Arts and Crafts style Clamp Rack

[MartyBacke]

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I finally got around to building a wall rack to store my parallel clamps. I used 3/4" Baltic birch, and lots of dominos (mostly 6mm, but a few 10mm also).

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The final glue-up involved five sub-assemblies, and required 28 dominos.

Here it is hanging on the wall

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And here's a video of the process and some observations:

 

[semenza]

Hi Marty,

Nice first post. You've been lurking too long  [smile]

If your shop furniture is art & crafts style , I'd like to see your non-shop furniture!

Seth

 

[Paul G]

I've got to make something similar after taking advantage of a killer deal on Besseys a few months back. Mine won't be nearly as nice

 

[leer]

Hi Marty,

Nice first post. You've been lurking too long  [smile]

If your shop furniture is art & crafts style , I'd like to see your non-shop furniture!

Seth

That is perhaps the most beautiful clamp rack I've ever seen.  And that is in no way diminished just because I've never seen a fancy clamp rack.
[smile]

Seriously though, nice work!  A few months ago I made a narrow floor to ceiling maple cabinet for my shop. I explained to my wife that it was nicer than our old kitchen cabinets, only because I needed to practice making cabinets.  And besides, I was going to use cheaper baltic birch, but it turns out the maple was the same price.  Makes sense to me.  I'm not sure if my wife totally bought the reasoning.

 

[MartyBacke]

Thanks Seth.

The shop is the perfect place to practice your craft, and I think it should reflect the quality of your work elsewhere.

Baltic birch is great stuff, but as you've noted, it's not cheap. Unfortunately, I've been having a harder time finding BB quality (equivalent to A in hardwood plywood) Baltic birch. Most of it is now CC, with those ugly patches on both sides.

 

[JayStPeter]

The only thing I see wrong with that clamp rack is that it is not expandable.  I've had to expand my clamp racks a few times.  The expandable design I use makes it pretty nice.  I simply wait until there is sufficient scrap, build a new one, and throw the old away.  Yours is far too nice to unceremoniously toss aside.  Nice work!

 

[MartyBacke]

I've been woodworking for about 25 years, so I have a good sense for the number and type of clamps that I need. This rack has slots for 6 more bar clamps, which I can foresee buying, but it's highly unlikely that I'll need more. Of course I have lots of other types of clamps.

I agree, that if you're nearer the beginning of your woodworking experience, you will be much less certain of your needs.

 

[Paul G]

Marty, I enjoyed watching some of your other vids. Getting rid of systainers is somewhat sacrilege around here but I admire your focus on making things work for your situation rather than sipping the koolaid. Also liked the coconut vid, do you do that often?

 

[MartyBacke]

Thanks Paul. Yeah, my Throw Away Tool Cases video has generated a lot of interesting comments. Seems like half the people think I'm crazy, and the other half (more then half really) concur.

The coconut video was made for a friend - he didn't know how to open a coconut (easily), so I threw that together rather quickly. I probably eat half a dozen coconuts in a year, and that's my technique.

 

[leer]

I've been woodworking for about 25 years, so I have a good sense for the number and type of clamps that I need. This rack has slots for 6 more bar clamps, which I can foresee buying, but it's highly unlikely that I'll need more. Of course I have lots of other types of clamps.

I agree, that if you're nearer the beginning of your woodworking experience, you will be much less certain of your needs.

I felt that way at 25 years of woodworking -- that I had enough clamps.  You have just reached a plateau in clamp acquisition. It happens to all of us.  But it will pass.  I'm at 40 or so years of woodworking, and bought some more clamps over the holidays.

[wink]

 

[dicktill]

...  my Throw Away Tool Cases video has generated a lot of interesting comments ...

Where do we find that video?

 

[Paul G]

...  my Throw Away Tool Cases video has generated a lot of interesting comments ...

Where do we find that video?

Click the little globe under Marty's avatar -->

 

[MartyBacke]

...  my Throw Away Tool Cases video has generated a lot of interesting comments ...

Where do we find that video?

With great trepidation, here's the link. Be forewarned, based on the 50,000+ views, many of you will hate it.

 

[MartyBacke]

I've been woodworking for about 25 years, so I have a good sense for the number and type of clamps that I need. This rack has slots for 6 more bar clamps, which I can foresee buying, but it's highly unlikely that I'll need more. Of course I have lots of other types of clamps.

I agree, that if you're nearer the beginning of your woodworking experience, you will be much less certain of your needs.

I felt that way at 25 years of woodworking -- that I had enough clamps.  You have just reached a plateau in clamp acquisition. It happens to all of us.  But it will pass.  I'm at 40 or so years of woodworking, and bought some more clamps over the holidays.

[wink]

Funny. I'll give you that. If in 20 years I have more then 16 parallel clamps, I'll just have to make another one.

 

[NuggyBuggy]

With great trepidation, here's the link. Be forewarned, based on the 50,000+ views, many of you will hate it.

I watched the whole video.  I never thought about it before, but your argument that  Systainers don't provide efficient use of space because of the stackability constraint was very interesting.  I thought for a while about Systainers that I thought wasted a lot of space and couldn't really, but still I found it very thought provoking.

 

[Carl Prentiss]

Marty, I enjoyed the video but my eye kept wandering to the tool tote in the background with the arched handle. Any chance of seeing a good photo of it?

 

[Claimdude]

Marty,

Very nice indeed!!!

Got me thinking ;-)

Jack

 

[MartyBacke]

Marty, I enjoyed the video but my eye kept wandering to the tool tote in the background with the arched handle. Any chance of seeing a good photo of it?

Hi Charlie,

Thanks. That tool tote is my implementation of a design in Shopnotes #120. I tweaked the design a little, changing the dimensions a bit to fit my needs. I also made it out of 1/2" Baltic Birch (the drawers are 3/8") and used Dominos for all the joinery. The handle came out rather well, shaped from two pieces of 1/2" Baltic Birch that were glued together.

I mainly use it for woodworking outside of the shop.

Here are some better pictures:
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[Carl Prentiss]

Sweet! The handle is eye-catching.

 

[BIP]

I've been woodworking for about 25 years, so I have a good sense for the number and type of clamps that I need. This rack has slots for 6 more bar clamps, which I can foresee buying, but it's highly unlikely that I'll need more. Of course I have lots of other types of clamps.

I agree, that if you're nearer the beginning of your woodworking experience, you will be much less certain of your needs.

I felt that way at 25 years of woodworking -- that I had enough clamps.  You have just reached a plateau in clamp acquisition. It happens to all of us.  But it will pass.  I'm at 40 or so years of woodworking, and bought some more clamps over the holidays.

[wink]

Hi, my name is BIP and I am a clampaholic......