On this page you can download two plans that can help you make Wooden kitchen tongs (toast tongs), a convenient gift for anyone that does a lot of cooking.

Codex of food serving and table manners are very different in various cultures and parts of the world, but they also have significantly changed during history. Nowadays some cultures do not tolerate touching food during serving, either with fingers or personal eating utensils, so that kitchen tongs are required utensils with every served bowl of solid food, such as bread, meat, fry and cooked food, salads, cookies, sugar lumps, ice cubes or pieces of fruits. Beside culturally aspect, using kitchen tongs is also imposed by hygienic and practical ones. By avoiding to touch food with hands, we can prevent food contamination and transfer of germs. In the restaurants and during food serving to a larger number of people, in the western culture it is absolutely inadmissible to touch food with hands before placing it on a plate. No one likes to take food from the buffet if someone has already touched it with his hands. Also, a large number of food will easily get broken during serving if it’s done with fork and food can also easily slip from the spoon. All of this is easily solved and prevented by using kitchen tongs.
 

Wooden kitchen tongs plan
Project type
Project difficulty
Simple
Skill level
for kids learning the woodworking and beginners
Level of workshop equipment
Home – basic hand toools
Applied woodworking joints
Butt joint reinforced with glue
Dimensions


Usually 150mm (6'') to 400mm (16'') long. Customize our design to your needs.

 

Tongs are kitchen utensils designed with the purpose to enable us to take and manipulate food without touching it with hands. Kitchen tongs have more purposes. Beside mentioned use for food serving, they are also used for manipulating food during preparation, for work with food while its hot and similar. They can be made of stainless steel, wood, bamboo, plastic or combination of these materials. Each of mentioned material has its own advantages. Wooden kitchen tongs, unlike metal ones, won’t scratch bowls during use, wood does not transmit heat so you won’t burn your hands while using them even if you have a longer contact with the hot bowl and they won’t melt like the plastic ones. Wooden tongs are excellent tools for serving various types of food, for getting off the meat and vegetables from the hot oil or hot water, french toast from the toaster, for turning meat on the grill.

Kitchen tongs
Kitchen tongs - Drawing
Toast tongs
Toast tongs - Drawing

 

Since we are fond of natural materials, our plans are dedicated to making a wooden tongs. Wooden tongs should be firm, so they could also be used to grab larger and heavier pieces of food and at the same time, they should be elastic, so that you can bend them while using them as much as you need. When choosing wood for making this wooden tongs, you should take care of mentioned features, but you should also take care of other wood characteristics – first of all, of safety in working with food. Kitchen utensils, since they come in direct contact with food, should exclusively be made of not toxic wood, that does not cause allergic reactions and that does not contain resins and  tannins.

Nails has a function to fasten joint between legs and Tapered block after gluing, to avoid use of clamp during glue drying time.

Market offers us wooden tongs made of different wood types, such as Wild cherry wood, Olive wood, Beech wood, Bamboo, Coconut wood, Curly maple wood … Because this tool requires flexibility, we advise you to make them of a wood type that has this feature, i.e. that has straight grain. Such are, for example, lance wood, hickory, yew wood, Osage orange, bamboo.

When finishing them, you should pay attention to achieving perfect smooth surface, in order to easily clean them and to avoid injures while using them. Since they come in direct contact with food, that’s often hot, we do not recommend any kind of finishing, but, if you would like to protect them, we advice you to cover them with some kind of food-safe finishing. Clean them with a hand washing and mild detergent. After washing, dry them well, so that water does not stay in the wood. Never leave them in the water for too long and avoid soaking it in water. They should not be washed in a dishwasher, because wood can snap. When not using them, keep them in a dry place.  

Our Tongs are extremely easy to produce and you can easily modify their size, so we recommend that you make them in a several different dimensions, and you can use them in various occasions and give them as a present to your friends and relatives who like to cook and who appreciate kitchen utensils made of natural materials.

 

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Submitted by Ceh Jan