Interview with Richard

well i said that i was going to get it up in the next couple of days, it doesnt sound as fluid as when he said it but when i took out the swearing and regional slang, then made it make sense to humans it had changed a bit.

Question: So Richard in all years of making tools and tongs what was your favourite set to make?

Answer: My favourite tool I have ever made is some of the power hammer swages I have made over the years, I use the power hammer a lot so anyway I can make it more useful through tooling. The trouble with a lot of tooling up for the power hammer is it needs two people but if you have two people you can do almost anything on power hammer from cutting, drawing out, straightening up.

If I needed to think of a hand tool, I have a pair of old spring steel bolt tongs in my car that I made over 20 years ago, they have been re shaped and bent but even after all that time they still work. I have made many tongs using the one set. Also I really do love making bolt tongs, it really weeds the men from the boys setting the nibs.

Question: Speaking of tongs what would you say your most unique set of tongs would be?

Answer: Being a bit of traditionalist I haven’t really done anything like what your planning with bending reins all different kind of ways. I would say my unique set that I have ever made would be a pair of axe making tongs, the nibs were set around an axe head so they could hold it while the end is fire welded. I made them out of some larger section so there was no bending in the nibs and reins, turns out I only ever used them once but still was a nice day of making something I have never done.

Question: If there was a way you could make tong better what would you say it is?

Answer: Personally when it comes down to tong reins and nibs even I don’t think you can improve by changing the shape, I think it is more in changing the section. In recent years I have been making my reins up with octagon section, I find it stronger and don’t bend under any kind of heat. I started doing this after I lost of round section tongs to bending. I have also found putting a lot more meat into the nibs so that they can be set a lot more in the future, it does make the tongs heavier but if you make them out of something like spring steel or smaller rein section it will be a lighter.