Making Tongs

 As part of making my forge I had to make a set of tongs. I decided to make a very basic set of round stock tongs for my first time. Because my propane forge is made of an old air compressor tank, I added extra length to the handle to make it easier to pull out pieces, and I can hold it closer for better control.

I started by pounding the end of the rebar flat; then I curved it into a semicircle. Then, about an inch away from that, I pounded it flat at the opposite angle. To cause the pieces to fit together, I bent each end slightly.  To make the joint, I drilled a hole in each piece and slid a nail through. I heated up the nail and pounded it flat. The tongs are done. 

Civil War Soldier Costumes: Union & Confederate

Civil War Union Soldier Costume

Supplies :                                

• one blue suit jacket
• one pair blue suit pants
• two black shoes
• one blue Civil War cap
• yellow ribbon
• velcro dots
• two snaps
• one musket

 Directions :

• scavenge the yard sales and thrift stores for as many of the above pieces as possible.  it's a lot easier to make a good costume if you already have the basics, but don't pay a lot for them.  mom can usually find stuff for a quarter or fifty cents.  she says it's worth her time not to start from scratch!  for this project, we found the jacket at a garage sale for a quarter, and a pair of old lady suit pants (that we cut off) for fifty cents.  i already had the shoes and musket from my Revolutionary War costume.
• we got our Civil War caps in Pennsylvania, and we made our muskets.  mom sews a lot, but dad can make anything in the garage!  
• on another post, i'm going to show you how we made our muskets.
• on the pants, we sewed on yellow ribbon and stuck some velcro dots to make it look like white buttons, and mom pulled in the back about an inch.  the cool thing about that was that it gave the back the flared out pieces like a real uniform.  i sewed on a second set of buttons to make it look like it had two rows of buttons, but them mom put a couple of snaps on the inside so that we could take it on and off easily!

If you don't want to make one, here is where you can just buy one.  But it's more fun to make one!

Civil War Confederate Soldier Costume

 

 Supplies :                              

• one grey suit jacket
• one pair grey suit pants
• two black shoes
• one grey Civil War cap
• yellow ribbon
• velcro dots
• two snaps
• one musket

  Directions :

• scavenge the yard sales and thrift stores for as many of the above pieces as possible.  it's a lot easier to make a good costume if you already have the basics, but don't pay a lot for them.  mom can usually find stuff for a quarter or fifty cents.  she says it's worth her time not to start from scratch!  for this project, we found the jacket and pants for a dollar.  i already had the shoes and musket from my Revolutionary War costume.
• we got our Civil War caps in Pennsylvania, and we made our muskets.  mom sews a lot, but dad can make anything in the garage!  
• on another post, i'm going to show you how we made our muskets.
• on the jacket, we sewed on yellow ribbon and stuck some velcro dots to make it look like white buttons, and mom pulled in the back about four inches to make it fit my brother.  the cool thing about that was that it gave the back the flared out pieces like a real uniform.  i sewed on a second set of buttons to make it look like it had two rows of buttons, but them mom put a couple of snaps on the inside so that we could take it on and off easily!

If you don't want to make one, here is where you can just buy one.  But it's more fun to make one!

I've also been making some accessories for my Civil War costumes, like this sewing kit that can be carried.  I used flower cloth because that's probably what they would have available, from scraps, and just sewed two rectangles together with a ribbon to close it.