Not posted in awhile, ive been traveling home then as soon as i got back i started working with Andrew again on a few small bits and bobs. I am waiting for Del to ring me up and talk me through some feedback on this blog and my 3DSP in general whether im doing it right or not.
Well while i wait i will hit another post on some tongs.
I wanted to talk about a few pairs i found while walking round the forge in Hereford, a particular faveriote of mine is i found my very own tusk tongs big brother. In Adrian's box there was a massive pair of tusk tongs made by Dave Fields a fine tool maker.
These are a real beauty of a pair, i spoke to Adrian about them and he said while being useful it shakes around alot meaning that for using the bigger stock in these is it a little in efficient rather than a big pair of hollow bits.
This pair of tongs is a simple pair of flat bits but the rein is where the unique part comes in, the bend around so it can attach to his thumb is a completley different to anything ive ever seen. They are made by a fellow student, Micheal, who lost his finger so to compensate for this and not being able to easily clench the tongs with this main finger he made this so he could still use tongs easily with his lack of a finger. I love to see this sort of thing because its solving problems.
Like i say people dont really know if this is right so il keep doing it till they say its wrong.
This is a really odd pair of tongs, a pair of adjustable scrolling plyers by Thomas Powers an american smith. I cant even work out how they work or how they are even useful, i understand you have different size stock but at its max size doesnt really seem like a size of stock i would use plyers on, id just switch to a scroll dog. I think of all the tongs i have ever seen i dont really see that are in way useful. Seems like a bloody waste of time to me.
This pair of tongs was posted by Matt K a farrier from the west country, he didnt really explain what these tongs are used for. I really need to ask adrian about these because all i can think it is for is holding the shoes while clamping them to the foot of the horse. Need to do some research on these bad boys.
The posts on Iforge are starting to slow down so i think i will only be able to put another post of some really unique tongs.
This was a crazy pair of tongs an American smith put up, he uses them for working on pieces of rail. Apprently he says there his most useful pair of tongs he has ever owned, personally i think other than that one very specfic purpose they are completley useless to me. These tongs look good but there too refined to one purpose.
These are a picture of some tongs very similar to some of my old mentors proudest tongs. Richard Lewis makes alot of scrolling plyers but there not like any kind id ever seen, there is no taper on the end of the plyers. Its just two case hardened pieces of bar, making them into a tong pair of scrolls dogs. I used them alot when i was back at Ridgeway but now i have a nice pair i made of my own.
I only need one pair of these and Richard uses alot of different pairs for his bending, he gets a cleaner result but i dont know whether that is down to experince or the tongs.
I really want to have an interveiw of sorts to pick his brains, Richard has been forging for almost 50 years and all that time he has loved tool making so i think he is the man to talk to about this.
For todays post i wanted to talk through a couple pairs of really unique tongs that have been posted on Iforge Iron forums responding to my post looking for strange tongs.
The first set.
This is a pair of tongs put up my American sword smith Thomas Powers, he made this tongs for holding 16mm round section. He uses 16mm alot and he really cant having it move around so he said he made this to keep it steady all the time. Personally in my opinion its alot of work for making a simple pair of hollow bits and setting them every now and again, i dont really know whether keeping it super steady is essentail to sword smithing but im fairly sure i can get the same effect with a good set pair of hollowbits maybe bolt tongs. In conclusion i really dont have much intrest in owning or making a pair of these.
The Second Pair.
The second pair were put up by a welsh smith who didnt want to put up his name for some reason. His reasoning for these tongs were they were display tongs, made for doing shows and demostrating to apprently make the kit look better? I would love to see this guys hammer and anvil whether that has some emblishment as well. I can see the nib or mouth of the dragon is for holding round stock on the side so not even the most useful tongs let alone pretty useless. I will never make a pair of display tongs, when it comes to demostrating i am proud to show off the tools of our craft not a dragon head.......
Well this is the thing im gonna be doing for the next few days, putting up the pictures of unique tongs i have been sent and talking about there uses and whether i would ever use or make a pair.
Look forward to part 2
Well i went round today getting pictures of everyones faveriote pair of tongs, saw some real intresting pairs of tongs.
There was alot of different sets and sizes, one thing i found pretty prominent in the selection was most of them were bought rather than made.
I mentioned about my faveriote pair so i thought i would get a picture.
I wanted to get a picture of the hinge plate, there isnt really one but these tongs are still really strong and durable.
This has been a little bit of slap stick post, im not really in a mood for working today. I need to have a word with Ambrose to have a look over this and see if im doing it right.
For 3DSP we were told to look into an aspect or process of forging that intrests us, straight away i thought about tongs. Tongs are an essential of blacksmithing, right up there with the forge, anvil and hammer. I really wanted to look into the different types of tongs, making them, looking into the history of tongs and why they are like they are.
I am really looking forward to looking at the differances between making and the over all finished product, i know here in Hereford alone there is many different ways of making tongs and alot of different looking tongs.
The first little project i will be doing is tommorow at the forge i will be going up and taking a picture of everyones most used tongs, just to get a little big of comparing going on. I think this will be quite a good start point because we are all different up there and there is a massive range of different smiths from large scale to the small scale.
My own faveriote set would be the tusk tongs, abit of a weird set but they are so useful that i dont go a day without using them.
This is a picture from the website, mine are like this just alot more used. I am hoping to get on to the guy that made them about why he doesnt really put in a hinge plate in and the rivet is so huge.
Alot of work to do with research and making a few pairs, really exicted with this one BIG SMILEY
