The Different Kinds of Clamps I Use to DIY

 Clamps are some of the most useful tools you can have in your DIY arsenal, but not all clamps are made the same, nor are they made to do the same things. So, let's talk about the different clamps I use when I do a DIY project.

The Different Kinds of Clamps I Trigger Clamps

First, let's talk about trigger clamps. These are ones that you're going to see the most in my videos and probably anybody else's videos. You may even have a few around your own house! They usually have one bar and just like advertised, they clamp using a trigger on the handle that applies the pressure. I use these when I'm trying to secure something to my workbench or when I am gluing something and I need it to stay together really tight so it will glue really nicely.

You saw me use these when I did my daughter's bookshelves and I was doubling up the actual shelves. These come in so many sizes from teeny, teeny, tiny to really, really big, just depending on what you need them for and what kind of project you are going to do. I also use these when I am using the dowel hole jig, because it keeps everything in place while I'm making the dowel holes.

The Different Kinds of Clamps I Right Angle Clamps

Next up are right angle clamps. These are awesome and definitely worth having on hand if you do a lot of woodworking. I have two different kinds. The first one screws into place and there's only one of them in a package, so when you buy it, if you want to have more than one, you have to buy them individually. The second one is spring loaded and actually comes in a pack of four, which I really like.

These are great if you do a lot of woodworking projects, especially if you're building cabinets or shelves and you need to make sure that everything is at a right angle. I thought the spring loaded right angle clamps were going to be a little flimsier than the screw into place one, but they're really not; they hold up really well. They can keep things in place even before you screw anything in while you're trying to plan everything out. I like that they're not bulky, won't take up a lot of space and they're just going to make your life easier overall.

If you are doing a lot of boxes for cabinets or shelves, the downside of the spring loaded 90 degree angle clamps is they do not work very well with thicker pieces of wood. When I was doing my daughter shelves, I ended up using the 90 degree angle clamp that screws into place because that one allows you to use much thicker pieces when you're clamping them together. That's just something to keep in mind when deciding which one you want to get. You may also want both. I do and regularly use both of them.

The Different Kinds of Clamps I Parallel Clamp

The third kind of clamp is a parallel clamp. Unlike with a trigger clamp where you press the trigger on the handle for it to clamp into place, these you're going to adjust manually based on how you need them to be used. Then, you are going to screw them into place and that is what's going to create the pressure to keep things in the place. These kinds of clamps are really good for when you are building a tabletop like I did when I built my daughter's play table and I needed to glue those pieces together.

I used parallel clamps to do that because most trigger clamps are not going to be wide enough to be able to handle that kind of width. The other nice thing about parallel clamps is you have a lot of flexibility on how you use them. Because you're screwing them into place they're going to create a lot more pressure than a trigger clamp would. These also come in a lot of different sizes, but typically are larger sizes because you're going to use them for clamping big pieces together. I also used them when I was fixing the footboard of my grandmother's bed. A trigger clamp was not going to have the width available that a parallel clamp does and it also was just not going to give the amount of pressure that I needed to help keep it in place while the glue dried.

The Different Kinds of Clamps I Spring Clamp

The last clamp that I use is a spring. A spring clamp, just like the name implies, is a clamp that has a spring in the middle of the clamp. When you squeeze the two handles together, it opens up when you release them, it closes. There are also going to be a lot of different sizes of these, mostly on the really, really tiny end to the medium end.

You're not going to see a ton of really, really big ones because that's when you would just start using trigger clamps or parallel clamps instead. I like using these for really tiny projects. For example, when I made the stars for the wood Christmas tree for my mom, everything else I had was way too big so these were perfect. I've linked all of my clamps, including ones I have on my wishlist, (because I always need more clamps!) below.

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