Workbench Holdfast

Migrated project.

This holdfast was made for the 2019 Spring Swap which was a surprise swap that I didn't join in but followed closely. When time for the reveals was getting close, EarlS, running herd over the swap, contacted me and asked me to make something for PoohBaah (Neil). Earl was afraid Neil wasn't going to receive anything from his sender. I had previously offered my services to Earl for just such an occasion. Now I had just a day and a half to get this shipped.

The next morning, I went on a search for 11/16" round bar which would be just right to fit in a 3/4" dog hole, no luck. All I could find was 3/4" unknown steel so I had to reduce the diameter of the shaft to make it fit, which I was doing in pictures 2 and 3. Then I started shaping the foot (flat part) and next the bend for the springy part. I actually made two, but one wasn't going to work.

(Sorry for the lack of pictures but I haven't found a way to take them while holding hot iron with one hand and a hammer with the other. Action shots were taken by my wife whenever she happened to pass by.)

The next morning, I decided the one I was going to ship needed some more work, so I re-heated it and refined the curve and straightened the foot. I wish I could have spent more time on it Neil, but had to ship it out to you that afternoon.

Now, on to the one that wouldn't work. The bend was not in the right place and was twisted. The day after shipping, I went to work on it. First heating:

Then into the vise for straightening the twist:

Next, it was on to putting the bend in the right place and thinning it a bit to make it more springy:

On this one, I drew down the upper part of the shaft to make it smaller in diameter:

And here is the result after final shaping, it measures 6 1/2" from the shaft to the tip of the foot:

My thanks to Earl for running a great swap and I'm very happy to have been able to contribute a little bit.

P.S. The gas cans in the background were in no danger, and, yes, it takes a lot of propane to run that forge ;-)