72" vs 84" clamps -- Anyone actually use the extra 12"?

[adam breuer]

I'm a serious clamp addict, but I have yet to outfit my shop with a longer set of bar clamps. I am planning to finally get a nice set of 72" clamps this week, but I'm wondering if I should just donate a little extra wall space and go for 84"... I know, case-by-case basis and all that, but does anyone with 72" wish they had 84"?

[Jerry Wright]

While this may offend a clamp purist, I keep four - 3/4 in, pipe clamps around. I have 5 ft, but can easily go to a big box and go to 10 ft as needed. I have several long, cast old school notched bar clamps, but seldom use them.
Jerry

[Wayne Lomman]

Adam, I use 48" and 84" clamps. I have plenty of both and use them all the time. The two 72" ones lying around rarely get used. I'm not sure why but its just what happens in my shop. Anything longer than 84" I join them and double the length. Cheers

[Matt Day]

When you say bar clamps do you mean f clamps? Aluminum bar clamps? Do you have a lot of parallel clamps already - they're my go to clamp. How many and what type of clamps do you have now?

There was a thread on here (I think) a while ago that showed how to easily join two parallel clamps with a chain quick link. What I'm saying is maybe you don't need the giant clamps when you can substitute two joined together.

[Mark Gibney]

Bar clamps are great, I have a lot (too many) of them, they apply more pressure than any other clamp I have.

[Mike Henderson]

I don't need really long clamps that often so I have 3/4" pipe clamps. I can add length to those with standard sleeve coupling and another piece of pipe (maybe taken from another clamp).

I use shorter clamps most often. My longer Bessey clamps don't get a lot of use. Unless you know you're going to do a lot of long length work, go inexpensive. Otherwise, you'll have a lot of money hanging on the wall.

Mike

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

I know, case-by-case basis and all that, but does anyone with 72" wish they had 84"?

Only if you need to clamp between 73"-84".

I've got a pair of 72" Jorgensen I Bar's, and pull them out every few years when I need something that long, but for most of my work, I don't need anything that long.

Assuming that you'll rarely use them, I'd get the longer ones, which will make them more versatile when you do need them.

[Wade Lippman]

I don't need really long clamps that often so I have 3/4" pipe clamps. I can add length to those with standard sleeve coupling and another piece of pipe (maybe taken from another clamp).

Mike

About every 5 years I really need something longer than my 72" clamps. I never thought of extending my pipe clamps with an coupling. Great idea for the future.

[Greg Hines, MD]

About every 5 years I really need something longer than my 72" clamps. I never thought of extending my pipe clamps with an coupling. Great idea for the future.

I rarely need them, but have a few couplers to add to the length of my current pipe clamps for this situation.

Doc

[Dave Zellers]

I'm a serious clamp addict, but I have yet to outfit my shop with a longer set of bar clamps. I am planning to finally get a nice set of 72" clamps this week, but I'm wondering if I should just donate a little extra wall space and go for 84"... I know, case-by-case basis and all that, but does anyone with 72" wish they had 84"?
I have both bar clamps (Jet parallel clamps out to 60") and 3/4" pipe clamps. I have lots of different lengths of 3/4" pipe. I even have 3, 10' 3/4" pipes threaded on both ends. I also have probably 20 couplings. The couplings are the key. Once you get out past a certain length, even a heavy duty bar clamp loses it's advantage over a 3/4" pipe clamp. Really wide clamping needs to be applied with opposing force, ie top and bottom. Parallel clamps are awesome IMO up to a point, but anything over (insert preferred length here) requires clamps top and bottom, and once you get there, there is very little difference between bar clamps and pipe clamps.

Accumulating the right mix of various lengths of 3/4" pipe clamps, threaded both ends, with couplings, is the way to go IMO.

[Bill ThompsonNM]

I once thought 72 inch would be enough but then I decided to build some doors---and I now have a number of 10 foot pipe clamps. Almost always seems like you need just a little bit longer clamps for this project.....

[Jim Andrew]

I have 2-10' pipe clamps I use once in a great while. Also a few 5', but mostly 2',3', and 4' parallel clamps. And a bunch of 1', 2', and 3' heavy F clamps. Mostly use the shorter ones.

[Philip Rodriquez]

I have several thousand dollars invested in clamps and I rarely use anything bigger than 36". For long clamps, I would opt for simple bar clamps and change out the length of the bar, as needed.

[mreza Salav]

My Bessey clamps are up to 50", any longer I use pipe clamps. I've many 48" ones and a few 10' ones. I have used the 10' ones a few time and have needed things longer than 6' occasionally. I find pipe clamps plenty strong and best value for sizes that are used very rarely. For most common sizes I use k-bodies.

[Tom M King]

I still have three 20 foot lengths of 3/4" black pipe I put together with couplers a few times when I've needed Really long clamps. They've been hanging at the top of a wall in the shop for probably 25 years, and maybe been used twice.