What is the name of this clamp?

[John Minnick]

I was watching an old episode of The New Yankee Workshop where Norm is going over the building of some jigs. In the first one he is clamping an adjustable shelf jig to a workpiece. The clamp he uses appears to a combination of a bar clamp and a pair of vise grip pliers.

Does anyone know what those are called and where you can buy them?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[Fred Gross]

Didn't see the show, but probably Bessey SuperGrips.......


Rockler has them for around $60 a piece.

[Rick Levine]

If this is what you are looking for it is available at many woodworking supply companies as well as Amazon. I have a couple and they are great.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ZTW2WX16L._AA280_.jpg (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B0000DD5TV/sr=8-18/qid=1178730474/ref=dp_image_0/102-5122283-5317763?ie=UTF8&n=228013&s=hi&qid=1178730474&sr=8-18)

[John Minnick]

Thanks guys. They look very interesting as an alternative to some of the other quick clamps/

[Brian Dormer]

I bought a pair of those clamps after seeing them on NYW. While they have their place - they have not become my favorite clamp (I reserve that distiction for the Kreg clamps - and I don't just use the Kreg's for pocket screw joinery).

The Bessey's sliding jaw requires two (often 3) hands to set the clamp if you are doing an "over the edge of the bench" type clamp (unless you want the bar sticking up -where it's an elbow hazard). The lower jaw just slides right down the bar. For reasons I don't understand, Norm doesn't seem to have that problem (Cut!!!! Take 37... Action!) Also, in some situations, they are TOO strong. You can easily crush wood with these clamps. The jaws are serrated, so they can leave a mark that's hard to sand out.

Don't get me wrong - they are a quality product - but you could probably buy a more generally useful clamp (or set of clamps) for 55 bucks.

[Mick Zelaska]

Here is the link to the NYW tool site.

http://www.newyankee.com/gettools.cgi?SG8WP