Where Are Modern Hargrave C Clamps Made?

http://m.ebay.com/itm/391329002409



Not sure if the above link will work right or not... The other day Irealized i only had larger clamps and bought what i assume is a pile of c clamps. (They havent arrived yet and i am waiting for some kind of fine print to arise) Something seems a little too good to be true to me but that is another matter.

Some of the clamps are old hargrave clamps, which i know are USA made. The new gray ones have me wondering country of origin and quality. I looked around google but couldnt find any information. Are the new wilton owned hargrave clamps import hf junk or worth keeping around?

Why are there plastic pads on the newer clamps contact points? Is this some kind of soft jaw feature or packing or what?

First guess is China, second guesses are India or Tiwan. I could be all wet on this and they are American. I have some cheap Chinese clamps that work OK, sacrificial.

I'm always on the prowl for Kant Twist clamps

Yeah i am guessing china, now too it would be nice to find out otherwise.

I have an old kant twist and really like it, almost bid on a pair of 6inchers for $25 yesterday. I dont know what a good price is on them though. How do you price kant twists out?

With old clamps i pay $1-4 per if they are old american up to 8 inches. Larger than 8 inches i pay $15- $20 per as they dont come up much in good shape.

I go by how they look, beaten up I expect not to pay a whole lot. I go to flea markets where I can touch them and haggle with the seller. Sometimes we bundle a few things together that I can use and dicker on a price. I don't want to beat anyone down, I prefer to walk away thinking we both did well. Unfortunately, lately I have run into a lot of resellers, they buy box lots at auction and are asking top dollar for stuff that is pretty beat. I have no issue walking away from someone unwilling to budge on a price I think too high. Have seen the same stuff the next week.

I know what you mean about the resellers. I have been seeing more and more of that on craigslist. There will be an ok deal on a machine that will disappear quickly and then re appear with a few hundred bucks tacked on. I will have start checking out flea markets and auctions they sound like a great source of used tools

If you need 150 x 1.25" C clamps, then you got a good deal. Some of the new looking ones in the picture appear to be light duty (550lb) Hargroves that go for about 8 times what you paid for them.

They can be found at: http://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/08094575

The specs say they are rated at 550lb, but I suspect that the 566 means they are actually rated at 566lb max.

The nylon pads are a good indication of a light duty clamp. The nylon pad will protect the surface of the material you are clamping, but will not stand up to heavy clamping pressures. Some clamps have plastic caps instead, but ultimately they serve the same purpose.

Wow x8! They were cheaper than the hft clamps in the same size so i figured they were at best 50% off. Thanks for the explation on the model number and the purpose of the pads. I know that model number has been the same since before the wilton buy out. I have one that is much older than these with different stamping. Your suggestion about the clamping pressure makes me wonder if that was the rating of the old style?

I also have a number of this brand of clamps (larger in size) that use acme thread. I will have to make sure to use those for clamping the heavy pressures.

Thanks for all the replies, lots good information on a pretty mundane topic

The clamps arrived and all look pretty good for the most part. No country of origin maked on them at all. The large old ones had made in usa on them so the lack of the marking makes me think imported/ sacrifical. But at $8 a piece new might have to take it easy on them and not look at them as sacrifical?