Replies

1. 
   mikefm101 | Jul 12, 2020 06:03pm | #1

   I have two

   Never felt a need for a third one after 30 years.

   Mike

2. 
   john_c2 | Jul 12, 2020 08:23pm | #2

   I need 2. No more, no less.

3. 
   jfsksa | Jul 12, 2020 09:02pm | #3

   I have 4. Never use them. I have a vise and a tail vise and a couple other vises. Anyone want a couple holdfasts?

4. 
   _mj_ | Jul 12, 2020 09:25pm | #4

   I use the Record No.145s. I have two of the iron sleeves in my bench and one on my moxxon. Took a longass time to commit to their positions but I'm very happy with the setup. I have one more sleeve waiting for a home.

5. 
   planewood1 | Jul 12, 2020 10:21pm | #5

   I have three. Two I use constantly. The third one was handmade for me and is too nice to use. I did make the mistake of buying two of these: https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/workshop/workbenches/benchtop-accessories/31149-veritas-hold-down
   I use them as my "vise" on the front apron of the bench. They are great for that, but not good at all as holdfasts. IMHO.

6. 
   lat_axe | Jul 13, 2020 03:00am | #6

   Perhaps it's just a liking for play - novelty, even - but I enjoy using all sorts of bench gubbins to keep a workpiece in place. Bench dogs, bench stops and holdfasts all have their uses for various shapes of parts being worked in various ways with various tools.

   I have three holdfasts of different design: that expensive Veritas, a Gramercy hit-it-with-a-mallet bent iron and one of those queer notched iron posts with an arm that fits into a special notched iron hole set in the workbench (I have three notched holes set in the bench top and one holdfast that goes in to the most convenient hole for the task).

   The Veritas items all seem to work the best, being very functional and often very adaptable. For example, The low soft-metal bars with two moveable posts for the bench holes underneath that compose their bench stops are always in use for planing and chiselling tasks, in many bench positions. The Veritas hold down is also tenacious but very controllable in applying pressure.

   At the moment I'm also considering one of these:

   http://blumtool.com/?page_id=1355

   It's a beast of a hold-down with some virtues lacking in the others, namely a very long reach and a built-in wooden pad obviating the need to stick a bit of squirmy scrap under the foot of more conventional hold-downs when pinning down more delicate items.

   The Gramercy style holdfasts are .... fastest, to apply and free-off. But it is a risk that the mallet blow to secure them will squish a more delicate piece of the softer woods with a bruise. The screw-down type are certainly more controllable in that respect, if slower to apply and remove.

   ****
   I yam tempted to post pics of my bench festooned with these various items, with an invitation to others to picture their own work-grabbers, with tales of their pros & cons.

   Lastaxe

7. 
   lat_axe | Jul 13, 2020 09:31am | #7

   Three holdfast styles. I would like a fourth for those times when they can be used to clamp a box sides-to-bottom, using a hold-down on each upward-facing corner and the bench top as the other "jaw" of the clamps.

   One hold fast is never enough as larger held-items can pivot under one hold down pad when planing or other forces are applied a good way away from the hold down.

   The Veritas dogs also evident in the pics are holdfasts too but acting in the horizontal rather than vertical plain. (Pics of horizontal hold-fasts later).

   That notched thing is an old-fashioned design albeit not as old-fashioned as the now revived Gramercy-style stompers. But the notched hold down is very controllable in terms of the pressure it can be made to use as well as ensuring that the force it imparts is always vertical, via the articulated foot at the end of the arm.

   The notcher does have the disadvantage that it needs dedicated holes in the bench with dedicated metal inserts into which it fits. They are very secure, though; and don't gradually ovalise the bench holes, as the Gramercy-style hold downs can do if whacked hard with the mallet over many insertions into relatively soft benchtop timber. 3" thick hard maple seems to fair quite well, though.

   Lataxe

   
8. 
   DRBWWing | Jul 13, 2020 10:09am | #8

   Sjoberg hold down is another one to look at.

   If you go traditional, you can’t beat Grammercy.

9. 
   lat_axe | Jul 13, 2020 01:00pm | #9

   RobertE

   Gramercy holdfasts are certainly very good and inexpensive for what they are, as I can attest from using one for a couple of years now. In the UK, these have a very good reputation although I haven't used them myself. They're a little bit more expensive but not much ... and a pair also come with a drill bit for making 19mm (3/4") bench holes!

   https://www.workshopheaven.com/simon-james-holdfasts-with-free-19mm-auger.html

   Meanwhile, more holdfasts, of the horizontal ilk.

   These are Veritas bench stops, meant as items to stop parts being chiselled or planed from scooting over your bench. They can be set up in many ways - forming an L shape anywhere on my bench to provide stops on two sides of a board against which to plane, for example. The first pic shows bench dogs used instead of a second stopper bar

   The small pillars slide in the bottom of the stop bar so you can get them to fit any spacing of dog holes you happen to have in your bench. The low profile is very handy as they'll "stop" anything from about 6mm and thicker, without a plane or chisel blade biting them. If a blade does bite, there's no damage as the stop bars are soft aluminium.

   I also use them as mini-clamps when gluing up small box parts edge-to-edge. They go in the dog holes of the Veritas twin screw vice and can squish together thin sections of 8 - 12mm (3/8" - 1/2") board that go into boxes. (You can raise the edges by putting rubber rings on the under-posts). I often rip-resaw a 4/4 piece of figured wood and use the two halves to make box sides with a book-matched grain pattern.

   Lataxe

   
10. 
    tbonetim | Jul 13, 2020 11:45pm | #10

    Two. Gramercy. Great quality and value. Do the job very well.

11. 
    lat_axe | Jul 15, 2020 01:34pm | #11

    More hold fasts. These work with an end vice to hold various sizes of parts along the edge of the bench, both on the top and on the side of the bench.

    The wee sticky-out thing with teeth along with a shop-made edge hook is good for holding things like cabinet doors at various heights, upright or on their side. Also good for holding a plank edge-up for planing close to your body. The sticky-out thing retracts when not in use so it doesn't bite your leg every time you walk past it.

    The low-profile bench blade is, with a low-profile bench-dog, good for holding thin parts like those used in boxes, as it doesn't get in the way of a tool used along the whole of the upward face or edge. Such parts can have the edge being worked against by a tool's fence hung out from the bench so the tool-fence doesn't hit the bench side rather than the edge of the workpiece.

    Show your own bench grabbers, do.

    Lataxe