Need more clamps and on a budget-shop fox f-style any good?

[chicks82]

As the title says. Need more clamps (who doesn't right) and I was looking at the shop fox f-style clamps. They are half the price of Bessey which is what I normally buy but have low funds. So what do you guys say?

[Beckycrum]

I've had good luck with the Harbor Freight metal F style clamps. Might want to check them out if you're on a budget.

[nateswoodworks]

Buying cheap F style clamps is one thing I am very leery about. Years ago I had bought some economy clamps and it didn't take long at all and they were slipping, sliding, and heading for the scrap yard. I still have one pipe clamp that is junk (have to put a visegrip to keep the tail in place) but its my last resort clamp as well as a reminder of my mistake. I had heard great things about the 4" Woodriver f-style clamps and picked up a couple about 9 months ago for a couple bucks each, bought 6 more the last time I was there.

[Dave H]

I know this is not what you want to hear but pipe clamps are pretty inexpensive, and they work exellent. I have alot of different kinds of clamps, and I reach for the pipe clamps more than any others I have 5'ers , and 3'ers if I need longer clamps mate two pipes together with some couplers, the Pony's are great, but I buy the ones from HF I've been useing them for 10 yrs now and no complaints. I had the problem with the pipe clamps slipping when i first got them the black pipes that I bought had a finish on them I just roughed them up with some 100 grit no more slippage.

[tdale51@yahoo.com]

I've got a couple F style clamps from Harbor Frieght, I believe the name brand on them is Pittsburgh. I bought them several years ago and they still work fine for me. I also ran across a deal on Ebay about 3 years back for a F style clamps. Those don't have a namebrand. The same style clamps are still all over Ebay. When I got mine they were sold in sets of assorted sizes, I ordered two sets and I think that got me 4-6 of each size from 6"-36". I have two complaints about them...they're not quick release and the plastic jaw pads fall off frequently. Other than that they work as advertised. The Bessy pipe clamps are very nice and not too pricey either.

[Ben@FineWoodworking]

Besides my pipe clamps all I have are half a dozen 12" HF f-style clamps and a dozen or so 6" Jorgensons my uncle gave me.

I honestly like the HF clamps more. The handle is easier to get a hold on. Next time I'm needing more f-style I'll be going to harbor freight.

[joelav]

I probably have 75 of the harbor freight F clamps. They are cheap and as SonicFedora mentioned, I like the handles better on them then I do my Jorgensens. These are good clamps, however they are not an online purchase. Go to the store and check them out first. If they have 20 on the shelf, 15 are worth purchasing. I only have 2 "nice" clamps (36" Cabinet master parallel clamps). I use those initially to index the glue up and put the cauls on, after that I reach for the F Clamps.

Maybe I suck, but I cannot get a glue up to stay straight only using F style bar clamps. It's not a big deal all the time as the edges get trimmed, but when I am trying to match grain and don't want any shifting, it proves to be difficult.