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Silent Partner

J.V.Hill Tools

The small treasure trove of family tools at my disposal often throws up an interesting thing or two. I did not know we even had this holdfast. The style most popular today it the proper old school smack down type needing firm blows to secure them. What I potentially like about this type is the noise reduction. Depending on where and at what time you are able to do you work the potential noise, even of hand tool work could soon annoy neighbours and even worse.....wake the kids! Dusting it off and taking a look it was something that looked to be right up my street. Rugged, simple with a bit of history. On examination I found the shaft of the holdfast had been "improved" in the same way the English Woodworker advises.

Holdfast
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These barbs allow the holdfast to really bite! In addition to being quiet it also seemed this type of holfast would be less abrupt in use as well. Gently winding on tension should be easy. I say should as the 3/4" holes that take my current holdfasts are too small. This one requires a hole closer to 1". I'll bore one and then give it a go. I can imagine this tool being very helpful to a Wheelwright, a great way of cramping awkward components. The name of the maker was also something to check out. These days it's just too easy to find things out that only a few years ago would of taken days. It seems J.V.Hill was a successful tool maker, saws and planes were also part of what the company offered. The company looked to of been going between 1834>1909. I would speculate this is at the late end of the spectrum. I'm very interested to see just how this version will work.

J V Hill Tools
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