For Sale!

Tong Blanks - Tomahawk Blanks - Marshall's Gauges

In addition to my laser cut lamellar plates and stoneware feastware, I have a few other things for sale.  Any knives that are currently for sale will be listed in the gallery.

Tong Blanks:
$8 per pair standard style, 3/8 " thick
$10 per pair bolt tong blanks, 3/8" thick

Please note: if you are interested in tong blanks, please include your zip code to estimate shipping costs.  I ship via USPS parcel post.  These will not fit in flat rate box.

While I like forging, I'm not that fond of making tongs.  So I developed these tongs blanks.  It takes the extra time out of making tongs.  

The top style is the standard style.   It can be made into anything from flat jaw to box jaw to bolt tongs.  There's enough material to allow alot of variation.

The bottom style is a bolt tong blank.  It can be slit and then shaped.  Below show two variations that I use most often.  The first is for gripping square or round stock about 1".  The bar shown is 1" square.

This style is for gripping barstock.  They are made the same way as the tongs above, but shaped for bars.

The first step, is to slit the end of the blank.  Instead of leaving the bit inline where it should be when used as tongs, I angled it.  This allows clearance for either a bandsaw or hacksaw to cut the end without hitting the back of the tongs.

After slitting it, I spread the bit open on a cutoff hardy and shaped accordingly.  After both sides are split, I rivet them together and adjust the handles so that they are comfortable and the bit so that they grip the way I like.

The first step using the standard tongs is to twist it at the transition.  Make sure to turn both sides the same way.

Next, I clean up the twist transition area.  A radiused edge is better, since a sharp corner doesn't have as much material or strength.  If I'm making box tongs, for example, I'll do most of the shaping before riveting them together.

Tomahawk blanks:

When I first started making bowtie style axeheads, I started with a rectangular bar of steel, wrapped it into a U and forge welded a bit in the end.  There never seemed to be enough material to stretch as much as I'd like.  So I started experimenting with a larger initial bar.

This example is cut from 7g mild steel.  It's bend cold into the middle shape.  I then will take a piece of 1075 in the same shape, and insert it in the end of the pre-bent blank.  Finally I forge weld it together and draw it out to shape.

Marshall's Gauge:

These are marshall's gauges for use in SCA fighting.  They are used to make sure that those fighting have their equipment within specs.  They are laser cut from 10 gauge stainless steel.  They ar $8 apiece plus shipping.