Official Luthiers Forum!

I KNOW this has been covered before but I can't find the posts with the search function. Kerfing and clamps are a bit too common for word searches I guess.


SO... What is the favorite clamps for kerfing these days? I've used wooden cloths pins but occasionally they don't apply quite enough pressure and the kerfing isn't seated quite tight. Of course I only notice this when the glue is dried.

I looked at stewmac and they sell little spring clamps that are stronger but buyer comments indicate that they can dent the wood.

So, what are you using??

I have rubber bands wrapped around the jaws of my clothespins. This sufficiently increases the clamping pressure. I'm sure there will be a less crude option posted soon but for the price this one is hard to beat.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

The full name would be kerfed linings. Search for "lining clamp" - I got 129 hits, several should be useful for you.

I use the 3/4" plastic clamp from Lee Valley - only because they had a sale of them at one time and I got about 3 dozen for around $20. They do work just fine for me but are now about $1 each.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/page.aspx?p=41712&cat=1,43838

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I've had the same box full of wooden cloths pins with rubber bands around them from when I built my first Sloan book guitar 25 years ago. I think if it seems like you need a ridiculous amount of pressure it's because the saw cuts are probably not deep enough.

I always liked the small size binder clips sold in office supply stores. They apply WAY more clamping pressure than clothes pins with rubber bands and they are a perfect fit for conventional kerfed linings and reverse kerf linings too.

The glue won't stick to them but you may get a bit of black paint off the clips at times, not always when there is wet glue present. This sands off lickety split.

For standard kerfed linings the shape of the clip's jaws is perfect to follow that triangular shape. For reversed kerf linings it's also not an issue with the shape of either the clips or the linings.

PS: They are cheap, available lots of places, and I didn't send you to Stew-Mac now did I...

I'm using the LMI kerfing clamps and I like them. They are kind of expensive, IMO, but they do the job just fine. They are basically fancy clothes pins, but the pressure is consistent across all the clamps since they are designed to use a specific single-wrap rubber band. They don't apply quite as much pressure as the metal StewMac clamps, but they don't dent the lining like those do. They are also narrow enough to fit into tight curves well. My guitar body design has fairly tight curves at the waist and the tip of the cutaway so sometimes I use a couple of the StewMac clamps for their extra perssure at those spots with the bare metal edges of the jaws taped over.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

If you use triangular linings (i.e., the normal stuff), I agree with Hesh that the black Acco binding clips are pretty close to perfect.

For kerfed linings that are not triangular, but rather rectangular in profile, either reverse or regular kerfed, I am smitten with the little clamps I described in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=46546

They are not cheap, but I love how well they work on rectangular profile linings.

1" PVC schedule 40. Cut in 1/8"-3/8" rings.


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I use reversed linings and am in the binder clip camp also...............!!
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

I use the A4 kerfing from Ryan guitars (the makers of Zipflex flexible abalone purfling) and I ordered about 75 of there kerfing clamps that are CNC cut to fit exactly with that kerfing. It cost me over $200 for all of the clamps, but the consistency of pressure and self aligning feature makes my work a lot cleaner, faster, and consistent. In my book, that's when spending more for the right tool is justifiable.

http://www.advancedshelltech.com/Produc ... lamps.html

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Chris Alvarado
www.ChrisAlvaradoLive.com
www.Driftwood-Guitars.com

I have a gross of binder clamps, and around 100 of the clamps Steve uses, and use both. The binder clamps are good for clamping the bending sandwich also.

Bob

I used binder clips on every guitar until my latest with great results, but my sides on the current guitar were too thick for them (double sides with a total thickness of .120").

I ordered the clamps from Kevin Ryan that Chris mentioned, but I only ordered two dozen and glued the lining in sections. I used A4 linings this time, so this was doable because they come in short sections. Three dozen would do half of a guitar with regular liners just fine, though.

This sounds right up my ally. Got a picture in use handy?

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

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Huh, I never would have guessed those binder clamps were strong enough.

Assuming you mean these?

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/8 ... -34-Black/

Yep. Strong little suckers!

Well over the years I used clothespins with rubber bands, the LMI clamps which needed a lot more strength than the one rubber band that they came with, binder clamps, and finally wound up with just plain old spring clamps and a clothespin with lots of rubber bands or a small Irwin bar clamp in the tight areas like the waist or cutaway. I have not had any wood damage from the clamps if the rubber tips are intact.

One thing I have found helpful is to use an inspection mirror to look at areas like the waist to make sure the clamp has got the lining tight against the side.
I use the mirror when cleaning squeeze out too to be sure I got it all.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

If the SM clamps had the rubber covering the full lengths of the jaws like on the clamps in your photo instead of just the tips, they would be great.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

If you dent the linings or the side with clamps you can usually steam it out.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

I use binder clamps lined with cork on the inside faces, for the straighter runs and Ryan's A4 Kerfing Clamps for the curves. I use cork from craft stores with adhesive backing. Easy to apply to the inside for about 1/2".

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

+1 binder clips from Staples, I used these on my first. They fit the profile of the triangular linings pretty much perfectly, and I had no gaps in the glue line or dents on the sides when they came off. I think I bought ~100 of them, don't remember the cost but it wasn't more than a couple of bucks. Looks like it took about 70 clips to glue the linings on the top and back of one side. Glad to hear they work well with reverse linings too, I think I'm going to use them on my next guitar.

I tried binder clips, clothes pins, and these little aluminum clips that use surgical tubing to clamp - all on one guitar. All worked well with the hot hide glue I had to use. The binder clips did not work in the tight cutaway on the guitar and rusted from where they were in contact with the wet lining overnight, so I used the clothes pins for the cutaway and the waist parts. These had an extra rubber band and one side trimmed to allow better glue cleanup. I did not care for the aluminum clamps, which looks really good but did not apply as much pressure in the waist as I needed and were too large to use in the cutaway section.

The shop also had plastic clamps and vinyl-covered steel squeeze clamps. I was told neither of these would work well for hide glue because the plastic melts from heat gun use.

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A constellation only takes shape when one maps the whole.
- Beth Brower

Binder clips from staples or office Max work fine. They're cheap too.

Sent from my HTC Desire 626s using Tapatalk

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Another day, another dollar.

Pony 3201-T got a bag full

Are you guys that are using binder clips on triangle lining, using the ones that are 3/4 wide and 3/8 deep?

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Pat

I use these but, unfortunately, they don't ship outside the U.K. http://www.coopersofstortford.co.uk/coo ... dst09388i/