# How much pressure does a single woodworkers clamp exert.



## TedfromRoarockit (Sep 1, 2007)

Trying to do some calculations on clamping pressure over an area but need to know the pressure exerted by a decent 6" woodworkers clamp. Anyone know? I did some searching online but did not find anything. Still looking.

Ted


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## jayman7 (Oct 20, 2008)

You can try testing it by clamping a simple bathroom scale.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Some clamp manufacturers state specs for their clamps.

Cheap-o chinese no-name clamps will break when you crank them
down really hard.


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## richgreer (Dec 25, 2009)

I saw an article about this once. It spoke of the amount of pressure you can get from different styles of clamps. I don't remember exact numbers but I recall that they varied by type of clamp from about 200 pounds to just over 1000 pounds. I would guess that a 6" woodworkers clamp would be about in the middle of that range. Please note the word "guess".


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## TedfromRoarockit (Sep 1, 2007)

This is a link I found that tells some different pressures for clamps.
Clamp pressure
Sorry that it goes to a vendor site.

Anyone starve a glue joint on a material like maple by having too much clamp pressure?


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## SASmith (Mar 22, 2010)

At Matthias Wandel's site he shows that his homemade wooden deep throat clamps apply over 260lbs of force.
http://woodgears.ca/clamps/index.html
I would think most metal F style clamps would apply more pressure.


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## Grandpa (Jan 28, 2011)

I read the article on clamp pressures also. It was probably in Wood magazine or The Family Handyman. Seems like the Irwin clamp made for single hand use was the lowest in the 250 lb range with the wood hand clamps in the 600 lb range and the bar type clamps were over 1000 lb. I would think you might look at their sites and find something. They did caution about using too much pressure and squeezing all the glue out cause a glue starved joint.


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## bobsmyuncle (Jan 12, 2011)

Force? Pressure? Not the same thing

http://www.batesville.k12.in.us/physics/phynet/mechanics/newton2/Pressure.html


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## childress (Sep 14, 2008)

Anyone starve a glue joint on a material like maple by having too much clamp pressure?

nope… can only be done with hydraulic clamping


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

What *bobsmyuncle* says. This can be where all those cheap Chinese clamps come in handy. While they do NOT clamp as tightly, many of them spaced close together will do just fine in a glue-up.


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