Rant: My tongs broke right in the middle of a big scroll order

I was working on a set of 20 iron scrolls for a gate in my shop last Tuesday. I had the piece at a bright orange heat and went to twist it, but the reins on my old tongs just snapped clean off. I had to grab the hot end with my vise grips to finish the twist before it cooled too much. Has anyone else had a tong failure like that, and what's your go-to quick fix?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_margaret11d ago

Vise grips are a solid save, but doesn't that risk marring the work? Maybe keep a cheap pair of bolt tongs as a dedicated backup.

nathana4811d ago

But how much damage are we talking about here?

lisa74911d ago

Honestly used to grab the vise grips for everything. Ruined a nice set of calipers once, left these awful jaw marks. Now I keep a pair of those beat-up old tongs right on the bench for when things get stuck.