I don’t follow but two others online. One is a cafe I haven’t been able to go back to because I no longer live near to it and the other is a support for those with a disability. But I clicked on an Instagram account of someone following me and saw something I had not...
Read the full post It Was A Humbling Thing on Paul Sellers' Blog.
I’ve seen (and read) a lot of clamp reviews over the years. Most of them cobble together a series of pseudo-scientific testing parameters and torture tests that seem important, but actually do very little to tell you how the clamps will perform over the course of years in your shop. So when I decided to conduct a review of the Harbor Freight Bremen Parallel Clamps, I knew I had to approach this with a common sense frame of mind. We won’t be testing the flatness of panels, the squareness of the heads, or the clamping force available (watch this video to see why – The Truth about Parallel Clamps). Instead, we’re going to do something incredibly ground-breaking: we’re going to use the clamps for a few months. I purchased four clamps directly from my local Harbor Freight and used the clamps in numerous glueups. In between glueups, the clamps were exposed to daily stress via mock glueups. One of the clamps was designated as the “abuse clamp” and received a little more rough treatment than the other three, which included some rough handling as well as repeated dragging of the head over the serrated bar.
The video goes into a lot of detail so be sure to watch it if you want the full story, but here’s a quick summary. Out of the four clamps, one failed after a few months of use as evidenced by constant slipping under pressure. After dissecting the clamp, it appeared that the malleable head material was ground smooth, which lead to the premature smoothing of the serrated teeth on the bar. As a result, the head could no longer grip the bar. Oddly enough, the clamp that failed was NOT the clamp that received the additional abuse. We tested the Lifetime Guarantee by returning the clamp to our local Harbor Freight and the clamp was exchanged for a new one with no questions asked.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and performance of the Harbor Freight Bremen Parallel Clamps. In spite of the premature failure I experienced, I think many woodworkers would be well-served by these clamps especially given the cost savings and the peace of mind provided by the lifetime guarantee. But if you put a lot of hours on these clamps, I suspect you’ll be testing that return policy sooner than later.
The post Harbor Freight Bremen Parallel Clamp 4-Month Review appeared first on The Wood Whisperer.
I have called myself a lifestyle woodworker for a decade on a public level but two when I include talking of it in more isolated pockets as in my woodworking classes and courses. In reality, though, I have practised it for much longer than that it’s just that the term lifestyle really didn’t exist before...
Read the full post Lifestyle on Paul Sellers' Blog.
. . . that the work is always easy for me as Paul Sellers. It’s not, not at all. The flow seems fine in the reviews I check before videos go out, but getting there takes structure through planning, micro- and macro-adjustment, attitude changes and other such things too many to list. In the making...
Read the full post It’s Easy to Think . . . on Paul Sellers' Blog.
It looks excessive and might be for some but it’s not in the life of a productive maker. Woodworking with hand tools in the life of a productive worker must be strategised throughout. Strategic planing soon becomes a way of life when you are a full-time maker but anyone can adopt the practice to make...
Read the full post Planing on Paul Sellers' Blog.
This is my new assembly table. Made from construction grade 2×4’s, 2×6’s, plywood, and laminate. If you want to save some extra money, you can make the top from a sheet of melamine and end up with he same spill-proof surface. The table features a bunch of storage with the option to customize it however you like.
While I played a big role in popularizing torsion boxes with my early videos, I’ve come to the conclusion that they’re overkill for woodworkers. So I’m keeping mine simple.
The post Torsion Boxes Overrated? – My New BIG Assembly Table appeared first on The Wood Whisperer.