While a bench vise and a reasonable collection of clamps will solve most of your clamping needs, some situations are still problematic. For instance, how do you hold a passage door securely and on-edge while you rout hinge mortises? How about applying edgebanding to a full sheet of plywood without the space to lay it down? Not easy! What we need is clamp that sets up quickly, doubles as a brace and sits on the floor.
Well, Blue Heron Enterprises may be able to give us that enigmatic “third hand” for these sorts of jobs with the Stand-Up-Guy™ clamp. Made of tough ABS plastic, it looks like a pair of right-angle triangles mounted to an arched base. It functions simply: the curved base spreads both triangular supports apart so the clamp’s opening is wider at the top than the bottom. When a door, sheet of plywood or other workpiece is placed inside, its weight forces the jaws closed for a tight, pinch fit. One of the jaws has an easy-grip adjusting nut so the jaw can be repositioned to suit material of different thicknesses. The base is wide enough to prevent large objects from tipping over, freeing you up to move around and use both hands for tools. It is also marked with a ruler scale to help set clamping width.
