Tongs

Continuing with blacksmiths' tools, if you are interested in starting blacksmithing as a hobby to build skills, you will need a few more basic tools. We have already covered anvils and hammers. Lets cover some tools you will need to hold hot metal. These will be tongs. A good pair of blacksmith's tongs are essential for your smithy. Some projects call for metal components that are long enough to hold with a leather gloved hand while you work the hot end on the anvil, but many or most projects, depending on whether you want to focus on certain projects or certain types of blacksmithing work, will call for shorter pieces of metal which you will not be able to hold with a gloved hand. This is where you will need tongs.

Tongs are similar to pliers. They are constructed of two pieces of metal linked at a pivot point with a rivet having jaws formed opposite the handles across the pivot point. There are many styles of tongs used by the blacksmith. The most common is the flat jawed blacksmith's tongs. They are the most versatile and can be used for most any project. There are also box jaws, V jaws, duck bills, round jaws, angle jaws, cross bar jaws and pick-ups. Your first pair to acquire should be the very versatile flat jaws. With a pair of tongs a hammer and an anvil you will have all the tools necessary to make everything else you will need. Of course, it is possible to make a pair of tongs without the need to acquire a pair of tongs first. This is because the handles of your tongs require long pieces of metal that need to be heated only in sections to be worked leaving sections of metal that are just cool enough to hold with a gloved hand. For a while, anyway. When that piece becomes too hot to work, switch to working the other piece, but we are getting ahead of ourselves into technique. Lets stick with equipment for now.

You will place your metal in the forge with your tongs and remove the metal with your tongs. You will hold red hot metal on your anvil as you work it to shape with your hammer. On some projects you can use your tongs to twist your metal and even bend your metal. Because your tongs will come into contact with red hot metal and the heat of your forge, they will be made of low carbon steel. High carbon steel would be a waste as you would be unable to quench harden and temper the steel anyway as it would lose its tempering and crack in places should you do so. Good steel to use to make tongs would be 1018, although I have an antique pair made in the early 1900's constructed of vanadium steel. These are hard and I am sure tempered, but the vanadium makes the tongs' steel extremely red hard. Anytime you are able to pick up such antiques do not hesitate to do so. Just because they are old does not mean they no longer function. These are very well made tools that keep on working.

I hope you are acquiring what you need in the way of tools for your hobby. If your hobby is blacksmithing, you should be well on your way with anvils, hammers and tongs now. We will discuss this further in the days and weeks ahead. In the meantime keep checking back and look in on http://northwoodstraders.ecrater.com/ for products and equipment.