Best Deal on 40" Bar Clamps?

[jteneyck]

I'd second Arlin's point of view.  Again, if your joinery is accurate, you don't really need parallel clamps, pipe clamps will do just fine.  HF is not bad a lot of bank for the buck. 

 https://www.harborfreight.com/3-4-quarte...94053.html

Thanks guys.  I have plenty of bar clamps.  The problem with bar clamps is they have short vertical reach and aren't really parallel. They are fine for many applications, and I've used them on doors, too, but they aren't in the same league as parallel jaw clamps.  A large advantage of parallel jaw clamps is you can stand up the clamped up panel on the foot of the fixed jaw.  This is a huge advantage with a door.  You can clamp it up flat and then tip it up vertically to clean up the squeeze out.  Or glue it up standing up and then tip it down flat.  

Your argument about not needing much pressure to get a good joint depends a lot on what type of joint it is.  For clamping up a door you are right, you don't need much pressure, just enough to close the joints.  Those are cross grain joints.  But for edge gluing the boards in a table top, for example, there have been several studies that show you need a lot of force, essentially a fully loaded clamp every 8 - 10", to get to the recommended pressure for a seamless joint.  

John

[Tony Z]

I'm in Arlin's and Admiral's clamp regarding joinery - accurate equals less pressure. Clamping with high pressure equal stress on boards and problems later.

First, for me, my most used clamps are the aluminum box clamps (Universal brand, sold by The abest Things or Tools forWorking Wood). Very light weight, with sufficient pressure for my work.

Now, with gluing up panels, I typically use a sprung joint, gluing on a flat surface, using Bessey pipe clamps (have legs, so if they sit flat on gluing surface, panel ends up close to flat - enough for minor tweaking).

[fredhargis]

I have little to add to anything, but I will offer this. I have some Gros Stabil clamps along with some of the others (Jorgy's, Bessey K and Bessey Revo). I know they aren't made anymore since Bessey bought them out, but On the chance that you find some used ones...I would RUN away form them. At least that's my opinion; they are much harder to use than Bessey or Jorgy. The sliding head can be downright temperamental as to whether it wants to move easily, and while they have a nice deep throat (it's on the Bessey Revos) they just don't work as well. This is only my experience, so if you come across some at least just buy one and use it once or twice to form your own decision.

[JGrout]

notice which clamps are on the door and which ones are on the wall
 

All the info given in this thread is applicable and true 

My experience however is different in use and I have made a lot of doors 

[Alan S]

But for edge gluing the boards in a table top, for example, there have been several studies that show you need a lot of force, essentially a fully loaded clamp every 8 - 10", to get to the recommended pressure for a seamless joint.  

I think this is the key with regard to clamp pressure: enough to hold everything together will make a strong joint.  More pressure can lead to an invisible joint.

[jteneyck]

notice which clamps are on the door and which ones are on the wall
 

All the info given in this thread is applicable and true 

My experience however is different in use and I have made a lot of doors 

Point taken, Joe.  Part of my problem is my shop space; it's really limited.  I can't turn a door cross ways on my bench so the clamps can hang off the sides, nor do I really have another area large enough to set up something temporary.  I did glue up one of the arched French doors at angle on the bench so that I could do it vertically, but then I laid the door down flat on my bench to make sure it was flat with no twist.  The only way I can do that alone is with the Bessey type clamps. 

If I do the glue up with the door flat I need to be able to tip the door up sideways to make sure the joints are tight and to wipe off the glue squeeze out.  The only way I've figured out how to do that is with the Bessey type clamps. 

I'm completely open to ideas on how to do this another way.  I have plenty of pipe clamps.  Currently, I use the Bessey clamps on the bottom, clamp up the door, tip it up to wipe off the glue squeeze out, tip it back down flat and then add pipe clamps on top, then check with a straight edge to make sure the door is flat across its width.  

John

[JGrout]

Point taken, Joe.  Part of my problem is my shop space; it's really limited.  I can't turn a door cross ways on my bench so the clamps can hang off the sides, nor do I really have another area large enough to set up something temporary.  I did glue up one of the arched French doors at angle on the bench so that I could do it vertically, but then I laid the door down flat on my bench to make sure it was flat with no twist.  The only way I can do that alone is with the Bessey type clamps. 

If I do the glue up with the door flat I need to be able to tip the door up sideways to make sure the joints are tight and to wipe off the glue squeeze out.  The only way I've figured out how to do that is with the Bessey type clamps. 

I'm completely open to ideas on how to do this another way.  I have plenty of pipe clamps.  Currently, I use the Bessey clamps on the bottom, clamp up the door, tip it up to wipe off the glue squeeze out, tip it back down flat and then add pipe clamps on top, then check with a straight edge to make sure the door is flat across its width.  

John

Well a pair of wide top sawhorses was the first way we did them in the shop, planed and adjusted out with shims under the legs using the stiles as winding sticks

Later on we made a pair of dropped stands that hung on a bench edge holding the lower stile about 12" below the top  They also stood out from the bench about 4" so we could drop  clamps in from behind  once the last stile was in place and clamped enough to hold it we picked up the door about two inches (depth of the outside hook)and rotated it onto the bench 

Today and since I have been on my own I  use two workmates ( planed out with the stiles before I start assembly) I mount two longer pieces of 8/4 x 4" to widen the horses to 48" and have a smallish u shaped crutch to hold  the lower stile during assembly I will have to go look for some pics, I think I have at least one or two someplace.

[jteneyck]

Well a pair of wide top sawhorses was the first way we did them in the shop, planed and adjusted out with shims under the legs using the stiles as winding sticks

Later on we made a pair of dropped stands that hung on a bench edge holding the lower stile about 12" below the top  They also stood out from the bench about 4" so we could drop  clamps in from behind  once the last stile was in place and clamped enough to hold it we picked up the door about two inches (depth of the outside hook)and rotated it onto the bench 

Today and since I have been on my own I  use two workmates ( planed out with the stiles before I start assembly) I mount two longer pieces of 8/4 x 4" to widen the horses to 48" and have a smallish u shaped crutch to hold  the lower stile during assembly I will have to go look for some pics, I think I have at least one or two someplace.

Thanks Joe.  If you find any photos I'd appreciate seeing them.  Method #2 has me thinking how I might adapt that to my situation, but I'd appreciate photos of your current approach if that's all you have.  

John

[Steve N]

Bouncing back first to Fred's comment I once bought parrellel jaw clamps that Peachtree woodworking sells, and put them in the Gross Stabil family as not being worth the effort to carry them home if they were free, now ultra cheap, and the other way are the no longer available HF clamps that are/were grey colored, they work.

To Joe's point about wide sawhorses, and reality is that floors even in the same room aren't flat, and therefore there are dips and rises in the same room, which can/will rack items laid onto horses set here and there. I used 2 types of horses back when, shop and on site, with the onsite merely being a horse made to just hold stuff up anywhere, while the shop horses were made for a specific place in the shop, and were only ever used in that space. That way you could put your energy into making them dead flat where they were made to work, takes out that nagging shimming, re-positioning. Once flat and stable I spray painted around the leg bottoms, giving me a perfect landing zone. Done that way I always felt they were like an extra workbench.

The design I liked the most was similar to these, and I used elevator bolts in the corners to do a one time adjust, and then loctite to keep them there. On top you can build a grid, half lap crossing pieces, or whatever system worked for you.

[Arlin Eastman]

John
If you have to clamp wood hard enough to close the gap then what you are creating is a very big problem of it wanting to crack at that joint or in another place.
I have DVDs from Sam Maloof, Tage Frid, Kelly Mehler, Roy Underhill, Frank, Klausz, and even Chris Schwarz all said the same thing in their DVDs.
I would be most happy to loan you the DVDs.