How did you get so many clamps?

[Ryan Mooney]

Most of my clamps came as X-mas & birthday gifts from my children – after I told them what I wanted. I’m fond of the Bessey & Quick Clamps.

Drool.

I shop yard and garage sales (and the occasional online or in store sale). Clamps can really add up in $$'s.

Also keep in mind shop made clamps, if you look around there are a number of shop made solutions work pretty darn good (rope clamps, wedge clamps of various forms, etc..) and in many cases solve problems the commercial ones don't very well.

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

I purchased quite a few of mine for specific jobs. I was making chairs and stools for about a year and a new tool store opened nearby. I bought a dozen 24" Jorgensen parallel clamps at a super price. Years before I bought a dozen 42"? Bessey parallels for a specific job that I no longer remember. A long time ago Sam's Club had 2 packs of 24" Quick Grips very cheap. I took some of them and chopped the bar shorter to make smaller sizes. I have a huge assortment of pipe clamps, some dating back 50 or more years that belonged to my Grandfather. Same goes with 3/4" threaded pipe and couplers, never enough different sizes.

[Erik Christensen]

Yah nice clamps are not cheap but it does not have to be super expensive if you are not in a hurry. I got a lot of mine during sales - figure out what you are looking for (brand, style & length) then keep a sharp out for deals - when they arrive buy however much you can afford. What you need is entirely driven by what you intend to build. Clamps for chair construction (padded short reach & strap clamps) might not work well cabinet cases and visa-versa and neither good for picture frames.

[Andy Pratt]

I have only ever owned bessey k-bodys and based on how well they perform I don't think I'll be trying another brand any time soon unless I get them for free. Bessey's are expensive but they will last you forever and they are the industry standard. Buy them in sets of 2 or 4 for the best deal, and use cauls to make up for the lack of clamps until you can afford the amount you want.

I have some of the revos too and don't feel that they provide any less clamping quality than the originals. I had some bessey uniklamps that were pretty sub-par in my opinion, so I would stay away from bessey's lower line, whatever they call it now.

I use LV panel clamp hardware with shop-made wood beams for panel clamping and it works great.

[jack forsberg]

no one maker makes all the types you will need and not all jobs need the top brands ether. Start with bar clamps IMO and get lots as they are use full and will last a life time. get more as you need them and the next thing you know you will have a few. Its taken me years to get what i call a fair number but i still have times when i need a clamp i do not have. I would buy used and do.



jack
English machines

[Nathan Birrell]

I have been trying to buy a clamp a month. It may not be the best way, but I can guess what I need based on the projects I have coming down the chute. My collection is growing, but still not anywhere near many of the example pics you will see.

Jack, it's interesting - I read your post and looked at your picture without seeing your name and noticed the Stenner machine in your picture. I thought to myself that there was only one person who I could think of having a machine like that from another Canadian forum, and sure enough, when I looked at the poster, it was you. I think you are becoming internet famous!

-Nate

[Jim Matthews]

I haunt Craigslist, yard sales and the local flea market.

I'll pay $5 for any functioning handscrew - most of the pickers will have other things next to it, that can be bundled in.
Most woodworkers "going out" will have more clamps than I need, but I must take them all, and dispose of the extras.

Clamps are easy to resell, if you find there are some you don't use.

*****

The local "BoxLots" store full of Chinese over-runs recently had some F style clamps (the mechanism points toward the long axis of the clamp).
They were priced around $7.50 each and seemed adequate. Clamps don't need to be overbuilt - if the two pieces can't be brought together by handpressure,
the glue joint is under internal stress - no amount of clamping will help in the long run.

In short - you don't need the stoutest clamps, you need clamps that will adjust easily and can be cleaned.

I would avoid the long "sliding bar" clamps with the adjustment on top - these place tremendous bending stress on the thinnest portion of the top casting.
I've seen too many of the castings fail at the moment of setting the clamp. It's LOUD, too.

To my great disappointment, the wooden jaw quick-action clamps seem nearly impossible to use;
they have a smooth "spine" along their metal bar which makes adjustment fast, but slide as easily open as closed.

The cam on these should provide plenty of clamping force, but never give me the kind of squeeze out from a glue joint I was taught to make.

Oddly enough, I would take one of the quick adjustment "squeeze" clamps you find at the Big Box stores over one of those.
These don't look like much, are ubiquitous at tag sales and can be had for little money.

Most of what I clamp is within 2" of an edge, so having a 3" throat is sufficient.

Buy them cheap, clean them up and put them to use.
The pristine, shining as new clamps never got used for a reason...

[Tom Hintz]

I'm pretty sure there is a conspiracy amongst the manufacturers that made sure there was some kind of sale whenever I thought I needed a clamp. seeing the sale price naturally I bought a few to finish off my clamp set. Until the next sale, and then the next etc. I don;t even know how many clamps I have now but I do know they are everywhere in the shop. I even have a 102" bar clamp......

[Sam Stephens]

As a hobbyist, I can't afford the current prices of most clamps, on sale w/ coupon or not -jorgenson, bessey, etc. I'd rather spend the money elsewhere and frankly I'm not gluing up enough pieces at a time to need as many as folks who are making a living doing this. I have just enough clamps to get the job done, but no more. I have a handful of F-style clamps in the 12-36" range, most of which were inherited from my granddad. For case work, I use 1/2" pipe clamps (e.g. Pony) or the aluminum I-bar clamps from HF (which are a great deal IMO). Just thought I'd add another perspective.

Sam

[Eric DeSilva]

I'm going to go against the grain and say I prefer the Jet parallel clamps to my Bessey K-Bodies. I acquired a number of the Jets when Amazon and others used to put the the "cabinet door pack" (2 x 24", 2 x 40") on sale. Used to see them for $120-$150, which was a great deal, and would buy a couple sets. I found probably 3 dozen Bessey K-Bodies on craigslist ranging from 24" to 50" for an average of under $20/clamp, which was too good to pass up. But, I always reach for the Jet clamps first.

As others have said, parallel clamps aren't the only clamps you'll use. I have a half dozen 8" twin screw wood clamps, a pile of spring clamps (again, craigslist), a bunch of quick-grip clamps that are handy for quick and dirty jobs, and a couple of the 7" throat Bessey TG clamps (which are invaluable when you need that kind of depth). I also use a bunch of the Festool clamps for my MFT, and really like their "quick clamps"--I can't say the same thing about the Bessey "kwiklamps," which don't generate anywhere near the same clamping force as the Festools.

My theory is buy them as dictated by projects, but keep an eye out for sales and on craigslist. And, if any of you K-body lovers want to trade some Jets for some Besseys, let me know.

[Leo Graywacz]

As a hobbyist, I can't afford the current prices of most clamps, on sale w/ coupon or not -jorgenson, bessey, etc. I'd rather spend the money elsewhere and frankly I'm not gluing up enough pieces at a time to need as many as folks who are making a living doing this. I have just enough clamps to get the job done, but no more. I have a handful of F-style clamps in the 12-36" range, most of which were inherited from my granddad. For case work, I use 1/2" pipe clamps (e.g. Pony) or the aluminum I-bar clamps from HF (which are a great deal IMO). Just thought I'd add another perspective.

Sam

Clamps are always worth the money and you can never have enough

[Alden Miller]

One or two at a time usually. Which reminds me, I need to make another rack to hold the rest of my clamps.

-Alden

rsz_clampracks.jpg

[Keith Bohn]

When I was first setting up my shop I'd pick up a 1/2" Pony clamp and a pipe nipple from the plumbing department each time I'd go to the home center. At that time the combination would run under $15 (include a coupler). I started with buying 24", 30" and 36" nipples (changing it up each time). Once I'd accumulated a dozen of each I concentrated on 18" and 48", and the occasional 60". The funny thing is I find myself using the 18" a lot.

The same goes for F-clamps. Gather the light-duty ones first then once you've got a bunch start on the heavy-duty ones.

It doesn't take long and doesn't seem as expensive when you sneak up on it.

[Rick Potter]

Glad you asked, I got lucky, twice.

I was buying clamps a few at a time like most, but one day 20 years ago, I dropped into the local ShopSmith store (yes they had a few) and found it was going out of business. I looked around, and in the back of the store where they did some teaching, there was a barrel full of Jorgenson clamps. They had the aluminum bar type, and the steel bar F clamps. I picked out a couple, and called out to the manager about how much they were (The Aluminum ones had a $20-$25 price tag on them). He yelled back that they were slightly used in the school, and I could have them for $5 each, or a package price for all.

Making an unusual (for me) quick decision, I yelled back "I'll take them all". That earned me some dirty looks from the other customers. In my creeping old age, I cannot remember the exact package price. I want to say $68 for some reason, but it was definitely under $100. For this amount, I got eight 24" and 10 36" bar clamps, and 17 F clamps from 18" to 36".

A couple years ago, there was an ad in CL about a local cabinet shop going out of business. Turned out to be a one man semi retirement business. Most of the stuff was from Rockler. Along with a bunch of other stuff, I bought twelve 4' Rockler aluminum bar clamps, and eight 4' bar clamp extenders with hardware. $2 per clamp, $1 per extension. Total $32. He just wanted them gone, so he could move out of the building.

Rick Potter

[Bill Graham]

Shop the sales papers, Craigslist and the big-box stores. I built up a decent collection of Jorgy F-clamps and cabinet masters by buying a couple every week or so at HD, they beat all the internet stores on price. That's gone, they've switched to Irwin. Now Lowes is the place to go for the Bessey K-body clamps but stay away from their F-clamps, they're 'way pricey. Rockler has a great sale going on for select sizes in the Bessey Tradesman F-clamps, heavy-duty clamps in 4"x8", 5-1/2"x12" and 8"x16" sizes. I jumped on that with both feet and stocked up.

Shop around, buy a couple here and there when you find decent prices and pretty soon you'll have a collection like Jack. I think he's the exception that proves the rule....

Best,
Bill