Afternoon project? 1973+ bumper reinforcment removal for weight reduction...worth it?

I'm wondering if you guys have a trick for this:

My bumper has never been off of the car. It turns out that each of the bumper bolts, despite being soaked in penetrating oil, are being a pain in the arse. As you guys know, the head of the bolt is chrome, round and smooth but it sits in a square opening in the bumper which holds the bolt in place allowing you to tighten/loosen the nut. Cracking the nut loose is not a problem but once you back it off past the depth of the square portion of the bolt head, the bolt is free to wiggle around.

Normally, you could just push the bolt with a spare finger to hold it in place in the bumper and spin the nut by hand but when you have some rust on the threads, the required torque makes that impossible.

I got one loose by clamping the end of the bolt with vice grips but it left teeth marks in the bolt...and it's pretty tricky to get a good enough bite on them anyway...so that's not a good solution.

Any other ideas on how to get them off?
Take the bumper off. Heat up the nut(even a small propane torch will work). Lay the bumper on a block of wood over where the bolt head is. Press firmly down on the bumper keeping the bolt tight in its square opening. Then remove