New hand tool Mfg about to open.

[Dave Lehnert]

A new place to take our money.
Crucible Tool.
Sounds like an interesting addition to the hand tool world.

[Frederick Skelly]

Thanks Dave. I hadn't heard about this. Sounds interesting. Chris Schwartz is quite the entrepeneur (sp?), isn't he?

Another holdfast? Off my head, I'm not sure we need more sources of those. But from their viewpoint, I can see why he'd start there - gives them some foundry experience without having to engineer/manufacture moving parts right off the bat. It will be interesting to see what folks think is special about Crucible's vs Grammercy's. And how CS promotes his new company.

I wonder what niche he's trying to fill - price maybe? Quality is pretty well covered by LN and others. Unless maybe there's old stuff he's aware of that is useful, but not made anywhere else? (That's what he did with Lost Arts Press, so maybe that kind of niche is available in hand tools.)

Should be interesting to see.....
Fred

[Mel Fulks]

I wish them good luck and reccommend that they check to see if that logo is owned by some underwear company.

[John Glendening]

I'm a fan of Chris, but I find it rather puzzling that there is something so wrong that it has to be fixed. I wish him and his partners the best of luck, but as they say - trust, but verify. Trust that they are serious about this, but verify that the product and/or price point is so much better that it is irresistible.

[Bill Houghton]

I wish them good luck and reccommend that they check to see if that logo is owned by some underwear company.

Or a company that makes hot pants?

[brian zawatsky]

Should be interesting. There's a lot of hype that follows CS around, not that he isn't a very intelligent guy because he certainly is.

His holdfast design is visually more appealing than Grammercy's, but Grammercy's work awesome and they are CHEAP! Unless he's hitting an attractive price point, I'm not seeing where he's going with this.

Maybe he's counting on his quasi-celebrity status in the world of hand tool woodworking to sell tools. It may actually work.

[Frank J Hall]

It is a nice looking holdfast, and not as smooth a shaft as the gramercy. However, I get the feeling it will be overpriced and followed with a description and/or blog post that makes you feel almost guilty for buying it at the price he is selling at. That being said, Ive purchased several books from his company and really liked them and thought they were high quality.

[Jason Dean]

I for one welcome more competition in the hand tool market! I continue to appreciate Chris's unbiased perspective when it comes to techniques and tool reviews. That said, I fear that it may become difficult to remain disinterested when one owns a business completing in the same space.

[Patrick Chase]

I for one welcome more competition in the hand tool market! I continue to appreciate Chris's unbiased perspective when it comes to techniques and tool reviews.

IMO there is no such thing as an "unbiased" reviewer (we all have opinions, and woodworkers seem to have more and stronger ones than average), and I think Chris is on the opinionated end of the spectrum if anything. There's nothing wrong with that, but I'd never take what he writes as neutral...

[george wilson]

I had a look at the cast iron holdfast at Crucible Tool. I hope it is malleable iron(cast iron which has had the excessively high brittle carbon "baked" out of it at high heat for hours in a furnace). Cast iron is,of course,brittle,and a holdfast is subject to high bending forces when firmly whacked into a hole in a bench to clamp a board. The shank on this one looks pretty skinny. I could not tell how large the holdfast was,or how thick the shank is,without a reference item,like a ruler ( a rule if steel),in the picture.

My own hand made hold fast was made for me in Williamsburg in 1970 by an excellent old time blacksmith who worked in the maintenance area. He really did good work,and was never replaced with anyone approaching his skill.

My holdfast,and TRUE holdfasts are made of forged steel and have a TAPERED shank. They also have a 90º crook in them,but with a really well filled in throat on the inside of the crook. Filled in with forge welding. But,not a rounded out crook joint. There is no beveling under the swan neck,nor a deep looking groove under the neck. I guess that was done to save weight? I'll prefer to keep the strength and weight of mine(it really isn't THAT heavy!). Mine never failed to grab and hold like a vise when whacked in with a large wooden mallet. Don't go whacking a cast iron holdfast with a steel hammer!!!!! Or any other,for that matter. It mushrooms the tops of even the steel ones,eventually making them work harden and break. I have seen otherwise good woodworkers whacking in their already mushroomed steel forged holdfasts with steel hammers. They need to learn more about metal. Some just seem to have no regard for metal,so focused are they on wood. But,we could not have a modern World without metal.

I have never seen an old one made with those bevels or the groove. But I haven't seen them all,of course. Just the ones made from Diderot used in the museum,and antiques I have seen.

There was no mention I could see as to if the cast iron was malleable iron or not. Malleable iron has been used for many,many years in heavy duty C clamps. I mean large ones. Malleable iron planes do not break when dropped(though they can dent on corners or bend some!)

Unfortunately,you,as woodworkers only,are stuck with what you can buy. But,as unseemly as they look(but,remember,I am a bit of an authenticity nut when it comes to old type tools like holdfasts),I would recommend those curved over holdfasts made of a round STEEL rod. They will not crack in the throat,or break in their shank.

[Curt Harms]

Should be interesting. There's a lot of hype that follows CS around, not that he isn't a very intelligent guy because he certainly is.

His holdfast design is visually more appealing than Grammercy's, but Grammercy's work awesome and they are CHEAP! Unless he's hitting an attractive price point, I'm not seeing where he's going with this.

Maybe he's counting on his quasi-celebrity status in the world of hand tool woodworking to sell tools. It may actually work.

Norm sold a lot of Delta & Porter-Cable.

[Prashun Patel]

How exciting!!!

Not every business needs to fill an unserved, and unique niche. Sometimes just being passionate and good at it is enough.

[Mark AJ Allen]

I think the interesting part of this new venture will be to see exactly what CS believes are the best features to go into these tools and very likely accompanied by an explanation why; I'm sure there are lots of juicy details that have been lost in the historical record that he wants to resurrect, or if he hasn't found them there, re-invented them. I'm expecting many bench hardware and holding accessories; looking forward to a toothed planning stop (just a hunch it's in the mix).

That's what I suspect, based on his blog posts so far, that this is going. The Gramercy holdfast works, but is there ways it can be improved? Seems to be where CS is going. Unfortunately, with small ventures like this, they have to roll R&D into the price of what could only be a niche market; I can't see how they will be able to offer prices in the range of what other holdfast vendors are charging.

Personally, I would love to see a well-made sector or Fibonacci divider that can lock into position, but I'm not sure that's the kind of tools CS is going to target.

[george wilson]

Such a divider should not be difficult to produce,with just a few jigs to make sure the holes for rivets are drilled in the correct places,and points are centered on the legs.

[Jim Koepke]

The Gramercy holdfast works, but is there ways it can be improved?

Haven't there been a lot of folks who have had problems with the Gramercy holdfasts?

I am not sure I would be up for buying another pair of holdfasts. My current pair came from Harry Strasil Jr, may he rest in peace.

jtk