Lining clamp pads - what to use?

[Greg Guarino]

I just bought a couple (more) Jorgensen bar clamps, the type that have soft orange pads on the jaws. But I have just stumbled on a fairly large number of complaints that the pads release a chemical that stains (some) wood. The complaints were all several years old, so my first question is, have they fixed the problem? I'm guessing the answer is no, as I also found a spate of complaints from several years before that.

But whatever the answer is, I've got a bunch of other clamps that could also use some sort of covering. These include some of the "pipe" type and some quik-grips whose pads have gotten a tad mangy.

I used bits of cork on one project, but it's a pain to stick a piece behind each jaw while positioning the clamps. I could glue the cork on, I suppose, but it doesn't seem like it would be very durable. I read somewhere that leather is a good choice, but presumably it would have to be an undyed, uncoated type.

What I would like, if possible, is some material that won't mar or stain wood, but will last for a while, and an adhesive that will hold acceptably, but can eventually be removed if the cover material wears out.

[Scott Lurndal]

Use clear packing tape.

scott

[Greg Guarino]

That sounds like a possibility for clamps that are already "soft", but my "pipe" type clamps have metal jaws.

[dadiOH]

For "F" style bar clamps, you can buy slip on pads...perhaps they would fit your quik-grips. Might fit some of your pipe clamp[s too. I have never had a problem with them staining.

Mostly, for pipe clamps, I use nothing. I only use them for rough glue ups so any marring gets whacked off anyway when I size the glue up. I sometimes use a piece of softwood or mel board between pipe clamp ends and the glue up but that is mostly to spread the pressure; however, it also can prevent marring.

[Lew Hodgett]

---------------------------- Cut some jaw sized pads from 9 ply birch ply, then counterbore a hole to accept a small circular permanet magnet that you epoxy into c'bore.

Apply a couple of coats of shellac to seal 9 ply.

Have fun.

Lew

[CW]

---------------------------- Cut some jaw sized pads from 9 ply birch ply, then counterbore a hole to accept a small circular permanet magnet that you epoxy into c'bore.

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The ply is a good idea although I would attach them with silicone and leave them unfinished. They get a little grungy, a little sanding will fix it. If they get to bad, it's easy enough to pull them off and replace them.

[-MIKE-]

I would want something on there to help keep the pads from getting glued to whatever they are clamping.

[Greg Guarino]

Hmmm. Wood scraps. I hadn't thought of that. I certainly have enough little bits floating around. Any reason it needs to be ply? And what's the purpose of the shellac? So glue won't stick?

In my own modest way, I am. All of a sudden I have lots of project ideas. Relatively simple ones compared with the pictures I see here, but satisfying nonetheless.

[Greg Guarino]

The comments I read online were pretty disappointing. Apparently Jorgensen has known about the problem for years but claims either that the clamps were not designed for "long term" clamping (more than an hour or two) or that sanding and finishing should obscure the marks. That's hardly a satisfactory reaction to an acknowledged problem. The most recent comments I found were 4 years old.

My clamp arsenal is not large enough to allow for specialization like that. I haven't done that many projects, but it is not uncommon for me to be using *all* of the clamps that are long enough for the job.

My clamp collection is like me in that respect. Compared with most of the people I know, I'm a certified genius at handyman tasks (and even woodworking), mostly because they don't even make the attempt. But among another class of friends (and here on RW), I'm the bumbling neophyte. But I do start On-Topic threads. :)

I sometimes

Mel board would be Melamine? I suppose I could cannibalize the next piece of cast-off chipboard furniture I see on the street, but it doesn't seem like a material that could spread the pressure very far. Does it?

[Father Haskell]

Whatever you line them with, it's still usually a good idea to use a thick caul between the clamp and the workpiece to spread the pressure more evenly across the joint. Saves clamps, too, since you can set them farther apart.

[Larry Blanchard]

For the pipe clamps, make up some wood pieces with a hole drilled in them to fit over the pipe. A nice soft wood like redwood or cedar.

[Lew Hodgett]

----------------------------------- Definitely not wood scraps, but rather an engineered device.

------------------------------------

-------------------------------- Not just any ply but 1/2"cabinet ply (9 Ply).

It has no voids, thus good in compression.

------------------------------------ > And what's

-----------------------------

You got it.

Keep a couple of dozen in a coffee can ready to go.

Lew

[Lew Hodgett]

--------------------------------- I started with the above which led to the 9 ply and magnet approach.

Lew

[Martin Eastburn]

Redwood is actually a listed hardwood. It just isn't the hardest.

The outside - bark is soft as a sponge - gives it fireproofing.

I used to own 3.5 acres of redwoods - up to 150 feet tall in 90 years! They are great and expensive weeds. They grow anywhere - gutters to cracks.

They used to go to the Mississippi river before the Rockies went skywards.

Mart> >

[Greg Guarino]

Like little wooden price tags! That's a great idea. I think I'll try it.

We bought a bunch of IKEA storage trays many years ago. Theyy were the dimensions of a CD by maybe two feet long. That was 6" longer than the depth of our shelves, so I cut them down. My Dad's son, I of course saved the waste pieces. The material is 5/16" (or so) plywood composed of very thin layers with black Melamine on one side. I don't know if that qualifies as "soft", but someone suggested melamine elsewhere in this thread. I'll be clamping Oak, so I don't imagine they need to be too soft. Maybe that will be my first try.

[RicodJour]

Search visually. An odd thing - you said bar clamps, but the term bar clamp pads turns up store-bought solutions, and pipe clamp pads turns up better solutions for you.

[Greg Guarino]

...and there's my Word for the Day. You can scarcely imagine the search results I had to wade through before I got to anything resembling woodworking. Caul fat, amniotic sacs, vampires...

I probably will have to something like that. I'm gluing oak 1x2 around the edges of a desktop (as a border) and don't have that many clamps of sufficient length. I was originally thinking of using one long piece of

2x3 on each side to spread out the pressure.

[RicodJour]

1x2 edging won't require great force. Attach two wooden blocks to the 2x with screws and glue, the blocks set a bit wider than the required clamping distance, and use wedges to apply the clamping force. R

[dpb]

...

For a small number I did something similar but added a countersunk pin into the face of the clamp so they don't spin. For long glue ups like tabletops, I've a precut set of cauls that are 3-, 4-, 6-ft long w/ predrilled holes to align clamps that go over them all first so don't roll and don't rely on just balancing inside the clamps to stay there.

But, as somebody else said, they're there _primarily_ for load distribution and squaring up the surface to the work rather than the staining or other since any defects get taken off after the glueup is done anyway.

--

[Zz Yzx]

be REALLY REALLY good ones.

-Zz