Clamps-Edge Clamps

   Sometimes we have a tool in our shop that doesn't get used very often.  There are various reasons for intermittent use,the tool may be junk, or buying the tools was an error in judgement because you thought you would be doing that sort of wood work in the future, or maybe it was a deal that was just too good to pass up.


   My edge clamps fall into a fourth category, the so wildly specialised tool it is seldom needed category.  Four or five years ago I bought 8 edge clamps, at a good price.  I had improvised many different ways of holding a thin strip of wood onto the edge of sheet stock while the glue dries over the course of years past and knew that all the attempts worked, kind of, and were all awkward as an ostrich hanging wall paper to use.  I knew I would have to glue something to the edge of a board again, sometime so I bought the clamps.
  
   These clamps never get used more than a couple of times a year, but every time I use them I am glad, glad,glad that I bought them when I did.      In the future I may take on more projects that need that specialised clamp, or I may not but in either case the money was  spend well.