A few months ago all of the Jorgenson and Pony clamps and clamp
accessories disappeared from my local HD. All of the clamps are now
Irwin. Bar clamps, pipe clamp ends and corner clamps, at least.
It has me wondering if HD now has a "deal" with Irwin which may lead to
the products going down in quality. As a first data point, I submit the
following:
There were maybe six blister-packed sets of Irwin pipe clamp "ends" in
the display. The coil spring in the one at the front of the bin had
popped out from whatever is supposed to hold it in position inside the
movable end piece and was just floating around in the package. Although
I wasn't shopping for any of these, I was curious and looked at the
rest. ALL of them had some variation of the same problem.
Now this could be yet another case of HD simply putting defective
returned merchandise back on the shelves (a growing problem), but how
did six of them suffer this problem in the first place?
On Mon, 10 Jun 2013 14:12:03 -0500, Leon <lcb11211@swbelldotnet> wrote:
>On 6/10/2013 1:56 PM, dpb wrote:
>> On 6/10/2013 9:49 AM, Greg Guarino wrote:
>>> A few months ago all of the Jorgenson and Pony clamps and clamp
>>> accessories disappeared from my local HD. All of the clamps are now
>>> Irwin. Bar clamps, pipe clamp ends and corner clamps, at least.
>> ...
>>
>> FWIW I noticed just yesterday that it seems Lee Valley has pulled the
>> Jorgenson lightweight bar clamps in favor of what appears to be a
>> no-name variety at roughly the same price (within about 10%)...whether
>> something's happened to the orange variety overall I haven't tried to
>> find out.
>>
>> No longer available...
>>
>> <http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=44651&cat=1,43838,43850,44647&ap=1>
>>
>>
>> The following are...
>>
>> <http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=31194&cat=1,43838,43850,44647&ap=1>
>>
>>
>> Interesting given Lee Valley penchant/noted for quality first...
>>
>> --
>
>
>Probably no worry, My wife is a quilter and I bought her a long arm
>sewing machine. Long story short the sewing machine came with 4 of the
>same style clamps you reference here. Hers were made CHINA. I have
>often considered permanently borrowing them. LOL Apparently this style
>clamp is easy to do right.
Leon, about 10 years ago I bought some of the cheap F clamps from Penn State
during a major sale back before they became pen kit suppliers. I think the 12
inch ones were a buck or a buck and a half, and the 48 inchers were an
additional buck or two. Cheap, and look almost identical to the LV ones on the
above link. I bought a dozen of the 12 inchers and love them. They are the
most used clamp in my shop.
I notice a difference in the longer ones compared to some Jorgenson clamps I
also have. The longer rails for the cheaper clamps seem to bow or flex under
heavy pressure. The Jorgensons must be made of harder or even hardened steel
and don't deform as much in the 3-4 foot length.
I've never used any of the HF short clamps to verify they work well, but I'll
bet you could swap them for the ones your wife has if you didn't like them.
Regards,
Roy
On 6/10/2013 2:56 PM, dpb wrote:
> On 6/10/2013 9:49 AM, Greg Guarino wrote:
>> A few months ago all of the Jorgenson and Pony clamps and clamp
>> accessories disappeared from my local HD. All of the clamps are now
>> Irwin. Bar clamps, pipe clamp ends and corner clamps, at least.
> ...
>
> FWIW I noticed just yesterday that it seems Lee Valley has pulled the
> Jorgenson lightweight bar clamps in favor of what appears to be a
> no-name variety at roughly the same price (within about 10%)...whether
> something's happened to the orange variety overall I haven't tried to
> find out.
>
> No longer available...
>
> <http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=44651&cat=1,43838,43850,44647&ap=1>
>
>
> The following are...
>
> <http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=31194&cat=1,43838,43850,44647&ap=1>
>
>
> Interesting given Lee Valley penchant/noted for quality first...
>
> --
For the slight diff in price I would go with the Jorgs... made in the
USA and a very good F clamp.
--
Jeff
Greg Guarino <[email protected]> writes:
>A few months ago all of the Jorgenson and Pony clamps and clamp
>accessories disappeared from my local HD. All of the clamps are now
>Irwin. Bar clamps, pipe clamp ends and corner clamps, at least.
>
>It has me wondering if HD now has a "deal" with Irwin which may lead to
>the products going down in quality. As a first data point, I submit the
>following:
>
>There were maybe six blister-packed sets of Irwin pipe clamp "ends" in
>the display. The coil spring in the one at the front of the bin had
>popped out from whatever is supposed to hold it in position inside the
>movable end piece and was just floating around in the package. Although
>I wasn't shopping for any of these, I was curious and looked at the
>rest. ALL of them had some variation of the same problem.
Are you sure that that wasn't the protective shield that covers the threads
on the other end of the pipe to prevent them from getting banged up,
so they can be used to extend the pipe if needed? All pony pipe clamps
used to come with one. Looks like of like a coil spring.
"dpb" wrote in message news:[email protected]...
On 6/10/2013 2:12 PM, Leon wrote:
> On 6/10/2013 1:56 PM, dpb wrote:
...
>> FWIW I noticed just yesterday that it seems Lee Valley has pulled the
>> Jorgenson lightweight bar clamps in favor of what appears to be a
>> no-name variety at roughly the same price (within about 10%)...whether
>> something's happened to the orange variety overall I haven't tried to
>> find out.
...
>
> Probably no worry, My wife is a quilter and I bought her a long arm
> sewing machine. Long story short the sewing machine came with 4 of the
> same style clamps you reference here. Hers were made CHINA. I have often
> considered permanently borrowing them. LOL Apparently this style clamp
> is easy to do right.
I have no worry, particularly, just thought interesting re: Jorgensen
name struck me in view of the OP's observation re: orange brand as well.
It's easy enough to NOT make them well, too, though...I've had a few
that came from $ bin at Big Lot's and the ilk that were so sorry as to
have tossed them owing to the latching mechanism/notches failing to
grasp...actually, I only tossed the castings; I kept the bar as stock
for whenever and the screws/handles for jigs, etc., ...
I just thought it interesting/curious that Lee Valley would go to no
name for only ~10% pricing benefit.
Red paint costs less than Orange. (grin) WW
--
On 6/10/2013 9:49 AM, Greg Guarino wrote:
> A few months ago all of the Jorgenson and Pony clamps and clamp
> accessories disappeared from my local HD. All of the clamps are now
> Irwin. Bar clamps, pipe clamp ends and corner clamps, at least.
>
> It has me wondering if HD now has a "deal" with Irwin which may lead to
> the products going down in quality. As a first data point, I submit the
> following:
Certainly HD has a deal with Irwin, they have been selling Irwin
products or many years, vice grips, quick grips, etc. I am sure that
the GP in the replacement Irwin clamps is greater than what it was from
Jorgenson. Add to that Jorgenson does not offer many more products than
clamps where as Irwin does provide several products. So, that is one
less vendor that the store has to deal with. Having run a retail store
and being responsible for inventory control and reordering I can assure
you that the fewer vendors you deal with the easier the job is. While
Irwin clamps have never really measured up to Jorgenson clamps the type
customers that HD attracts are typically not looking for the best in a
particular product type. Jorgenson clamps may have been too slow moving
to justify having that extra vendor.
> There were maybe six blister-packed sets of Irwin pipe clamp "ends" in
> the display. The coil spring in the one at the front of the bin had
> popped out from whatever is supposed to hold it in position inside the
> movable end piece and was just floating around in the package. Although
> I wasn't shopping for any of these, I was curious and looked at the
> rest. ALL of them had some variation of the same problem.
It could have been repackaged but blister packs typically are not very
protective of cast iron products, Simply dropping the package could have
caused the spring to work loose. Typically the clamp end is positioned
on a pipe and there is tension on that spring and it is not likely to
come out once put into use.
>
> Now this could be yet another case of HD simply putting defective
> returned merchandise back on the shelves (a growing problem), but how
> did six of them suffer this problem in the first place?
Having worked in the retail industry what you have observed is not a
unique situation, it has been a problem for decades, it in this instance
has simply caught your attention. I notice it all the time having dealt
with it in the past many years. It is just something that you continue
to notice onve you are aware.
On 6/10/2013 9:49 AM, Greg Guarino wrote:
> A few months ago all of the Jorgenson and Pony clamps and clamp
> accessories disappeared from my local HD. All of the clamps are now
> Irwin. Bar clamps, pipe clamp ends and corner clamps, at least.
...
FWIW I noticed just yesterday that it seems Lee Valley has pulled the
Jorgenson lightweight bar clamps in favor of what appears to be a
no-name variety at roughly the same price (within about 10%)...whether
something's happened to the orange variety overall I haven't tried to
find out.
No longer available...
<http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=44651&cat=1,43838,43850,44647&ap=1>
The following are...
<http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=31194&cat=1,43838,43850,44647&ap=1>
Interesting given Lee Valley penchant/noted for quality first...
--
On 6/10/2013 2:12 PM, Leon wrote:
> On 6/10/2013 1:56 PM, dpb wrote:
...
>> FWIW I noticed just yesterday that it seems Lee Valley has pulled the
>> Jorgenson lightweight bar clamps in favor of what appears to be a
>> no-name variety at roughly the same price (within about 10%)...whether
>> something's happened to the orange variety overall I haven't tried to
>> find out.
...
>
> Probably no worry, My wife is a quilter and I bought her a long arm
> sewing machine. Long story short the sewing machine came with 4 of the
> same style clamps you reference here. Hers were made CHINA. I have often
> considered permanently borrowing them. LOL Apparently this style clamp
> is easy to do right.
I have no worry, particularly, just thought interesting re: Jorgensen
name struck me in view of the OP's observation re: orange brand as well.
It's easy enough to NOT make them well, too, though...I've had a few
that came from $ bin at Big Lot's and the ilk that were so sorry as to
have tossed them owing to the latching mechanism/notches failing to
grasp...actually, I only tossed the castings; I kept the bar as stock
for whenever and the screws/handles for jigs, etc., ...
I just thought it interesting/curious that Lee Valley would go to no
name for only ~10% pricing benefit.
--
On 6/10/2013 7:29 PM, woodchucker wrote:
> On 6/10/2013 2:56 PM, dpb wrote:
...
>> FWIW I noticed just yesterday that it seems Lee Valley has pulled the
>> Jorgenson lightweight bar clamps in favor of what appears to be a
>> no-name variety at roughly the same price (within about 10%)...whether
>> something's happened to the orange variety overall I haven't tried to
>> find out.
...snip...
> For the slight diff in price I would go with the Jorgs... made in the
> USA and a very good F clamp.
Then have to go somewhere besides Lee Valley to get 'em now...kinda'
what struck me as to why they seem to have dropped them. Unless, the
markup on the others is far better, maybe.
--
I just found 8 of them at a cabinet shop supply and grabbed them. Before I
had been buying them a couple at a time from Home Depot and they were
suddenly no more. I have been slowly changing from 3/4 to 1/2 for some
years. I really like Jorgenson if for no other reason than I am accustomed
to them. I use lots and lots of clamps.
On Mon, 10 Jun 2013 20:16:15 -0500, dpb <[email protected]> wrote:
>Then have to go somewhere besides Lee Valley to get 'em now...kinda'
>what struck me as to why they seem to have dropped them. Unless, the
>markup on the others is far better, maybe.
I bought the 1/4" x 3/4" spring-steel bar standard clamps primarily
because I could feed them through a dog hole on my work bench and use
them as a hold down.
Not as good as the Veritas Hold-Downs, but significantly cheaper.
On 6/10/2013 1:56 PM, dpb wrote:
> On 6/10/2013 9:49 AM, Greg Guarino wrote:
>> A few months ago all of the Jorgenson and Pony clamps and clamp
>> accessories disappeared from my local HD. All of the clamps are now
>> Irwin. Bar clamps, pipe clamp ends and corner clamps, at least.
> ...
>
> FWIW I noticed just yesterday that it seems Lee Valley has pulled the
> Jorgenson lightweight bar clamps in favor of what appears to be a
> no-name variety at roughly the same price (within about 10%)...whether
> something's happened to the orange variety overall I haven't tried to
> find out.
>
> No longer available...
>
> <http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=44651&cat=1,43838,43850,44647&ap=1>
>
>
> The following are...
>
> <http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=31194&cat=1,43838,43850,44647&ap=1>
>
>
> Interesting given Lee Valley penchant/noted for quality first...
>
> --
Probably no worry, My wife is a quilter and I bought her a long arm
sewing machine. Long story short the sewing machine came with 4 of the
same style clamps you reference here. Hers were made CHINA. I have
often considered permanently borrowing them. LOL Apparently this style
clamp is easy to do right.