Went to HF today in Indianapolis and saw 24" cast iron and steel clamps on
sale for $4.99 and the 6" ones for $2.99.
Looked like really good quality for the money. I think Lew mentioned them
to me the first time. I am only mentioning this because I did not see the
sale advertised in their fliers. I picked up 4 and 6 of them, respectively.
I hope that will be enough to get me started. Following someone else's
suggestion I looked them all over carefully, so I didn't bring home any that
were bent or ill-fitting.

I have felt drawn to C-clamp vise-grips lately (for the sake of fastening a
2 or 3 inch high board/fence to my band saw). Is this an appropriate use for
those clamps (the ones with the flat faces). Anyone experience major
quality issues concerning different makers of these? From what I've read, I
notice some open to 4" or so and I suppose those are the ones I would get.

Bill

On 2/26/2010 8:51 PM Bill spake thus:

Went to HF today in Indianapolis and saw 24" cast iron and steel clamps on
sale for $4.99 and the 6" ones for $2.99.
Looked like really good quality for the money. I think Lew mentioned them
to me the first time. I am only mentioning this because I did not see the
sale advertised in their fliers. I picked up 4 and 6 of them, respectively.
I hope that will be enough to get me started. Following someone else's
suggestion I looked them all over carefully, so I didn't bring home any that
were bent or ill-fitting.

Well, you know what they say: you can't be too rich, too thin or have
too many clamps.


--
You were wrong, and I'm man enough to admit it.

- a Usenet "apology"

Subject:
96213-0VGA
When this one really goes on sale, grab a dozen.

Lew

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
...
Subject:
96213-0VGA
When this one really goes on sale, grab a dozen.

Lew




Those are the ones I got for $4.99. Do the prices get better than that?
BTW, feels like a very nice clamp!

Bill

"Bill" wrote:

Those are the ones I got for $4.99. Do the prices get better than
that?
BTW, feels like a very nice clamp!

I caught a fire sale, somerwhere around $2 EA.

Lew

On Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:51:19 -0500, "Bill"
wrote:


Went to HF today in Indianapolis and saw 24" cast iron and steel clamps on
sale for $4.99 and the 6" ones for $2.99.
Looked like really good quality for the money. I think Lew mentioned them
to me the first time. I am only mentioning this because I did not see the
sale advertised in their fliers. I picked up 4 and 6 of them, respectively.
I hope that will be enough to get me started. Following someone else's
suggestion I looked them all over carefully, so I didn't bring home any that
were bent or ill-fitting.

I have felt drawn to C-clamp vise-grips lately (for the sake of fastening a
2 or 3 inch high board/fence to my band saw). Is this an appropriate use for
those clamps (the ones with the flat faces). Anyone experience major
quality issues concerning different makers of these? From what I've read, I
notice some open to 4" or so and I suppose those are the ones I would get.

Bill



I don't like to cuss or fuss, so I won't buy these. Can we say "Made
in China?"

"Phisherman" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:51:19 -0500, "Bill"
wrote:


Went to HF today in Indianapolis and saw 24" cast iron and steel clamps on
sale for $4.99 and the 6" ones for $2.99.
Looked like really good quality for the money. I think Lew mentioned them
to me the first time. I am only mentioning this because I did not see the
sale advertised in their fliers. I picked up 4 and 6 of them,
respectively.
I hope that will be enough to get me started. Following someone else's
suggestion I looked them all over carefully, so I didn't bring home any
that
were bent or ill-fitting.

I have felt drawn to C-clamp vise-grips lately (for the sake of fastening
a
2 or 3 inch high board/fence to my band saw). Is this an appropriate use
for
those clamps (the ones with the flat faces). Anyone experience major
quality issues concerning different makers of these? From what I've read,
I
notice some open to 4" or so and I suppose those are the ones I would get.

Bill



I don't like to cuss or fuss, so I won't buy these. Can we say "Made
in China?"

More for the rest of us to buy.

Just keep the receipt. If they were to break, take them back.

Mike in Ohio

Bill wrote:
Went to HF today in Indianapolis and saw 24" cast iron and steel clamps on
sale for $4.99 and the 6" ones for $2.99.
Looked like really good quality for the money. I think Lew mentioned them
to me the first time. I am only mentioning this because I did not see the
sale advertised in their fliers. I picked up 4 and 6 of them, respectively.
I hope that will be enough to get me started. Following someone else's
suggestion I looked them all over carefully, so I didn't bring home any that
were bent or ill-fitting.

I have felt drawn to C-clamp vise-grips lately (for the sake of fastening a
2 or 3 inch high board/fence to my band saw). Is this an appropriate use for
those clamps (the ones with the flat faces). Anyone experience major
quality issues concerning different makers of these? From what I've read, I
notice some open to 4" or so and I suppose those are the ones I would get.

Bill

On 2/27/10 12:08 PM, Michael Kenefick wrote:
Just keep the receipt. If they were to break, take them back.


What I notice about those is that they bend.
They can only take so much force, then the bar just bends back, then it
has a curve on it.


--

-MIKE-

"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
--
http://mikedrums.com

---remove "DOT" ^^^^ to reply

On Feb 27, 7:46 am, Phisherman wrote:

I don't like to cuss or fuss, so I won't buy these.

Now... come on... sometimes you do. And if you weren't looking to,
why post something like that instead of staying on topic? Did you
think we were waiting to see if you were actually going to buy them?
Didn't you just want to get your dig in about China?

Can we say "Made in China?"

I hope in your case of Sinophobia you will take your computer out and
smash it, since not doubt all or 98% of the parts were made offshore,
mostly in China, Taiwan, or Malaysia. Same with your cell phone and
television.

Unless you are a full time professional woodworker, your tools take
only a small part of your money, and are used proportionally very
little compared to the aforementioned devices. So why be upset about
tool origins? Shouldn't you extend your personal beliefs across all
of your possesions?

Using the country origin as the reason to own/not own tools, you will
probably want to rid yourself of your DeWalt tools, Porter Cable
tools, Milwaukee tools, Makita tools, Hitachi tools, Jet tools,
Powermatic tools, Grizzly tools and on an on. Start with the Chinese
first.

And unless you are a Geotard ®, you will remember that Taiwan is
actually, "Taiwan, Republic of China". So make sure you take your
Taiwanese stuff out and give it "what for" as well.

But please, while you are striking a blow for America, take out those
stinking German tools as well. They took manufacturing jobs away from
us as well, right? And they charge prices that exceed American built
prices of the same tools! Wow, how is that for an "in your face"
style of marketing?

And any argument you could make to use Fein, Festool, Metabo, some
Bosch tools, etc., could be used against you since theoretically they
could be manufactured here as well. It's all about jobs, right?
A person of high moral fiber wouldn't see and actual race, nation, or
group, just the fact that they "took" jobs.

Regardless, in keeping with principle, if they aren't made here,
they should be avoided, right?

I hope your personal integrity is as strong as it seems. I would hate
to see that you only have occasional integrity. That's called
hypocrisy.

We will have a sure sign of the strength of your beliefs because upon
reflection, I am sure we won't see any more posts as you will have
undoubtedly destroyed your computer, refused to use the internet that
runs on foreign made routers that uses foreign made computers to do
so.

If we see your posts again.... no doubt posted with all that Chinese
equipment crafted while looking at a Chinese screen to do it....

Well....


Robert

On 2/27/2010 1:20 PM, wrote:


I am sure we won't see any more posts as you will have
undoubtedly destroyed your computer, refused to use the internet that
runs on foreign made routers that uses foreign made computers to do

Sure glad my computer or the Internet doesn't run on Chinese rubber ...
damn that stuff stinks!

Bought hard rubber wheels at HF to replace the pneumatic ones on one of
those Chinese, Sam's special hand carts ... you know, the ones that hold
air for only five minutes ... and had to air out the shop for three years!



.... Just kidding.

The best of products, from horseshoes to houses, all have one thing in
common, and it's not country of origin:

_SUPERVISION_

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 10/22/08
KarlC@ (the obvious)

On Feb 27, 1:47 pm, Swingman wrote:

Sure glad my computer or the Internet doesn't run on Chinese rubber ...
damn that stuff stinks!

Bought hard rubber wheels at HF to replace the pneumatic ones on one of
those Chinese, Sam's special hand carts ... you know, the ones that hold
air for only five minutes ... and had to air out the shop for three years!



I got a huge laugh out of that one. About 7-8 years ago I bought a
"rubber" hose for my paint gun since my vinyl hoses were too stiff to
use in the winter.

This was HF brand, not Goodyear.

Those damn hoses stunk so much you could smell them in the open air in
the bed of the truck!

Worse, (I honestly think they may have been uncured) they stretched
like a rubber band, and were so soft they caught on everything.

Worse than that, they were so soft they left black marks on the floor
inside a house when you stepped on them! I always step on the
hoses... I have a size 13 shoe...

I hadn't thought of that POS in years! in less than a year that hose
had disintegrated to the point of unusable.

BUT.... it was less than 1/3 of the price of the Goodyear!

Actually, a bad deal at any price.

The best of products, from horseshoes to houses, all have one thing in
common, and it's not country of origin:

_SUPERVISION_

Amen, brother.

With that in mind, you should make your company motto (now
seriously... think of this on your business card ;^) ) "it don't
mean a thing if it ain't got that Swing!"

(Leave the doowops off...)

*chuckle*

Robert

wrote

With that in mind, you should make your company motto (now
seriously... think of this on your business card ;^) ) "it don't
mean a thing if it ain't got that Swing!"

There ya go.

With a picture of Swingman standing there with a Festool in one hand and a
bass in the other.

I like it.

On 2/28/2010 12:03 AM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:16:27 -0800, the infamous "Lew Hodgett"
scrawled the following:

Subject:
96213-0VGA
When this one really goes on sale, grab a dozen.

I like the 6-inchers, the 24-inchers, and the 36-inchers and have
bought several dozen of them when on sale for as low as $1.50 each.
I love it!

I know this may be nixing apples and oranges but how do these compare to
the Bessys?

Harvey

On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 06:57:30 -0500, the infamous eclipsme
scrawled the following:

On 2/28/2010 12:03 AM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:16:27 -0800, the infamous "Lew Hodgett"
scrawled the following:

Subject:
96213-0VGA
When this one really goes on sale, grab a dozen.

I like the 6-inchers, the 24-inchers, and the 36-inchers and have
bought several dozen of them when on sale for as low as $1.50 each.
I love it!

I know this may be nixing apples and oranges but how do these compare to
the Bessys?

I've toyed with Bessey clamps (at stores and in friends' shops) and
they're OK, but I have never seen the need to spend more for a tool
than I need to and have always bought HFs, always on sale.

All my clamps are cheapies and, other than the occasional mark left
when I used too thin a pad, I've had no problems with them. Bar, C,
quickclamps (one early HF model was bogus, so one got tossed), pipe.
All are imports and all work as stated. Spray a bit of lube on the
threads, run them up and down half a dozen times to get the burrs off,
and you're good to go for years. Not a prob.

With about 50 clamps, compared to Besseys, I'm easily $1,000 ahead.
($1.50-$5 each vs. $25 each) That's a lot of tools-worth.

--
Pessimist: One who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both.
--Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

"Steve" wrote in message
g.com...
On 2010-02-27 21:43:41 -0500, "Bill" said:

I saw those Rockler bits advertised--do they have carbide on them (I
thought the ad would
have said so if it were the case)?

Packaging claims carbide.


Anyone else have opinions on the Rockler bits?
Good---or just good for the money?

Bill

On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:12:30 -0800, Larry Jaques

All my clamps are cheapies and, other than the occasional mark left
when I used too thin a pad, I've had no problems with them. Bar, C,

It depends on what you're looking for or need in a clamp. I've never
been particularly impressed with the adjustability capabilities of
Bessey clamps, but that's not why I like them. For me, the ability to
sit flat and square while not tipping over is what I like. So, to that
end, the fill my needs quite well. Add in a set of KP blocks and
you've got and instant panel door clamping setup.

On 2/28/10 12:20 PM, Bill wrote:
wrote in message
g.com...
On 2010-02-27 21:43:41 -0500, said:

I saw those Rockler bits advertised--do they have carbide on them (I
thought the ad would
have said so if it were the case)?

Packaging claims carbide.


Anyone else have opinions on the Rockler bits?
Good---or just good for the money?

Bill



I bought the big 'ol combo box more than 10 years ago and I'm still
using them.
I haven't done any side by side testing with Whiteside or CMT or
Infinity, but I don't have any complaints either.

There's probably a reason you only see "green" bits in the standard,
smaller profiles and not in the cabinet/door sizes.

When they have those $5 sales, I pick up a few in the profiles that I
use a lot, like straight, pattern, chamfer.


--

-MIKE-

"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
--
http://mikedrums.com

---remove "DOT" ^^^^ to reply

On 2/28/2010 12:23 PM, Upscale wrote:

It depends on what you're looking for or need in a clamp. I've never
been particularly impressed with the adjustability capabilities of
Bessey clamps, but that's not why I like them. For me, the ability to
sit flat and square while not tipping over is what I like. So, to that
end, the fill my needs quite well. Add in a set of KP blocks and
you've got and instant panel door clamping setup.

Bingo ... I've got most every clamp imaginable, including a few
different HF flavors, but when it comes to keeping components "flat and
square" (saving the biggest cost of all over every stage of a project:
time), I generally grab a Bessey parallel jaw. In critical glue-ups I
want every advantage I can get in my favor and never regretted the cost
of the four dozen or so Bessey parallel jaw clamps in the shop.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 10/22/08
KarlC@ (the obvious)

On 2/28/2010 2:49 PM, Swingman wrote:
On 2/28/2010 12:23 PM, Upscale wrote:

It depends on what you're looking for or need in a clamp. I've never
been particularly impressed with the adjustability capabilities of
Bessey clamps, but that's not why I like them. For me, the ability to
sit flat and square while not tipping over is what I like. So, to that
end, the fill my needs quite well. Add in a set of KP blocks and
you've got and instant panel door clamping setup.

Bingo ... I've got most every clamp imaginable, including a few
different HF flavors, but when it comes to keeping components "flat and
square" (saving the biggest cost of all over every stage of a project:
time), I generally grab a Bessey parallel jaw. In critical glue-ups I
want every advantage I can get in my favor and never regretted the cost
of the four dozen or so Bessey parallel jaw clamps in the shop.

I agree regarding the Bessy parallel jaws (ie: K Body)and they are my go
to clamp for those needs, but I simply can not afford as many of them as
of the Bessy Tradesman. It is this style that I think is most
appropriate to compare to.

So let me rephrase the question. How does this HF clamp - 24" = $6.99;
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=96213

compare to this Bessy clamp - 24" = $$13.49?
http://www.woodpeck.com/besseytradesmenbarclamps.html

I mean other than being half the price.

Harvey

So let me rephrase the question. How does this HF clamp - 24" = $6.99;
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=96213

compare to this Bessy clamp - 24" = $$13.49?
http://www.woodpeck.com/besseytradesmenbarclamps.html

I mean other than being half the price.

Harvey

I've fond that it depends on the thickness and width of the bars.
The bars on the Bessy clamps in those pics look wider than the HF's.

I've had generic bar clamps, like those, over 18" bend before you feel
like you have enough pressure on them.

I think you could buy a Bessy from HD or Lowes, and take it to HF to
compare.
Return the Bessy if the HF's work out.


--

-MIKE-

"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
--
http://mikedrums.com

---remove "DOT" ^^^^ to reply

On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:34:33 -0600, -MIKE- wrote:

I've had generic bar clamps, like those, over 18" bend before you feel
like you have enough pressure on them.

I've found that the HF 30" or 36" will bend a little, but the only time
I've seen the 24" or smaller bend is when I'm overclamping to make up for
a some slop that shouldn't be there.

HF used to, and may still, have two different "brands" of bar clamps.
The Pittsburgh work well, the others are junk.

As to pipe clamps, my experience has been that the heavy duty 3/4" work
fine, the others don't.

--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw

On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:23:42 -0500, the infamous Upscale
scrawled the following:

On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:12:30 -0800, Larry Jaques

All my clamps are cheapies and, other than the occasional mark left
when I used too thin a pad, I've had no problems with them. Bar, C,

It depends on what you're looking for or need in a clamp. I've never
been particularly impressed with the adjustability capabilities of
Bessey clamps, but that's not why I like them. For me, the ability to
sit flat and square while not tipping over is what I like. So, to that
end, the fill my needs quite well. Add in a set of KP blocks and
you've got and instant panel door clamping setup.

I think I've needed that once, and to make it happen, I put a wooden
handscrew clamp on the end of the first bar clamp. Mission
accomplished.

KP blocks?

--
Pessimist: One who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both.
--Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:45:50 -0800, Larry Jaques

KP blocks?

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...86&cat=1,43838

On Mar 1, 1:51*pm, (Edward A. Falk) wrote:
In article ,

Phisherman wrote:
I don't like to cuss or fuss, so I won't buy these. *Can we say "Made
in China?" *

I bought chinese-made clamps once. *Once.

I have a bunch of Chinese clamps. The HF aluminum bar clamps
convinced my to invest in a set of Bessy K's. Others haven't been as
bad.

On Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:36:51 -0500, the infamous Upscale
scrawled the following:

On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:45:50 -0800, Larry Jaques

KP blocks?

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...86&cat=1,43838

They'd work on my cheap clamps, too, I'll bet, but it really irks me
to see prices like that on little plastic parts.

--
Pessimist: One who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both.
--Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

On Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:11:52 -0800, Larry Jaques wrote:

On Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:36:51 -0500, the infamous Upscale
scrawled the following:

On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:45:50 -0800, Larry Jaques

KP blocks?

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...86&cat=1,43838

They'd work on my cheap clamps, too, I'll bet, but it really irks me
to see prices like that on little plastic parts.

I'll bet you could make something like that out of wood. Cut the appropriately sized dado in some
twoby scrap to the depth of your choice. Repeat as needed to get a full set.