I’ve come to realize that my small shop is woefully lacking in some basic tools, in particular, tongs. Most of the work I’ve done in my own shop has been with smaller stock. But now that I’m getting into larger, more complex pieces, I don’t have the tongs I need.
The solution is simple enough – make some. However, the only tongs I’ve made so far were done at a much larger shop, and were drawn-out using an air hammer. I started on a couple of sets of new tongs this evening…
I now understand where the expressions “a long, drawn-out process“, and “I’m all drawn-out” (i.e. tired / exhausted) come from.
Drawing out by hand sucks – particularly when you don’t have the right tongs to firmly hold the stock you’re working with. This first pair I’m making will be the right size to hold the stock for the other pairs; so hopefully that’ll help with the next ones.
