The thing about clamps is that you can never have enough clamps. Seriously. C-clamps, bar clamps, pipe clamps, spring clamps, Quick-Grip clamps, and Bandy Clamps—they all come in handy at some point, so it’s always smart to have lots of different types around. The good news is that places like Harbor Freight have cheap clamps. Whenever you’re shopping for supplies, toss an extra clamp or two in your cart to add to your collection.

Drive a Nail with a Clamp

Trying to affix a brad or small nail in a situation where there’s no room to swing a hammer? Try pushing the nail into the wood by screwing down a C-clamp. This trick comes from The Family Handyman.

Create Cheap Clamps with PVC

In situations where you need lots of clamps for gluing a big job, have a clamping emergency, or want dirt-cheap shop clamps, this little hack can come in handy. Simply cut a ring of material from a length of plastic pipe—PVC drain pipe, ABS pipe, or whatever’s available—and then cut a kerf in it. Voilà; you have a handy spring clamp. To add more clamping power, just cut a thicker ring.

You can also add heavy-duty rubber bands to introduce more tension, or if you want variable pressure, cut a hole in the C, top and bottom, and use a threaded rod, washers, and wing nuts to create an adjustable clamp.

Speed-Handling a Clamp

Here’s a classic carpenter’s move to single-handedly open and close a metal C-clamp. With one hand, hold the clamp by the handle, leaving the rest of it free, and then just spin the clamp to open (or close) it.

Using a Caulking Gun as a Clamp

The idea is simple: need a bar clamp in a pinch and don’t have clamps, but you do have a caulking gun or two lying around? Remove the tube of caulk, slot a few chunks of wood into the jaws of the gun, and you have a fairly effective emergency clamp.

Using a Clamp as a Caulking Gun

If you have a tube of caulk but no gun, you can use a Quick-Grip bar clamp (with something on the back end to press into the caulk tube) as a makeshift gun.

Using Leather Pads for More Forgiving Clamps

Linn from the Darbin Orvar YouTube channel buys scrap pieces of leather to create pads on various clamps and tool jaws where the metal of the tool might mar the workpiece that’s being clamped.

Extending Bar Clamps

Have you ever thought of extending the length of your bar clamps? It’s actually easy to do. First, remove whatever rivets are holding the clamping mechanisms on the existing bar. Next, get some bar stock that matches the height and thickness of your existing bar. Then, simply move the clamps over and create a new stop for the clamps. You can do that by drilling a hole in the bar and installing the nuts and bolts hardware from your existing clamp. You can make bar clamps any length you want using this method.