Thread: Where to find sash clamps for laminating top

Ian,

Agreed. However I'm not a fan of the Veritas widget - I have the quite similar wonder dogs, and although they're extremely handy tools in their own right, they're too fiddly and slow for a tail vice, IMO. I was also considering using a Dawn QR or similar as a tail vice, but I hear that there's an HNT group buy brewing up somewhere...

I've read that the threaded rod would cause problems over time, because it does not allow for contraction and expansion of the timber. I live in Melbourne so there's a significant difference in relative humidity between the seasons. The rod would become loose during summer when the timber contracts tangentially to the growth rings. If I tightened it up, the washer would cause damage to the timber in winter when it swells up again.

I've just come across a very simple and very clever suggestion for sash clamps on this forum which I want to follow up: https://www.woodworkforums.com/f44/ho...8/#post1630062. Using timber from Masters down the road they will cost $5.29 each (as I already have threaded rod spare, not that that would add much expense).

Originally Posted by snafuspyramid

I've read that the threaded rod would cause problems over time, because it does not allow for contraction and expansion of the timber. I live in Melbourne so there's a significant difference in relative humidity between the seasons. The rod would become loose during summer when the timber contracts tangentially to the growth rings. If I tightened it up, the washer would cause damage to the timber in winter when it swells up again.

I see what you are concerned with, and the issue has given me pause in the past, but if you arrange the 4x2s the "right way" in respect to the growth rings, most of the shrinkage / expansion will be in the bench's thickness not it's width, so threaded rod should be a viable option

unlike a table top, you're not interested in achieving an interesting appearance, so the rule about alternating growth rings doesn't need to be followed -- you just want the grain to run mostly on one direction.

Check this out
How to build a workbench - (Part 1) Laminating the top - with Paul Sellers - YouTube
Done with minimal tools and only saw horses to work on. There are about 10 more parts on utube as he does the whole bench. This was what made me go for a pine top. I had the pine and the work is a lot easier. I went with a split top as the 2 parts can be put throuch a thicknesser but you have to flatten one side first. Some pics of my glue up.
Regards
John