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• Saturday, December 07th, 2019
DeWalt medium trigger clamps

No respectable woodworker can venture to the local Home Depot for that next-on-the-list home fixit thingy and resist a stroll through the tool corral because, you know, there might be something there that you absolutely need without having realized it. So, in this lucid state, I acquired a few of these little DeWalt trigger clamps

DeWalt calls them “medium” but I rate them: small enough but strong enough. They are an excellent alternative to spring clamps, which I have never really liked. 

The 2 5/16″ (actual) throat depth is at least that of most spring clamps except for some awkwardly large steel and ratcheting models. The 6″ clamping length of the model I use is longer than nearly all spring clamps. There is remarkably little bowing of the I-beam bar even with the maximum force applied, which is nominally 100 pounds. 

The fixed jaw can be reversed for spreading. The jaw pads have horizontal and vertical V-grooves for use on corners and small round pieces. 

A trigger clamp is not quite as easy to use one-handed as a spring clamp. However, they are still convenient to apply with one hand if you preset the jaw opening, then carefully set the first jaw flat on the workpiece, and finally squeeze the handle to plant and tighten the second jaw. 

DeWalt’s trigger clamp series also includes “small,” which is too tiny for much use in my shop, and “large,” which I skip in favor of the “extra large,” which generates 600 pounds of force. I wrote about those in another post.

Category: Tools and Shop
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3 Responses

  1. Rob,

    At every Lowes in the area, you can find, not by the abundance of clamps in the tool section but back in the aisle of pine boards, a free-standing display of the new Jorgenson F-style clamps. Currently it is a 4-pack, with two 6″ and two 12″ clamps for about $32. Previously, it had been a pack of 4 6″ clamps for a lower cost ($25 or so?).

    At two of them, I spoke with the manager in charge of tools and told them the location of those clamps affects their sales and if they would move them up front, with all of the other clamps, that they would find them gone in a matter of a week. In both cases, they agreed with me and said they would move them and then never did (as later visits would show).

    These clamps are VERY GOOD and I would highly recommend them to anyone and everyone who uses clamps and even thinks they might need some. Or anyone who is looking for a gift for a woodworker in their family.

    Anyway… felt I should mention it.

    Ethan

  2. Oh! I was wrong! The 4-pack of 12″ and 6″ clamps is regularly $29. It is currently $19 until 12/29/19. Wow.

  3. 3
    Rob 

    Thanks for the tip, Ethan.
    Rob