HoldFasts from LV not Holding

Re: HoldFasts from LV not Holding

William Duffield

First, use some petroleum distillate to remove the petroleum based rust inhibitor.

Second, use some 80 grit sandpaper to give them a little "tooth." rub it around the shaft, not up and down.

Third, let them develop just a little surface rust, to further augment the "tooth". Normal use should keep the corrosion within reasonable limits.

You don't mention what material your bench top is made from, nor the weight of your mallet. You haven't applied wax or a finish to the inside of your dog holes, have you?

If you are using a dense (especially an oily tropical) hardwood, your dog holes may be too long. For example, my Gramercy holdfasts hold just fine 1-7/8" hard maple and in 1-1/4" white oak. If your bench top is too thick, you might want to remove some material from the bottoms of the dog holes by boring them out to a larger diameter until their effective length is a bit less than three inches. But, please, experiment first on some scrap of the same type of wood you built your top from.

Re: HoldFasts from LV not Holding

AZ in Colorado Springs

I have Gramercy holdfasts that I got through Tools fro Working Wood. I presume they're the same product. My bench top is 3-9/16" thick Douglas fir. I very never had a problem. I wonder if your bench top is a harder wood or an oily species. Sir Williams's suggestions ought to help.

Re: HoldFasts from LV not Holding

Dick Coers

Top is too thick for the steel to get the proper bend or spring to stay set in the wood. Do some experiments with the same species of wood, on what thickness works the best. Then come in the back side of the bench and counterbore so you have the same thickness from the top surface.

Re: HoldFasts from LV not Holding

TM Stock

Keep calm and follow the suggestions given. An easy method to get a radial sandpaper score on the shaft is to 1/4 sheet of 80 grit paper in right hand grit side up, hold the holdfast by the head with left hand and lay shaft in right palm on top of paper, close right hand, then use your left to spin the holdfast.

Check and see if that did the trick. If not, William is correct re: toothing the surface with some rust...dampen a paper towel with water, wrap the shaft with it, then allow to let oxygen do it's dirty work. Use a dry paper towel to remove the loose rust. Should hold well.

If not, counter bore the dog holes 1/2" or so and try again.

ditto

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

2 3/4" poplar top. I can just tap them with my palm and they hold to where I have to tap them with a hammer to release.

Re: HoldFasts from LV not Holding

mark

Thanks for the ideas , will give them a try .

Re: HoldFasts from LV not Holding

Rod Peterson--Ormond Beach, FL

Years ago there was some discussion on this topic which (if I recall) suggested there was a difference between forged holdfasts and cast holdfasts—maybe even stamped ones. Not having one at the time, I passed over the discussion casually and haven't heard about it since. Might be worth investigating.

Rod

Re: HoldFasts the real answer.

TomD

If holdfasts depend on serrations, or roughness, then every time you set them they will cut the hole they are in larger. Serrations work with mechanical hold fast like the LV with the knob, because you can detension them before every move.

One of the mags had a whole big thing on testing all kinds of hold fasts, and which were best. After reading that, I made up my first blacksmithing project, a holdfast, and it worked perfectly. Basically it is something you need to tune for. you have depth of top, size of hole, and the angle the head meets the shaft of the holdfast/pad angle. Plus finer factors like the surface finish and the spinginess of the material in the holdfast. Basically the trick was to simply make one up, then try it out. Then adjust the angle till it worked properly. Of course the missing link for retail, is you probably can't adjust it.

I am not too familiar with that model, but it sounds like the hole is too big. It really pays to have the exact same component dimensions that the tool was designed for.

Re: HoldFasts the real answer.

TomD

Simple way to test hole size and top thickness is to get a scrap piece of wood and test out a hole 1/16th smaller. Or even a shim of thin plywood in your bench top holes. They make plywood in sizes from 1/64 and up. Actually LV sells it, and aircraft spruce sells it, you might be able to realign a hole in your current bench.