Quite a few readers expressed interest in seeing some clamp deals for the holidays.
Good news: there are a couple of deals worth mentioning. Bad news: pickings are slim right now.
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I expected that there will be some parallel clamp deals once Black Friday officially hits. And there might be some other pre-Black Friday and holiday season clamp deals I haven’t seen. (If you find a great deal, please let us know!)
I bought one of these Dewalt clamp sets. They’re pretty ordinary trigger clamps, and the 4-piece set comes with 2x 12-inch clamps, and 2x 6-inch clamps.
The larger ones have greater max clamping pressure, and can also be converted into spreaders.
While not a crazy-good deal, $30 seems decent. I’ll be testing them out soon, and I guess if I’m happy enough I’ll pick up a second set. Amazon and HD have the same price online, something to keep in mind if your local HD sells out.
Price: $30
Buy Now(via HD)
Buy Now(via Amazon)
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Lowes had a couple of different Irwin clamps on sale, none of them with price labels yet.
There were some medium-duty Irwin Quick-Grip bar clamps on the left side of the display. I don’t think there were enough for the clamps to be HOT BUYS, if you know what I mean.
There’s a 4-pack of Irwin Quick-Grip trigger clamps, presumably for $20. This promo pack comes around every once in a while, usually with “buy 2 get 2 free” wording and a $20 price tag.
I bought 2 sets of these clamps a few years ago, and they’ve held up okay. They’re relatively light weight clamps, and I’d go so far to call them convenience clamps – clamps that you don’t really use for crucial applications.
Even though I’ve got 8 of these clamps, I’ve been on a mission to step up. I don’t like my Bora’s, so that’s why I’m giving the above Dewalts a try. But if you need a bunch of light duty clamps, and like the quick application of trigger clamps, these clamps are about the cheapest usable clamps I’ve found.
These are basic clamps that don’t have a spreader feature.
I couldn’t find these on Lowes.com, but I did find some new lighter-duty-looking models.
Compare(Same Clamps via Amazon)
Compare(Cheaper Clamps? via Lowes)
There were a bunch of ” F-style bar clamps of unknown prices. They seemed decent.
Compare(Bessey 4″ Clamp via Amazon)
See Also(2″ Clamps via Lowes)
What’s this? An edge clamp adapter that turns your non-basic Irwin Quick-Grip trigger clamps into edge clamps.
But these won’t work with the basic Irwin bar clamps shown above. Those clamps have a pin through the bar that prevents the moveable jaw from sliding down and off.
Still, I’d never seen a bar clamp attachment like this before. It looks pretty handy.
Price: $6 for 2
Irwin says that it’ll work with their medium duty Quick Grip bar clamps and previous generation SL300 clamps.
Buy Now(via Lowes)
There are 2 smaller Quick-Grip clamps, for $13.
But… these aren’t Micro clamps, which are typically much smaller miniature bar clamps. I’m confused and think the price sticker might be wrong.
Right now you can get the pictured clamps at $10 for 2. There are also 4-packs for $20, linked above.
If you’re going to buy more than 2 clamps, you might be better served by the 4-pack discussed above.
Price: $10
Buy Now(via Lowes)
And… Sears is also selling that 4-pack of basic Quick-Grip bar clamps for $20. I couldn’t find it on Sears’ website, but I did find the 5464 4-clamp bundle on sale for $20 at Acme Tools’ website.
Compare(via Acme Tool)
Since we’re talking about clamps, maybe you’ll also be interested in knowing that the Worx Pegasus clamping portable workbench has been discounted to $99. We’ll be reviewing one shortly, but in the meantime, I’m optimistic.
Buy Now(via Amazon)
Buy Now(via Lowes)
The Husky clamping portable workbench is also on sale, at Home Depot.
I’ve used this portable bench a few times, and find its design to be curious. The legs are removed and docked underneath the workbench for storage and transport, and I’ve found this to work better than expected. It creates a stable base, probably more so than if the leg assembly were based on some kind of folding system.
This Husky portable workbench is one of the best values I’ve seen, and also one of the least compromised designs.
Buy Now(via Home Depot)
Compare(Keter Clamping Folding Workbench)
fred
While not exactly a clamp deal – Acme Tools is having a 15% off site-wide sale today (11/7) – using code IVOTED15 – you can buy clamps or anything else – but need to spend over $199 if you want free shipping – otherwise shipping is $6.49 flat rate
Zoro is also doing a 20% off with free shipping – but you need to spend $200 or more. Their Promo code is PCKT0K0N
mikedt
the irwin clamp video on the lowes site was pretty good. I had no idea irwin had made so many accessories for these quick clamps.
John
I’m glad I read your comment. I just watched the video, I had no idea either! Is this new? If not Irwin has done a poor job of marketing these accessories.
Stuart
Whoa, I’d never seen any of those accessories before either!
For others reading this, the videos can be seen through the edge clamp accessory product page.
via Lowes
fred
I took a look at them at Lowes today – at least what they had in stock. The display seemed pretty decimated – with only 1 or 2 pieces of each item left.
The packaging all proclaims “NEW” – so I guess not having seen them before may not be too surprising. A quick check on the Internet doesn’t show many other retailers beyond Lowes.
I think most of them said that they work with Quick-Grip Medium Duty clamps. One of the two extender pieces said “Heavy Duty”. I found it kind of silly that they sell the1964756 clamp stands individually – as they are clearly needed in pairs to work – but maybe that’s a pricing gimmick to keep them at $7.98. The store display also had the 1964755 edge clamping gizmo priced at $5.98 – claiming it to be a new lower price.
Dan M
Thanks for checking out the deals. Right now I think the Bessey 6″ clutch clamp 6- pack for $20- via Home Depot seems the better deal for cabinet work.
What I really want to try out is a pair of those 23′ Bessey band clamps. Has anyone tried those? Seems great for gluing up bookcases, instead of using many 6′ pony clamps.
I did use the Irwin Quick-Grip trigger clamps for installing some Ikea cabinets – they were definitely up to the task of holding them together while putting in screws.
Stuart
I didn’t find any Bessey clamp display at any of the HDs I checked.
It was a great deal last year, although I don’t use mine too often. I probably won’t buy a second set this year.
Matt
The band clamps are great when you need them, I don’t have frequent application for them, but they are great to use when I do, I got them on sale for $15 each a few years ago, only complaint is the crank handle is a little small (I also have huge hands though).
Travis
That Husky workbench is great. I use it as a perfect miter saw stand for my cordless 7 1/4″ saw. It has held up well over the last 10-12 months of use. I still deem it unusable as a router table since the tops is bowed giving you no flat work surface to use.
I have the larger DeWalt trigger style clamps and love them. I can always use more smaller light duty clamps so I think I’ll also try the HD DeWalt clamp special.
BigDan
Never kew about that either. I recently moved and was doing a project this weekend and was cursing looking for my clamps, could have sworn I had more. Guess it’s time for a little trip to THD. 🙂 And I have older manual clamps that are tougher on my hands not the quick grip ones, so more incentive.
JMG
Bessey has had edge attachments available for their clamps for years:
Single: http://www.homedepot.com/p/BESSEY-Single-Spindle-Edge-Clamping-Accessory-for-Bar-Clamp-KT5-1CP/205404066
Dual: http://www.homedepot.com/p/BESSEY-Dual-Spindle-Edge-Clamping-Accessory-for-Bar-Clamp-KT5-2/205404067
And the king of edge clamps: http://www.homedepot.com/p/BESSEY-2-1-8-in-1-Handed-Edge-Clamp-EKT-55/205971653
Always wanted some of those one handed clamps, but the price point was just too steep for me for the number I needed at the time.
fred
The EKT-55’s are just about the easiest to use
$40.70 each now at Acme with their 15% off sale:
http://www.acmetools.com/shop/tools/bessey-ekt-55
My old inventory said we had 40 of them – at an inventory cost of $1600 – so the Acme price is right on the money.
The late lamented Adjustable Clamp Co. – also made edge clamps and bar-clamp add-ons under their Pony and Jorgensen brands (Part No’s 3325, 1860, plus 641, 642 and 643)
BikerDad
Unless they’ve reworked them, I’d pass on the DeWalt trigger clamps. I bought some last year to give ’em a try. They aren’t in my shop any longer. Way too much work to get way too little clamping pressure. The best trigger clamps in my experience have been the Quick-Grips, with a shout out to the fallen flag Jorgensen ISD’s. The Quick Grips put down a smidge more pressure and work flawlessly, but the larger one’s are not very friendly to one’s hands when honking the clamps down hard. The ISD’s were much more comfortable in-hand but would sometimes fail to re-cock the trigger.
rick
I think dewalt clamps pale in comparison to Irwin QuickGrip, and both pale to a good old fashioned Pipe clamp.
BikerDad
It’s mighty hard to use a pipe clamp one handed. Also, the reach of a pipe clamp is pretty limited. They do have their place, which is why I have half a dozen or so, but also limitations.
fred
Everything is a compromise. For pure strength in bar clamps – nothing beats those that use and I-Section bar – stronger and sometimes heavier than pipe clamps. At the other end of the spectrum are aluminum bar clamps and light-duty quick-grip type clamps. So to amend the saying:
“you can not have too many or too many types of clamps”
https://discuss.toolguyd.com/t/clamps-some-different-types/441
Brian
My kids have really enjoyed using the Dewalt clamps this year. They use them for theatre pretty much everyday for gluing or screwing 1x and 2x lumber. Worth the money.