Wooden holdfasts, ideas sought?

**Canoath** · 14th January 2015, 07:45 PM

I put together a bench of sorts in the garage in order to setup a vise to start working on timber I've set aside for a "proper" workbench in the shed. I've been giving the vise and planes a workout on pallet pine prior to working on ash and redgum, just to see how this little bench works. It's clear I need some dog holes, holdfasts, pins and the like to aid in holding planks against the apron whilst they're planed. I have been using F clamps on the apron as either rests or clamps, but I wanted to try holdfasts. I do plan on making steel ones later but I thought about making wooden ones. To my surprise there is bugger all on the net about them apart from hold downs with threads for T slots and a mention of barilettes in a Chris Schwarz article which are small forked branches that were used to clamp a vise
http://www.popularwoodworking.com/wo...-your-backyard
I decided to try and experiment.

I'm using 25mm Tas oak dowel in a hole drilled with a 25mm spade bit then rasped a little larger so the dowel slides but is still a bit snug. I tried a few rough designs for the clamp piece, firstly turpentine, 17mm ply then lastly a decent sized bit of tasoak. There's a lot of varying factors and the last version has worked the best but with all attempts, the dowel only grips to a point then slides back out. Basically it wont grip the apron hole. The part of the apron where the dog hole is has three layers of 35mm pine plus the tasoak face of 19mm, so the dowel goes through 124mm at least. I'm not sure what to do from here. I can't try different timbers or shapes for the clamp part until I can get the dowel to grip. Any ideas? Do I need bigger dowel, bigger hole, rough up the dowel stock maybe?

**Dion N** · 18th January 2015, 06:38 PM

I think you need a shallower hole. The deeper the hole, the less of an angle the holdfast shaft can make. If you can't make the hole shallower, you can use a rasp to enlarge the hole diameter where the holdfast shaft protrudes, ie at the rear or bottom, not the bench top or face of the bench. This will allow the shaft to make more of an angle in the hole, increasing friction.

**Canoath** · 20th January 2015, 08:11 AM

Thanks Dion, yeah I think you're right. I revisited that article I linked plus searched again for some theory and design of forged holdfasts and realised my dog holes needed to be enlarged. I enlarged a couple to 28mm from 25 before I read your post so the entrance to the holes are 28 as we'll rather than just the underside. The deep hole is as you said, too deep whereas a smaller hole of about 45mm deep and 28mm diam showed the most promise but the back half of each hole is construction pine which appears to be too soft. Each attempt to whack a holdfast in seemed to be less effective as presumably the back end of a hole is squashed out of round. I also made another holdfast with the head at more of an angle which I don't know if it made a difference.

I think now though I need to stop drilling holes in this soft bench before it resembles Swiss cheese and make a small hardwood top to further experiment on.

**orraloon** · 20th January 2015, 03:03 PM

There was a discussion on holdfasts a while back and a few people made wood ones to try out. They all used a sharper angle between the leg and the head. That results in more of the leg being above the bench top so more flex in the leg. I am not really up on the science of it but spring tension seems to be the thing. That and friction of course. Even with metal ones you can feel some spring as you hammer them in. Mcjings have steel ones at a reasonable price by the way. 19mm holes required for them.
Regards
John

**Dion N** · 20th January 2015, 11:13 PM

Can I suggest you take the plunge and purchase a pair of metal holdfasts instead? I have a set of Gramercy holdfasts (www.toolsforworkingwood.com) and now I find that my leg vide gets hardly any use. With a couple of simple wooden accessories, a pair of holdfasts are very versatile. Richard Maguire has a couple of informative holdfast movies at www.theenglishwoodworker.com

**Canoath** · 21st January 2015, 07:50 PM

Yeah I think I might just go down that route and thanks for the links.

I had a look at McJing orraloon the other day and saw their forged ones for $18 each I think and a pair from your link Dion for not much either. I had wanted to forge my own later this year when I set up a forge but I think I'll save the angst and simply just buy a pair.

My attempts at wooden ones have practically no spring and your description of ones that worked orraloon are how I imagine they should be but I haven't had time to experiment further. So as above, I think I'll avoid the frustration and just go buy some steel ones. If curiosity does return I'll be sure to post results. Thanks for the input fellas.

**orraloon** · 21st January 2015, 10:05 PM

I got a pair about 2 years ago for the first time and now I dont think I could get by without them.
Regards
John

**code4pay** · 22nd January 2015, 08:00 AM

Check this post for successful wooden "bench ducks" https://www.woodworkforums.com/f213/home-built-vises-1-a-168559-post1784122

**Canoath** · 22nd January 2015, 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by code4pay

Check this post for successful wooden "bench ducks" https://www.woodworkforums.com/f213/home-built-vises-1-a-168559-post1784122

How on earth did I miss those posts

Thanks a bunch for the link. It must have been the discussion you were talking about orraloon. Ironically I've visited that thread in the past for vise ideas but admit probably never went past page 2. I just don't know how I missed the various posts in that thread during my searches but they've got exactly what I need. May end up giving it another go sooner than later.

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