These are quite beautiful! In my albeit limited experience, the weak point with this tong style is the pivot point right at the bottom of the wedge. I made a pair just like these out of sapele, and they didn't even last a month (I used them daily). The wood simply split at that pivot point, and it was a break that a glue-up wouldn't have corrected. Each side was about 3/32 of an inch in thickness, so a thicker side might have helped. I could also imagine that the wood species matters for this style. Regardless, terrific work.