The Master’s Realm: Brian Brazeal shares his expertise and wisdom

Pickup tong design

I came up with this design for these tongs after working with Alfred Habermann (1930-2008), one of the great European artist blacksmiths. He was made an honorary ABANA member in 1980.

He did not use tongs exactly like these for hammer making. I have always called them a modified Habermann pickup tong. They have a few modifications that make them the best tong that I have ever seen or used for making top tools and hammers. 


The first modification is the hole placement which came as a result of adding the drawn out corner at the first bend. Not only does this make it easier to make this style of tong, but it allows you to open the jaws wider without having your reins open as wide. You can hold everything from a sledgehammer to the smallest tool with a comfortable grip. Habermann’s rivet was closer to the first bend.

The next modification is the proportion of the jaw arms. The shorter arm to the longer arm proportion is important for holding all sizes of tools securely.

Finally, the addition of the turned up ends of the jaw acts as a stop or register while you forge your fuller lines for hammers or the struck and working ends of top tools.

I would emphasize the importance of the drawn out corners not only for the use of the tong but also the making and maintaining of the proper lines and angles of the tong. Not only are these corners strong but the ease of making the lines, angles and corners free handed without any jigs is nice.

Flat jaw tongs design

This is one of the most common styles of tongs because it’s easy to make for beginning blacksmiths.

But don’t let ease cause you to rush. The reason I chose to offer this example here in Moving Metal Magazine was to emphasize not to forge too much too fast. I used rebar in the first couple of steps to show this. You can see the evidence of the starting stock up until the jaws are tapers and boss before punching.

The last step shown in the photo at right that is ready for riveting was made with 3/4-inch round mild steel.

I won’t go into step-by-step comments here but simply invite you to click on my video here.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ABANA’s national curriculum and certification help set course for future smiths

Image
by ABANA education committee and Janie Grela, ABANA Executive Director This year has been a year of development for the Artist-Blacksmith Association of North America. ABANA is the primary national organization for blacksmiths and has perpetuated the noble art of blacksmithing for nearly 50 years. Established in 1973 by a group of smiths who recognized that the skills and traditions of blacksmithing needed to be preserved and passed on through teaching. ABANA's new international headquarters in Johnstown, Pennsylvania ABANA membership is now more than 3,100 strong and more than 50 affiliates all over the country and also representing members in thirty-two countries. In the spirit of ABANA’s founding vision, the association is embarking on a new endeavor: the ABANA National Curriculum. Launching the curriculum ABANA Education Committee Co-chair, Doug Eichert, visited Southern California in 2018 and was impressed with educational offerings that the California Blacksmith Association (...
Read more

The necessity of failure

Image
by Joshua Frost, Forged in Fire champion For a budding blacksmith and bladesmith, one of the most important steps in the learning process is failure. From the tools you buy (or don’t) right down to the technique that is used to accomplish a simple shape or pattern. When our processes fail we may become frustrated with the process and give up altogether.  Think of when you said you were going to learn that new musical instrument, or language or craft. You likely expected to be playing a popular song, speaking fluent Japanese and throwing clay on the potters wheel in no time, like a pro. The sad reality, however, is that you usually only ended up learning the intro to Smoke on the Water, throwing a lopsided lump of mush on the wheel and saying sayonara to Japanese. Bladesmithing and blacksmithing are similar endeavors. It’s hard work. It takes hundreds of hours of doing it to become competent. Failure begins at the beginning and continues until you’re pushing up the daisies.  My...
Read more

Swedish blacksmith Torbjörn Åhman

Image
Moving Metal recently connected with the famous YouTuber blacksmith, Torbjörn Åhman, the Thunder Bear himself. He shared how he got his start and his thoughts about his path as a blacksmith. MM: When people watch your videos, many think you must have a long history in blacksmithing. Can you tell the story of when and what got you started in blacksmithing and what motivated you to pursue the craft? Åhman: To begin with I have always had a strong creative side. I love to build and create things, whatever it may be. My mother is an archaeologist and through the years she has attended several courses in experimental archeology, to get a deeper understanding for some of her work. At one point, when I was 15 years old, she brought me with her on a week-long class in ancient iron making. There we learned how to make charcoal, roast bog ore and smelt this ore in small bloomery furnaces. Alongside we also got a chance to try blacksmithing, making simple things like hooks and door catches. This...
Read more