Tong Reins

This is a sort of coming soon then talking about things i made today, i am going to put alot more work into this blog to make it top dollar. I have an interview with Richard Lewis, renowned british tool maker to write up and get on here, aswell as several american smiths i am talking to. Just need to write it down and get it up here, aswell as that i am going to hit the liabary aswell as my own books for anything on tongs.

I am back with a vengance for this project.

Now onto what i did today.

Over the hoildays i had that moment when i knew what i wanted to make and look into within the field of tongs, i was working on some large dog bars straighting them out under the power hammer and i needed to hold onto a section that was getting too hot for gloves, so i went through the racks finding tong after tong that does the job slightly but nothing that really did it so i went into the bin got an old pair i had made years ago and shaped them just to the bar. I wasnt fussed with setting them right so i just hit the reins over as you can see in the picture above. They worked an real dream, these useless ugly tongs were my faveriote pair for the entire job and have a spot in my tool box for life but it was while discussing these with Andrew in the pub later he turned to me and said and i quote 'You this pissed about your doing at school looking at tongs why not look at reins, find out why we have em straight instead of bent, makes more sense to have a bend to put more pressure on with less strength.

So it talked it over with a few different smiths thinking about this different reins and i got some really good ideas so today i went into the forge and made up a few of what Richard would call blanks, basically a rein with a lump of metal on the end ready to be made into whatever he needs on the job.

This is the first blank i made up, ignore the terrible fire weld. The idea behind it is on a large tong like for istance a 30mm hollow bits to apply the pressure a small bend along the bar would allow you to put most distance in the points applying more force for more leverage.

 

The second tong is the same idea, a bend to further the distance so you can apply more leverage for more pressure.

I am planning on forging up a full set of large hollow bits in the style to really give them a test, i am thinking of making up 2 or 3 sets of unique tongs then seeing how a few different smiths get on with them. Maybe even give them to the big bad beast himself to play with.

 

I really enjoyed making these up, reminded of older days when i used to work for a living got to admit. 

Feedback from Ambrose

i looked threw your blog and it seems like a reasonable start but you need to go more in depth as to why these tongs are like this and why they have been built this way. Also it would be useful to look further (not just around holme lacy) into the evelution of these tools.
this is a making project so what are you going to produce as a result of your investagation?
you must go above and beyond what you are shown in your tech sessions and start to produce tools of your own design or as a result of your research.
also there is no evidence here of your tech journal, this is a crusial part for the sucsesful complition of this project.
in short a reasonable start but still a lot more work to be done

I agree with everything said here, there has been alot of pussy footing around holme lacy not taking the research and getting out there to all over.

As far as tech journal goes i havent done much actual making so didnt feel the need to put stuff in, i have done a few things recently i want to put up in the tech journal. Just a bit behind with the posts.

Tongs

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.

Unique Tongs part 3

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.

Unique Tongs part 2

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.

Unique Tongs

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

Picture of Tongs

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.