Super Special Salad Tongs

I made wooden salad tongs with a special spring opening mechanism. I made them because I did not have any at home and it was frustrating having to just use two forks. With only the forks it takes so long to get the salad onto your plate but with salad tongs they would fix that problem.

1. Wood
2. Metal rod ( at least 1 1/2 inches long)
3. Band saw (or other saw)
4. Sand paper
5. Chisel
6. Drill
7. Tape measure

Get two pieces of wood. Make them 1 foot long, 1 1/2 in wide, 1/2 in thick. Lable one piece of wood A and the other B. Cut a straight line down the piece of wood 1/2 an inch in from the side and 6 1/2 inches down. Do this on both sides of the pieces of wood. Do this to both A and B pieces of wood.

On piece A cut 1/2 an inch in from the side and 3/8 of an inch down from the top.

On piece B, measure 1 1/4 inch down, from the top. Cut straight across from one pre cut line to the other to remove the top section (see photo).

To create the finshed look of the tongs, on the band saw, cut the sharp edge off on both pieces A and B to give it a rounded look. Then sand till smooth. ( Look at photos)

On piece B, in the middle strip, chisel a 45 degree angle at the end of the middle section of wood.

On piece A, chisel two 45 degree angle on both outer strips of the wood.

By this point this is what your project should look like.

Drill a holl in piece A, that is slightly smaller than the metal rod you are going to use for this project.

On piece B, drill a holl the same size that you did for step 8. Drill straight thought both of the outer strips. ( Make sure you have something on the ground that you can drill straight down into so you can drill all the way through your piece of wood).

Cut the metal rod to 1 1/2 inches long. Face the two peaces of wood so that the two rounded ends face, like in the photo ubove. Push the medal rod through the three holes.

This is a project that will teach you so many great skills that you can use for other aspects of life. While you are doing this project keep in mind that the more exact you are the nicer your end project will turn out. Be aware of the way that you use the tongs because they only work the one way. I learned to be patient with my self and to not get frustrated because when you are mad at your self it is way easire to reck you project.