2025 Anarchist’s Gift Guide: Day 11

Hey everybody, it’s that time of year again – it’s the Anarchist’s Gift Guide. We’ve been doing this for more than a decade now, people seem to like it, so I guess we’ll keep it up. Why? Unlike some other gift guides, ours isn’t sponsored. (In fact, if somebody asked us to write about their tool for the gift guide, our standard retort would be: “Why don’t you poop up your own butt?”) This is stuff we use and love. We have 11 offerings this year, and will publish one a day until we’re done. – Chris & Fitz

Dubuque Clamps

These lightweight aluminum, Iowa-made bar clamps are the cat’s pajamas for a lot of my work. No, they can’t exert the bone-crushing pressure of our handful of old iron Hargraves, and the clamping pad isn’t as deep as the K-bodies. But if my joints are well fit, I don’t need a lot of pressure. And because I’m almost always clamping dovetails, I’m right up at the edges, and I don’t need a deep throat.

I like that I can easily pick up my projects when they’re in clamps to stack them to dry, thereby clearing off some of my bench. These 24″-long ones weigh less than half as much as the Bessey K-body of the same length (2 lbs. vs. 5 lbs. 6 ou.). And they’re a lot easier for students to use. The ratcheting pad on one end is easy to slide into place, then it’s simply a matter of turning the screw on the other end to tighten things down. No pushing a handle toward a bar to get it to catch, as with the K-bodies.

I also like the price of these, compared to the K-bodies. The 24″ clamps ones start at around $40; the longest (48″) are only a few dollars more. They’re available from multiple sellers. – Fitz