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1:09 am
March 18, 2010
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Hard to believe I've made 1/4 million of these pieces! 'Bout 300 pieces here.
[Image Can Not Be Found] The one on top is the upset piece I started with.
“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot,
but then there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence,
transform a yellow spot into the sun.” ~ Pablo Picasso ~
1:15 am
March 22, 2010
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The IRS loves it when you keep production records:bounce::bounce: or serialize your work.
2:31 am
April 21, 2010
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DANG thats alot of tongs
12:27 am
March 22, 2010
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WmHorus;1078 wrote: DANG thats alot of tongs
Grant, any estimate of how many tons of tongs you've made??
Small potatoes wanna be blacksmith here.
Gene
1:33 am
March 18, 2010
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Hard to say. I used to make just the 12oz tongs then I started making the bigger ones that are over 2lbs. Now I make way more of them. Never kept track, just know how may rivets I've bought! But mebby 60 tons. Be about right. One time I bought 20 ton of tong steel. Course at that time I was going through 4 - 5 twenty-ton truckloads of steel a month too.
“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot,
but then there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence,
transform a yellow spot into the sun.” ~ Pablo Picasso ~
1:53 am
March 22, 2010
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Grant;1086 wrote: Hard to say. I used to make just the 12oz tongs then I started making the bigger ones that are over 2lbs. Now I make way more of them. Never kept track, just know how may rivets I've bought! But mebby 60 tons. Be about right. One time I bought 20 ton of tong steel. Course at that time I was going through 4 - 5 twenty-ton truckloads of steel a month too.
Out of curiosity, weighed my Off Centar Forge tongs and tooling, 22 pounds, and I'm a small potatoes shop. Mostyl the first small tongs you made, like them the best for small work.
Impressive steel tonage, guess it all adds up.
6:51 pm
May 13, 2010
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More brain input!!! As much as you can without giving away your secrets for making these tongs so inexpensively. I find I often have to go through a couple of different designs when building dies and fixtures for forging things in volume.
How many die stages between the two blanks shown? When you make your dies for making things like these tongs do you have a different die for each tong or are they adjustable or change pieces? Are your die sets basically the same now as when you started or have you gone through an evolution on the way you make them? Do you upset them and then forge them to the shape shown in one heat?
8:21 pm
NWBA Member
April 22, 2010
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A quarter million pairs of tongs!
Now you are making me feel guilty that I have only bought about 30 tools from you. I gotta get busy, do my share of consuming Grant's output.
I always try to impress myself by remembering I have made and sold close to 2000 chairs of various sizes- but that is a tiny number compared to 250,000...
8:36 pm
March 18, 2010
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I use what I call "profile" dies. Only shaping in one plane at a time. First requirement is working up the correct "preform" so you have just the right amount of material where you need it. In open die work you do this by drawing down, for this I've made upset tooling as there are just two spots that need to be larger than the rest. Those two little upsets actually shorten the bar by 3"! There is a little flash from this operation so they need a little grinding before continuing.
In profiling I have a simple bending die that creates the side view, then they are flattened to about .400 (it all starts as 1/2" bar). This straightens the bend a little so I bump it in the bending dies and flatten again, then there is a little spot that embosses the pivot area.
“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot,
but then there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence,
transform a yellow spot into the sun.” ~ Pablo Picasso ~
8:39 pm
March 18, 2010
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Cut that by 1/2! A quarter million PIECES! Takes two to make a tong. That's still around 4 million dollars in tongs (at retail)!
“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot,
but then there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence,
transform a yellow spot into the sun.” ~ Pablo Picasso ~
7:59 pm
May 13, 2010
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Impressive output Grant. Thanks for the info sounds like they are simpler than I thought.
10:52 pm
March 18, 2010
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Impressive output Grant. Thanks for the info sounds like they are simpler than I thought.
As am I!
"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away"!
“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot,
but then there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence,
transform a yellow spot into the sun.” ~ Pablo Picasso ~
6:08 pm
March 18, 2010
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Simple tooling to split the "V" in one stroke:
“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot,
but then there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence,
transform a yellow spot into the sun.” ~ Pablo Picasso ~
8:18 pm
March 18, 2010
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Putting in my "signature" cross V. Note the alignment pin through the rivet hole so they come out exactly the same distance from the rivet.
“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot,
but then there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence,
transform a yellow spot into the sun.” ~ Pablo Picasso ~
4:21 am
May 13, 2010
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Thanks for the pictures Grant. Is the cross a second opperation or is the second shot after the die was modified?
5:48 am
March 18, 2010
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Done as a second op. Easier to grind the flash when it's straight. just a forming operation then, do about 200 parts per hour, I'd rather that than the same time spent grinding. Also wouldn't forge out properly trying to do it from the get go.
“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot,
but then there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence,
transform a yellow spot into the sun.” ~ Pablo Picasso ~
3:11 pm
June 20, 2010
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Grant- can you show the tooling and process of the upset?
12:31 am
March 18, 2010
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They look a little different now, huh?
[Image Can Not Be Found]
“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot,
but then there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence,
transform a yellow spot into the sun.” ~ Pablo Picasso ~
6:16 pm
May 13, 2010
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Do you tumble or vibratory finish them to knock off the loose scale Grant?
7:47 pm
March 18, 2010
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I use a vibratory machine. These are made for wet operation, but I use it dry with steel grit and punchings and other shop scraps. Takes about 3 - 4 minutes to take off all the loose scale, hours if you want to remove everything.
“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot,
but then there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence,
transform a yellow spot into the sun.” ~ Pablo Picasso ~
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