I finally understood why my tongs kept slipping on round stock

I was working on a set of fireplace tools last week, trying to twist some 3/8 inch round bar. My go-to flat bit tongs just would not hold it, no matter how much I tightened them. After the third time it spun and almost hit my leg, I remembered an old video from a smith in Texas. He said, 'If your tool doesn't fit the work, you're fighting yourself.' I ground a shallow V into the jaws, and it was like night and day. What's your usual fix for a bad grip on round stock?

2 comments

2 Comments

palmer.jana1mo ago

Ever see that happen? My buddy tried to use channel locks on some rod and it shot across his shop. He just wraps a strip of leather around the stock now for a cheap fix.

jennifer4901mo ago

My old man taught me that trick with the leather strip back in his garage days. I keep a few cut up pieces of an old belt in my toolbox just for that. It gives you way more grip than bare metal and doesn't mark up the stock. Saved my knuckles more than once when a wrench was about to slip.