Wooden Clamps

Stuart Ablett

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15,917
Location
Tokyo Japan
I've been wanting to make some of these for some time, after reading an article in Fine Woodworking about it. I got a screwbox and tap set here for a reasonable price, it is not the best set up, but I got it to work fairly well.

wooden_clamp_2.jpg wooden_clamp_1.jpg

They are made from Hard Maple and time will tell how long they last, but it is amazing the clamping power you can generate :eek:

These two took me most of the day, but as they are prototypes, that can be expected, I had to figure out how to make them and how to get the screwbox to work well, out of the box it did not work well at all, but I did get it working nicely by the time I was done.

I'll certainly be hanging onto more scraps and setting them aside for clamps :thumb:

Cheers!
 
Never used any all wood, I assume the jaws have to stay pretty much parallel?

I have a lot of old metal and wood craftsman and I love them. Them are extremly handy and will do things other clamps just can't do.
 
Very cool use of (what we used to erroneously call) scraps. Hand screws do come in handy and as Jeff says; they will do things for you others just won't.
 
Thanks guys they are neat, and yeah, the wood ones you cannot skew the jaws as much as the wood and metal ones, but they should get some good use.

I think I might just make a dowel machine at some point too, the doweling that I get here in the DIY shops is usually somewhat oval in shape, not bad, but not great either.

I know Lee Valley sell a set up for making doweling, but it is pricey. I know I could use my lathe, but this skinny and this long is not easy to do very accurately :dunno:

We shall see.

Cheers!
 
Thanks guys they are neat, and yeah, the wood ones you cannot skew the jaws as much as the wood and metal ones, but they should get some good use.

I think I might just make a dowel machine at some point too, the doweling that I get here in the DIY shops is usually somewhat oval in shape, not bad, but not great either.

I know Lee Valley sell a set up for making doweling, but it is pricey. I know I could use my lathe, but this skinny and this long is not easy to do very accurately :dunno:

We shall see.

Cheers!

I inherited a cast iron, hand crank, dowel making machine made by Stanley. I traded it off in return for part payment to a friend who built me flintlock rifle. I kept three of the cutters that were duplicate sizes.
It was a pretty neat deal that accepted square stock. Kinda wish I had kept it.
 
I inherited a cast iron, hand crank, dowel making machine made by Stanley. I traded it off in return for part payment to a friend who built me flintlock rifle. I kept three of the cutters that were duplicate sizes.
It was a pretty neat deal that accepted square stock. Kinda wish I had kept it.

Any idea of the number etc for it Frank?

A good vintage one would be welcome too! :D
 
Yeppers, that was it. I had forgotten the model #.
Yes, about $400.00 last time I checked. The cutters go for $50.00 to $75.00 each.

Yeah, $400 what about what I was seeing :doh:

In the >> Wooden Clamps << article at Fine Woodworking (link to the PDF, you have to be a member there to view it), there is a Dowel Maker by Trevor Robinson, it looks simple enough to make, so maybe I'll have a go at making one :dunno:

Well next year, I'm kind of busy for the rest of this year :wave:
 
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