You may have heard that when it comes to building a boat, you can never have too many clamps. While that’s true, a large collection of clamps can be expensive and take up a lot of room in the shop. Fortunately, there are shop-made spring clamps that cost only pennies and are small enough for dozens to fit in a gallon bucket. I used a chop saw to cut the 2″ PVC pipe. A scrap-wood stop clamped to the saw’s fence set the width of the pieces for the clamps at 1″. Almost any wood-cutting saw and hacksaw can be used to cut the PVC.
Photographs by the author
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These will work great for the deck replacement project on my kayak and the reverse pliers is a great addition. 😉
What a great idea, I have been using PVC clamps a bit but by the time I get my hands in place, get the clamps opened, hard to see what I am clamping! Off to the shop to make up a set of these pliers.
The pliers work great. Once I cut the clamps, I held them in the pliers while I split them on the band saw and opened them slightly to back them out. I made these from 2″ electrical conduit, and they have plenty of clamping pressure.
A good idea. I will try to make one from a broken hockey stick. I may have to cut some waste off the bottom of the heel to get the appropriate leverage.