I really appreciate that. So much of my business is word of mouth so testimony like yours vital. Thanks so much and happy hammering. Glen

Brian, A lot of folks comment about my small, block style anvils. Glad you enjoy watching and I hope you stick around for more... Thanks. Glen

+kylongrifle I haven't had much choice. My space is limited and certain things I used to do in the past, like welding (electrical and forge), are not easily possible in my current set up. As I've said before, working here has made me think outside the box and has greatly improved my work in some ways. I need to figure out a better camera angle though, for sure. Thanks for your support. Glen

Peter, I'm very glad you find my tongs to your liking. Short and stout tongs are my preference. I'm always making adjustments and I feel my current tongs are better... Thanks. Glen

+Adrian Pimentel Thanks Adrian, I've had a little practice making tongs :) I appreciate your continuing support, for sure. Glen

Marcus, Thanks for watching this tong making video of mine. I'm planning to make another similar flat tong video but in a somewhat more traditional way. I don't own too many tools so it's not too hard to keep my workspace tidy. Keep watching... Glen

The steel I use for most of my tongs is 1018 mild steel. I frequently quench my tongs and so there's no fear of cracking with mild steel. Thanks for watching - I realize this older video isn't the best quality... Glen

Charis, I'm glad you like this and I appreciate you watching. I'll do more, updated, and hopefully better tong making videos. Thanks. Glen

Thanks for watching and for your kind comment. Glen

Muhammed, The punch I used in this video is a tapered round punch which is about 1/4" (~6 mm) on the very end. This style tapered punch can also function to some extent as a drift to enlarge the hole. Thanks for watching. Glen

Hey James, I only saw this comment now. Makes the other comment more clear. You must've known what I was planning to show...what a coincidence. Good stuff. Glen

Paolo, Thanks brother for the words of encouragement. Good luck to you in all your work, etc. Glen

Stephen, You're very observant. That step isn't really necessary but it helps to outline the pivot area (since I don't do a traditional offset or boss at that area, where the pivot meets the handles) and this makes it easier for me to locate alignment when doing subsequent operations. But other than that, it just mainly adds some detail. It does push the metal outwards a bit and thickens the metal (side to side) in that spot some but if done too much, will have the opposite effect and weaken the tong (top to bottom) at that point. Anyway, you can skip that step... I'm glad you liked this video. Thanks for watching and commenting. Glen

Got it. Thanks for clarifying :)

+RocketCityGardener No, I didn't quench the very end of the tong blank. I quenched the back end so that about 3 inches of the front end were hot. However I do understand what you're saying and sometimes will cool both the back end and the very front (what will be jaw end) when I want to only upset a section in between. I would say I upset to about 5/8", not quite 3/4" for this tong. Thanks. Glen

+jeffery biddix I use mostly 1018 cold rolled mild steel for my tongs but also 1045 (medium carbon) for some styles, like scroll tongs. I once made a pair of tongs out of rebar but didn't like them - the knurling was uncomfortable to hold. Also, rebar is much the same as A36, hot milled steel. It's fine for tongs but can vary quite a bit from bar to bar. I think the specs for cold rolled steels are more closely controlled and consistent. I've hit on hot milled steel that felt soft like wrought (pure) iron and other pieces that feel as hard as a ball bearing. I think mostly mild steel suits me (my tongs) because I constantly quench my tongs. Tongs with more carbon might crack over time (when repeatedly quenched) whereas there is no fear of this, especially with the 1018 cold rolled steel. Thanks. Glen

Thanks for getting back to me much appreciated.

+Glen GS Tongs re-bar can be from various sorts of steels. the defunct mill here used lots of vehicles for their sorce.

+OKBushcraft Yes, I've heard exactly the same thing from others. Recycling, while smart and great for the environment, can also lead to some suspect quality of certain types of steels, especially construction grade stuff like rebar. Thanks for sharing. Glen

Austin, Those are GS special limited edition anvils! They're my own designs which I had made here in Taiwan. I wanted anvils to suit the way I like to work and so took advantage of the resources available here to get these done. I had three different designs made and am very pleased with all. Thanks. Glen

+Gene Smith I'm glad you are pleased with your tongs. I'm going to upload a new video in a day or so that shows me (in one part) using my bent knee style tongs and explaining them a bit more. Later, I'm planning to make videos showing me making other styles of tongs, bent knee style included. Really appreciate your support. Glen

+Johan Vanzanten I had that anvil made as well as two other anvils. It (like the other two) is machined from a block of 4145 steel and properly heat treated. I prefer an anvil with a wide face (front to back) and rarely use a horn. This anvil also serves as a swage block. I have owned very high quality cast steel anvils but feel that a forged (drop forged) anvil is superior. Since the the steel used to make my anvils was forged (much as the smaller bar stock we use for our projects) it is the same as a drop forged anvil in that sense, without any possible inclusions or impurities that might result from casting. Anyway, I really like this anvil but have an even smaller one that I will show soon in videos. Thanks for watching. Glen

+Glen GS Tongs that's really cool, I have an old forged Peter wright anvil but the sides are in bad shape and the face hardly has any flat spots so a small anvil like this would be a really nice add on, do you mind me asking how much it cost you? total cost after machining and such? thanks!

+Leon boss Thanks for the kind words. I've been at tong making for a while. I'll bet your first pair of tongs are miles ahead of what my first pair looked like. Thanks again. Glen

+Ollie Woody My anvils are my own design that I had made. I couldn't find a suitable anvil here for my style of work and since I have the contacts for the steel, machining and heat treating, I set about getting these made - I had three different anvils made and am thinking about a fourth. Glad you enjoy the way I work - I really need to improve the content of my videos. Thanks. Glen

+Glen GS Tongs trust me when I say this...you have good content

+William Ela I really appreciate the show of support. It makes me want to continue to make videos. Thanks for watching and taking the time comment. Glen

Glen GS Tongs No problem! hard not to like them

I'm glad you like my work area / tooling. Thanks for watching and good luck in your work. Glen

+The Blazing Bodkin Forge they're already too cold at that point. video cameras are better at capturing infrared light from hot objects than human eyes, the steel looks much darker in reality.

What I meant was heat and upset, heat and forge the blank :)

+The Blazing Bodkin Forge Thanks for your input - I really do appreciate it. I know a lot of guys who stress the number of heats it takes to complete any one item. I personally cannot make my style of tongs in one heat (after preparing the blank). I am quick but not fast - if that makes sense. My movements are short and rapid (in short bursts) but not sustained over a long duration. Also, as Verdigris Sirgidrev points out, the steel (color) may look much hotter on camera than it actually is. Continuing to hammer would move much less metal and be tough on the arm. No matter, I do understand what you're saying - to maximize each heat. Thanks. Glen.

+Verdigris Sirgidrev What you say is very true - on camera the steel appears much hotter than what I am seeing. Much the same as some women... (just a small joke). Thanks for watching and for your feedback. Glen

Yes, in the first part I'm "upsetting" the tong blanks - making a section shorter and thicker (swell up, as you say) so that there will be more material in the jaw and pivot area. There are different ways to accomplish this. Some by welding, some by starting with larger stock and drawing out (thinning) the handles, and some by doing it this way. Good question... Thanks. Glen

+Glen GS Tongs Why are you upsetting using a block? Are you using it to gauge the thickness?

John, Yes, in part I'm using it to gauge how much the bar has upset (the hole in the block is tapered with the bottom end being wider and close to what I want the tong end to be) but also to stabilize the bar as I'm upsetting so that it doesn't buckle too much and need a lot of straightening. Thanks for watching. Glen

Mark, In some if these videos, I prefer to just show the process but in others, I try to explain in as much detail as I can. I will certainly do more tong making videos and ones that are more instructional in nature. Thanks for watching. Glen

Very glad you like these tongs. Thanks.

+BVoris6977 For these tongs, I used 1018 mild carbon steel. I mostly prefer this material for tongs for a few reasons like ease of hammering and the ability to withstand repeated quenching without cracking. Thanks. Glen

These anvils are my own design which I had made. I couldn't find an anvil where I live (Taiwan) that satisfied me; the way I like to work. All told, I had three styles made. The first was about 150 pounds, the second (seen in this video) is about 88 pounds, and the third is the smallest, at about 65 pounds. You can see the third style side-by-side with my second one in newer videos. The very first one, I heat treated myself which was a real adventure - wish I had a video of that... Check my website for specs on my third anvil. Thanks for watching. Glen www.gstongs.com

+Glen GS Tongs ok I thought those were custom....I like the setup

+Phil Herb I appreciate you watching. Stay tuned for more... Glen

Raymond, Glad you like this video. Thanks for watching. Glen

Honestly, it's just a matter of practice and repetition. If you did tong making for as long as I have, I bet you'd be hammering circles around me. Thanks. Glen

And he dose it from a chair.

+Brett Smith I'm glad you appreciate my work. Yes, this is my main work. I make a variety of different tools for blacksmithing and similar trades and have been at this for a long while. I am very minimalistic and keep everything as simple as possible. But as with other craftsmen like blacksmiths, you likely don't get involved if your motivation is money. I supplement my income with other work, etc. Thanks for watching. Hoping my future videos will improve... Glen

Glen GS Tongs ok thank you for your reply. Im trying to find a way to make a living doing something I will enjoy lol. Its good to know it's possible with the right skills. Definitely looking forward for new videos. Thanks again and keep up the good work.

Paolo, I'm not sure that what I did in this video is mythical (mitico) but I really appreciate that you like this video. I will demonstrate more tong making in future videos. Thanks. Glen

You are really mithical And Very professional! I like Very mutch how You work !

Scott, Thanks for watching. Glen

Yes, that's definitely the key - stabilizing the workpiece as it's being upset so that it doesn't buckle too much. Thanks. Glen

+Çoup Dē Ģrace Thanks for your kind comment. I will re-do this video of making a flat tong some time soon. Glen

Christopher, I realize that my older videos, like this one, were pretty poor quality as far as filming and editing go. I've made some improvements since then but have a way to go. Thanks for watching all the same.

+gjb79ful Yes, I agree with you completely regarding the camera zoom / angle. I want to be able to closely show my hammering on the metal but the project gets obstructed on certain operations and my hand is always getting in the way. Because I have a wall in front of me, it's hard for me to find a perfect angle and distance (I would prefer the camera be in front). I will figure something out so please stick with my channel. Thanks. Glen

Sorry about that. I do show riveting in other videos and will be sure to include that in an upcoming tong making video. Thanks for watching.

+KEY EHEK I also prefer mild steel for tongs. I will sometimes use medium carbon steel - you can make a lighter tong that is stronger - but I constantly quench my tongs and so the chance of the medium carbon steel tongs cracking after repeated quenching exists. In order to add more stoutness to my mild steel tongs (I recently had some issues), I made some changes to the design that helps keep more metal in critical areas - the jaw and pivot areas. This has reduced the length even more from what you see in this video but it makes for a much more durable tong, in my opinion. When I have time, I will post more tong making videos. Thanks for watching. Glen

thanks for the reply i make my tongs from flat bar, usually 7 or 8mm thick stuff, this makes for a structurally very strong tong, because the material is quite thick. of course they get pretty hevy, but i yet have to learn a lot and so far this works best for me

щипчики для бровей получились...стильно,модно,молодежно

It really wasn't necessary but thanks for your support / intelligent comment; I appreciate it. I have no problem with constructive criticism but ignore the blatantly ridiculous... Have a Happy New Year. Glen

Funny how someone with 2 subscribers can be so critical of another persons video.

Maybe you should have listened to him at the beginning. He said there wasnt going to be much talking due to trying to get it in one take. All of his other videos have great explanations of what he is doing