If you are a woodworker or carpenter, then you must have heard about woodworking clamps or used any before.
Here in this article, we are going to discuss different types of clamps that every woodworker should know about, and they should also keep them in their tools kits.
Clamps are versatile tools that serve to help secure your woodwork in place temporarily and for various projects as well, such as furniture making, carpentry, construction or welding, etc.
If you want to know more about clamps, then continue reading.
So now that we know what clamps are and what the basis of us discussing them is, we can now start with the top 10 woodworking clamps you should know about and what their uses are specifically, which most people don’t know about.
So without any further ado let us dive into it:
1. G or C Clamps
These are the typical clamps used by many people out there for daily household fixes as well, and it is either used to clamp two objects together or to hold together a workpiece in place.
As the name, C clamps suggest, it has a C shape to it, and a long screw passes from the end to the other.
It is an ideal clamp for woodworking projects, metal, welding, holding pieces together, and much more!
2. Hand Screw Clamps
Also known as toolmaker’s clamps, these are mostly used when working on a metal piece and are also good for fixing bigger woodworks such as furniture items.
This is because their jaws can be adjusted conveniently to fit and also hold onto the angled material in place securely.
They are usually all steel in construction, making them build strong, durable, and handy as well. Also, some manufacturers are constructing them in wooden versions as well.
3. Sash Clamp
For daily basis projects that are also huge in size, this clamp is perfect, and generally, more than one has to be used at a time to ensure a stable grip on the workpiece.
They offer wide applications because you can use them for cabinets, tabletops, doors, sash windows, and much more!
Also, their long bar is very heavy and has a stiff jaw attached to it to accomplish many tasks, and the additional sliding jaw can adjust the length and then locked into position.
4. Parallel Jaw Clamp
This highly adjustable clamp comes with many length adjustments to work efficiently with larger glue-ups, and the jaw of this clamp is fixed on 90 degrees to the bar and parallel to each other.
This way, square assembly is ensured, and because of the strong grips, the clamps provide as much as over 1000 pounds of pressure!
What else would you require for your daily woodworking tasks?
5. Corner Clamp
As the name tells us, angle clamps or corner clamps are designed for clamping objects at a specific angle.
As the tool is often utilized for clamping corners or creating miter joints, it can also be referred to as a corner or miter clamp.
The device allows two items to be held together at a 90-degree angle strictly, and this is if the items need to be attached together.
The jaws help ensure a square corner, and different versions of corner clamps make easy work of clamping drawer corners, shelving joints, and other applications where two parts meet at exactly 90 degrees.
6. Strap Clamp
For mitered pieces, this is another great option because while it provides less pressure than a corner clamp, it can be utilized on oddly shaped workpieces, even the ones which are completely round.
For the frames that have more than four sides to them, you can use those without the plastic corners.
It has a strap of metal or cloth formed in a loop with a mechanism for forcibly adjusting the diameter, thereby exerting a squeezing force on an object within the loop.
7. Spring Clamps
Spring clamps are used to hold materials during the gluing phase in a woodworking project, and these are similar to lightweight pliers in which clamping pressure is exerted by a spring. They come in many different shapes and sizes.
The handles usually have PVC covers that ensure that you will have safety insurance while working with these clamps.
The tension spring makes it tougher to open the clamps, and when you shut them out, they will hold the pieces tightly.
8. Quick Grip Clamps
It converts a medium duty or heavy duty quick grip clamp into a handy hold down clamp.
Remove the front jaw of the quick grip clamp, slide the bar into the hold-down jig and then slide the locking pin into place. The hold-down jig allows the clamp to rotate to a dull 360 degrees.
This is how a quick grip clamp usually works, and as we can easily guess, this clamp offers adjustable pressure making it ideal for many applications for any type of woodworks.
9. Drill Press Clamps
If you work on a drill press table, then you need this drill press clamp most importantly, and it allows the workers to make a very precise and clean cut every single time.
You can use your machinery and use these clamps to hold the pieces together on the drill press table, and there will be no worries left.
The tension of the clamp is highly adjustable and customizable, and there is also a quick-release feature that makes it easier to not only put onto the material you have been working on and also release it at the same time.
This drill press clamp is completely safe, but only pros should use it in order to use the right techniques and achieve the tasks.
10. Screw Clamp
Last but not least is the screw clamp, which is what we were waiting to discuss since the start because screw clamps are the traditional clamps used by almost all woodworkers.
These clamps offer strength and sturdiness, but the main difference is in how they are used because unlike other clamps they can be opened and closed in one quick motion, these clamps have a thread and handle that needs to be screwed in place.
