Blacksmith Tongs

If you have ever seen many pictures of Blacksmith shops you will immediately recognize that for some reason Blacksmiths seem to want a gazillion tongs. Why? I mean how many tongs could a blacksmith possibly need?

The short answer is a whole bunch! The tongs serve to hold hot metal... very hot metal! The metal will be hit with a hammer repeatedly. Did I mention the metal is hot? Blacksmith long enough and you are bound to get burned. If the tongs do not hold securely then the metal will move and be harder to work properly. Or worse, the metal could go flying and land in your pocket! Where it will proceed to do all sorts of damage to you and your clothes as you hop around like you have ants in your pants. Blacksmiths try to avoid being burned and using the proper tool helps greatly. Below you will see a number of different tongs. Take note on how many shapes they are designed to hold and how the tongs are designed not only to hold a specific shape but also a specific size of each shape.