Recreating the Disston Holdstrong

[mark kosse]

Ever since seeing a popular mechanics add for one, I wanted one. Well, a whole bunch of years later and it's never come along so I decided to make some. Going by memory my first one was way off. It was. Ball one one end and I put a ferrule on it. I went and found the add again and realized how far off I was.

my second attempt was by memory and was better but I noticed I hadn't cut the expansion slots down far enough. It's made from post oak because I have a lot and love the smell.

[mark kosse]

My third attemp came out ok. It is spalted post oak. I wish you all could see this wood in person. Camera doesn't do it justice. And sorry, it's a stronghold. Like I said, my memory isn't great.

[lowell holmes]

Mark,

I'm not sure what a holdstrong does. Can you elaborate on what it is and how it works?:confused:

Thanks

I just found out it is a file handle. :)

[mark kosse]

Sorry, it is a saw file handle. It was a promotional freebie when you bought the file for 25 cents. I think postage was included too.

it uses spring pressure to hold the file tang. It feels good in the hand and I thought it looked nice.

[John Vernier]

That seems like a clever design. Are you using store-bought springs or winding wire yourself?

[mark kosse]

Because the spring adjusts the tension I figured I needed spring steel. Its a small section of a screen door spring.

[Stew Denton]

Hi Mark,

Looks good, and the spring off a screen door is a great idea, I had wondered how you did that.

For those of you who want to see the original, I went to Ebay and did a search, and there were a few listed. I hadn't remembered them. Handy looking tool.

Stew

[John Vernier]

I just looked at the Ebay examples. Yours look much better than the originals.

[Jim Koepke]

Maybe worth a try next time one of my files needs a handle.

Maybe all those dry corn cobs can go into the compost bin.

jtk

[mark kosse]

Thanks for the compliment! I went to ebay too. If you look at the reprint of the add for one listed there, these look like that picture. Apparently they changed the style over the years because all the ones for sale are of a different pattern. My copy is of a 1930's style.