Clamps, clamps, clamps...so many clamps...

[Brian Henderson]

I've got a ton of various kinds of clamps and, since I'm working out the details of a new clamp rack, figured I should leave room for more. I have never just bought clamps, just to buy them, if I need them, I get them to fit the current project. That means I have tons of pipe clamps, f-clamps, parallel clamps, spring clamps, plus a whole mess of specialty clamps that I've picked up over the years for various projects. This isn't a race. You have time. Get what you need and, on rare occasion, what's on sale that you know you'll need down the road. There are plenty of alternative solutions for clamping too, as others have said. Just be creative.

[andy bessette]

Though I have clamps stored at various work stations throughout the shop, most are stored against this one wall.

[Jim Becker]

Quickly scanning, I don't see that anyone has mentioned:

I highly recommend making some 'cambered' or curved clamping cauls. For must straight glue ups, these spread clamping pressure along an edge and reduce the number of clamps you require for a glue up. They can also be used to keep panels flat and aligned during glue up. All this is to say, cauls may allow you to get along with fewer clamps than some of the generously-stocked armories you see below.

I agree...they are indispensable when gluing up panels for keeping things flat. I happen to use Bowclamps, but it's possible to make them in the shop, too.

[Dennis McCullen]

Jorgensen is back! Comment on the thread and a product review. Read to the end. Yes there's a wide variety available and sometimes needed. I bought quite a few 4-pks of Irwin quick-grip mini clamps when ACE hardware ran them on sale for half price near Christmas a few years ago. I own a lot of the f-style in varying lengths from harbor freight, mostly 6" and 12". I bought a half dozen of the HF sash clamps (aluminum bar) and stiffened them a little with a wood insert (Paul Sellers style). I have always owned some pipe clamps for the really long needs and even have (4) 48" Bessey parallel clamps (half price , used). ALSO - I subscribe to the theory that your work should be accurate enough to not demand really high clamping pressure. I recently bought a 4 pk of quick grip clamps with the Jorgensen brand on them. (I do not know who owns the name these days). The Jorgensens 4-pk (2@6", 2@12") clamps are from Lowe's and currently on clearance for $15. I did not need them having so many Irwins that work fine, but I was interested in the spreading feature, which I occasionally need. An additional bonus, once I got them home, I realized they were designed with dovetail ends so you can join two clamps together for a longer clamp. By their design, two twelve inch clamps joined ended up giving me a 28" capacity. I'd prefer a 30" bar clamp for that size glue up, but these seem like good clamps, have good reviews by many users, and are as versatile as any small quick clamp I've seen. I used them simply as single quick grip clamps and thought they did fine. I built four 2 pc. clamp stands 45" long and needed four clamps for each so 16 clamps, mostly quick grip style. BTW, this is how DIYers reward themselves; I'd just finished installing a new kitchen sink, faucets, etc.