Welcome to “Tips From Sticks-In-The-Mud Woodshop.” I am a hobbyist who loves woodworking and writing for those who also love the craft. I have found some ways to accomplish tasks in the workshop that might be helpful to you, and I enjoy hearing your own problem-solving ideas. Please share them in the COMMENTS section of each tip. If, in the process, I can also make you laugh, I have achieved 100% of my goals.
Are they, for you, like me, the clamps you love to hate?
I never have figured out how to apply spring clamps to hold two pieces and not make one or both workpieces move. Besides that small conundrum, I think they’re great!
I especially like to use them for holding things other than work. For example, I have a ceiling-mounted ShopVac Hangup attached to a ceiling- mounted cyclone separator. Its long, long hose will reach my worktable area easily. But, when I’m working further away, the hose wants to recoil. To keep it close, I hold it in place with a clamp big enough to allow the small-diameter hose to avoid restriction, which means it’s close by when I need some vacuum. A remote control allows me to turn it on and off right from where I’m working.
A spring clamp to hold a spring clamp. Funny, but it works. It might take two hands to compress this big boy, but the space in the jaws allows the 1-1/4″ hose to stay in one place, yet still pass plenty of air.
I also use spring clamps to hold a 4″ dust collector hose on the table of my drill press when I’m sanding. At high RPM, this technique can generate a lot of dust, and the high volume of the dust collector can catch it all.
When I was salvaging these perfectly good Reeboks I glued the soles back onto the uppers with glue. These spring clamps were invaluable.
Jim Randolph is a veterinarian in Long Beach, Mississippi. His earlier careers as lawn mower, dairy farmer, automobile mechanic, microwave communications electronics instructor and journeyman carpenter all influence his approach to woodworking. His favorite projects are furniture built for his wife, Brenda, and for their children and grandchildren. His and Brenda’s home, nicknamed Sticks-In-The-Mud, is built on pilings (sticks) near the wetlands (mud) on a bayou off Jourdan River. His shop is in the lower level of their home.Questions and comments on woodworking may be written below in the comments section. Questions about pet care should be directed to his blog on pet care, www.MyPetsDoctor.com. We regret that, because of high volume, not all inquiries can be answered personally.