Went from clamping drawer boxes with pipe clamps to using a custom caul setup overnight

Was building 12 kitchen drawers last weekend and fighting with pipe clamps for hours like I always have. My shop mate walked over, tossed me a set of perfectly sized wood cauls he made for his own stuff, and said 'try these instead of fighting that pipe.' After 3 tries I got the hang of it and cut my clamping time in half easy. Anyone else had a simple jig totally change their workflow on a basic task?

3 comments

3 Comments

tarag282mo ago

Hate to be that guy but I went back to pipe clamps after trying cauls for a week. Found myself spending more time dialing in the caul pressure than just cinching down a pipe clamp. Maybe my technique sucked but pipe clamps just work for me.

jordan_young2mo ago

Ngl, sounds like you got tired of playing woodworking chess and went back to checkers.

taylor66818d ago

Right there with you dude, pipe clamps are just reliable and sometimes that's what matters most when you're trying to bang out a project. Spent a whole weekend fighting with cauls on a built-in and went right back to my old pipe clamps for the next one. Good on you for giving it a shot though, at least you know now what works for you.