Clamp deal...tools or toys..

[Greg Koch]

Just starting and don't have much in the way of clamps. With Amazon's big sale going on, I wonder if these are a good buy or not to add to a shop's collection. Do you use this size much? Figure the small hand clamps are a buck or so, the 12" and 6" come out to about $10 each... Is Irwin a good brand?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008WFT9/qid=1142463118/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-5556887-6270335?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=hi&v=glance&n=228013

Thanks.

[Helen Gee]

I have these, bought the pack from Costco for $28.99 :eek: . Amazon's price seems like a good deal.

I haven't had any problems with the 12" or 6", pretty sturdy and can put a bunch of clamping pressure. It's holding my DP table on right now and managed to survive some sawing activities where I clamped some wood to a small workbench. The workpiece was clamped to the table pretty tightly.

All I've done so far is clamp some plywood boxes for glueup and some smaller parts. The pads apply relatively even pressure, but it depends on how and where you put the clamps. The other pair of little ones are good for smaller parts, like if you are working on very small projects.

[Kent Fitzgerald]

I have a few quick grip clamps (Irwins and generics), and while they're not the mainstays of my clamp assortment, they do come in handy - mostly for construction / installation tasks where you need to hold something with one hand and clamp it with the other. The spreader function is nice for disassembly, as well as jacking / aligning / spreading things. Just the other day I was using one as an adjustable support to level some shelves I was installing.

[Doug Shepard]

I use those type all the time. I've only got 2 of the Irwins and those only since last Fall when I bought them to get the rebate deal for a 1-yr subscription extension to Fine WW mag. So far they're just as good as the other Quik-Grips I've got. I think I've got 8-9 of the 6" ones and a couple of 12". They come in real handy for clamping jigs/fixtures down to worktables or clamping temporary stop blocks onto fences, etc.
You can never have too many clamps.

[Brian Parker]

Greg,

I have a fair amount of Irwin tools ranging from the handi-clamps, to the quick grips, to the spreader/clamp quick grips and some of their deep jaw bar clamps.

I recently got two of the 12” spreader/clamp QGs and one had a problem with not wanting to pull the material past the snug point. It made a clicking noise when I pulled the trigger. I sent Irwin an e-mail and in two hours I had contacted me and said that a replacement was on its way. Now that’s customer service :cool:

FWIW I’ve never had a problem with any Irwin tool until now but its good to see that they stand behind their lifetime warranty w/out much of a fight.

[Steve Ash]

Greg, I'm like Doug I got mine with a subscription to FWW....win/win situation.

Those clamps like Helen said are fine for certain things, I use mine to clamp a block to my CMS for making repetitive cuts.

Like was already mentioned, you can never have enough clamps, you'll find a use for everyone and every type you get. You might want to pick up some different types, a few of different kinds, and see what fits your needs the best. I don't have any Bessey K bodies yet, but I dropped a hint to my wife since my birthday is coming up. I do have some Jorgensen bar clamps and some Pony pipe clamps that get plenty of use.

[Greg Koch]

Thanks for all the good info, it's really appreciated. I have now ordered the clamp set and also 6 Jorgensen 50 3/4" pipe clamps.

Greg