Building a holdout - Part 1

Since recently spending some time getting an old holdout back to working order (be sure to watch the video in the previous post), I decided to begin another holdout project - building a holdout completely from the ground up. Well perhaps that's not entirely accurate, I will likely be sourcing some parts, although not from other holdouts, just useful parts from other other objects which are either too difficult to build, or simply to save some time. That is, assuming it is indeed faster to find the parts online, which is so far not proving as simple as I'd initially expected.

For example, for the actual extension arm I'll be using a small set of lazy tongs like those used in the holdout pictures shown below. This holdout image shows the basic mechanism I hope to employ for this project, although the rest of the design I have planned is different. Incidentally, if you recognize the holdout shown in the photographs below I'm interested to know about it, and presume it belongs in the collection of someone who may be able to help me in this project.

The holdout shown in the photograph below is more like the design I have in mind, specifically sans the bulky casing.

I'd previously referred to this style of holdout as having a Jacob's Ladder mechanism, but my initial searches for this type of mechanism online were going nowhere. As with any internet searching, using the proper search terms can be the difference between success and failure, and after asking for help on a forum, I received a very helpful suggestion from Jason England to search instead for "lazy tongs" which yielded much better results.

Although I have not yet found a product suitable to source the part from, I am on the right track, and I'm sure another search or two will lead to success. Or we may end up building the lazy tongs from scratch.

This corkscrew looks similar to what I'm looking for, but a little heavy, and it's out of stock.

In the meantime, I am also working with a craftsman/machine guy on the design, and have begun experimenting with materials. So far we've purchased some aluminium and some copper, and have begun tests to fabricate the arm holds and main structure, and the end piece that steals the card.

It will likely have leather straps and a simple buckle.

I am looking into different methods to activate the sneak, but am leaning towards an arm switch activation. I'd appreciate any useful information from anyone with experience owning, using or building this type of device, especially if it helps me do a better job and avoid any problems previously encountered and solved. More updates to follow....