Never enough clamps !!

[JohnB]

G'day all,
I was edge jointing some timber down the shed the other day and the Old saying "A cabinet Maker never has enough clamps" cam e to mind.

Here's a couple of tips that may extend your clamping abilities without buying more.

These are especially useful when using Sash Clamps etc.

For a single clamp eg on shorter pieces of timber, make two Cauls/Clamp Pads slightly Concave, 1/4" curve is plenty.
Place the curved edge against the timber to be clamped and clamp from the centre. This will effectively give you the same results as having two clamps. It doesn't matter if the Cauls bend in and touch the project as this then give three clamping points.
I use 3" x 1 1/2" pine as clamp pads. A soft timber is preferable as it reduces the chances of damaging the project and also gives the flex mentioned above.

The other method, for longer boards is to make the cauls convex and use a clamp at either end. diagrams may explain better.

[shinzam]

Nice tip John
As you said we never have enough clamps (I have been there) always looking for tips to help me out. B.T.W love the illustration they make it easer to understand. What do they say a picture is worth a thousand words (or something like that?)
Thanks Graham.
.

[paul44224]

Thanks for the tip, John!

Paul

[sawdustus]

Excellent tip John. Thanks. Often the most difficult problems have the simplest solutions.

george

[Janette]

Great idea John. Now I know what to do with those warped boards!!

[miniwoodworker]

Thanks, that's a great tip.

It's impossible to have too many clamps and great ideas for how to extend the capability of the ones we do have.