OK – I got clamps. I got a LOT of clamps. Parallel, pony, medium duty Jorgy F-style, heavy-duty Gross Stabil F-style, serious C clamps, etc. None of them are handscrew clamps.
You guys are smarter than me, so help me out here – I understand how handscrew clamps work, but I don’t understand them all that well.
When do you use them, in preference to the styles I have? Why do you use them instead of these other types? (John W – expecting another life-clarifying forehead-dope-slap observation from you in particular.)
No one ever died with too many clamps, and I’m pretty much at the high-tide level on the other styles, so to keep expanding my clamp inventory, I’d need to go to handscrew.
Replies
I also have beaucoup clamps but no handscrew or "C" clamps. My clamping needs are nicely met with my 1/2" and 3/4" Pony clamps, my Irwin quick release clamps, various spring clamps, and a selection of strap clamps.
Every time I think about buying handscrew clamps, I walk away asking myself "Why bother?" - lol
In my opinnion, the handscrews give a broad-large surface area, non marring way to hold down stock to carve or shape.
However, I also think this is one of the things that falls much in the purists category. I agree with the other poster that I have never felt like I needed them.
Webby
You can angle the jaws for odd shaped pieces. Also if you are gluing a wide piece you can change the clamping pressure from the front to back of the clamp. They work well for holding small pieces when used with a vise. They seem to me to be rather flexible an their use and application. Most folks however think of only clamping straight across or down. So parallel clamps and bar clamps usually come to mind.
F.
I've got a bunch. I think 4 in each of the 3 most common sizes would be a good buy. Use them a lot. for wide non marring clamping to odd shapes and many times for bracing a piece and then clamping it to the bench. Perfect for a long thin something that needs to be vertical on the bench surface. A board, a door. Put a handscrew to each end and no tipping. Clamp the clamp and the whole thing isn't going anywhere.
Once put a little BLO on a few-thought they were getting too dry. Not a good Idea. Don't ask.
Storing them and getting used to the screw action-- well thats something else
OK, Boiler, we might have a winner here:
"Clamp the clamp and the whole thing isn't going anywhere"
I can see that happening. I don't do odd shapes or carve (not so far anyway) but I am ALWAYS trying to hold/fixture things and I have seen this in photos - my synapses fired with your comments, and found that memory.
This - and the other helpful comments (like "broad, flat, non-marring surface") have cleared the "plausible excuse" hurdle (not that THAT bar is very high around my shop).
2 followups:
1. Jorgy, I assume - favorite source/price?
2. I can see efficient storage as a challenge. Solutions?
Thanks, folks.
Kent
Atlanta
Jorgies and what storage solution? :)Edit: oops...Highland Hardware and cost is what it is. I just wish they would use the post office instead of the biggest ripoff in the country...UPS
OOOh, i'm gwana git som flack on dat 1.
Edited 11/19/2009 7:47 pm by boilerbay
Boiler,
I was just thinking about the death of the USPS this evening as I was driving out to the hardware store for my second trip of the day.
UPS a rip-off? Perhaps so, but recently I've been getting stuff through USPS that takes like two weeks to deliver, even longer. What is up with that? I can't understand it. They must pay some storage lot so they can park their loaded trucks there for a week.
Total thread highjack. Boiler started it! Boiler, apologize.
-jonnieboy
Jonnieboy,
Didn't mean to really start a UPS/USPS thing. Just personal experience. We had a $5000 scanner dropped on concrete steps in Atlanta -- within site of the World headquarters of UPS.Since I've moved here, UPS always takes one more day than posted as it only counts to the last major city, and for us going from Salem, Or. to Boiler Bay (90 minutes away) is one more day AND if it's small (mail box size)they often outsource it for another day to the post office. In addition to all that, we have never - not once- received a package here via UPS that wasn't damaged and many times the product itself damaged.We have had very good luck with USPS but we prefer FedEx. At the moment at least, USPS and FedEx also have the bonus of Saturday delivery.
(side note: most people don't realize that UPS does not count the day of pick up as one of those scheduled delivery days.)
Others will have horror stories about other companies and the whole thing is somewhat subjective.Like I said -- just opinion and personal experience.BB
Boiler,
Hey, no prob with the USPS, UPS, FedEx thing. Just yakking. That USPS thing has me baffled though. I'm not very patient when I'm waiting for a package.
--Jon
Could be recent cutbacks. Our post used to arrive by 2 pm, now it's after 6. Some days with replacements, 2 flyers then in a few days a half ton of mail the temp didn't bother with. And so it goes.
Boiler,
Yep, we see that too.
--jb
Boiler -
Actually, you are getting a tremendous deal this way. Imagine if you lived just 12 minutes from Highland, as I do.
2 weeks ago, I went for a quart of Titebond, normally $13.50 - cost me just over $80. 3 weeks before that, I went for $14 of camellia oil - cost me over $100.
At least, those were my "out-the-door" costs. Someday, these numbers will start to go down, as I have one of nearly everything in the store (at least, so I have been accused).
I used to enjoy that same luxury. Needing s small item at Highland and "then as long as I'm here..."
Sarge has similar stories. Highland Hardware is the EVIL EMPIRE! :)I lived on East Paces Ferry. Now, I'm a smidge farther away.
E Pace's, eh? Then you had an even worse problem - just a short walk to the Fish Hawk.
The Fish Hawk -- The second half of the dark side. You should see my rack of fly rods and hackles. Use to do a lot of "tie flying" (early on it was more road kill). Now, more like Ol Norman in the movie - bout ready to trip in the river and float away trying to tie one on.
All due to Gary.
Problem here is that the Steelhead and Cutthroats don't fully understand the concept of the proper relationship of fish to angler. Just like teenagers -- no respect for their elders.Speaking of making bamboo rods and fly tying benches (they talk of loading benches, don't they?) I'm surprised someone hasn't wrapped that thread here.BB
Edited 11/20/2009 9:22 am by boilerbay
Definition of "serious sickness": few years back went to the Hawk, and came out with a Sage spinning rod for cryin' out loud, it's my medium-low weight spinner, and its one of 4 going to Cape Hatteras next week to fish the Atlantic surf. A SAGE SPINNING rod? nicest spinner I'ver ever held, but still - I gotta get some help. Someday.
Is it a crime to hijack my own thread? Sorta like suicide I guess - it's a crime, but who is left to prosecute?
Can always count Hackle clamps.
Heard that Thomas & Thomas was coming out with one (a spinner) - just for use on the Firehole at Jellystone. Maybe about $950... :)And speaking of clamps, I also have about 40 Jorgy springers, about 6 Quick Grip "Handi" clamps - like the springers but with a rachet -- useless, and then for micro work I have quite a few miniature brass bar clamps, 6 or 7 inner tubes and some big rolls of Gaffer Tape and last but not least a large roll of "saran" on a handle.
Oh, Yeah... about 50 wood clothes pins with the ends flattened and rubberband wrapped on the handle sides.Not handscrews but they are all hand clamps :)Do hemostats count?BB
Hemostats count. These days, I use them to flatten barbs, and remove hooks from sharks and rays in the surf.
I'm not gonna tell you what I used them for in college................mainly because I can't recall.
Every shop needs a couple! If for no other reason, than holding that odd piece for your drill press or the depth reach of larger handscrews.
Two handscrews permit you to drill a true hole in a tool or chisel handle on a drill press by clamping the tool handle in one clamp and then rotating the orientation of the second handscrew 90 degrees to the first.
Clamps are inherently specialist in nature... every clamp is designed for a specific clamping task, maybe more than 1 but the point is still the same, each clamp works best in a narrow set of conditions.
With that in mind, handscrew clamps are just another arrow in my quiver, complimenting my parallel, bar, quick, and spring clamps. I don't have many (I think 7 in total and 3 of them are cheap imports that I don't like to use at all) and I don't use them frequently but when I do I appreciate having them.
I'd say buy a couple and once you have them you will find opportunities to use them. Whatever you do, don't buy cheap poorly made handscrews because they are really frustrating to use. Dubuque Clamp Works makes some really nice handscrews and they are not expensive at all.
WM41 - Thanks
Found them on USA Clamp site, at a very reasonable price, especially for 6-pack (you see how this starts, right? :)) Also sled by Japan WW for more $$, but I have bought [waaayy to much stuff] from JWW, and their products have always been top-notch, so this is a confirmation of your suggestion. Not that I questioned you, just popped up in google.
I'm in. Whaddya think is a good, all-purpose size as an initial item? Seems like 8" with 4" reach and 5" opening might be more versatile than 6" with 3" + 3".
10" seems to be getting kinda big, but then - IGNFI, which is why I asked the original question.
Comments?
I must have at least two dozen handscrew type clamps. They range from really big (16"?) to small (3"). I use all of them frequently, but use the 10" the most. This type of clamp will do virtually anything any other kind will. All of mine are Jorgesen brand. Most are quite old, inherited from my Dad. Others I purchased off ebay or elsewhere. The only clamp I can get to grip tighter is a good quality c-clamp and those have very limited use in my woodshop. Don't oil the gripping portion of the jaw unless you want a stain on your work. The new ones sometimes leave the same stain.
Okey-doke.
Your user name kills me - not you personally - the sapwood I have cut around to get clears in cherry and QSWO.
Great Dad you had there - all I had coming from mine was 160 acres in central KS, and he went and gave it to his brother & my cousin, because they were gonna keep farming and keep in in the family name. Makes sense, but I sure coulda used some clamps.
10 best handscrew tips:
http://www.shopnotes.com/files/issues/106/10-best-handscrew-tips.pdf
#6 and #10 are the best uses I have for them. Once, I arrived to do a demo and was promised a good bench, wood, and planes. I brought some carving tools, planes, a pair of F-clamps, and a handscrew "just-in-case". When I arrived, I found... wait for it... a folding table. That handscrew bailed me (and the organizers) out big time!
and www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Spot,
https://www.finewoodworking.com/ToolGuide/ToolGuidePDF.aspx?id=29569
Lataxe
That explains a lot. Got it.
"The hand screw’s basic design—a pair of wooden jaws linked with two threaded handles that screw the jaws open or closed —probably came from the Romans."
Beneficium, pater cenae.
I love the sight of handscrews in the morning. They look so . . . woodworky. ;-)
Although my personal selection is limited, I use them as others have described, mostly as large-surface, non-marring C-style clamps, or as clamped clamps or vice-in-a-vice devices.
Mine are Jorgies, and hang from the screws on long-ish pegboard hooks.
Spotcheck,
I just hung a couple of those gray shelf supports and slide the clamps on for storage.
Man, I use my handscrews for everything. The are great for holding stuff on my bench, holding odd shapes, you name it. The only thing that bugs me about them is that I don't have more of them.
Here's one use, among many others, I had for them.
View Image
Also for many previously mentioned uses. Also use them for paring/cleaning mortises from the HCM; come in handy for registering chisels when you want them perpendicular to a surface.
To tighten/loosen them hold each handle in your hands and make like you peddling a bicycle with your hands. Quicko! Spinning handscrews, folding bandsaw blades; oh aint it fun!?
They're great for when ye have a headache. Just tighten 'em around ye bean and the headache goes away.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
One other thing, you can modify the jaw if need be. I have cut 90 deg v-notches in two of mine to grip round items. I love them and they might be the last to go if I had to choose.
That's a good idea.
Napie,
That's a great idea. Are the notches in line with the jaws or perpendicular to them?
-jonnieboy
Both
Have you ever made your own wooden clamps?Something I always thought of. LV sells the kits but I think I could find parts here.I noticed the barrel nuts are off set in the Jorgs. Would it be any differance if you centered them?
Not worth it, they don't cost that much.
Here's one use, this afternoon. Length stop - cutting maple drawer bottoms.
Boiler
BB - very good example.
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