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

[Tim M Tuttle]

Afternoon Creekers,

Getting into woodworking can be quite intimidating in many aspects. Where to buy the wood? What wood to buy? What tools? etc. I am early in my woodworking journey and have waded through the muck to compile a pretty good selection of tools and supplies. Probably more than I need but I tend to be one that doesnt like to have to get creative on how to do something. I'd rather pay money for a tool designed to do a specific thing. Anyway, one thing I havent gotten my head around is clamps.

When I first started out I knew I would need clamps and a lot of them. I had heard good things about Harbor Freight's clamp selection so I took a trip there one day and bought probably 30 clamps of various styles and sizes. Upon starting to use them I realized I made some mistakes in my selection. F style clamps are great and probably my most used clamps but buying a bunch of the 36" and 48" variety proved unwise, especially from Harbor Freight (they flex A LOT).

The biggest issue with clamps is that they are freaking expensive. I can't tell you how many times I have sat in Home Depot, Lowes, Woodcraft, etc and stared at clamps with the intention of buying a few only to walk away with nothing for the fear of making a bad purchase.

I should go ahead and get to my point of this post...what does everyone recommend as far as clamps go? I'd love to hear the preferred style of clamps for <12", <24", etc. Bar clamps, pipe clamps, f style, c, parallel...the list goes on and on. I'd love to get a feel for what everyone recommends for various tasks requiring clamps.

Seems to me that you really cant have enough of the 12" or so f style clamps. I have done quite a few laminations and those come in super handy and you can run through 20 of them in a heartbeat. I recently came across this four pack at Home Depot: http://www.homedepot.com/p/BESSEY-Cl...C4PK/205086977 Seemed like a pretty good price so I picked up a couple.

Thanks

[scott vroom]

I use pipe clamps for 99% of my work (mostly FF cabinets). I have 60 of them ranging from 18" to 72". Prefer Jorg. Pony brand, tried a few Bessy pipe clamps and found the springs way to stiff making them virtually unusable for me.

[Cary Falk]

I started off with pipe clamps. Since I got into parallel clamps the pipe clamps are unused unless I need to connect some for a long clamp. I don't have any f clamps. I do have quite a few of the large Irwin quick grip clamps of varying length. I bought them when HD was closing them out.

[Jake Elkins]

Yeah, I basically started from scratch regarding clamps, too. I started with pipe clamps, which were fairly inexpensive, and can do basically any clamping job. I also got a few F-clamps, which became my usual go-to clamp, I now have about 20-30 of those, in 6, 8, 12, 24 lengths. These serve me well for the majority of what I need to do. Along the years, I picked up several parallel clamps, which are great when you need them, but overkill for most jobs. Don't forget some handscrews, and learn how to use them. They are very versatile and can get you out of trouble. I have found the squeeze-grip clamps and similar light-duty clamps to be almost useless

[Osvaldo Cristo]

Afternoon Creekers,

[...]
...what does everyone recommend as far as clamps go?
[...]

Thanks

Question number one is what are you looking for in woodworking. There are complete different demands if you have different focus, as an example, if you are working with small decorative wood box construction or full size colonial style furniture, the clamping needs will be quite different.

Question number two is about your working style. For many cases I prefer to use hidden screws to effectively clamp my work while glue sets but again, it is a working/design style issue with different demand for clamps. If you prefer go to step by step waiting for glue to set or you prefer to go at one single time mounting multiple units (can you imagine the number of clamps necessary for half dozen chairs?).

Question number three is your budget.

Question number four is operation. Parallel clamps are great, but extreme expensive, big and heavy. Some people do not like pipe clamps. Usually some kind of quick release is welcome but it sometimes present a compromise on the clamp effectiveness. You have to discover what is the best for for you, or more precisely, what kind of trade off is acceptable to you.

Personally I am something minimalist for my wood working. I have mounted lots of stuff using only the "clamp" I can get from the lateral vise from my workbench and some dogs. I have used a lot of times my four Merle clamps for frames, boxes and stuff related to cabinet making - each of them can replace lots of "conventional" clamps although they are not so easy to use if you are in a hurry. I also have four 24" and four 6" AmericanTools ViseGrip as well a few 60" pipe clamp (3/4-in pipe). I also use frequently a couple of 4" F-clamp and rarely I use four C-clamps (2" and 4"). All of them I purchased in the beginning of the 1990s. Later I added some spring clamps I use a lot for miscellaneous applications, not necessary to clamp wood pieces together.

Honestly I would like to add a lot of more clamps but my actual use have refrainned myself from that!

My suggestion is just to start small and develop your projects... an incremental approach. I guess themselves will taught you the best clamp set is required for your needs.

Good luck!

(the small clamp rack bellow support virtually all my clamps - at the picture is missing some pipe clamps and my six 4.5-in all metal spring clamps I was using in a project)

[Jacob Mac]

I would buy clamps and tools on an as needed basis for the most part. I have some parallel clamps, but mostly bar clamps.

[Steve Peterson]

The type of clamps that work best for you depend on the type of work that you do.

If you are a cabinet maker, then you might want an assortment of 24", 36", and 48" parallel clamps plus a few pipe clamps for longer items.

Most of my work is smaller and my primary clamp is the Irwin quick clamp. They are a great single hand clamp that is easy to release when needed. I try to find the packages with 2 6" and 2 12" clamps at HD or Lowes for around $20-25.

[Nick Decker]

Agree with the "as needed basis" part. Really can't suggest anything without knowing what you'll be building. One man's wall full of parallel clamps is another man's wasted space.

[Mike Cutler]

I have mostly Jorgenson F-Style clamps, and pipe clamps. Most of mine have come from Home Depot. It's close and they're return policy is pretty easy to deal with.
When I need to do a large panel glue up I use Bow Clamps.

You're going to end up with a lot of clamps eventually. Let the work you do dictate what you buy, and when.

[Jared Sankovich]

Buy them when they go on sale.

I mostly build cabinets and some furniture. This is my clamp rack from a couple years ago, I've since added 50 or so additional Bessey's of various types and sizes. 99% of my clamps were picked up on sale.
20171012_163650.jpg

[Prashun Patel]

I am a big fan of the 12" HF F style clamps. I haven't bought them more than once, but my set works wonderfully at a very good price.

Cabinet clamps are great but heavy and expensive. I have about 8 and that works fine.

I like Bessey's 3/4" pipe clamp heads. These are great for large panel and table glue ups.

[Lee Schierer]

As a general rule, you always need at least one more clamp than you own to hold your project exactly the way you want to.

[Matt Day]

Similar to prashun, I like the HF f clamps but I prefer ththe 6” version. 12” is probabaly okay, but anything longer and the bar is all twisted usually.

I also have probably 30 parallel clamps (12-72”) I prefer Jet, most bought on 50% off Black Friday sales), an assortment of Jorgy f clamps from 6-36, and some aluminum bar clamps from Rockler, and a set of 12 bar clamps Veritas sold years ago. Basically, a little bit of everything (except pipe clamps - pipe is expensive!).

[marty fretheim]

Like previously mentioned it depends what kind of work you do. I bought a bunch of the Jet parallel clamps a few years ago when they had the 50% off sales. Seems that they don't do the half off anymore. They're really good clamps but they are kinda heavy. Recently I purchased some Dubuque aluminum bar clamps. They are about 25 bucks each and so far I am really happy with them. I have some quick clamps and F style clamps as well. I have a few of the HF pipe clamps for when I need a really long clamp and they get the job done just fine.

[Darcy Warner]

I buy every old Hargrove bar clamp I can get my hands on. Every wetzler clamp I can get my hands on, any colt cam action clamp I can.