Blacksmith Tongs

Bulk buy blacksmithing / knife making tongs:

Blacksmithing tongs, bulk-buy for discounted price. We got a deal by buying more pairs, passing on the saving here; It's like a bulk-buy but you don't wait months, we ship straight away still!

Select type of tongs under "Options", this list always shows the  types of tongs that are in stock as of today.

Blacksmithing and knife making tongs in steel with black painted finish.

Tongs is one of those tools you over time just seem to get more of;

as each set is very good at a certain stock size and not great at most other sizes!

For beginner bladesmiths; starting with box jaw tongs in your size of flat bar (50 or 38 mm) + a set of V-bit in 10 or 16 mm is a great start. Then add to this when you have to.

The newer "bladesmith tongs" in either 30 mm or 50 mm are another favourite with bladesmiths as they hold securely on the short sides of the blade where the box jaw tongs holds the flat side of the bar.

We are amateur knifemakers and like to do some blacksmithing, not experts at tongs by a long shot. Take the below as our best intention of describing these, ask a proper blacksmith if needing more info on a particular style of tongs :)

1. Box Jaw tongs: For flat bar stock. the jaws consist of a "box" of steel floor with 2 side walls you place the flat bar steel inside, then the other jaw is a piece of steel going down into this "box", holding securely stock that is wide enough. Holding a narrow bar in a wide box does not hold as securely. Awesome starting pair for 50 mm wide flat bar when doing the tang, for instance. Comes in different sizes which is the width of the "box", the height is not very accurate as a pair of 3.5 x 50 box jaw tongs still hold  10 mm thick stock but does not close fully, where a 10 x 50 mm box jaw set of tongs would hold the same bar with the reins closed more for a more comfortable grip.
   
2. V-bit tongs: Awesome all-around tongs, strong grip on smaller diameter stock like blade tangs etc. If more than one set of tongs will work, this is often the one we reach for due to strong grip and ease of picking things up with them. Comes in different sizes like 10 and 16 mm but are useful way past this size. One thing to notice is the 16 mm can be too big for some thinner blade tangs.
3. V-bolt / heavy V-bolt tongs: Tongs with larger gap between the jaws even when closed, for holding large stock like round bar and square bar.
4. Bladesmith tongs: narrow jaws for holding thinner stock like blades on the short sides of the blade, spine and belly. Strong grip, can hold tang and blade but jaws are quite narrow and will not hold very wide stock, or small tangs. Comes in 2 sizes, 30 mm and 50 mm. The jaws are offset meaning the stock/blade is held parallell to the reins and do not bottom out if long, like on the box jaw tongs.
5. Straight V-bit tongs: Straight jaw version of V-bit tongs, very useful all-around set of tongs without the flared back of the jaws that makes the normal V-bit tongs useful for holding stock with a head like bolts.
6. Closed mouth tongs: Straight jaw tongs, useful for holding sheet stock or as second set of tongs for holding stock still while being forged.
7. Hammer eye tongs: specialist tongs for holding large stock on a power hammer or similar, not very strong grip. More for lifting in and out of the forge and holding the hammer or axe head on the power hammer rather than holding securely enough to hand-forge the stock.
8. Scrolling tongs: smooth, round jaws for bending stock (scrolling), used in artist blacksmithing and very useful for evening out bends that has kinked or for doing the bending and scrolling itself.
9. Fire Farrier tongs: Specialst tongs for farriers, holding horse shoes but useful for anything in roughly the same thickness as the short, strong jaws hold very securely. The jaws do not close fully, they are not for knifemaking, but for when holding flat or round bar at say 1/2" thickness.
10. Wolf Jaw tongs: General-use tongs for a variety of stock, able to grip a large scope of stock but not the strongest grip. At Nordic Edge we have them and rarely use them, V-bit tongs do a similar job but hold much stronger - in our opinion. Where Wolf Jaw are better might be at holding stock sideways, so not sticking out the end of the jaws.
11. Double pick-up tongs: Surprisingly useful! These are used to pick things up off the floor, or easily get things in and out of the forge and placed on an anvil, for instance to stamp blades. They are not used to hold stock that is being hammered, the grip is too flimsy but they are great for easily taking things in and out of the forge. You can pick up things falling on the ground with other tongs, these just do a better job of it. Another "nice to have" you probably don't really need but over time learn to appreciate and do end up using if you have them available. We always have a pair leaning on the wall in the forging area so they are easy to grab when needed as opposed to all the other tongs on a rack further away.
12. Tongs for punches: specialist tong set for holding punches. Basically just a ring that loosely holds the different punch tools rather than having longer punch tools you need to hold by hand. (Included here as they are tongs but usually bought together with the punch tools and not as a separate item)