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I picked up a couple nice Jorgenson handscrew clamps at a garage sale. Unfortunately the previous owner had painted part of the wood red, and although I'm not to fussy, I did strip off the red. I will sand them a little, and thought about applying some "boiled linseed oil" to even out the finish and maybe it will keep them from getting glued to something else? Does this make any sense? I have a bunch of others in various stages of use. Should I just sand them and call it quits and wait for Mother Nature's Patina? Thanks!
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Maybe 35 years ago I had access to a machine tool workshop for a few nights. Along with a long straight edge and anvil, I made 4 large handscrew clamps using cherry for the jaws. I made all the other parts as well with the metal lathe. I left the wood unfinished except for a coat of wax on the faces to prevent glue from sticking. After all these years they still work perfectly and have developed a shop patina--combination cherry wood color and other colors the clamps have met up over the years. Ken
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I'd go for raw wood except for wax on the clamping portion if it will come in contact with glue. If you want to to finish, I'd go for a simple wiping varnish: equal parts of BLO, MS and your favorite oil based varnish.
Thanks, Curt
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I have built a lot of cam clamps often used by luthiers. I left them unfinished. I have some commercial ones that look like they got a really light finish, but I can't tell what it might be. Mine are maple and over the last 20 years I haven't really found a need to finish them. I use them for all kinds of things other than woodworking, they have been in the garage many times.
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I thought this was a dumb question, but it turns out I found the right answer. I decided to give them a coat of paste wax, and they look just right now. I hadn't even thought of wax. Much better than oil.
Thanks a lot.
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toolmiser said:
I thought this was a dumb question, but it turns out I found the right answer. I decided to give them a coat of paste wax, and they look just right now. I hadn't even thought of wax. Much better than oil.
Thanks a lot.
I waxed mine right from the start. Easy to get glue off...Tom
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I might do that to my clamps if I get bored. The jaws on mine are made of cork, so sticking to glue isn't a problem so far
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PSA
Go easy on the linseed oil. I just picked up a trio of Jourgies that look like they did duty in a production shop. These clamps are in pretty good shape for being about 100 years old. BUT they were linseeded pretty good. All were black. Maybe even a fire was in their past. Anyway, I did some cleaning with sandpaper. It was a gummy mess but the clamps appreciated the cleaning. I finished them with wax. BLO is OK, but make sure the treatment is only 10-10% BLO and 80-90% turps. It does darken over time.
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My handsrews are treated with an oil/varnish mixture.
Easy to apply and easy to renew. You can apply a coat of wax so that any adhesive that drips onto the clamps can be easily removed.
Howie.........
