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Chose hand-forged tongs over my fancy store-bought set at the blacksmith meetup
Last month at a guild demo in Portland, a guy let me try his hand-forged tongs on a 1-inch bar. My $60 store set slipped twice, his held perfect on the first grab. I traded a spare anvil stand for them that night. Now I use them for everything, even the small stuff. The grip is just better where the steel is drawn out thin. Anyone else swap a fancy tool for something rough but hand-made?
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baker.phoenix1mo ago
Man, that hits home hard. I had the exact same thing happen with a set of old farrier's nippers I picked up at a flea market. My expensive ones kept flexing on heavy stock, but those beat up ones, they just bite and hold no matter what. Now I'm convinced that the heat treat and the way the steel is drawn out matters way more than a shiny finish or a brand name. It's like once you feel the difference, you can't go back to the pretty stuff.
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