There are a LOT of clamp storage threads. Rather than start a new one, I’m just going to put this idea for STANLEY No404 picture frame clamps on THIS old thread, for posterity.
I have a lot 404s - twenty-three (twenty-seven if you count Oxwall knock-offs). Once, I was trying to glue up multiple frames with limited time, and I just didn’t have enough. I’ve been buying them at yard sales and flea markets onesie-twosie when they are cheap ever since. I use them when I need them, which isn’t often. The rest of the time, they’re tossed in a drawer with C-clamps, Vise-grips, bar clamps, etc. It was a jumbled, frustrating mess.
No more.
Today, I took some 2”x3/4” scrap and crosscut 45° notches every 1-1/8” along one corner of their length, using a cradle/sled on a tablesaw. The notches should really be at 1-1/16” intervals, but I was eyeballing the cuts and making two passes with a thin blade, since this is a one-off project. With a spacing jig and a wider, single-pass kerf, 1” intervals might work. Packed tight, the 404s help support each other when the drawer is opened/closed.
I considered making two parallel runs, which would hold up to thirty-six 404s in this 14”x21” drawer, but I didn’t like how restricting the narrow space in the center would be, so I settled on a configuration for twenty-six. All this was a consequence of the dimensions of the drawer - multiples of four would be more logical.
This drawer is 10” deep - 9” would be the minimum to close with 404s on end like this. I think with some adaptation to the notchiing, other types of clamps could be packed into drawers or boxes in a similar way.
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