Most versatile clamp size

[cowchaser]

Just getting a feel for what everyone considers their most versatile clamp size. Realizing that it all depends on what your building. What would be your go to clamp if everything was equal and say your building the current guild project?

Just looking at getting some new clamps since my others are kind of "cheap" and was wondering what my best size options would be.

[PaulMarcel]

I first started with a lot of 18" and 24" F-style clamps and it worked well. Sure they were too long sometimes, but they worked when I needed something long.

I've since purchased some 27" and 39" parallel clamps and don't use those F-styles nearly as much since I prefer the clamping of the parallels. Since the parallels, I use a lot of 6" F-styles.

What I didn't have when I started that I now use a lot are BowClamps. With 2 F-style clamps and a BowClamp, I get excellent pressure along the length of the glue-up. Sure they look like expensive wooden cauls; if you can make your own, go for it. The curve on the BowClamps seems to apply perfect pressure through the length (curve is different for each length of BowClamp). And if you would rather make your own, they would still be as useful and replace a lot of clamps You can buy the master set from the web site and get 10% off if you follow up with an email saying you're a member of the Wood Whisperer forum.

[DeanJackson]

24", hands down, unless you're building tables or cabinets. It's small enough that it works fine as a 12", and 36" is pretty darn big.

[PaulMarcel]

24", hands down, unless you're building tables or cabinets. It's small enough that it works fine as a 12", and 36" is pretty darn big.

My Jet 36" F-style clamps flex a lot, too. But I got them for a song, and I can't sing, so...

[wilburpan]

I voted for 12", mainly because I use them all the time for clamping things to my bench.

You may be looking at the wrong dimension, however. I think that it's not so much the length of the clamp that's the most important thing, but the depth of the jaws. When I assembled my clamp collection, I focused on getting clamps with a 4" jaw depth. If a clamp is too short, I can always grab a longer one, but if I need a greater depth of reach, there's not much I can do, and there have been many times that having that 4" reach has saved my butt. And sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't have gone with clamps with 5" jaws instead.

[PeteJr]

24" works for almost all of my projects

[TTF]

I like 24". It covers 80% of all the things I clamp.

[Vic]

Have have more 3' Jets than any other.

[knotscott]

... I voted for 12", mainly because I use them all the time for clamping things to my bench...

Same here....the majority of my clamping is to hold something to the bench, and I typically grab my Wolcraft "quickgrip" type 12". For clamping boards together 18" to 24" will do nicely most of the time.

[cosmocyb]

I would say it has to be 24". But, I like them all. The more clamps the merrier. Can never have too many clamps.

[jHop]

I wish I could say that 24" covers the majority of what I need to be clamped. Unfortunately, it doesn't. I have six 36" clamps from Harbor Freight that cover the majority of the long clamping I need (for now), and 8 of the small (4"?) clamps to hold things together while I lose them. But the 24" clamps I have are the most versatile for assembly. (The most used, however, are the 12" wooden handscrew clamps. Those are the only once I can guarantee things get held steady with. Especially since I use a pair as a vice on the workbench.)

That said, the 24" clamps cover quite a bit for me, especially with a 2x4 "jumper" frame I rigged up. (At least, until the recent rain storm and subsequent basement flood warped it... need to rebuild it. And replace some MDF. A reminder, folks, not to store your wood or leather on the floor, especially when water is nearby.)

[Gerry]

I have found I use my 2 " clamps more than any other. That being said, it is REALLY nice to have the flexability of a 24" reach.

[cts1085]

There is something about reaching for the 36-40" jet/bessey parallel clamps that just feels like the project is going well!