For The Love Of Port

Mike K. wrote:What is the larger loop for? Magnums?

I can't say for sure. I'll try clamping them on a magnum and see if that makes any sense. My tongs are like this, by the way:

Mike K. wrote: What is the larger loop for? Magnums?

No

It does seem like more of just a design issue, and heating at the hinge point might not be a good thing.

I have vertical tongs and the inside diameter is 3 cm.

I bought my tongs at the Sandeman lodge. I was worried that they would be a tourist gimmick, but they work really well and I've used them to open way over 100 bottles. It's my standard method of opening bottles of port at home from the 1960s or earlier. Occasionally I have to bend the ends of the loop back together if I'm a bit enthusiastic in the pressure I apply to the neck of the bottle, but this is easily done with a pair of pliers.

The loop is larger then the neck of most bottles, but this is actually quite convenient as it means that I need to slope the tongs to get a full 360 degree contact with the glass - which results in a nice little pouring spout once I've taken the top off the bottle. I last used my tongs on Saturday when I opened a bottle of unknown port which turned out to have a branded cork on which was written "Offley Boa Vista Vintage 1962". A port I had never tried before!

And because the split in the glass is usually so clean, if you want to restore the bottle and keep it as a trophy it is relatively easy to use a glass weld type of adhesive to stick the neck together and appear to have a pristine bottle.

I don't want to advertise to much, but because there are hard to find. We sell them (and ship through Europe): https://www.vinhodoporto.nl/accessoires/Port_tang

Update: Per Moses's suggestion, I found a local (hour away) blacksmith that was willing to make a set for me. He was very excited as he had never heard of port tongs and enjoyed the 'unusual' job.

Based on the measurements you folks provided, and measuring a few current and vintage bottles I have I decided that I needed diameters of 30mm and 35mm to cover most bottles. So I asked the blacksmith to put clamping areas of both diameters on the set.

My dad (retired) does woodworking as a hobby so I asked him to turn a pair of handles.

So I've got my tongs! I've opened a few bottles of both dimensions and they work great. Such fun! :)

Thanks for sharing, those are beautiful. You can really see the craftsmanship. Enjoy.

Beautiful.

Very nice!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

i will buy a pair LOL. Great job very impressed. SushiNorth from tpf has made port lancets I believe (its a metal cable threaded in to a circle with tension on both ends to tighten circle around the neck of the bottle. Having been bugging him for years to make me a set. Now I will bug you to make me a set of those AWESOME tongs as well.

Hey All! Looks like the group here shares one of my joys. My passion project website was mentioned in an earlier post in this thread so I just wanted to pop in and say hi. https://porttongs.com/products/wine-tongs is my site.

We have been hand making Port Tongs for several years now and we think we have the design specs perfected. I think we are on our fourth iteration of the design after much testing.

I don't intend to advertise so if the link isn't allowed I will happily remove. And I have to say - nice work Mike K. Those are nice looking tongs. Our tongs are vertical as I find them a bit easier to control but yours are lovely.

Perhaps I have OCd (and when I say perhaps I mean full blown) but I have 3 pairs over the vertical tongs and none of the horizontal variety. One of my three pairs has gotten very stretched out from usage over the years (use them at least one a week every week) so they have been retired.
I feel as though my sets dont get deep enough on the neck of some bottles to point the glass breaks above the cork line.
This is why I seek out the horizontal stle in hopes of using them on some of my longerneck or longer cork bottles.

I should l use tongs whenever I open a bottle and someone is around who has not seen it before. Same as sabering champagne. A few friends call me tms or top my shi$as I have the "show off gene" I guess,

Port tongs person (no name aside from porttongs and do not feel comfortable addressing you as porttongs)
Your set seems to have more space between the tip you heat up and the screw where the two pieces meet thereby eliminating some of my concerns with my tongs not getting deep enough on some bottles.
Any chance your offering a special to the fortheloveorport postes who have multiple sets of vertical tongs already but are willing to spend a little more for a 4th set

David Co wrote:Port tongs person (no name aside from porttongs and do not feel comfortable addressing you as porttongs)
Your set seems to have more space between the tip you heat up and the screw where the two pieces meet thereby eliminating some of my concerns with my tongs not getting deep enough on some bottles.
Any chance your offering a special to the fortheloveorport postes who have multiple sets of vertical tongs already but are willing to spend a little more for a 4th set

His name is Jon (his username has now been changed). I'd shoot him an email (use the link under his username) and ask. I'm sure others on the Forum would like to get a well made set of Tongs.

David,
You noticed. I had the same issue you describe before we resolved it in one of the earlier revisions. Frankly, I think a lot of the overseas makers of some of the Port Tongs aren't really consumers. Send me a PM and I will see about what we can do to get you a pair to add to your collection.

Andy, sorry about the username snafu. I was able to login (obviously) - all is well. Thank you again for your hospitality.

Thanks,
Jon
Owner - http://PortTongs.com

David Co wrote:Perhaps I have OCd (and when I say perhaps I mean full blown)

I have CDO. It's like OCD, but with the letters in alphabetical order like they should be.

Was looking into port tongs for my 40th.
Dont have anything too too crazy to open (70 Fonseca magnum, 63 Taylor and Graham) but some of the crowd wont be super familiar w port and could use a little show.
Felt cheap and came across the following https://www.instructables.com/id/Port-Tongs/.
Does anyone here have mileage w these more improvised types of tongs?

Miguel Simoes wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2020 11:54 am Was looking into port tongs for my 40th.
Dont have anything too too crazy to open (70 Fonseca magnum, 63 Taylor and Graham) but some of the crowd wont be super familiar w port and could use a little show.
Felt cheap and came across the following https://www.instructables.com/id/Port-Tongs/.
Does anyone here have mileage w these more improvised types of tongs?

See Jon Page above....

John M. wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2020 12:02 pm

Miguel Simoes wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2020 11:54 am Was looking into port tongs for my 40th.
Dont have anything too too crazy to open (70 Fonseca magnum, 63 Taylor and Graham) but some of the crowd wont be super familiar w port and could use a little show.
Felt cheap and came across the following https://www.instructables.com/id/Port-Tongs/.
Does anyone here have mileage w these more improvised types of tongs?

See Jon Page above....

I did read this thread and was one click away from buying his but didnt quite feeling like spending shy of $200...

Reaching out to see if anyone has tried to do like in the video (or some other method not requiring actual tongs) and whether it works consistently well.

$200 isnt much in that they'll last a lifetime or two, but if i can make do w a $10 wire, why go there...