Giant Clamp [Restoration + Force Test]

This restoration is on the largest C-clamp I have ever found. I purchased 6 of these clamps from a local stair maker, who said he bought them about 20 years ago from the Beaver Lumber Co. in Saskatoon, SK, Canada. Beaver Lumber was a lumber and hardware store started in 1906 in Saskatchewan. He mentioned they were used in the lumber yard to glue large wooden beams together. I was hoping to uncover a maker's mark on these clamps, but was unsuccessful. If they were made in Saskatoon for the Beaver Lumber Co., I would guess that they were made no later than the 1940s by John East Iron Works Ltd., which was also based in Saskatoon from 1910-1960. John East Iron Works was the largest foundry in Saskatoon at the time.
I decided to remove all rust and leave the large casting unpainted to show of as much of it as I could. I also chose to smooth out the edges of the clamp to help highlight its amazing design. I estimate that these are around 200lbs each. All 6 clamps are in fairly decent condition.
I had some friends come over and test the clamping force that one human could apply and it ended up being around 20,000lbs of force. I am tempted to test what the maximum clamping force it could reach before breaking, but I do not want to waste one of these awesome clamps!
I still have no idea what I am going to do with these!
I would like to thank Evapo-Rust for sponsoring this video.
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[@Abom79]

Perfect indicator clamp!

[@HandToolRescue]

I can easily dial things with an accuracy of about 1 inch...

[@gabewhisen3446]

Fancy seeing you here Adam

[@morto360]

World is a small place in this digital age :)

[@MetrologyEngineer]

It would hold perfectly the Abom sized 3ft dial indicator.

[@generalralph6291]

Abom is here! I feel underdressed.

[@joshcottreau]

My great grandfather used to build wooden hulled minesweepers during ww2, they were wooden to protect against the magnetic mines of the time. I have photos of him using these huge clamps to laminate thin layers of very hard wood together to make the ribs and keel of the minesweepers. In order to prevent cracks from going through the structural supports of the ship in the event of an explosion, the frame of the ship was made of many hundreds of thin layers glued and clamped together, this ensures that if a crack started in one layer it will only effect that single layer and not compromise the integrity of the entire beam. Great work on this! So cool to know that there are still some of these kicking around!!

[@VangoghsDoggo]

I was just going to comment, they still use them in the shipyards in Sturgeon Bay. Have a yard where there are some of them stored should they need them.

[@Evergreen64]

Man. Giant Clamp shows up and he's already a supporting cast member. Good on you Giant Clamp!

[@HandToolRescue]

Slow clap.

[@aeromedic5824]

My grandfather used to use these in a few of the lumber Mills he worked at. The impression you see in the bottom is likely from a bearing housing from an old-school circular mill saw. Because the quality of bearings/bushings from that era weren't quite what they are now, it was commonplace to replace bushings and bearings during blade changes. Large screw clamps like these were used to seat the bearings without taking the machine apart, cutting the downtime. Because of the forces used, the threads were subject to warp and wear, so the collar and lock allowed the internal threads to be replaced without replacing the entire machine.

[@Suite2100]

This guys deserves more sponsors, well filmed, great repairs, sense of humor - come on tool companies jump in!

[@SlingBlade1969]

That is one clamp you are not gonna lose around the shop for sure. Good work!

[@jeremiefaucher-goulet3365]

Giant Clamp should have been credited as "Guest star" for this episode. He's no regular... 😂😂

[@suzettehenderson9278]

Unless he's been added to the cast...only the future can tell.

[@jeremiefaucher-goulet3365]

@@suzettehenderson9278 True.... Although I still hope for a different guest star for each episode ;-)

[@the_cheese]

Before I read the description, I thought "Those look like old-school glue-lam clamps, from a post-war sawmill." Nice restoration work, HTR!

[@alanamccool7409]

Your opening always make me smile.

[@thomasklugh4345]

Spinning that large handle looked sooo satisfying!

[@ExilefromCrownHill]

My wife's grandfather managed a 'Beaver Lumber' in Kelvington, Saskatchewan in the 1950's-1970's. Awesome clamps!

[@ziggythecartoon]

The smooth action on the oiled spindle was so satisfying!

[@wesleytownsend8214]

Similar clamps were once used to make lam beams (or the predecessor to microlams). Textile mills used these type of beams in later construction on the east coast. The earlier textile plants used virgin timber (such as very large solid yellow pine and fir beams that spanned up to 40+ feet) but as these became rare they turned to laminated beams to fill these rolls. Clamps such as these (and much larger ones as well) were used to create these structural pieces. I couldn’t say for sure if this one such clamps but very similar. When I was a young man 40+ years ago my dad use to buy these old abandoned mills and tear them down for the timbers, as certain elites would pay top dollar for exposed solid beams in their homes. The rustic look to go with shag carpet and harvest gold and avocado accents. lol Excellent content. All the best to you and yours!

[@MrVolksbeetle]

Ship building? Also, another solid performance by Garbage on the Floor!

[@immasurvivor]

More likely giant beams for buildings. Ive seen some gargantuan wood beams in older industrial buildings in my home town that were about the size of the opening on this clamp.

[@MrVolksbeetle]

@@immasurvivor No less probable. I didn't even think about buildings.

[@johno6861]

I’ve got some big clamps for ship building but not a 2 man one. It doesn’t have enough travel for anything on a wooden boat. I’m thinking a specially clamp for assembling a steam engine or something like that. Maybe girder or bridge.

[@JT-tz5hp]

Can't help but chime in. A little geography lesson will rule out ship building in a jiffy. Saskatoon is smack dab in the middle of third largest grasslands in the world. I don't think they were building ships in Saskatoon lol

[@johno6861]

I remember seeing giant clamps like this on a huge vacuum/pressure chamber, it was big enough to drive a truck into.

[@TrojanHorse1959]

Now that's a CLAMP! Great video, restoration, and testing, thank you!

[@smackygamer2052]

Jaw dropping capability of a very unique clamp! Thanks for sharing the restoration!

[@Crush777]

Wow. Beaver Lumber is a trip down memory lane going there with my Dad all the time. So great to hear them mentioned in your descripton. Amazing clamp design. Great project to restore.

[@JSAC66]

Mammogram machine prototype

[@HandToolRescue]

Squishes the cancer right out!

[@hopefilledsinner3911]

For the big breasted ladys.

[@cathyb2204]

You nailed it!

[@ASWilshire1]

😂

[@alinepeed7167]

So that's where they got the idea from OW OW OW 😳 🤣🤣🤣

[@seamseams]

You are the only restoration channel I have bothered to subscribe to. I love your humor and the amazing skills you show both in your restorations and video editing. Your videos make me feel happier than my anti-depression meds ever could 😄

[@HandToolRescue]

Wow! Thank you.

[@Clarinetboy82]

Yet another impressive piece! I will soon have a shop space of my own. I have tons of antique tools that belonged to grandfathers, and great grandfathers, which I'll finally have proper place to restore them! You inspire me sir!

[@JelloBuddyProduction]

Really love these videos! The intro makes me smile every single time too!! Thank you for sharing all your hard work!

[@youniversaldiscovery6339]

I love the silliness you add. Like the 3rd hand. Great stuff!

[@myrocraft]

and I like it

[@donovansteele834]

The casting looks incredibly clean. You really dont see somthing like that anymore.👍

[@alistairfletcher6187]

One of my favourite entrances 🤌

[@bishopcorva]

I'm about sure that and the other clamps like it were laid flat on a bed of some sort to align a large beam or multiple beams at once for cutting and mortising repeatability on a production basis. The quick throw of the clamp wheel means a few turns to clench it down, do your cuts, short flick to unclamp and reset. The screw shoulders would have wear on the most used section of travel., which is also why the replaceable screw sleeve, since it's likely a softer material like cast iron where as the actual screw is steel. A nice piece of industrial stuff indeed and good resto too.

[@SandBoxJohn]

Me thinks it was used to clamp up laminated curved stair stringers and hand rails on a jig.

[@audiosreality]

@@SandBoxJohn rink rafters hundreds of wooden hockey arenas in saskatchewan, manitoba and alberta used laminated wooden arch ribs gang nailed together. Clamp, nail, loosen, add board, clamp, nail, repeat. The T shape of the back was set so they could be pinned down (or clamped lol) in the rafter shape. I've seen these in the old pictures from building the rink at rocanville sk years ago. Rafters were to big to ship to small towns so most were built on site.

[@tbarmo]

You know it will be a nice afternoon when you come home from work and there is a new episode from Hand Tool Rescue.

[@iridescentgherkin]

This is the kind of clamp I need to stop my world from falling apart.

[@godschild5587]

check out Gabe the street preacher channel

[@iridescentgherkin]

@@godschild5587 does he specialize in novelty, oversized C-clamps?

[@hopefilledsinner3911]

I use rope to keep my world from falling apart.

[@Scubadog_]

@@hopefilledsinner3911 No, that's how you hang it from the ceiling.

[@hopefilledsinner3911]

@@Scubadog_ 😲 lol nooooooo!

[@stuartdavidson9424]

Showing love to the channel from Saskatoon Saskatchewan👍

[@theephemeralglade1935]

Perfect clamp for working on small Balsa wood projects.

[@robertmanley7556]

Thats one big ol clamp ! I have never seen one like that before so cool it wasent frozen or stuck cleaned up really good !! Works like a dream ! Great job !!

[@macmac19800]

It is a watchmaker's holder, used together with an electron microscope to replace ruby bearings

[@calinguga]

as in it's holding the watchmaker

[@toddfraisure1747]

Your videos are always my favorite!

[@mr.frogman9939]

glad you got to em before someone turned them into a trendy chic dining table, nice work man

[@michaelpugh4894]

Nice clean up and a beautiful restoration. That is one huge clamp.

[@ASlimeDrawsNear]

Danish Oil, fresh squeezed and only from ethically sourced cage-free Danes.

[@LeglessWonder]

How great are the Danes?

[@bradthayer6782]

You totally blew me away when you started milling the sides flat. You are the man! And you may need to change your channel’s name to Ridiculously large tool restoration to better than new (kind of a mouthful I know, but truth in advertising and all).

[@Jokerbuzzed]

4:15 whoa! You're running low on Evapo-Rust there buddy. Only have like 1/4 of a barrel. Better top it off soon. Don't want to be left in a situation where you only have 12 gallons at hand.

[@xenonram]

Just add water.

[@MisterRorschach90]

Andrew Delashaw water. The number one enemy of rust. Lol

[@pegtooth2006]

@paul beenis gastric acid works too provided you've got chunderitis

[@MichaelD-fn5lv]

Good thing he didnt run into a situation where he needed to submerge a 4ft clamp. why have the tall bucket? am I right? 😂

[@kaycox5555]

Terrific video, again Eric. Tell Evaporust your videos are doing their job....I'm a 67 yr old lady who just purchased her 1st 5-gal tub!~!~!~~

[@HandToolRescue]

Haha, have fun!

[@dappersapper]

"You call that a clamp mate?" *Thud* "Now THAT'S a clamp!"

[@McFunnyBone]

Ishitani Furniture has some INSANELY huge clamps that have about the same daylight as this one, but his are like 3 times wider, and looks like he has 3 in series. Definitely for gluing bigger wood projects. Awesome job by the way, like always. So damn satisfying.

[@kenprovus9195]

I love how you work and film your projects. Most other sites spend far too long on the unimportant and fly through the rest. Great job, will you be marketing these? e Everyone needs at least one in their shop, one never knows when a truck frame needs to be worked on!

[@jsking306]

Love your sense of humor. And, your videos aren't half-bad either! 😎 Great demos at the end!

[@OldManRoo]

You would only get the horizontal (x-axis) component of force like that. You will need to stand the press up vertically and retest to get the y-axis component. PS. Love the channel!

[@williamkendall7412]

I like how you showed the slight damage to your knuckle! Working man's hands!

[@ray9968]

Light weight and portable, and everyone loves a good needle scaling.

[@NohuRestorationTV]

great. I love your work. They are very appealing to me

[@williambryant5946]

Never seen a c-clamp that big before. Hell I never even heard of a c-clamp that big! 👍

[@cadman10000]

It's a C-clamp, not a c-clamp. 😄

[@cecilgore495]

Enjoy watching you, excellent work as usual.

[@Kithanalane]

Have you thought about taping that lead banana to the wall and selling it as art?

[@nailgunnercolbeck]

Kithanalane he get over 90.000.00!!

[@mikewilson4141]

When I was a young man ,40 plus years ago. I was hired to cleanup every evening for a lumber and truss company , there was several of these mounted on cribbage in the old open building where junk collected. I NEVER saw these in use and had no idea what the were used for ? At that point they had been a family business for more than a hundred years. They were famous for providing much of timber for the rail road, train stations !

[@urbexjahman]

Eres genial amigo..... Me veo todos tus vídeos de punta a punta.... Son muy entretenidos... Colecciono muchas cosas y tengo muchas para restaurar, lástima que sos de tan lejos jajaja Saludos y un gran abrazo de Argentina...

[@Flymochairman1]

Impressive. Very impressive. Lovely finish to an old piece.

[@spybloodjr]

That needle gun is giving me Navy flashbacks.

[@shawnshepherd98]

Same here! Oh that sound that I will never forget.

[@marcelowazaa869]

I really like your rescues and restores Nice job. Congratulations from Brazil

[@etsonbarentine1223]

Banana for scale, I like it!

[@judexavier1929]

Not just any banana

[@williampike6813]

I want one

[@ImCannibalOfficial]

The polished finish was a nice touch

[@bapussbagpuss1282]

Must have been an ISO banana ast it was metal.

[@yeagerxp]

Excellent work👍👍👍. Thanks for sharing

[@Locane256]

A practical addition to any shop!

[@wgoconnor33]

Beautiful piece, if you don’t find yourself using it much it would make one awesome book rack.

[@robertbamford8266]

Or a book press, perhaps, if used carefully.

[@keikun6969original]

My grandfather had 2 of these one from the 1920's and one from the 1930's, I dont remember the exact years. These had 2 functions one to hold wooden beams together for gluing and to hold steel beams together for welding and/or riveting.

[@HandToolRescue]

Would love photos if you have them!

[@keikun6969original]

@@HandToolRescue unfortunately we dont have them anymore. After he passed away in 2006, we sold off all his tools in order to help pay for his medical bills. But I remember he would talk about his times using them over the years. He helped build skyscrapers in Philadelphia, New York City and several other cities all over the East Coast of the US. He also used them to help rebuild homes in France and Germany after WWII with US Navy.

[@lucadeacha]

The fact that someone has sell his tools for medical bills makes me very angry, especially if that someone helped to rebuild europe after the war. Sorry about that, thx for sharing.

[@Tim-57]

Gonna need a bigger sand blasting cabinet.😉

[@wormod]

I think you found a piece of equipment probably not made industrially but created by a workshop for a unique purpose. I wonder what it was for. The screws and bolts are very old, I think it's older than the 40s, maybe and of the nineteenth century, but I didn't see the welds and fusions well. Unique and worthy of a museum, congratulations for recovering the historic patinas and treatments that were once used, when things were made to last forever. Thanks and ciao from Venezia and w Nutella....

[@luizantoniorodriguesdossan1919]

Seus trabalhos são admiráveis. 👍👍👍👍

[@bobjoncas2814]

...good resto. great find on the big clamps..

[@GeneSimonalle]

This must have belonged to Jed Clampett.

[@censusgary]

Groan.

[@doubleleftclick]

Dad joke for the win!

[@BillyRamirez]

DAMMIT!

[@carsenfzj805]

U mean joe clampett

[@39gadget]

@@carsenfzj805 No, it is Jed.

[@elsdp-4560]

THANK YOU...for sharing. Watched and very much enjoyed.

[@enelgaragedemartincho]

My back still sored from moving those big clamps. And I didn’t even get a credit. Not cool man, not cool

[@HandToolRescue]

Hahaha

[@ScoutCrafter]

Great Clamp! Looks Fantastic now!

[@HandToolRescue]

Thanks!

[@Evolved_Skeptic]

I love looking at the perfectly machined threading on these types of things - it's exquisitely beautiful in it's symmetry. ; ) Are you likely to grind down the long mold/weld seams on the back & front? Also, why no paint job? It'd look pretty awesome in dark red, or light blue...

[@lauragranado7048]

These are fantastic! What a great find! Oh, and nice knuckle bust on your left hand....

[@socialghost4400]

*“There’s not a clamp big enough”* Hand Tool Rescue: ...hold my beer...

[@danielknight84]

The intro was just what I needed.

[@PaulLeonard]

Not gonna lie, I totally heard "Thus Spake Zarathustra" in my head during that opening pan.

[@conleyallen923]

X-s+

[@station240]

4:32 If only you had another Giant Clamp to secure the first one in place.

[@ГлюкозаДекстроза]

he has 6 pieces of such clamps. carefully read the description of the video, given that you are prompted by this from faraway Russia. ;)

[@judexavier1929]

station240 unlucky comment lol

[@station240]

What are you two idiots talking about ? I'm fully aware he has 5 other clamps, it's called IRONY and hints that when he cleans the others, he doesn't need to risk them falling on him.

[@judexavier1929]

station240 dude if you had to explain the joke in paragraph form then it didn’t work out.

[@donniebrown2896]

@@station240 cast irony, lol

[@MichaelKieweg]

I'd like to see one of them painted in red and green and being used as a nutcracker during the holidays. But I totally get, that you don't want to waste them. They are a fabulous piece of kit. Greetings from Germany

[@beltanewalk8797]

Imagine the size of the tool box you would need if you owned a couple of those.

[@EsotericArctos]

Everyone restores things differently, but I kind of like the idea of keeping original casting marks and "high spots" that would have been there from new. It's the character of it from the time it was made, not being quite so accurate. It's only original once, and those little flaws from techniques of the time just can't be put back once removed. Other than that, I love how thorough you are and I always look forward to seeing new videos from you :)

[@jasonbryant2219]

Your intro did not properly highlight the star of this video: "Metal Reference Banana"

[@Flecha57]

Well, that is one big hand tool... Never seen anything like that before. Loved it. 🤗🤗🤗🤗

[@gafrers]

Giant Clamp, now re-branded as "Easily portable compact Clamp"

[@chrissygw4971]

As clamps go that must be the king of clamps, very handy you have 6 , just need a tool box the size of a shipping crate to store them.

[@oldenslo4141]

Just in time to crack walnuts for your Christmas Fruit Cake!

[@ethelryan257]

Won't touch most fruit cakes at only ten short tons, though....

[@theriley1976]

those nuts that are called brazil nuts. hard as heck cant break them with a hammer this clamp would break them i'd bet.

[@alink5918]

I've never seen one like that but I must admit that I love it!!!

[@peterkraus2249]

Blood on the knuckles makes it an excellent project in my eyes!

[@bobferranti5222]

I would love to have two of them for both sides of my garage door, very cool clamps.

[@MrBob1173]

Who needs a hydraulic press when you can have this and some elbow grease.

[@MarkH10]

All these great projects and videos and your shop is pristine! (compared to mine)

[@MrSprucieboy]

at this point i'm pretty sure hand tool rescue has evaporust as his blood

[@thepjup4507]

maybe the true evaporust is the friends we made along the way

[@andrewholthus3929]

That's the coolest thing I've seen restored

[@christopherpappas7474]

My grandma had one like this when I was a kid... She used it to crack walnuts...!!

[@JarlSeamus]

I haven't used a Needle Scaler since I was stationed on a Ship in the Navy back in the early 1990's! There's a blast from the past!

[@handyhippie6548]

there seemed to be an excessive amount of tool spanking in this vid. it made me feel all funny inside. do it again!

[@CinnamonToastKing]

This is how you know the restoration is legit. You need specialized tools, lots of handwork, time, and patience. You can't just lather or rub it a bit and somehow pull magic from the 3rd dimension!

[@Dave-in-MD]

It would take one hell of a hand for this tool.

[@douglaspierce316]

I cant wait to get my new wrench I ordered. watching you use yours

[@utopianfiat]

RIP Garbage On The Floor. You will be missed.

[@Dave-in-MD]

It was still there.

[@utopianfiat]

@@Dave-in-MD Yeah, but HTR has definitely tidied up quite a bit.

[@PixelSchnitzel]

Nice Smashinator you have there! I believe that's a Crushalogical Smashinator to be exact.

[@jettcarlburg356]

"Sure it looks harmless but it could attack you at any time and so we must deal with it"

[@rzkharris]

That mark on the base plate looks like someone used it to push a bearing into a pillow block lol

[@yvonne9554]

The kind of man I'd ALWAYS feel secure around, knowing he's capable of fixing just about ANY problems. ☺

[@ZaloraSilver]

4:20 also staring "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter "

[@walmartdog1142]

Low cholesterol substitute for Eskimos: "I can't believe it's not blubber."

[@daviddaddy]

@@walmartdog1142 lmao @ "I cant Believe its not Blubber" hahaha😂😂😂

[@ChrisBeardsley]

Brings new meaning to 'Glamping'