News Flash! Gramercy Holdfasts
Patrick Gibbons, Houston, TX
>Just got mine hot from the Fed Ex Man. I'd been jonesing for the feel of steel in my calloused mitt. I have now had it for about an hour-and-a-half and I'm ready to give an in-depth evaluation of the ins and outs, ups and downs, wax-ons and wax-offs of a superior tool. My bench is about 2 1/4" thick hard maple. I have 3/4" dog holes. I wedged a yellow pine 2x4 with my two new holdfasts and commenced to get medieval on the board with a half-inch chisel. One tap from the dead blow kept the holdfast holding fast. Releasing it took two or three blows. Compared to the cast Made in Taiwan models I own, these Gramercys are like some advanced alien life form competing against single-celled protozoa. I know, I know. This isn't what most people (including myself) want by way of a report of use but these are simple tools that are done right. They have already been reported on by professionals. All I can really add here is that these work the way I had thought the Made in Taiwan variety was supposed to work when I bought them. For a long time, I thought it was another example of my inabilities. I would try to lodge them into the dog hole and sometimes they would take, sometimes not. Even when they did wedge the board, once I began working on it they would loosen very quickly. I seriously did get medieval on the 2x4 with the Gramercy holdfasts; chopping, paring, sawing, nibbling on them with my incisors like a beaver; nothing moved. Gosh I've needed these for a long time.