They were a bit bigger / heavier than what i like, but I do a lot of small artistic blacksmithing, and find it hard to get tongs delicate enough for me to like from any supplier. Long story short - I definitely recommend the Vevor tongs when asked by newbies about where to get tongs.
Outstanding content, thanks John !
Great information John
If your forge doesn't reach welding temperature you can forge the scarfs and then use a electric welder to join the 2 pieces and then forge/clean everything up.
If you're doing that the scarf becomes much less important and could probably be replaced with a good bevel to get a full penetration weld.
Thank you
Tenho profundo respeito aos ferreiros que fazem suas tenazes da forma tradicional, apenas com martelo, bigorna e borax. A tenaz feita assim ganha uma parte do Espírito do ferreiro e será útil por gerações, além de ser também uma obra de arte. Muito obrigado!
Thank You John and Vevor for a great video
Glad you enjoyed it
Thanks John, Nice refresher!
You are welcome!
Great video John, thanks for posting it.
Glad you enjoyed it
I spent most of today at a class trying to master drop tong welding. I have a ways to go.
Practice make perfect. There will be a great sense of satisfaction when it all goes right
I just electrode weld my tong handles on the tong jaws. Not elegant as forge welding... My forge is butane gas powered and I just don't get to welding heat... for now. I will - in the future... :) Wonderful video and inspiration.
Thats certainly an option, especially if you can't reach a welding heat.
Great job. Thank you 😊
Thanks for watching!
Awesome and very useful as usual, thanks a lot
My pleasure!
Good Good Good Refreshing tutorial Always interesting Worthwhile to refine or develop our skills Thanks for sharing take care Enjoy
Probably trying my first forge weld this week. Wish me luck.
Thanks John for another very interesting video and for sharing how to either buy or make your own tongs. Stay safe around there and keep up the great work. Fred.
Glad you enjoyed it
Thanks for the information on how to make tongs. I'm just starting to get into bladesmithing and tried to make some tongs that went terribly wrong. I decided to get vevors already made tongs. I really like your videos very informative.
Glad to help
If you don't want to buy a pair of tongs to start making tongs with, a pair of channel-locks or some vise grips work well. But maybe those also count as tongs?
Peace ✌🏼
I would only point out that the amount of sweat and salt from our hands outweighs the amount of oils that could add protection. What protects our tongs mostly is the fact they get hot all the time. It's a little bit like seasoning cast iron with bacon grease. The salt in it would actually accelerate corrosion were it not for fairly frequent use. That is why old cast iron stuff can be rather rusty whereas constantly used stuff pretty much never rusts unless some naughty person puts it in the dishwasher.
13:35 holy giant clinker, batman!
VEVOR is sponsoring a lot of content. My experience is that the items are poorly built and the return policy is impossible to navigate. Supporting the USA made product is a win/win.
John, I'd love a link for that heat proof magic glove you use for the non-hammer hand in this video. For the rest of ya - Ken's has rapid and quick, quick are 3/8 inch monsters of drawing out by hand. Rapid and less so on the monster part. I did rapid with locking pliers for the first and then went on from there.
www.blacksmithsupply.com/Kevlar-Hot-Mill-Glove_p_126.html
I have not coughed up the big bucks for the kevlar type, but I did buy a dozen pairs of regular hot mill gloves. Now, I have to find a southpaw to take all the right hand ones! 😂
👍
Not to be down on imports but you need to check the paint used. I got a pair of pry bars used that were like new. I needed to adjust the grind on the tips. They had a heavy coat of black paint covering them. To me it smelled different as something from when I was young. Turns out the paint was lead paint. Tongs in a fire burning that paint would not be good. Not saying that all companies used it, just becareful because it was not illegal in other countries.
Thanks for the heads up
Great warning!
What are your thoughts about a mig tack weld to eliminate the drop tong? It might not be traditional but seems like it would save frustration on that thin stuff. Im working on a new forge that gets hot enough and want as many tricks to get started in welding.
It would certainly make it easier. On the other hand, you could try mig welding the reins on and then you wouldn't need to unset and scarf.
I have a pair of tongs that worked at first but have siezed up considerably, I suspect after having them near the fire for too long. Would the heat and flex trick loosen them up the same way as for new tongs?
Yes, thats the best way to fix them
Hello, first of all, I wanna say I really admire your work. Now, this video got me wondering, could a system like the one from the filing vise in the previous video be applied to tongs to make them "universal"? PD: sorry for my bad english
Yes, as a matter of fact, I think thats where he got the idea for the filing vise. On the other hand, that style of tongs never seemed to be common
@@BlackBearForge Wow, thanks for the reply and the info 👍
How much did you upset the handle material? You make this look very easy
My first tong I forge from 16 mm round. I had two 1m long pieces of rusty scrap. Are worst looking tongs I saw in my life, from this time i boght, get, forge lot of tongs but… i stil moste often use thos crapy one. About vevor i concyder bay two burner forge. If U have opurtunity to make rev I will be grate full. I stil have coal forge, and work good, but I nead somthing to small fast project whitout smoke, ash, houers to prepare. 😊
Je suis débutant maintenant et j'ai essayé de sortir des pinces dans de la barre de 5/8 . Résultat : j'ai brûlé un demi sac de charbon, j'ai fait des pinces moches et j'en ai raté une autre paire. Je vais forger les têtes dans du gros matériel puis je vais faire souder à l'arc des tiges plus fines, évidemment avec un emboîtement en demi.
I am not getting notifications about your videos being out. I have a few questions for you. You don't seem to care about slag. Forge thick file thin? Your hardy hot cut. That a 45ish degree angle and does it matter? I know a hot cut is about the tempering.
Notifications seem to be a problem for lots of people. They have to be turned on in KZhead, in the KZhead app and allowed on your phone. The scale is knocked of as you forge and unless you are doing very fine work, it really doesn't cause a problem. The hot cut is probably more like 30 degrees, but it isn't something I've ever measured.
"Forge thick, grind thin" is more about bladesmithing specifically than about blacksmithing generally.
I have the 2 burner style vevor forge that you have Would I be able to forge weld in it?
Probably, Although I haven't really tried in this one. Welding flux does eat the lining, so it will need to be replaced sooner if you're welding in it.
@@BlackBearForge Thanks for the reply, and for being an important part in my journey into blacksmithing I'll have to just give it a go and see
What are your thoughts on using a Hold-fast when making forge welds?
I think you would loose heat too fast getting it set and miss the weld. Plus you need to be able to turn the weld as you work almost immediately, which wouldn't be possible with a holdfast.
Indeed. I guess it came as a possibility to me because I was taught the first strike is the most important and makes a majority of the weld. I guess best case scenario, one would have an apprentice on hand to hold the work for you, hahahaha. I was that apprentice once.
for the price VEvor are ok but very heavy for most work. Lighter tong by US suppliers are better for most work not under a powerhammer. IMHO
I would agree
can u get this done in the vevor gasforge thats beside u coleforge? or doesnt it get hot enuff
I'll have to give it a try, but gas forges are tough to do this style of weld in
@@BlackBearForge would like 2 see u try😁
As a rookie, I'll settle for functional before learning how to make it pretty.
It's 35c outside, i don't need forging inspiration :P
I certainly deal with the cold better than that kind of heat.
We are moving to a higher elevation to get away from the Texas heat!
Técnica muito difícil de executar
NICE DEMO!! THANKS!! ALTHOUGH, I'M TRYING TO SELL OFF A BUNCH OF MY BIGGER FORGING EQUIPMENT, [BECAUSE OF A BAD SHOULDER (WORK RELATED, REPETITIVE INJURY OF MY ROTATOR CUFF)... I LOVE METALSMITHING, AND, I JUST HOPE TO CONTINUE, BUT, TO AVOID THE BIGGER, HEAVIER WORK...