So let’s go through what you see and what was done. Below is the beginning piece of metal. It is ⅛” thick by ⅝” wide by 18” long. I had two of these (one for each piece of the tong).
We started by heating the piece up to a yellowish glow, kind of like a lightbulb. Once the metal is hot it becomes pliable so we can begin to “draw” it out. Drawing means to lengthen the metal by reducing one or both of the other two dimensions.
As you can see (below) I have heated the metal and now it is narrower in width but much longer than the begining product.
This pic shows the “drawn out” piece of metal with a ball on the end. I thought the ball would add some character to the piece and would be a great way to get rid of the sharp edges that existed from the original piece.
Here you can see the ball I put on the tip of my tongs a little better. Also, you can see that I added a bit more character to the handle by adding a twist. This was not only decorative but also provides a grip on the handle. Hopefully I will never have this tool slip out of my hands.
How did I do the twist? To begin, you need to heat that portion of the project to a bright orange to yellowish glow. Then clamp it in a vise at a point where you do not want to have any twist and grab it at another point where you want the twist to stop and begin to twist.
After twisting the handle I had to notch the piece on the top and bottom to mark where I was going to punch the hole for me to join the two pieces.
Once notched you can punch your hole and then bend the front of the piece at a 90 degree angle so you can form the jaw of the tong.
Once the jaw is formed to your liking double check everything to make sure it is all straight and the pin holes line up on both pieces. Now you can put the pin in the hole and upset both ends (one might refer to this as mushrooming).
Proverbs 27:17
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