Railroad spike tongs
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- čas přidán 27. 11. 2016
- Today I make a set of railroad spike tongs for forging spikes.
It's a bit hap hazzard but hey, I got there!
T-shirts: teespring.com/give-it-some-be...
My Amazon page with some of the tools and equipment I use in my videos.
UK: www.amazon.co.uk/shop/garyhuston
US: www.amazon.com/shop/garyhuston #GaryHuston #Blacksmithing #Farrier #ASMR #Horseshoeing #Fabrication #Ironwork #Hoofcare #welder #repairs #horse #farriery #engineering - Zábava
I want my Give it some Beans shirt!! Just 1 more reservation is needed to relaunch the campaign! LOL
gary - super job - i respect your try - your not a quitter - hang in there and heal up - gary
Well done Gary.
I really like those. Thank you for the video instructions
I can certainly appreciate having problems with your hands, cause I'm a nurse and have been dealing with my own hand issues (not nearly as bad as you have) over the last 3 months. I love your dedication and tenacity. Great job!!
Monte Turner thank you, I hope yours heals soon.
Exactly as pretty as they need to be, Form Follows Function. Nice job !
Absolutely!
Your commentary is my favorite part of the videos. You do an exceptional job letting us know how your thinking about a job and that is really quite helpful. You are certainly one of my favorites and I have learned quite a bit from you. Thank you. I realize this video is older, and I think I have seen since your hand is doing better. I have issues also and in the states we can get DMSO from the farm store which actually helps and reduces swelling. I use it on many of my aches and pains and works pretty well for many. Look into it. If you cannot get it, I would gladly send you a bottle.
Truegrit Scott I’ve just looked it up and it seems we can get it here quite easily. I will get some and give it a try..
Gary Huston good deal Gary.. It is actually used on horses here quite a lot and is bet it was horsemen that got folks on it. I use it often for my aches n pains and it is good on most like arthritis.. I mix it with a bit of mint oil and vegetable glycerin.. Hope it gives you some relief. I'm not a huge hocus pocus erb type but this one works.. Best wishes from a big fan.
Thanks, I’ll give it a try.
I was waiting for that lightbulb moment when you realised that you should have set the reins down. However I think if you made the set down the reins would have been too thin. Thanks for the video, keep up the great work and I hope your hand heals soon. Greetings from Namibia.
Another fantastic video Gary! Nice craftsmanship. Will keep you in prayer for the healing of your hand!
very nice gary. i can't wait to make a pair.
Nice work! Thanks for sharing.
Man just seeing this video for the first time , those tongs were awesome , with a bung hand at the time you did a great job , hope all is well with your hand these days. 👍
The hand is OK now but I'm now off for months after major shoulder surgery!😖
I completely understand how you feel. I still have problems with my right hand for the last 15 years. All I do is heat it. When I took a blacksmithing class at college it'll hurt now then. And would drop my material all over the place because my hand couldn't hold my tongs tight enough without hurting myself. It's also cool you have some railroad spikes. You can make a tomahawk axe with it.
Great Job! This is what I love about your videos. We get to see the blacksmithing "warts and all" including how to fix the errors. You have a very practical style that just makes sense to me. As a machinist I've taught many a young man that the difference between me and them is that I've made more mistakes and so gained knowledge and experience. I've always told them that the difference between an apprentice and a toolmaker was that a toolmaker has more experience fixing his mistakes (and hopefully makes less of them). Another great video! Thanks!
Wise words indeed!
its great to see you back in the workshop...;-p
If only I could do more!
Nice! Hope you have a speedy recovery
Thanks but I’m fully recovered, this video is five years old!
You are still pretty slick Gary!!!!
Thanks
Great video Gary ... But you must remember to take care of yourself, let your hand recover.
we can and we will wait until you are ready again, So do not "kill" yourself for our sake. ;-)
we will be there again when you'r hand is recovet and fit for fight again ...
I do really like you'r work's, so many thanks for showing ... ;-))
Thanks, just trying to keep the channel alive!
TERRAIN HARDY
Even your worst is your BEST !!! Thanks...
brilliant video looking forward to the next one
Brendan Davey, thanks.
Gary, it's wonderful to see you back hitting on anvil! Your skills are still perfect and whole your channel is a mine of blacksmith knowledge. I can say, that I've started blacksmithing after hours of watching your videos and listening your voice. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and skills. Despite all adversities please keep it going!
DUBST KFD thanks for your kind words..
Thank you for the post. I'd be willing to wait any amount of time before you posted another video in the shop. As long as you get better man! I wish you good Karma and good luck sir.
tellket, thanks, just trying to keep my channel alive!
I've only just subscribed, even though I've been watching your videos for ages. I do a bit of (very) amateur smithing on my smallholding for minor repairs, etc, and you are really an inspiration.
I really feel for you regarding your hand, and I know you could really do with a power hammer. Have any of your subscribers suggested getting one by crowdfunding? You get what you need, we get more Gary Huston videos.....what's not to like?
Seth Belson thanks for your kind words and idea. The cost isn't the problem it's the space! I can't afford a bigger shop to put it in!
this guy is the real deal. He knows his stuff. Thanks for all the tips and tricks
Best of luck with your hand, Gary. Get more referrals! Also, thanks for the design idea, I'll be stealing it for my own set of tongs. I just might set down the boss first to align the bits...but your design worked so well it may be a fool's errand changing the design. Be proud that, even with one hand down, you have fewer drops of hot steel than most of us.
Louis Lestini, thanks, I will. It's just my interpretation of a pair I saw on CZcams, please adopt, adapt and improve!
Enjoyed the video.... I can’t even manage simple tongs..... best of luck with the hand!!!!
Thanks 👍
"Not the prettiest..." ? ! Gary, my friend, a tool can have no greater beauty than to do its job well.
Well I'm having a tough time watching you after following you for around 3 years now. I hope and pray your wrist heals up so you can get back to the pro I used to watch. I have a back injury that killed my career so I know how it feels to not be able to do what your best at.
Please note that it hard watching because I know how good you are and it kills me to watch you struggling now. God bless and get well soon.
Thanks
I like them. They will work well.
I feel the need to tell you that you have been my inspiration for learning the trade of blacksmithing I watch every little thing you do I have watched tons of others on CZcams but somehow you stand out, if I were close I'd hold Materials for your bad Hand any day but I live thousands of miles away
Thank you !!
Thank you for those kind words!
I find myself "googleing" often.
Always enjoy seeing you work the metal!
Great stuff Gary. Feel better soon
cigarcaptain thanks.
love the design. good show
Hey Gary, thanks for posting the video and also taking time to voice over when you edit. It really shows how much you put into your craft. Cheers from DWF
I'm nicking that siezed tool trick. Nice one Gary! 👍
Here in the States we have people called Occupational Therapists. They are keen on making adaptive equipment and finding techniques for people with physical limitations. There is a science to this sort of thing I don't know much about. Built up handles etc. . . It might be worth looking into this.
Glad you are back to forging hope that hand gets better, you need to get you some tong clips or make them and relieve some of the pressure off that hand.
Nice Job mate. Wish you all the best with your hand, hope it does get better.
John Ferguson thanks
Forti quelle pinze! Ottimo lavoro!
I'm sorry to hear about your hand..
I hope you recover soon.
First time I've watched. Very talented.
lovely stuff
Jim Jackson thanks!
You could add a keeper on the handle side of the tongs, it will keep the pressure on the handles so as your grip wont suffer so.
+Raquel Bauman see my previous response
Good one mate well done, hope that hand gets better.
Really good video! Thanks for the idea. I am part of a forge club at my college and I make all the tongs for them and they have a lot of rail road spikes so I think I will forge a set like yours. Again awesome video!
AmateurForger721 post a photo when you're done.
Nice!
I like the new stile of vidio, its fresh and personal but it still has the feeling of your earlier work. Keep up the great work and I hope your hand improves.
Tristan Arnold, thanks, you can all have a laugh at my ugly mug!
Beautiful job! I'm so sorry about your hand! Don't over do it! You got my subscription! Love the tongs and will be attempting them here very shortly! Hope you are back to yourelf quickly! Keep on ⚒️ ing my friend!
I empathize. I have some nerve damage in my left hand. As well as some wrist issues. That is quite a good looking tool in my opinion. (a vinegar soaked cloth can help with the swelling and pain. You will probably want to cover your hand with a plastic bag as a barrier to the vinegar smell.)
Great Video
Patrick Smiley, thanks
All the best
Graham Blackmore thanks.
Very good video. Hopefully your hand gets better soon.
I feel your frustration Gary, I really do. Really hope something can be done about your hand. After all the sawing and filing with the model steam engine last winter, then an accident when a dog pulled me and ruined my shoulder, had to almost do without my right arm for the summer. Ok now as long as I don't over do it much.....just telling you as I know how frustrating it is.
Now, just a suggestion, that's all, but how about fabricating things. Would make some interesting videos, you know I enjoy yours.
Just trying to help with an idea.
Malc.
I remember my Dad was a plumber,and he had tools can't remember what.But it must have been some sort of clamping holding thing.and they had a clip on the hand end one was a full ring on the handle and the other cupped the other handle,he would knock it back to put more pressure on and then he could just more or less guide the tool in his hand took pressure of his grip.
One other thing. To work on your grip, squeeze a tennis ball. And I also love to our idea I am going to make my own using you idea.
Big Bear (Leo)
Looking good , I just cut my tongs with my cnc plasma lol !......
love your videos ( hope the hand gets well )
Just subscribed but I have been watching your videos for a long while. Enjoy all of them. Great work. Need to take care of yourself. Nothing to do with your videos, but you look a lot like the country singer Mel Tillis. Great singer. Take care.
Wow, I can only imagine how quickly you'd pump these out if you had a plan and have done a few already..
And without the dud hand.
You make it look easy, if my first pair of tongs takes less than 2 days, and does what it's supposed to, I'll be chuffed.
Angle grinder safety 100%💥💥💥💥👍👍👍👍
What??!
@@garyhuston ur using a angle grinder with one hand I was being sarcastic
@@bluenomad5728 isn’t that what everyone does?
@@garyhuston I guess not?? Perhaps I’m the only person who uses a vice and two hands when using angle grinder
Gary I know you don't think much of vice grips as tongs,but maybe you should consider it, at least until your wrist is healed up. Take a piece of that 10 by 25 and weld it to pair of vice grips as a handle, so you're not having to squeeze to hold to work in the grips.Again at least until your wrist is all healed.
Nice idea but as I mentioned in another post I really need to be able to constantly adjust the position of the tongs, especially when shoe making.
Well done on the tongs. Still wishing you the best on your recovery for the hand. Know you've suffered with it for sometime now.
Thanks. I have.
Gary... When will you your continue your horseshoeing or have you already. Absolutely love your videos and your talk as you go along. Do hope you recover fully. Prayers follow you....Mike
I'm back shoeing but not doing much.
Is it wrong to hit like before the video even starts with the reasoning that's its Gary's so it must be good ??
Nah, it's just making an educated guess :)
Ill hit like if I want to, if you dont want to.... dont, but dont assume to tell others what they can or should do.
raquel is it hypocritical to be bossing people around about not bossing people around when they asked a question punc'd with double question marks?
Nope and my grammar isn't in play here. Maybe next time ;)
you need to make a wedge that fits in the square hole in your anvil. you could cut that way
Mate since you have some trouble with your grip on the tongs. Try using rings of different sizes to close and lock the tongs then you will just need to hold without squeezing. Just a idea. Let me know if it works
Big Bear (Leo)
hello sir, i have an idea that might make your life a little easier holding those tongs.. i think that if you make something like a ring that slides on the tong handles and push it farther from the "mouth" of the tongs, it might be able to squeeze the tongs pretty firmly. something like "locking" tongs. pretty easy to make and try out i believe. i hope that helps. keep up the great work. i have learned a lot from you. thank you very much :)
+Themistoklis Anastasiadis, yes, I have used them for years, a very old system.
Nice. A mate of mine bought a kit to make bolt tongs and it did not come out that well.
Gary,, with the way these tongs are designed they can really only hold a spike one way, which means that you most likely will not be releasing and grabbing the spikes in another manner,. So what if you added a band around the handles that would slide back and forth to lock or release the tongs hold on a spike? This would drastically reduce the amount of gripping force required and thus be far easier on your hand as well as make forging a bit easier for you. Anyway, just a thought that I hope will be helpful. Godspeed with your recovery and be well mate. Cheers!
Peace!
+Jeffrey Vastine yes that would work for these tongs but how often am I going to be forging a spike? Not as often as the rest of my work.
Good one ya for just having a go and them turning out decent! I might suggest a offset in the boss to help with rein alignment. I had hoped that the surgeries would allow your hands to improve. Would a set of adjustable rein clips help so you wouldn't have to grasp the tongs? I have a couple patterns I like that I would share with you or even send you a couple.
Hey Gary, what if you modify your tongs to have a clamping device like forceps? squeeze them and they kind of ratchet and clamp down and then squeeze them again and kinda pull them apart and they open up and release. It might take some finagling but i think that would help you out a lot if you can get that worked out
Nice idea, i'll have to see about getting some ratchets lazer cut!
Gary Huston building on that Idea forge a figure eight piece just give the tongs a slight squeeze and slip the figure eight piece over the reigns and take the pressure off so to make the figure eight take the strain of your hand. A slight depression in each reign so the eight piece snugs into them makes a even nicer fit.
Great tongs Gary and sorry about your bum hand.
Very nice work. Hope you can get your hand fixed so you can be pain free!
You can reduce the wear and tear on your hand by sliding a C shaped piece of iron over the reins near the hinge and then tapping it back toward the end of the reins to lock the tongs on to the work. I'm surprised you don't do this.
Rb Duffer, it's a pain, lots of people have mentioned it, it's fine if you want to hold something in one place but if you need to adjust the angle, which I generally do, it's a pain. On lots of forging jobs my hand is constantly gripping and relaxing to get the job where I want it.
Hey man, watch your videos ocassionally, was wondering - to help your hand grip, have you thought about maybe forging out some sort of adjustable tong-rings to hold the tongs closed on your pieces so all you're having to do is hold and turn instead of trying to grip, hold and turn?
taladan please read my earlier comments on this subject.
hey! to spare your hand, can you make a video about tongs? a kind of show and tell it would be awesome 😊
thanks!
haackstuart I already made one! check out the tools and equipment playlist.
I enjoyed this a lot.
I do hope your hand is back up to par as soon as possible. Is it smithing related?
Nice work. I need a pair of those RR spike tongs and I think I can make them. What kind of steel are you using Mild, Tool or spring steel?
Workshop of Death, just mild steel.
I think they turned out really nice, when i saw rhe title i thought you would make them way different. But i really like your design.
thanks Jacob
Gary - Great pair of tongs! I have a question about the MIG welding process you used to attach the reins. I really want to be able to do the same thing.
Did you get the weld material to penetrate all the way to the center of the weld joint, and if so how? Did you chamfer the ends of the reins and jaws where they came together at the weld joint? Or did you just butt the 2 ends up against each other and do the weld? In other words, does the weld material reach all the way to the center, or is there an unwelded spot in the center?
I had thought of grinding a very blunt conical end on the two pieces being welded together and then touching the two points of the conical ends together and welding at that spot. Is that what you did?
I have a collection of spikes and am actively making pieces with them, so your video is very much appreciated.
dancrampton, yes if you watch closely you will see a chamfer on the ends of both reins and jaws. I just butt them together and weld all round. Probably not right to the middle but close. Good enough for this job!
cut a band of copper pipe warm it knock it oval than slide it over the handles when held tight closed to lock them
+martin turner I've already got steel rings for that!
Sorry to hear about your hand. Carpel tunnel I assume. Regardless, your videos are some of the very best. Extremely informative. Thank you for sharing. By the way, did you also make your cross peen hammer? And those tongs are beautiful!!
a.n. longoria, yes, carpal tunnel release that went wrong, damaged the median nerve. Left me worse than before! No, I didn't make the hammer.
Nice job mate. Can i ask, how would you suggest a newbie start by getting a fire/ heat set-up? I am keen to have a crack at my own metal work. Thanks from Australia !
Garry Mansfield, that all depends on budget, space and availability of materials. If you can afford it just buy a good gas forge. If money is tight you can build one of the many designs of brake drum forge and burn Coke or coal. Lots of options really.
Thanks Gary, i have decided to run gas in a used 9kg Gag Bottle. Cheers, and thanks.
I read somewhere that you should tuck your thumb in on your hammering hand to avoid getting wrist problems.. can't remember where i read that. hope it helps!!
Where would one tuck it exactly?
Gary Huston so that the index finger meets the thumb or thereabouts (wrapped around the handle rather than resting the thumbprint on the handle). i got a very bad wrist from a few days of solid forging and this definitely took the strain off
I think that would be most uncomfortable and you would have no control over your hammer blows, i'll try it though.
can relate with the hands, , and why you want a task fit tool ,the less strain you put on the hand , the easier it is on the body ,similar handicap frustrating
Felt really sorry for you, seeing you struggle. Did those low life's steel anything from you?
May I ask why you forge your jaws/boss area separately from your handles? I have only ever seen vids with the working ends forged from the handles, thus no welds needed. Is there a specific reason for your method or is it basically "I do it that way because that's how I learned to do it"? Enjoyed your vid, hope your hand gets better soon!
Because I don't have a power hammer and it's a waste of time and effort drawing out reins when a simple weld can have it done in seconds.
Thank you so much for the info. Love watching you work, just watched you shoe Phoeni
Why not make a C clip to put on your tongs to help hold them closed with your hand issues.
I don’t like them, they don’t have the same control.
Next time try putting the tie in the vise
For what?
Is this a voice over or are you talking then and there?
Obviously the first bit is there and then, the forging is voice over.
Great tutorial! I hope your wrist recovers soon... :|
Nathan Tonning, thank you.
would anyone please be able to tell me ruffle how long a railway spike is
The ones I have are about 6 1/2" including the head but they do differ slightly.
Gary Huston thanks for the info
Gary check out big dog forge he has an excellent video for spike tongs
Don't need to now iv'e made them!
looks like the pain meds were doing their job quite well.(joke).but I too have problems with my hands and living in the U.S. makes fixing them so expensive suffering seems the only option available for now
Why can't you get RR spikes there?
+christopher caldwell because the rail roads don't use them here..
christopher caldwell because over in the U.K we use coach bolts instead of spikes.
wood, which is why they screw them down with coach screws!
Previously wood but recently concrete.
What's the reason you can't get railroad spikes in your country?
Shane K because they aren't used here. Our lines are screwed down.
Stiff upper lip Brother. The hand will get there.
you teach us how to make stuff "nail man" hope you got my email, and perseverance.
I did get your mail. Nice use of nails!
gary i think you have spent to much time hanging about with the toffs
it would have been polite of you to give a shout out to the person who sent you them spikes im sure is cost the person a pretty penny or two
even if he requested you didnt mention the name you could have still thanked them in your video
Two people sent me them in the same week and I'm sure they know who they are. As for cost one person picked them up for free from the rail track. Not sure how much it was to post them here but it sure cost me a hell of a lot in import duty! The other person, we do a trade, either goods or knowledge. I was going to thank them by name when I made something with the ones they sent.
Hope you get better about your hand sir. You really sound frustrated. Cheers.
@Gary Hudson wher you born into this?
born into what?
Good Technique. My Only Problem Is You Whine Like A Little Girl Though The Whole Video. Good Luck
Thomas Baldwin Lol! You must have an ism! You feel the need to capitalize every word!