Go-Bars for Clamping
I
FIRST LEARNED ABOUT GO-BARSduring a visit to the shop of
William Dowd, a harpsichord builder. A go-bar is simply a thin
strip of wood flexed by hand into a bow shape and inserted between a
fixed surface, such as a ceiling, and the surface of a workpiece to be
clamped. Harpsichord makers use go-bars for gluing the soundboard
of their instrument into the carcase because no ordinary kind of clamp
can be brought easily to bear on the work. But go-bars can be applied
to a much broader range of clamping problems. They are not only
simpler and less expensive than other clamps but also much easier and
faster to set.
To make go-bars, start with straight-grain wood. I’ve used^3 ⁄ 4 -in.-
thick fir flooring sawn into^1 ⁄ 2 -in.-wide strips for 39-in.-long go-bars.
Experiment with your own wood-and-clamping conditions to get the
dimensions right. Cut the bars about 2 or 3 percent longer than the
distance between the work surface and the fixed surface. This will
cause the bars to bow out about a fifth of their length, which should
feel about right.
—ABIJAHREED,Newton Centre, Mass.
CLAMPINGWorkpieceCeiling
Go-bars