Jorgensen I-Bar Clamps - a bit of luck

[Mike Henderson]

While I was walking my dog, Skipper, yesterday morning, I came to a house where they were setting up for a garage sale. I started talking with the guy about Skipper and his preparations for the garage sale. I normally don't even look at garage sales because I don't need any more "stuff". But just for curiosity, I walked up the driveway to see what they were selling. There were four Jorgensen I-bar clamps, three 36" and one 24". They were in sad shape but clamps are clamps. So I asked the guy how much he wanted for them and he asked $10 for the four. I gave him the $10 and told him I'd come back with my car.

I took the clamps apart and soaked them in rust remover, then painted the parts. The clamps are pretty well worn - they may have come from a school - but they work fine.

So here's the finished product - four clamps at $2.50 each.

Mike

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[Ken Fitzgerald]

I would say you got great bargain Mike!

[Sam Layton]

Looks good to me. At $2.50 each, how can you go wrong. Always use more clamps.

Sam

[Mike Henderson]

I can understand why the Bessey clamps (and others) have aluminum bars instead of steel. Those Jorgensen clamps are HEAVY. If you had a glue-up with a bunch of those clamps, it'd be difficult to move. But they're strong. I've used them at school and you can really crank down on them, if you want to.

Mike

[Jim Andrew]

Menards was closing out their I beam Jorgenson's, and I got the last 2 24". Wish I had been there a week earlier. But compared to the old ones I remember, the new ones are much less heavy. Don't have any old ones, just the 2 new ones. Been buying the Cabinet Masters, like them, but could have used a bunch of the I beams.

[Stephen Cherry]

Yardsales can give the best possible deals. Yesterday I got a lightly used kenmore front load washing machine for a big 65 dollars (looks just like whirlpool duet). My most memorable woodworking deal was a ece primus hand plane, with a stanley block plane for 22 dollars. The primus plane cuts very well where others tear out.

[Peter Quinn]

Nice deal Mike. THose Jorgies are the toughest long clamps period. More clamping pressure than any other. I agree on the weight. I once glued up a passage door with 11 of these clamps, cleaned out the squeeze from the first side only to realize I couldn't flip the door over to clean the other side! I had to crawl under it after propping it up, all the while worrying it would fall and crush me. I now subscribe to the less is more theory of clamp placement.

Enjoy that find