Wooden Tongs

[Mad Mike]

I have considered trying to make these before. Never tried to bend anything wooden to such a small radius before.
There were a few false starts - one nice straight piece of hazel split nicely onto 2 spiral halfs.

The bend is far from perfect but it seems to work. I tied it to shape for a few days before doing any carving.

I made them long for use on fires. It sort of reminds me of some laundry tongs my Gran used to have.

Ends trimmed to match

Strong enough to handle a slippery heavy item

Carved a depression in each end to help hold things without crushing.

I cannot be the first person to make something like this, but I don't remember seeing a pair made from a single bit of bent wood.

Still on the lookout for a narrow evenly forked branch to try something with

Mike

 

[Toddy]

Oh very good I like those
I can see them being very practical at a fire.....my Gran had laundry tongs along those lines too......used to haul whites out of the boiling water.

Did you just slowly bend them round into shape, or did you do anything to the to-be-bent-bit first ? Like steam, or hot water, or heated ?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[resnikov]

That is really nice. Like that a lot.

 

[andyc54]

i was expecting wooden thongs i think i need to go to speck savers

i'll get my coat

good job and very handy did you soak the wood to form the bend ?

 

[Bardster]

Excellent stuff Mike. I have made a few pairs of tongs for picking material out of dye pots. Tend to be made on the spur of the moment in a rush. I like the bent version better! My version was just to split a hazel rood about 3/4 length and tie cordage at the point where the split stops to stop it going any further, with a few runs or cordage between the two split pieces to hold them apart a little way.

 

[mikeybear]

Mike

I'm curious how you managed to bend the wood too.

They look very good.

well done .



cheers

MikeyBear

 

[wildranger]

This is a cool idea! I must try it out in the woods tomorrow, I'll heat a half of a split stick over the hot coals and bend it into shape. Another cool type of tongs, which can even be used to pick up and transport heavy rocks is the "scissor-type" - two sturdy sticks lashed together tightly about 3/4 of the way down and used very much like a hedge clippers.

 

[Mad Mike]

Thanks guys.

I thinned the centre section with an axe & bent it a bit over a fire (The fire was way to big to be close to for long). Did the rest at home using hot water & formed it around an empty soy sauce bottle that happened to b in the recycling box. Tied with cord to about the desired opening to cool & dry.
A better way is to find a tree growing in the right shape for something, like I did last week ...

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=85133

in case you missed it



Mike

 

[Whittler Kev]

Nice one squirrel

 

[Sean Hellman]

Great job, not seen tongs that big before. I have made one piece nut crackers and found that green goat or grey willow bent without any heating, steaming, or boiling at all.

 

[DannyFirepiston]

I think I might try making something like that with a strip of bamboo, if it works, I'll have a use for all of the stuff growing around my house!