Thursday, October 2, 2008

Veritas® Surface Clamp


Every once and awhile a new tool comes along and once you have it and use it you ask yourself "How did I ever get along without it?" Enter the Veritas® Surface Clamp.
I've been meaning to write a short post about it for awhile now but have been so busy as of late I simply forgot. I've been using it for the past three to four months and can say it's probably the friendliest, most useful work bench aid/jig I've ever owned. Anywhere you can drill a 3/4" hole you can use this clamp. I've always struggled with holding work to the front apron of my bench but not anymore. I drilled a series of holes along the front apron, horizontally in line with the screw holes on my shoulder vise. Now, anytime I need to clamp a work piece to my bench, I simply clamp one end into my shoulder vise and catch the other with the surface clamp. Likewise, whenever I use my shooting board or any of my other bench jigs, the clamp does an amazing job at keeping things in place. It's quick to use, effortless to install and something I can honestly recommend to anyone who has a work bench and uses hand tools. You can purchase the Surface Clamp from Lee Valley Tools. Cheers!

3 comments:

  1. Tom, Thank you for the review. I have been debating whether to buy one or two for a while now. I have the veritas hold down and love that, so I should have guessed that the surface clamp would be just as good.
    Don

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  2. Interesting - thanks for the review! Have you used the Veritas Hold Down? http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=31149&cat=1,41637
    I have one of these, and I'm very impressed with it. I was just wondering how it compares to the Surface Clamp.
    Thanks again,
    Andy

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  3. Tom,

    That's a great tip for the surface clamp! Thanks for passing it on.

    Speaking of tips...

    What ever are you going to do with your new Leigh 18 Inch Superjig??? Does it work with a #71? (Congrats on the FWW submission/win.)

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