Jorgensen Clamp Pad Bleeding onto surface.. can it be cleaned up?

[Brian Parker]

I was clamping up some small cabinets for the wall the other day and being that I used all of my bessey k bodies up I reached for my other clamps. I used some Irwin bar clamps and some Jorgensen Heavy-Duty Bar Clamps. I just took the clamps off last night and noticed a stain on the wood in the areas where the Jorgenson’s were at. I went on Amazon and saw that some people have had the same problem. I haven’t found a solution yet thus the reason for the post.

Does anyone know if sanding will help or something to cut grease and oil such as hand cleaner would do the trick? I’m going to be really jacked if I have to scrap those cabinets because of ‘bleeding’ from the pads.

Any thoughts and personal experiences on this are greatly appreciated.

On the other hand this prompted me to get two of the 40” cabinet door sets for 150 delivered now…too bad I didn’t have them and could have avoided this issue beforehand.

[Steve Clardy]

Noticed their spring clamps have an oily residue on them. I use lacquer thinner to clean them up

[Brian Parker]

I'm sorry but my mind is a little on something else right now but do you mean that you use lacquer thinner on the wood to clean up the oiley residue or you use it on the clamp pads themselves?

[Steve Clardy]

To clean the oil from the pads, clamps themselves.

[Kelly Anderson]

I had this problem too. I called them and they told me that they knew about the problem and that mineral sprits on the wood would take care of the it. It did not. It did mostly sand out and with the finish on I could not see the spots anymore. My old ones did not do this and I liked them alot and they at least were made in the USA so I bought more and the new clamps left the spots, kinda disapointing when they know about the problem and don't fix it. Thanking I would just throw away the pads, only way I could thank to fix it.

[Dev Emch]

O.K. I am confused. Are you guys talking about ORANGE bleeding or iron/grease bleeding? I have noticed that some jorggies leave behind organge splots which I have to sand out.

I recently bought some clamps from Wetzler in PA. Called them up and the man in brown brought them by. Now these are clamps! First thing you notice is that they need to be cleaned off with a bit of paint thinner. They have a bit of oil on them from the manufactureing process but they have no finish persay. Just plain cast iron and steel. NO PAINT or other GOOP finish.

Then taking Alan Turners suggestion, I put some old leather pads on them with a spot of CA glue. These are super NICE and now they are about all I use.... at least I reach for the wetzlers first and the others only when I have run out of wetzlers.

[Bryan Somers]

O.K. I am confused. Are you guys talking about ORANGE bleeding or iron/grease bleeding? I have noticed that some jorggies leave behind organge splots which I have to sand out..

Orange spots on the wood from the pads. I had this same thing happen to me today. Not a big deal in my case because I am going to paint. Very timely question Brian, I would be ticked also. Sorry I cant give any answers cause I would like to know.

[Jay T. Marlin]

I've had that "problem" for 5 years. It's never actually been a problem. It always sands out and the shellac sealer coat always covers up any remaining spots.

[Alan Turner]

Dev,
I see you are getting into leather. So, take a piece of thin leather, like from a worn out purse, and throw it under your bench. And then, when you need to clamp finished goods, use the piece of leather as a wrap around your finished stock, and go ahead and clamp. No muss; no fuss; no marks on the stock. Thanks, Garrett Hack.

[Brian Parker]

I decided to make the best of my drive home yesterday afternoon and called them up to ask about the problem. The gentleman whom I talked to on the phone acknowledged the problem as one which has been documented and verified by them. However they don’t make any mention of the issue on any part of their website or anywhere else that I could find.
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He said that while they were listed as a woodworking clamp they are not intended to be used for long clamping sessions. A long clamping session being more than one hour or so. I was told that using paint thinner or lacquer thinner on the wood itself should do the trick. I have yet to try this out since I had to be in at work today at 0330 hours :eek: and didn’t get any work done in the shop last night. I’m hoping to get this fixed up this weekend and I’ll post an update on them after I see what works the stains out.
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Hopefully this serves as a warning to others to use some cardboard or blocks of wood if using the non cabinet Jorgensen clamps. Speaking of Jorgensen cabinet clamps the rep on the phone offered to send me two :D because he could tell that I was disappointed more than mad. I mean the time that goes into the planning, cutting, dadoing, sanding and assembly really adds up all to see something get messed up and it wasn’t really ones fault.