Woodworking Clamps Lost Secret: Or Marketing Gimmick? 

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Nick Engler is fantastic! I love his channel and his books.

make some 'U' shaped spacer blocks to take up excessive thread length, spreads any side pressure. Shims, thin wedges under caul near non-flush locations to make slight flush adjustments.

When I saw your headline I first thought of their Maxi-Clamp Set which I own but never put to use.

I have similar clamps bought from the local woodstore. They did not come with the wooden parts you have to make them youself. Did not know about the veneer clamp capability will have to try one day. Thank you again for some wonderful insight into stuff I already have.

make some slip-on 'U" block feet to stop the floppy fall overs while setting up. all these to cut, not under clamp pressure, glue exposure time .

I have a set of those. They were given to me by a cabinet maker who changed over to a vacuum press. They came with short boards that were covered in glue. I ran them over my jointer and cleaned them up. Then, I started throwing down wax paper between the cauls and panels… both beneath and on top… when I glued them up. I needed longer cauls… so, I found a couple of 6’ white oak pallet runners. They were rough cut and still green. As I was ripping them they bowed. I let them dry and ended up with four sets of fairly well matched 3’ pairs. They had about 1/4” of bow. So, I clamped them together in pairs with the gap from the bow between. Using a heavy C-clamp, I was able to close the gap. That allowed me to drill half holes in each, along the crack, for the bite of the press clamps. Once I put them to use I found that the bow in the clamps got rid of the pressure void in the center that I got when doing wide panels. I haven’t had call to use my clamps for a year or so, but I have to make a night stand this winter. Me thinks they’ll get trotted out for that! Tom, I’ve never tried to veneer clamp with them… and because I only have 4… I probably never will. But, it is interesting!

Thomas, intriguing, as usual! I’ve been poking around looking for used clamps; no joy so far. Might have to buy new …

I own these and they are great for panel glue ups. I remember reading about the bar clamp usage in the instructions but it looked a Rube Goldberg contraption to me and your video confirms it. Better to just buy inexpensive pipe clamps or bar clamps. Shopsmith sells a new version of the clamps. But the cauls and the hardware separately or as a package. Same wood cauls but hardware looks cheaper.

Tom, Thanks for the explanation of how the SS Double bar clamps work as a press. I have never been able to figure out the instructions Shopsmith provided...Also, I have not seen Nick's bar clamp video(yet). Thanks for the reference. I actually had the privilege of taking a Shopsmith class that Nick taught before he left Shopsmith. He is amazing! jim

I have the original instructions. As I remember the clamps to me then were so new (as was I to woodworking) that I shelved the instructions and until today never thought of the bar clamp usage since. I’ve watched the veneer press SSmith video but I’ve used them only as panel clamps. I’ll snoop as see if I can locate the instructions - I’ll let you know. Excellent video.👍👍

Thanks for the great video, Tom. I hope that I can eventually find some used ones like you did.

Great video. Really enjoyed. I have a set of the old ones with the retro spaceship cast wing handles with the fun grooves in them. Also have a set of modern ones. Have you seen the Woodpeckers ones? They're umm pricey... I mean if you regularly abandon cars when they run out of gas maybe it's affordable but holy shit they're expensive.

4:00 + use longer linkage arms.

I’ll not look for the missing info page - Scott let me know!👍👍

i can't find these anywhere.

nice content! Thanks!! what species did you select for the clamp bars?

'F' clamp the ends of the cauls together to stop the lift up. ?????

Why store bought? This is DIY tool build straight from the scrap/junk bin.