Holdfasts from rebar, etc

[Philip Davies]

L
Prompted by an earlier thread, from Frank S, here are some holdfasts I have made. They are very easy to do, especially if you use old levers/podgers/whatever. With these, you do not have to draw down the tongue, so as soon as it’s red hot, you can simply bend into an exaggerated S. Discounting the time taken to heat it (often I just let it rest awhile in the embers of a wood fire), that’s a matter of a few seconds.
If I have to dispose of tools that could be used for burglary or violence, I break them, or ruin them in some way. The two on the left are made from levers which were just the job for a criminal.
The other 3 are from rebar. The largest of the three I use frequently,in the pritchel hole of my anvil. The smaller rebar holdfasts I used to take with my saw stools (which I no longer have)
They work simply through friction in the hole you might bore in a work surface. A tap with a hammer and the material is held quite firmly. But if it’s your nice bench, you want to insert a steel washer, to prevent it splintering, like this: