Forging a Pair of Iron Tongs — The Blacksmith's Essential Gripping Tool

Tongs are the blacksmith's second hand. Without them, nothing hot can be held, turned, or positioned on the anvil. A smith's first pair of tongs is traditionally forged using a borrowed pair — after that, the smith can make every subsequent tool independently. This makes tongs one of the most important bootstrap tools in metalworking.

A pair of flat-jaw tongs consists of two identical halves (called reins), each forged from a single iron bar. Each rein has a flat jaw for gripping, a pivot boss with a punched hole, and a long handle. The two reins are joined by a rivet through the pivot holes, creating a scissors-like action. The jaws must close flat and parallel — poorly fitted tongs slip under hammer blows, which is dangerous and wastes heat.

Different jaw shapes grip different stock: flat jaws for flat bar, V-bit jaws for round rod, box jaws for square stock. This blueprint covers flat-jaw tongs, the most versatile general-purpose pattern.