Rockler 6” Spring Loaded One-Handed Bar Clamps for Woodworking – Hand-Free Position Wood Clamps – 150 LBS Weight Capacity Pistol Grip Style Single-Finger Release Trigger Clamp – Adjustable Wood Clamps

These clamps are 90% of what you want in a clamp. Nothing is 100%. These close one-handed and quickly, and produce a firm clamping force. There's glass mixed in the plastic frame, so it's rigid but light in the moving portion that will close on your work, so there will be less impulse as it comes in contact.You can make them close a bit softer by "feathering", that is tapping the trigger very lightly to get it to close most of the way. Then the final close won't have as far to accelerate, and it won't close as hard. This action takes practice.To open them, make sure the large handle is all the way out, then press the small handle (trigger) and pull them open. They can be stiff to pull open the first few times, but this quickly gets smoother.Addition: I am upgrading this to 5*. The more I use these Rockler clamps the more I love them. They aren't too difficult to pull apart, and they don't bruise the wood when they close. I've integrated them into my workflow.

I thought these clamps felt a bit junky until I grasped their most useful use.150 lbs. of clamping pressure is not a lot when positioning and securing larger objects. Where these clamps shine is when doing trial and error fitting. Having two clamps to bridge the gap between single-hand-operated spring clamps and c-clamps that are not easily one-handed, is brilliant. These serve to hold the parts to be fastened while c-clamps may be positioned as required. C-clamps have the potential for much greater holding power. This is especially useful if holes are to be drilled for the insertion of fasteners.6 inches seems like a good capacity limit for this tool. Holding two 4-by framing elements together (7-inches) would be taking a chance, if this clamp were larger. Temporarily securing a 2-by to a 4-by (5-inches) would be reasonable at long as the 2-by element is not loaded. I'd be comfortable with installing deck screws directly or checking for correct positioning. However, if bolt holes need to be drilled, I'd use a 5-inch c-clamp before proceeding.I can easily imagine circumstances in which a quick application of grip would be most desirable. I'd suggest having the clamp fully opened and then positioning the fixed jaw of the clamp against the fixed part. As soon as the clamp snaps shut, give the clamping handle a firm squeeze. If this does not feel secure enough it might be a good idea to use your free hand to make a pencil mark, release the clamp, set the movable object down, and then position a temporary bracket to rest the movable element on. At which point it may be safter to proceed. I suggest this as someone who has framed a two-story addition by myself. I'd have had occasion to use these clamps with some frequency.Not being someone who gladly trusts in plastic tools, my positive recommendation extends only to circumstances in which the user is qualified by experience to understand the limitations of a potentially useful clamp like this. Or, put it this way: 150 pounds of pressure applied to a square inch will not make much of a compression mark on a softwood framing element. You can easily make such a compression mark when screwing down a 5- or 6-inch c-clamp on your way to 500 or more lbs. of pressure.By all means, save time and effort while getting the job done. Proceed with caution if you actually know what you are doing. Otherwise, try to avoid working alone. Good luck!

The media could not be loaded. As with most every Rockler product, these 6” Bar Clamps are well-built for their intended purpose. As compared to the other, older bar clamps that I own from Quik-Grip and Dewalt, these Rockler clamps have an internal spring-action that allows you to close them “automatically” by just pressing the release trigger once. They can also be closed like all the other bar clamps, by repeatedly pumping the pistol grip to slowly drive the jaws together – I demonstrate all of this in my video. The trade-off for having this spring-action closure is that you must pull the Rockler clamp’s jaws apart, whereas the old style Quik-Grip and Dewalt clamps can slide open on their own under the force of gravity.The opening between the jaws of the 6” Rockler clamp is actually 6-5/8” and the black rubber pads on the Rockler jaws are 0.75” x 1.50” The 6” Dewalt clamp is basically the same size as the Rockler, while the 6” Quik-Grip has a thicker bar and a thicker pistol grip section, as well as larger rubber pads on the jaw surfaces – all making the Quik-Grip heavier than the Rockler. Finally, you are paying a premium for the Rockler brand name and the novelty of the spring-action closure – currently about 1.5-to-2X the price of the old style bar clamps. Depending on how valuable you find the spring-action closure to be, that additional cost may be worth it to you.

2-Pack 6” Spring Loaded One-Handed Bar Clamps for Woodworking – Hand-Free Position Wood Clamps – Pistol Grip Style Single-Finger Release Trigger Clamp – Adjustable Wood Working Clamps2-Pack 6” Spring Loaded One-Handed Bar Clamps for Woodworking – Hand-Free Position Wood Clamps – Pistol Grip Style Single-Finger Release Trigger Clamp – Adjustable Wood Working ClampsI’ve never had or even heard of spring-loaded clamps before, so I had to order these when I saw them. You can never have too many clamps. The section that is spring loaded is covered by square metal tubing and the clamp itself is attached to a single steel bar like you see on most clamps like this. The construction seems solid. Unlike many clamps of this style, you cannot reverse the ends to turn it into a spreader, but that’s okay with me.After I got these, I clamped them onto my bench and tightened them as much as I possibly could just to see if they would hold up to heavy use. I don’t have a kung fu grip or anything, but I’m fairly strong and I had no issues when I squeezed these as hard as I could. I love the spring-loaded feature. It makes using these while holding something in your other hand really easy as they just snap closed on the work piece. I did have one instance of being unable to release the clamp after it had been in place for a few days. I really had to crank down on the release lever to get it to let go. I haven’t had any issues like that since though.Overall, I think these are worth the money, but I did drop one star due to the time it got stuck.