Holdfasts

I bought my first two holdfasts from a nearby blacksmith back when I lived in northern Alabama.  I described what I wanted and then watched him make them.  He impressed me with his skills and the holdfasts worked very well. That was when I first set my mind on learning to blacksmith.  So, the standard, holdfasts tha I make are patterned after those original holdfasts from the Alabama blacksmith although I’ve made a few tweaks to the design and processing.  I call them Type 1. Unfortunately I do not remember the original maker’s name.  Holdfasts work in in workbench holes and in an anvil’s pritchel hole. An alternate style of holdfast I make has an upset corner. I call them type 2. Holdfasts are sometimes referred to as bench hold-downs.