Simple Hold-Down

Simple Hold-Down
There are times in the smithy when you really need a third hand -- you need a
way to hold a workpiece in place when you're punching or chiseling.
We call any device for holding things in place on an anvil, a "hold-down".
This is the simplest hold-down I know, and it gets used almost every day in my
shop:
You use it by inserting it in the anvil's pritchel hole. Set the other end on your
workpiece, and tap the "elbow" of the hold-down to lock it in place.
To release the hold-down, just tap it behind the elbow:
To make this hold-down, start with a round rod about two feet long that's a little
smaller in diameter than your pritchel hole. Make sure it slides into the pritchel
hole easily.
Draw a smooth round or square taper in the rod, starting about 1 inch back from
one end to leave a knob, and extending about 10 inches in from there toward the
middle of the rod.
Isolating the
knob
Square taper with knob on end
Flatten and spread the knob on the end:
Bend the rod about 14 inches from the un-worked end, to an angle of about 50
degrees:
Heat the knob end, put the hold-down in the anvil's pritchel hole, and flatten the
knob onto the anvil face. Make sure the knob lies flat on the anvil face to form a
"foot".
You may want the foot to have a special shape, to hold certain kinds of
workpieces. If so, now is the time to shape it:
Finally, the hold-down needs to be heat treated to make it springy. If it's mild
steel, that means it needs to be raised to the temperature at which it ceases to
be magnetic, then quenched in water and NOT tempered. If it's another kind of
steel such as 5160, it should be quenched in oil and then tempered.
If you can't heat the whole hold-down at once for heat-treating because your
forge is too small, it's okay just to heat the elbow. Or, you can heat the elbow to
make it bendable, bent it back so it will fit into your forge, heat the whole thing,
then open it to the correct angle and quench before it cools.
Here is how the hold-down is used:
Steve McGrew
Incandescent Ironworks Ltd.
www.incandescent-iron.com
[email protected]