# Clamps



## AFMac (Aug 5, 2011)

His might be a silly question, and likely is one of those best answered with an "it depends" but would be interested on everyone's take on shop clamps. I currently have a limited (5) selection of bar clamps and then a small assortment of cheap spring clamps of varying size. The lack of clamping tools has led to some creative solutions and win the plethora of clamps out there I as wondering what everyone considered their critical/go to clamps. Also...beyond a slow accumulation of these over time, is there a good place to look for deals on clamps? Thanks all!


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## jschaben (Apr 1, 2010)

AFMac said:


> His might be a silly question, and likely is one of those best answered with an "it depends" but would be interested on everyone's take on shop clamps. I currently have a limited (5) selection of bar clamps and then a small assortment of cheap spring clamps of varying size. The lack of clamping tools has led to some creative solutions and win the plethora of clamps out there I as wondering what everyone considered their critical/go to clamps. Also...beyond a slow accumulation of these over time, is there a good place to look for deals on clamps? Thanks all!


Not a bad question at all. Price of decent clamps can sink a budget pretty quickly. I have a couple of Merle Clamps I use a lot. (you can check them out at http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/smarthtml/pages/merle_clamp.html

I have half a dozen bar clamps and F-clamps. Got most at garage sales and I think they were Harbor Freight in the first place. Doesn't seem to be much of way to screw those up though. Course, I thought that about C-clamps too and got several from harbor freight... swivel pads keep falling off those. Quick grips, IMO, are a third hand until you can get a real clamp in place. Probably the best place for clamps are auctions and garage sales. Those things just tend to hide in a corner and generally sell pretty cheap. Otherwise, Harbor Freight seems good on F-style, bar clamps and likely pipe clamps, Quick grips are neither and I already told my experience with their C-clamps.


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## papagreg (Jan 4, 2011)

I bought my F clamps at a second hand store. Since I bought all that he had I got 24 clamps for 50 bucks of varying size. I bought my pipe clamp ends from HF on sale and got 1/2" for a buck and 3/4" for a $1.99. I use C clamps quite a bit so I have started watching yard sales for them. I have 2 of the quick grip clamps that I only use as a third hand during assemblies. For band clamps I bought a couple of ratcheting straps out of the bargain bin that didn't have the hooks on. Like anyone else I bought those cheap plastic spring clamps for those light duty situations. If they break I just toss them and get new ones. Now that I think about it I use those more than I had realized. I bought a 4 piece set of cheap picture frame miter clamps at HF for 8 bucks. I'd say if you don't mind dealing with cheap stuff and watch what your buying HF probably has the most deals on clamps.


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## AFMac (Aug 5, 2011)

Thanks to you both!


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## tcleve4911 (Dec 16, 2006)

You can never have enough clamps....




























These are my "go to clamps" Jorgensen Zip clamps from 8" to 42"










Years ago I got into the routine of picking up 2 clamps whenever I was at the store.
It would cost around $20 -$25 bucks each time but it was easier to swallow than tryijng to buy a whole lot a once. 

After a while you look around your shop and you've got a few.....:yes:


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## DavesBlokkz (Oct 21, 2011)

There are a great many common clamps out there and some very specialized ones. After a while you can spend a significant sum of money buying clamps for various clamping tasks.

With *Universal Clamping Blocks* you can in many cases eliminate the need to buy frame clamps, band clamps, miter clamps, etc.

With just 4 blocks you can clamp finger joints, scarf joints, frames, miters, various angles, etc. using clamps you may already have. The blocks are rugged aluminum and with the neoprene pads supplied with the blocks you will not damage the wood as you would get when clamping frames with spring clamps.

The frame clamping image illustrated does not show it for clarity purposes but wood or aluminum shims can be placed between the loop and the frame to eliminate the dimple caused by the loop. If you choose not to use a shim then the dimple can be easily steamed out with a wet cloth and a household iron.

Check out my web site for addtional information. You may in the long run save yourself some money.

http://www.blokkz.com/


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## BWSmith (Aug 24, 2010)

JMO but,the old saying..."you can't have too many clamps" is mis-understood.Its not the quanity of any particluar stlye,even though thats important......its how many different styles or types of clamps present.

If all you ever clamped was the same thing........look at rotating,semi automated gluing racks used in say furniture manufacturing.They'll all be the same.....time is money,these are very specific WRT tooling.

But in a general shop environ....you might be gluing up panels today,then tomorrow its something entirely different.....how quickly your shop can adapt to challenges shows up rather quickly in clamp world.So you could be "flush" with bar clamps....then come up woefully needing a single C-clamp.In Daves post above....those are what we call "finger clamps"....the swivel heads are great....but the non-swivels are invaluble for general building/framing chores.Not having the swivel pads gives them a tremendous amt of "bite".....obviously for rough work.We have buckets full of the swivels.....probably 10 for every non-swivel.


The more you expand your shop's capability's the more you'll be able to "see" clamping,before the fact.And the possiblility's for applying force with what we call,Fred Flinestone methods.Heck,a length of wood flexed against ceiling joists/rafters as a hold-down is brutally primitive........GOOD.Heck,I once jacked up a full,VERY large dumpster to utilize its weight on a glueup,worked the treat.BW


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## cocheseuga (Dec 15, 2010)

I like the HF blue bar clamps as a best value. Their face clamps also do well. The handscrew clamps seem like a good value, but Rockler runs a good sale on them fairly often. The aluminum bar clamps are okay. I can't recommend the quick grip ones. I think Wood did a comparo between the HF pipe clamps and the Pony ones, I'd have to go back and refresh my memory.

I like those at HF because I know I'll be sinking most of my clamping budget on parallel clamps.


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