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RStevenson

Buying A European Saddlers Clam?

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Hello all. I'm looking at getting a saddlers clam because I prefer the wide jaws and I like how they look, but I would like one that I can use vertically instead of diagonally and clamps shut instead of leg pressure. There is one kind of like this on abbey england but it costs more to ship to Canada than the price of the product. Does anyone know where else I can find one? Or does anyone make these?

Edited by RStevenson

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I saw a few vintage horses for sale on eBay last week. Check out Grandpas Past time. He sells one vertical model.

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i checked out the Grandpas Past time website.... very nice stuff indeed

lew

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Interesting website, his are more of a stitching pony but they are pretty cool, I have one of those that I made myself but it's just not cutting it any more. What I'm interested in is more of something that Nigel Armitage has attached to his log in his videos with wide jaws. It looks like leprevo has one but their website is pretty outdated and I've never heard of them before.

Here's the one from Abbey England:

img_8993%20clam%20hrc.jpg

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See if Elfrita on YouTube has them available. I believe they have an east coast distributor??

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I tried to contact Mr. Moreau thru his email, no success.

Is he still in business.

Any help would be appreciated

He is, his workshop has no internet connection so it often takes a long time to get a reply

Charlie

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Ok, so I just bought one of Fred's saddler's clams in October after trying for about six months to get this done. It's beautiful, VERY well built, functional and worth every penny, which these days are a LOT of pennies.

He is having issues, that's all I'm going to say about that. His production is very limited at this point so getting a custom made clamp is going to take a lot of time, if ever - his words.

There's an alternative, and this is what I wound up doing.

Contact Morten at laederiet.dk ( mail (at) laederiet.dk ) and let him know that you're interested in a Fred Moreau clamp.

Fred has been building small batches of these and sending them to Morten in Denmark, who handles the sales/shipping from there. They are NOT listed on his website, so you have to email Morten to find out what he has available. It's a what-you-see-is-what-you-get thing. He sent me PDFs of two table clamps, one vertical clamp like what you describe and two leg-powered stitching clams. I bought one of the latter, but now wish I had bought one with the clamp device. I have a hard time getting the jaws tight because they are so wide - leg pressure is spread across a wider surface area.

After shipping, wiring money, etc, it's going to set you back around $750 US, so be prepared for that. Mine was my Christmas, Father's Day and Birthday presents all rolled into one.

That being said, the thing now lives in my living room, and makes a great conversation piece when not in actual use.

Hope that helps,

-Sean

post-54587-0-76066800-1451511456_thumb.j

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Oh, and it came with the canvas bag even though I didn't have that built separately, and needle magnets, which are awesome. Fred no longer adds the leather hand rests, but I have his rough instructions on building them for myself. I haven't yet decided if I am going to attempt it or not.

The leather covering the jaws was not included, I assume so you can logo them yourself, which I did after I took this picture.

Verbatim from Fred's last email to me, after I let him know that I had bought one through Morten:

"Glad to learn that you have this possibility. You may indeed well own a "collector" since I am not sure at all to make many more clamps and ponies from now."

So... get them while you can.

Edited by SmokeyPoint

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On 27.7.2015 at 7:39 AM, RStevenson said:

...What I'm interested in is more of something that Nigel Armitage has attached to his log in his videos with wide jaws. It looks like leprevo has one but their website is pretty outdated and I've never heard of them before.

Hi everybody, I meant to reply to a thread where someone suggested making this from old wooden skis, but can't find it. Anyway, thanks for the tip!

Yesterday, I found a pair of old, high quality wooden skis at the local flea market. I cut to 85 cm total length, shaped fronts, screwed together, sanded flat

using a piece of plywood and glued on some protective thin leather. That's it. Cost me five bucks and works great!

StitchingClam.JPG

StitchingClam.thumb.JPG.221311237470f04f

Edited by ArildS

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Absolutely awesome.  I love it!  While some may lament the loss of a beautiful pair of vintage skis, I think the repurposing into something like this is fantastic as well.  Now, off to find some skis....

YinTx

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