My Project

Handscrews

The other day I posted a picture of the new clamp storage in my shop, and Gye commented about my wooden handscrews. By chance, I was at the same time working on a quick project that presented a particular work holding challenge - one that I solved with the use of handscrews.

The project was a low platform style bed frame for our guest room. I had sworn I would get this done before Celenas mother arrived for the birth of our daughter. Well, Moms plane arrived, Celena went into labor three days early and we are celebrating the birth of our second child while the unfinished bed frame sits out in the shop and Rebecca is gamely sleeping on the floor - well, on a mattress on the floor, but still.

I needed to joint the edges of some Doug Fir 2x12s for the frame. I do most of my edge jointing in the face vice, but these were too big and heavy for that technique to work (although, if I had a deadman...). I will also edge joint on the benchtop with the stock pushed up against a dog, but this requires the stock to be rather stable, and on the narrow side so that the plane is closer to the benchtop. These boards were neither stable nor narrow, and the resulting wobbliness combined with the plane being close to shoulder high made things awkward.

Handscrews to the rescue! One handscrew clamped to the stock flush with the benchtop stabilized things considerably, and a second clamping the first to the bench made things very solid.


The dog is keeping the stock from sliding, but you could probably do this with the clamps alone - although if you had a knot to plane like I did, the dog is definitely appreciated.

Anyway, just a quick example of the versatility of handscrews. Gotta love them!