Quote Originally Posted by Zsteve View Post
While I generally use some veritas hold fast in my bench which is 5 inches thick. I have found that 16mm diameter hold downs that I have forged work fine in the 3/4 holes on a thick bench top.
Yes, in general, loose holes work best for my wooden holders. I was going to suggest earlier that if you are having trouble with the shank not holding in thick tops, try enlarging the hole (maybe in a bit of scrap, first!). The shank needs to be slewed in the hole to lock, & the more it is slewed, the better it grips. You can't take that too far, of course, or the arm won't reach over to contact the workpiece. However, you may shrink from making all those holes in your bench top even larger; enough stuff seems to disappear down the damned things as it is.....
Cheers,