Tong tutorial | The Tools of the Trade | Forum

Here is my offset shoulder tool, it is made from 1" wide by 5/8" thick A36, which I water quenched no temper. In my opinion and experience this makes an excellent tool for under the powerhammer, cheap too :D. Being quenched mild steel it is tougher then regular mild steel, yet still softer then your dies therefore the tool will wear out before your dies, it's easier and quicker to forge one of these out again instead of regrinding your powerhammer dies. As long as your steel is hot the tool won't really wear either.

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Now you can work two ways under the dies, a mute point if you have nice big dies like on a saymak or the bigger anyang, but my dies are 1 1/2" by 3", I am working the wrong way here for this tool the steel should be along the length of the dies and the tool perpendicular.
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And this is the first heat:
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you can see what the tool does here, you have to work it regular, forging the width thinner of course bulges the thickness, so I do a little bit over the tool then under the dies to squish it back, then over the tool then under the dies.
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Marking the stock with the dimples in the same spots, starting with the same diameter stock, and careful forging practice should yeild very close identical parts:
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Bust out the hot chisel and hammer, or you could use a hacksaw or you could use a bandsaw to cut a slit in the jaw area. Take care to keep it centered and go slow.
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A light line at first to make sure you are on center:
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then slit away
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use the corner of the anvil to open up the slit
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bend the jaws over in the vise, here it is halfway done. I do it so that the jaw bends back almost 90, then bend it up so the jaw is parallel with the reign but offset.
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I really need to make a bending jig for this, A hossfeld type bender I think would be perfect. But not too bad:
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Thanks guys! Glad you like it.

HWooldridge;14181 wrote: Nice article Sam. I do something similar except I start with a longer piece of stock and lay out the tongs back to back then cut the halves apart with a hot chisel so the reins are already tapered and to proper length. Saves all that drawing out work - unless of course, you just like to use that cool power hammer...lol

Hollis, I like this idea, but there's a few little things when I split em, one is I can adjust finely the length to get em to match real close and keep a nice fine taper to the end, I can draw them in 1 heat. I start drawing when I do the second shoulder and by the end of the next heat they are finish drawn and a dull red, then I quench em in water, adds a little extra toughness to the spring.THAT and i love using my hammer 😀

Lynn :D. Don't worry I made my fair share of jaws and pivot too thin hehe

Daryl I am glad to help! I don't know if you have a powerhammer or not, but when I was taught tongs by my teacher, he made me first do a pair all by hand, then i could use the powerhammer, gave me an appreciation and better understanding of the process.

Daryl;14196 wrote: Sam I do have a 25# LG, but I will have her draw out the first set by hand. We stopped in at a friends shop today and she got to try out his 200# Bradley, I have a feeling she will be soon thinking she needs one. She does need to practice moving metal and drawing out by hand. Making a set tongs has a lot of techniques that are used throughout blacksmithing, so a good teaching project.

Daryl that's awesome!

Eric, when I fit the jaws to the piece in the vice I give it a little twist and tweek to line them up.