I know there are a lot of wood fettlers and joinery types on the forum, so thought this was a good place to ask, can anyone recommend a good make of clamp?

I’ve had the cheap Hilka ones which work well but snap at the handle rather easily, and the Irwin ones at B&Q look dear for what they are…

Any recommendations? Ta!

irwin – but not from bnq

screwfix weredoing them for cheap – i picked mine up there – the quick clamps are ace and really handy – the hilka ones arethe ones set up like silicon guns right ? they are pish.

check toolstop and even amazon – cheap irwin kit turns up there alot.

Cheers Trailrat, I shall have a look… Yep, the Hilka ones work like a silicone gun – they work pretty well but the quality of materials isn’t good. Only 4 or 5 quid each though…

im fair certain i paid 6.99 for the 6″ and 8.99 for the 8″ ones

depends what your working with ….

mines are the mini ones – they work for the stuff ive been doing …..

http://www.screwfix.com/p/irwin-quick-grip-12-mini-one-handed-bar-clamp/98247

http://www.screwfix.com/p/irwin-quick-grip-6-mini-one-handed-bar-clamp/29139

Get your hands on Irwin ones and try clamping something tight with them – I don’t get one with them at all – theres a lot of over-chunky styling going on that results in a massive handle and something going on with the ergonomics of them that really upsets my wrist when I use them – if it try to clamp something tight with them it feels like my wrist-bones are trying to escape from one another

I prefer Wurth’s one handed clamp – for comfort in use but also because the release trigger also controls the opening of the clamp, so they’re genuinely one handed as you can open control both the opening and tightening of the jaws with one hand. Not much help as Wurth are generally account only but if you have a branch near you you might be able to talk them into a cash sale
.

I’ve used Wolfcraft ones that have the same opening mechanism and again are more comfortable to use than Irwin, they used to be stocked in machine mart but seemingly not anymore, but if you can find somewhere that does stock them try them out as some models do have the controlled/ratcheting opening function and some just have a straight forward click-release

(edit – you can get them on amazon – make sure its the one with the longer release trigger, these are the ones that allow you to fiddle to jaws open and closed singlehandedly)

If you want good get bessy from Germany . Record make the best G clamps and sash clamps. For quick release Irwin are ok but will fail over time (years) the red mastic gun style ones are very good for the cash. I would go for one’s that spread as well as clamp timber (some have a head you can put on backward so they spread)

I will agree with the above post too.

I’ve just found twin packs of Irwin on Ebay for 12 quid… For the amount I’ll use them they look like a bargain…

LINKY

Not quite what you were asking for but this is excellent. Free parallel clamps.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSwlM7cf6mo[/video]

That’s a great vid! Love the little exhale after every exertion… Makes it look harder work than it is!

I like the Irwin ones, picked up a load of small ones on offer in a local builder’s yard and then got some longer ones for making doors etc:

Keeping the two halves aligned by brf, on Flickr

Clamps or cramps? 😉

For sash cramps, the Record type are really solid and work very well.
I bought some copies from Rutlands that were supposedly based on the same pattern. They weren’t. Total rubbish. Get record off eBay etc.

For g-clamps, again, record are great, but I recently bought a few of the Axminster heavy duty g-clamps and they are very impressive. Very heavy and sturdy with a good quality thread etc.

Those silicon gun clamps are handy but it depends what you’re doing. You can’t really exert the same level of forces as a Record, plus you can join the Record cramps together to extend the length which is useful.

Oooh, mental more made of BigJohn’s video. Very nice. 🙂

I’d just like to thank BigJohn for posting that video. Helped me make a load of risers today to clad a staircase where the builders have made the ply risers 10mm higher than on the drawings. I had to biscuit join a 20mm strip to existing timber for eleven risers. Would have been a right ball-ache without those clamps. They only take a few minutes to make from off-cuts too.

Liking that video too. I couldn’t see where he was going with it.

No, me neither mcm. But, faced with my task today, and only a couple of hand clamps in my tool bag, the above vid came to mind. Beautiful in their simplicity – and how they work for parallel clamping and any angled joint as well. Life saver for me today, that’s for sure.