So everything changed about a year ago when I picked up a set of Rockler’s Universal Fence Clamps. They are very simple devices that are made specifically for this task. Now all I need to do is drill a couple of holes in the top of my fence stock and the clamp does the rest of the work. The biggest benefit is that I can now secure the sacrificial fence with absolutely nothing getting in the way of the work. The clamps have numerous other applications but I pretty much dedicate mine to sacrificial fence duty.

Now the reason I bring this up is because I just noticed Rockler is having an Online ONLY sale right now. You can get a pair of these bad boys for about 28% off: $12.99. At that price, I recommend buying two pair. That way you can explore some of the other interesting applications using these clamps. Below are a few pictures from the Rockler site that show how versatile these little guys are. So pick up a set before they raise the price!

I am working on a set of cabinet doors with mitered corners and I am wondering what you have found to be the best clamps? I am not having much luck with the glue process using a set of cheap corner clamps that I picked up praying that they would work. I am new to wood working and have not put together a collection of good clamps but I have no problem spending the money to get anything that works like they are supposed to. I hope you have time to respond it would be very much appreciated.

P.S. I love your web site and it has been very helpful and entertaining.

And this was my response:

Hey Trent. I have never been a fan of those dedicated corner clamps. I just never get good results. For me, I get the best results doing a two part process. First off, I like to use a biscuit, dowel, or domino at each joint whenever possible. This helps keep the pieces from moving vertically during the glueup and takes a lot of the stress out of the equation. Not to mention it makes the mitered joint stronger. After adding glue, I use a band clamp to pull everything together. This is the one I use is made by Bessey (pictured left).

Once the frame is secure, I put the whole assembly on a set of clamps. I place two in one direction and two in the other direction, keeping them as close to the corners as possible. Using clamping pressure, I can then tweak the fit so that everything is lined up perfectly. Sometimes I use an additional clamp vertically on the joints themselves to make sure the pieces are sitting flush with one another (a nice alternative to using biscuits as I mentioned previously).

If you can, try to use a slower setting glue like Titebond Extend or 30 minute epoxy for this. The joint will be stronger and you’ll have plenty of working time. Most times its the fact that we’re rushing that makes miter glueups so difficult. Hope that helps. Good luck.

I’m having a hard time finding a good design for mounting my clamps on the wall. I am interested in your design for your clamp racks. Maybe you could post an upclose pic?

And my reply:

My clamp racks are about as simple as they come. For my Jet parallel clamps, I use a 2×4 and a strip of 3/4″ ply. The ply has numerous cutouts on it that allow the clamps to slip in. I used the bandsaw to make those cuts. When its done, it looks like a giant comb. I then attach it to the side of the 2×4 and and drive a couple of screws through the 2×4 into the wall studs. The pictures should make this much clearer.

Now for all my other clamps, I use a simple rack made from various piece of cheap construction lumber. No need for anything fancy here.

On a related note, I covered the topic of clamps way back in Episode 12 – The Big Squeeze. And at around the 10 minute mark, you’ll see a video shot of the clamp rack in the old shop.
http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/episode-12-the-big-squeeze/

***If anyone else has images of their clamp rack online, feel free to post your link in the comments.

Hey Marc, I have the following question, and could really use some advice. Do you know any way to clean the bars on the Jet Parallel clamps? They are supposed to be coated so glue doesn’t stick. Mine, however, stick. In fact, I can no longer open nor close my 24′ ones! Any ideas? Thanks.

And here is my response:

Hey Jeff. Very good question. This is a dilemma that all clamp users face. Although the manufacturer may claim they are resistant to glue, you and I know different! First off, any new clamp that comes into the shop gets waxed immediately with paste wax. That will definitely help repel glue. However, once the damage is done I usually get the heavy stuff off with a putty knife. That usually takes care of the bulk of it and gets the clamp working again. For the textured area on the top, you can use a steel brush to knock the glue out of the crevices. If you are in a rush, just pick up one of those wire wheels that chucks into your drill or a Dremel, and carefully knock the glue out of the grooves. Just don’t be too aggressive or you can smooth out the texture and the ridges. And, of course, the best practice with these clamps is prevention. That means covering them with a sheet of newspaper, craft paper, wax paper, brown paper, or even sheets of plastic. Although I need to practice what I preach. Most times, I don’t think about prevention until after the glue is drying, haha. Good luck!

My most recent project as I’ve mentioned to you before is a baby crib for our first child. This crib will later convert to a day bed and then a full size bed. Therefore there are several legs that must be built first, 6 in total. These legs are built up of 3 pieces of 3/4″ maple laminated together. The center piece is planed slightly thinner to match the thickness of 3/4″ maple ply for the rails that will be mortised into the legs. Once I began to glue the boards together I realized I have some difficulty when it comes to clamping, more specifically knowing how to clamp properly.

I recently purchased some of Rockler’s F-style clamps. I love them and started with them however I quickly realized that they were probably not the right clamps to use for this application. I then grabbed some of my hand screw wood clamps. They seemed to give me a better spread across the boards which are 2 3/4″ wide. I supplemented with the f-style clamps using wood blocks to spread the clamping pressure evenly I do not own any small parallel jaw clamps or I would have used them for this job. What I ended up with was some of the legs went together well with no gaps in my glue joints while others has small gaps in the glue joints the full length of the legs that will have to be filled. How can I avoid this in the future? I’m not concerned that they will come apart because there will be some fasteners that go through the legs to attach the railings, but I would like to have tight glue joints when laminating several boards together so I don’t have to do so much gap filling before I go to finishing.

And here was my reply:
Hey Mike. Excellent question. Using “less than optimal” clamps is something many of use have to deal with. And there really is no big secret. It just comes down to lots of clamps and lots of pressure. I would recommend using cauls that are at least as long as the leg is wide. Then, I would use the F-style clamps to clamp down over the cauls. And since one clamp in the center of the caul may still not apply enough pressure at the edges of the leg, I would recommend putting two F-style clamps at the ends of the neighboring caul. So in effect you will alternate: one centered, two on the edges, one centered, two on the edges, etc… Do this across the leg every 4-5 inches (the closer the better), and you should have enough pressure. From your description, it really sounds like you had enough pressure at the center of the leg, but not at the edges. Of course this means you need a lot of clamps! But as they say, you can never have too many. And kust so you know, the way I do this: I use the parallel clamps and alternate the sides they clamp from. Then I actually reinforce the clamping with F-style clamps in between the parallels. Good luck.

Most of the items featured in this episode are available in The Wood Whisperer Amazon Store. So if you need to pick up a few clamps, that’s a great way to do it.