Axminster Pipe Clamps and Women in Woodworking

[Woodythepecker]

When i started my business a few months ago i bought 30 quick clamps, 20 sash clamps, and a variety of other f and g clamps. Since then i have added to the sash clamps, but i never seem to have enough, and at £40 a time it is costing me a small fortune.

I have obviously got to have these clamps but i need to try some cheaper one's
I noticed that Axminster sell "Heavy Duty 3/4" Pipe Clamps" which are the type that Norm uses on The New Yankee Workshop. These cost £10.95 for the top and bottom jaws and you attach these to your own 3/4 pipe (Axminster also sells a pipe pack for £13.16). The advantage of these sash clamps are that you can change the jaws onto any length of pipe you may need at any particular time.

Has anyone used these clamps? If so are they worth the money? Could they be used professional, where they would be used day in day out?

By way of keeping you up to date. As you will remember i needed to employ someone to help me in the workshop. Well i am happy to say that out of 9 people who applied i finally employed (on a 3 month trail) a excellent cabinet maker called Dawn.

Regards

Woody

 

[Taffy Turner]

Dawn - funny name for a bloke that...... :shock:

 

[Anonymous]

I bought a pair of pipe clamps from Rockler when I was in the States on holiday. I had a problem initially with the pipe (it was electrical conduit, and that is just too small in diameter for the clutch mechanism to work properly), but once I got the right pipe they've been great. The Rockler ones have holes drilled so that you can attach timber softening to the jaws.
The other advantage of pipe clamps is that if you have both ends threaded, you can screw on an extra length of pipe when you want to clamp long lengths.

 

[Rattie]

Nah, must be American. Like Dawn Henley and Dawn McLean.

Martyn

 

[houtslager]

well done there in finding a suitable employee !
As to having enough clamps :lol: well I too am in the business of butchering wood - and like you NEVER have enough clamps - of the right size.
So many eons ago I went for the pipe system , mine are cut from 6m piping black water/gas pipe ( 3/4" ) the sizes I cut were
3m, 2m, 1.5m, 1m, and a couple at 60cm. All are DOUBLE threaded, so when needed I can extend a clamp by using a COUPLING.
So far I am using them on a daily basis, and sometimes they are a PAIN in the %$£"$ when the clutch plates fail to engage (hammer) .
But overall I love 'em
all the best HS

 

[Dewy]

Dawn - funny name for a bloke that...... :shock:

Someones being sexist here.

 

[Woodythepecker]

Taffy, Rattie, yeah it is a funny name for a bloke (in this country anyway) but not for a woman, so it is just as well that she is a she and she is a woman.
Strange but i thought this would have been obvious.

Was it obvious, or is it a fact that some men/women are still surprised to see women in what was for years a mans trade?

Are there many woman cabinet makers, carpenters, or on site chippys? Does anyone know of any? What about women who have taken this up as a hobby?

How many women members are there on this site?

Why did i choose a woman over over 8 men? Simply because she is an excellent cabinet maker and as she was the only one who bought her CV and a portfolio of her work she came better prepared for the interview then the others did.
I am not saying that the others were no good, it is just that 3 of them were 16 and 17 years old and wanted me to train them, which at a future date when the company had been going longer i would willingly do but at the moment i just have not got the time.
To see their skill level i asked them all to make a box, and after this i found out that 2 of them were simple not up to scratch, and although the other 3 did have the skills i found that Dawn along with her CV/portfolio was just a bit closer to the employee i wanted, and if she shows the same skills all the way through her 3 month trail period i am sure she will be a permanent asset to my company.

Tycho and houtslager thank you for the info, these clamps do sound like they might be just what i need.

Regards

Woody

 

[Anonymous]

How many women members are there on this site?


Woody

2 (well 1 and a bit really as GillD doesn't hang around much anymore)

I lecture in engineering in one of our top universities and we are seeing fewer women entering that arena too. As a result of this trend, I have become actively involved in recrutiment of women onto our courses by holding demonstration and open days specifically targetted at 15-16 year old females who are about to undertake their 'A' levels.

Does anyone know of similar efforts in the woodworking trade?

 

[Taffy Turner]

Dawn - funny name for a bloke that...... :shock:

Someones being sexist here.

Not at all - I was merely commenting in an oblique way about how few lady members we have on this forum, and how few women seem to enjoy wood mangling as a hobby, or indeed as a profession. :?

I would agree with Tony - I studied Mech Eng at Cardiff Uni, and at the time (graduated 1986), there was quite a drive on to recruit women into engineering. My year consisted of 32 blokes and 3 women, so it obviously wasn't that successful then! From what I read in the engineering press, it seems as if there are even less women entering the profession than ever.

 

[Alf]

How many women members are there on this site?

2 (well 1 and a bit really as GillD doesn't hang around much anymore)

Tsk, Tony. Have you forgotten the very lovely "Russian Lady"?

Good news that you found someone who looks like they'll fit the bill, Woody. Fingers crossed the trial period goes well.

Cheers, Alf

 

[tx2man]

Tony & Woody,

It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it.

TX

 

[Anonymous]

Tsk, Tony. Have you forgotten the very lovely "Russian Lady"?

Good news that you found someone who looks like they'll fit the bill, Woody. Fingers crossed the trial period goes well.

Cheers, Alf

How could I have forgotten such a woman?? :lol: I guess she wans't interested in wood working and slipped from the old memory :wink:

 

[Woodythepecker]

Alf, thank you. I am sure the trail period will go well, as she is turning out a god send already.

Besides Dawn i know of 3 other women who earn a living from messing about with wood. Two of them can regular be found on one building site or another and the third works as a cabinet maker for the company that i have just left. There is also my sister who butchers wood as a hobby.
It is because of these that i thought there was more women woodworkers in the UK. That and the fact that according to the US web site www.womeninwoodworking.com there are some 4,000,000 women woodworkers in the USA.
I do not know what proportion how of these are professional but it is still a sizable amount of women who agree with our love of wood.

If anyone just happens upon this site, take a look at the Gallery where you will find their featured artist is a lady called Caprice Glaser. This women's wooden murals are wonderful.
BTW while on the subject of "Intarsia" does anyone here dabble in this sort of woodworking?

The American women even have their own magazine "Woodwork for Women"

This has sort of gone off the subject of Pipe Clamps, but i am interested to find out just how many UK women have caught the bug.

Regards

Woody

 

[frank]

woody gilld is in to intarsia but she is not a regular on the forum now.

 

[Philly]

Woody,
Sorry to say I found the clamps at the show, started to take a look-and then got distracted by the Lie-Nielsen stand. Sorry Mate!
First impressions were -well made and sturdy!
hope this (vaguely!) helps,
Philly

 

[Noel]

Hi Woody,

Haven't used pipe clamps but, as it happens, managed to pick up 4 3/4" Pony jobs from the bloke at Chesterman Marketing (as Philly-san has said, the stand was next door to the Maine Man...). Didn't get any pipes as at 13 odd dabs a pack (metre, 1/2 metre and 1/4 metre) waaay over priced. I've a plumber friend who will donate various lenghts of black pipe and luckily he has a threading machine as well (lucky for him, otherwise he'd have to do it by hand...). As has been mentioned with various lenghts of pipe you can pick and mix so that most clamping needs will be catered for. Bit similar to the old Paramo clamps heads.
Let you know how they perform once I'm up and running.

Noel

 

[Woodythepecker]

Philly, what a let down you are! How did a few plane's distract you? Now your going to upset me even more by telling me you bought one or two of these masterpieces.

Noely, very nice having a plumber on the firm. Do you think that i would get away with calling a plumber out to give me an estimate for something i do not need doing, and then talking him out of a few hundred feet of 3/4 piping. No? Oh well i will just have to buy my own.

Let me know how you get along with the clamps.

Be Lucky

Woody

 

[Philly]

Sorry Woody!
Philly