Clamp Comparison

[wtnhighlander]

Wonder if their new Bauer and Hercules tool brands offer any improvement? I recently saw a review of the Hercules dust extractor, it looks to be an awesome deal for the price.

[Beechwood Chip]

I needed to drill a 2" diameter hole through about a foot of brick and concrete.  I realized that I could buy a Hercules SDS-MAX Rotary Hammer for the same cost as renting a Milwaukee one from Home Depot.  And, I wouldn't need to watch the clock to make sure that I wasn't charged for a 2nd day.  Worked fine, and if I or a friend need to break up some concrete, I now have a little mini-jack-hammer.

[fcschoenthal]

On 12/20/2024 at 9:19 PM, wtnhighlander said:

Wonder if their new Bauer and Hercules tool brands offer any improvement? I recently saw a review of the Hercules dust extractor, it looks to be an awesome deal for the price.

They've come a long way with the Bauer & Hercules brands over the old Chicago Electric line. They're starting to show up in the tool comparisons and fairing quite well. I have a couple of the corded tools (things that I don't use very often) and the price to quality ratio is well within my standards. 

[Mark J]

That's good to hear. Up till now I wouldn't have considered buying much of anything with a power cord from HF.

[BillyJack]

HF offers a lot of things. It’s not just about being cheap, but smart..

[BillyJack]

These clamps have many uses.

 

[pkinneb]

I love me some clamps and as I posted earlier different projects call for different clamps. Here's a pic of what I have accumulated over 40 years working wood:

And some of my favorites:

Dubuque aluminum bar clamps

Jorgenson quick clamps

and Bessy F style clamps

[BillyJack]

Dubuque aluminum bar clamps…

 

Why woodworkers buy these I haven’t figured out. I remember  20 years ago when someone first mentioned these, everybody had to have them cause the were the new thing.  First the K-body , then the Sash clamp.Lol

[BillyJack]

The K-body has a depth  advantage over the pipe clamp , yet a disadvantage with length.

The Sash clamp has a weight advantage over the  K-body(lighter) , yet both can’t apply much pressure 

The pipe  clamp. Heavier than a Sash clamp, not as clumsy as a K-body and unlimited in lengths, plus you don’t have to wait on shipping. Lol

[BillyJack]

While working on the poker table I got caught needing adjustable hands-screw clamps for depth, plus. Each time I went to HF or Menards , they kept binding. This was no good and I needed 20-30. I needed a 6” depth , so I decided to make cam clamps.

 

[pkinneb]

On 12/30/2024 at 10:15 AM, BillyJack said:

Dubuque aluminum bar clamps…

 

Why woodworkers buy these I haven’t figured out. I remember  20 years ago when someone first mentioned these, everybody had to have them cause the were the new thing.  First the K-body , then the Sash clamp.Lol

Because they work  

[BillyJack]

On 12/30/2024 at 4:14 PM, pkinneb said:

Because they work  

Agree, but many clamps work at a cheaper price…

 

But I’ll play…. Why did you buy them over Bessey or pipe clamps?

[BillyJack]

Here’s a clamp I really wanted but didn’t work out well. I also bought and tried the Milwaukee brand.

 

[BillyJack]

Here’s a good storage , at least to me. After years of clamping at work putting on and off, I stopped hanging these. 
 

Each container holds 50 squeeze clamps.
 

 

[pkinneb]

On 12/31/2024 at 1:21 PM, BillyJack said:

Agree, but many clamps work at a cheaper price…

 

But I’ll play…. Why did you buy them over Bessey or pipe clamps?

As you can see from the photo I have both of those already and I'm always willing to try something new. When I first started seeing the Dubuque clamps I was apprehensive due to the aluminum and flex, however I have not found that to be an issue. After using a couple I love that they are waaay lighter then the pipe or K Body clamps , I'm not getting any younger and would rather leave my weightlifting to my workout room. I also love that glue squeeze out is a breeze to clean up which I cannot say about the others. Having said that I stall have and use bar and K Body clamps these just happen to be one of my favorites.

[BillyJack]

I bought every K-body Sears was selling when they were closing this clamps out. Bet  I hard 30 of various sizes. I’m sure we know how long ago that was. Anyway..I got those clamps home and tried to use them and after one day , I packed them back up except for 4 clamps and returned  them. Too heavy and bulky for cabinet use , too big and bulk for small use. ..

 

I bought these cause every hobby woodworker was talking about them.  I think they looked better hanging up  than being used. I think everyone was selling them and believe one seller had 100’s of them. 

[wtnhighlander]

Seems that everyone's preferred clamp is greatly influenced by the type of work they focus on. For example, I rarely use spring or ratchet style squeeze clamps, because I most often need to clamp across a distance they can't span. Or at least don't span without causing the joint to slip, due to the angle of force they apply when the jaws aren't at parallel.

But if you glue a lot of thin-ish materials together, they are probably the best option.

Has anyone tried some of the old 'rope and wedge' methods for clamping? Seems most useful for odd shapes, but surely that would work on the mostly rectangular furniture we make?

[Mark J]

11 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

Seems that everyone's preferred clamp is greatly influenced by the type of work they focus on.

+1

11 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

Has anyone tried some of the old 'rope and wedge' methods for clamping?

Never heard of this.  Got a picture or something?

[BillyJack]

When I worked in cabinetry it’s a variety of clamps. When I went to work for the furniture company all they had was pipe clamps. It took we a few years to build what I needed to work most of the jobs. I mainly built furniture pieces. Sometimes I was asked about a job, sometime# I was given plans and had to build whether I liked the job or not. Every once in awhile I’d have to veneer seats , etc to help the departments that didn’t  know how.

 

[wtnhighlander]

3 hours ago, Mark J said:

+1

Never heard of this.  Got a picture or something?

I see it most often in videos about traditional Japanese crafts, like this one.

 

[oldman_pottering]

I have a limited range of clamps from K body parallel clamps to some Irwin trigger type clamps and some pipe clamps that I like.

Clamps that I dont are my Bessey F style clamps that seems to slip way to often and then I have these that I'm thinking of just throwing away due to their difficulty of use and poor clamping

Bessey KliKlamp

 

 

[BillyJack]

The Bessey kliklamps aren’t very good.,better replaced by the  Jorgensen

[oldman_pottering]

On 1/3/2025 at 7:08 AM, BillyJack said:

The Bessey kliklamps aren’t very good.,better replaced by the  Jorgensen

they are pretty ordinary, obviously I bought them thinking they would be good but they are fiddly to use and dont hold very well

[BillyJack]

I bought the Kreg  clamps and found they were difficult. Took awhile to sell them. I finally put a Milwaukee router on there and they sold.

[wtnhighlander]

@BillyJack, were those Kreg clamps the "vise grip" style, or some other format?