clamps for clamps:)

[larry merlau]

old clamps without manuals for reminding us how to use properly i had some clamping to do with a long area to clamp and it was late in the day i was on the last part and tightened it down one more time and hear a craaaack!!! well it was cracked and i had used the clamp on the clamp in the wrong way!!! but its fixed with help of his cousins

 

[Ken King]

I don't guess I know what I'm looking at there....

 

[Darren Wright]

It happens sometimes.

 

[Brent Dowell]

Clampity Clamp Clamp!

 

[larry merlau]

ken, the wooden thing is a bow clamp for long surfaces, i used the hand clamp improperly and broke the edge of it off so used clamps to fix a clamp

 

[Ted Calver]

I was wondering about it too. Don't recall seeing the term bowclamp before, but have some cauls. Learning all the time.

 

[larry merlau]

they work well..especially in areas you can get a clamp on well.

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Can you please enlighten me Larry? What sort of a clam is bow clamp? From the pics it seems that yours is a stick Sliding into another grooved one to allow for adjustement I think. But apart from that I’d like to see how they are used, and how they look like.

 

[larry merlau]

here you go toni, https://www.woodcraft.com/blog_entr...ZuKklSTuvi4LK1w3Z-1igTiOv_qJ6uCcaAt-AEALw_wcB

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Thanks a lot Larry. I have a question though; in any way there will be always more pressure on the center of the clamp than on the ends won’t it?

 

[glenn bradley]

I'll chime in for Toni. The pressure is varied to some degree by the bow and by the end-point clamping. I have not noticed this to make them any more or less usable. Although these are marketed as something that will let you reduce the number of clamps you need or use, I find them (mine are shop made) to be more useful in getting clamping pressure to areas that are hard to reach. I don't have many example in pictures apparently but, you can see one here allowing me to put clamping pressure on a panel in a dado that runs along a deep carcass.



There is a vertical Bessey K-body clamp in front and one behind thta press the bowed surface down. This distributes pressure all along the dado-and-panel joint for gluing. I do often find I cannot use them where they might be useful due to the high pressure they exert. I have played with the idea of making some with an even more gradual curve than my shop made ones. I made my own because I wanted a more gentle curve with less pressure for what I do. The Bowclamps are well made and very well designed. I just needed something with a little less bow.

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Thanks Glenn.

 

[larry merlau]

glenn said it well, i like them for case work.