Types of Small Bar Clamps

Back in the late 1970’s, when the X-Acto™ brand name was on The House of Miniatures™ boxes, the light blue, plastic bar clamps that came in the X-Acto™ hobby kits seemed pretty good.

In the late 1990’s, as THoM was disappearing, ratchet bar clamps were coming into vogue. Too bad. As I found out in 2006, ratchet style clamps are a perfect match for miniature furniture builds.

These days there are many styles of small bar clamps. There are plastic, steel, and brass clamps that all have their use. Let’s review several of these and see what works best in our little hobby.

Note: I covered Jigs and Clamps in general in an earlier article, which you can read here.

Ratcheting F-Clamps

The six-inch variety of these clamps are available from many manufacturers. I use Tekton brand, but have two Craftsman clamps, as well. They have built-in pads, are easy to use, and work well in most applications.

One nifty feature is that they can be used as spreaders as well as clamps. That means you can swap directions of the pads. Then you are pushing apart instead of clamping together. I’ve used this feature twice. Limited application, but nice to have.

They are very quick to use and workable with one hand. Their one drawback, though minor, is that to ratchet you must slightly over-compress things. That’s fine most of the time, but not for fragile applications.

F-Clamps

The standard F-clamp is a very useful small bar clamp to have on hand. Ratcheting clamps have not replaced all functions of this older style. I have a well-used Bessey model that I use in a few specific situations.

When you need to control pressure applied very carefully, the screw thread is the way to go. When you need a little more depth to reach your pressure point, most ratchets won’t do. Or when you need your ratchet for something else, this old faithful clamp comes to the rescue.

Solid Brass

The little, brass bar clamps from Scientific Models are not the easiest to use. Nor do they offer a high pressure hold. They are precision tools… and they are fun to play with, and very lovely to look at.

These clamps do come in a longer version, but the 3 3/4″ ones I have are perfect for the more delicate miniatures like chairs and small tables. For all of their beauty and precision, they are not very expensive. I got my pair for about $15 from Micro-Mark.

One thing these lack is some sort of pad. Brass is non-marring to most metals, but may dent soft wood. Light pressure is best, which is the only use the brass bar will stand up to.

X-Acto Clamps

So, what about those blue-plastic clamps that came in the X-Acto™ hobby kits that was advertised in the THoM catalogs? They worked well enough for most purposes in kit making. I’ve used mine quite a bit, but much less since getting a good selection of ratchet f-clamps.

They are a little fidgety. And they can’t apply much pressure. I find the notch in them annoying most of the time. But they are handy and they don’t take up much room.

So, what kind are your favorite? Have you used the blue ones and have they worked? Please share your experience and insight in the comments. Or stop in at The House of Miniatures™ Facebook page and join the conversation. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.