Jessica Pierce-LaRose
01-08-2013, 2:45 PM
Just met a fellow new to the area who does blacksmith work - a farrier by trade. He's got a kind of neat mobile setup out of the back of his station wagon (it's easier to bring the shop to the horse than the horse to the shop I guess, at least when you live in the "city") and asked him to make me a couple of hold fasts. Just been playing around with them in the holes in my deadman and saw bench (learned a lesson - holes that clear 3/4" when drilled in dimensional lumber don't stay that way after a couple of years) and so far am very pleased with them - The lock down well and have a nice feel to them. I've never worked with traditional holdfasts before, so I don't know quite what to expect, but the price was decent and I like supporting a local guy. He also knocked out a couple of quick bent blades from an old file - nothing pretty, but it was neat watching him work, having never done nor seen this sort of work in person. The idea with these is to have a go at making a kinshiro-style mortise gauge.
holdfasts:
250512
250511
Might do a little file work to one of them (or bring it back for a touch up - he's been very amenable with the gauge blades) - the pad on one doesn't rest quite as evenly as the other - I'm not actually convinced it's an issue at all, as I've been putting a softwood block between the holdfast and my work anyway, which takes up any slight discrepancy, and I need to check that it's not the holes I've been testing in being off-angle first.
All in all, though, it's just nice to have something made by someone in your town. I like that.
Now I just need to figure out where I want to drill holes in my nice bench. They actually seem like they might work in the square holes in the front of my bench, surprisingly enough, though. (Although I can imagine I'd want to be careful about the orientation, so I don't crack the front board on my bench!
He's pretty excited about making something different for a change - I'd like to have him take a whack at making some strap hinges, but I'd need to see about building something that could use some strap hinges first. I'm thinking something like one of those dutch-style tool chest/cabinet things might be neat and useful for the house.
holdfasts:
250512
250511
Might do a little file work to one of them (or bring it back for a touch up - he's been very amenable with the gauge blades) - the pad on one doesn't rest quite as evenly as the other - I'm not actually convinced it's an issue at all, as I've been putting a softwood block between the holdfast and my work anyway, which takes up any slight discrepancy, and I need to check that it's not the holes I've been testing in being off-angle first.
All in all, though, it's just nice to have something made by someone in your town. I like that.
Now I just need to figure out where I want to drill holes in my nice bench. They actually seem like they might work in the square holes in the front of my bench, surprisingly enough, though. (Although I can imagine I'd want to be careful about the orientation, so I don't crack the front board on my bench!
He's pretty excited about making something different for a change - I'd like to have him take a whack at making some strap hinges, but I'd need to see about building something that could use some strap hinges first. I'm thinking something like one of those dutch-style tool chest/cabinet things might be neat and useful for the house.