# Ever had an experiment make you go "holy @$#%"?



## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

Okay, ive been kicking around the idea for a while of making some wooden bar clamps. Now, ive seen them made before, and i drew some inspiration from John Heisz's build:
http://www.ibuildit.ca/Workshop Projects/k-body-clamp-1.html

I wanted mine to be special though. I wanted mine to be solid wood. Not just solid wood like the body, i wanted every component to be wood. In other words, no metal nuts, no threaded rod, all wood. 

This goal in mind, i set out to do a few, smaller scale experiments. I went to Grizzly, picked up a half inch wood thread box and tap, then went to my local hardwood dealer and picked up a board of hard maple with the tightest, straightest grain i could. From here, ill spare the gritty details and just say i made an overly large c-clamp, bout 8 inches square, finger jointed corners. Spruce framing lumber for the frame, hard maple threads.

This would be about what the clamp looked like before destruction testing it:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bvdjfm00106lm9b/IMG_20141017_233546.jpg?dl=0

And this would be the results of bearing down on the screw:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7bjpvlknt8z05h9/IMG_20141017_233346.jpg?dl=0

Cant really see it in the picture, but the force actually ripped a few of the fingers in the joint to pieces. I was expecting the threads to rip apart or the dowel to split, but no, the rather tight finger joints were ripped to pieces. Im going to go ahead and start on those bar clamps now, i think my preliminary strength tests are a pass


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

Sounds like it should be a good build. Be sure to post lots of pictures.


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## igster (Oct 31, 2013)

How 'bout inserting a dowel thru each corner to prevent separation of the finger joint, or two diagonally placed so that there is no chance of pivoting?


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## johnep (Apr 12, 2007)

You could also put in an angle piece.
johnep


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

igster said:


> How 'bout inserting a dowel thru each corner to prevent separation of the finger joint, or two diagonally placed so that there is no chance of pivoting?


Honestly, I didn't do that on this one because I was expecting the thread to strip out before the joint failed. Can't really get a sense of scale from the pictures but the stock is 1 1/4 square with 1/8 fingers. Usually I can't break joints like that with a hammer, which is why I figured this would be a good way to test the threads. I just wanted to see if that'd work


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## FrankC (Aug 24, 2012)

I have made clamp bodies from a couple pieces of ply laminated together and T-nut for some ready rod, not as organic but they worked in a pinch.


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