Snapped my punch tongs on a cold chisel blade last Tuesday in the shop

I was shaping a 3/4 inch cold chisel from some 5160 bar stock and my old punch tongs gave out right at the jaw. Heard a pop, felt the heat drop out of the reins, and looked down to see the rivet had sheared clean through. I finished the chisel by holding it with a pair of big flat tongs wrapped in a wet rag, which worked way better than it should have for keeping the blade cool. Been meaning to build a proper set of bolt tongs for a while now, this might be the kick in the pants I needed. Anyone got a go to rivet setup for tong repairs, or do you just forge new jaws and weld them on?

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murray.jana22d ago

That pop sound is the worst, I had a pair of wolf jaw tongs let go on me last spring and it scared the daylights out of me. I just drill out the old rivet and use a piece of 1/4 inch round stock for a new one, peen it over and call it good. Forging new jaws always seems like more work than it's worth unless the reins are still solid.

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