[TheForge] Holdfast

[Bob Ehrenberger]

Noah,

I have two, they both work ok.

One is actually a small bridge anvil that I made by bending a piece of leaf 
spring into an upside down U shape and welding to a tang for the hardie. 
When i drop it down on the piece to hold it works a lot like the bent dogs 
that you are trying to make. If I tap the stem it really gets wedged in 
tight, and usuallt had to be hit from below to release.

The other is a lever with a spring that I fashened from a shop tip sent in 
by one of BAM's members.  You can get the plans in the July/August 2008 BAM 
newsletter at www.bamsite.org.

Another hold down that I have seen and always wanted to copy is the one the 
Pat McCarty uses. It is the screw assembly from a pipe clamp mounted to a 
hardie stem.  You just crank it down onto the piece you want to hold.

Robert Ehrenberger
Shelbyville, Mo.
eforge at centurytel.net

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Noah Morris" <madhattermo at hotmail.com>
To: <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 13, 2010 3:45 PM
Subject: [TheForge] Holdfast


>
> I have been trying to make a holdfast for doing hot cutting. I have the
> shape right (I think) but I am having trouble. The darn thing won't stay
> in the the hardie hole. I have tried several different tempers, everything
> from spring purple to just hardened. I can get it to clinch in the hole,
> but not on the piece I am working on. Once I got it to clinch down the
> piece of flat bar stock I was cutting and the Holdfast EJECTED itself up a
> good two feet in the air.
>
> Help me, please?
>