Saddler's Stitching Clamp from Two Oak Barrel Staves Screwed to a Deal Tenon (Hasluck, Harness Making, 1904)

"A clamp can be made easily by the worker at home."

Cut two oak cask or barrel staves 2 ft (610 mm) long and at least 3 in. (76 mm) wide, with the greatest bend in the middle. The more bent the staves, the more useful the clamp.

Clean up the outside with a spokeshave. Leave one end the full stave thickness (about 1 in., 25 mm) and thin gradually to about 3/4 in. (19 mm) toward the other end, which forms the jaw (his fig. 55). Round the outer corners, plane the inside flat and smooth both sides with glass-paper.

Take a sound piece of white deal 20 x 3 x 3 in. (510 x 76 x 76 mm) for the post C. Cut a dovetail-shaped tenon at least 6 in. (150 mm) long on its upper end. Fit the depth of the shoulders and the width at the top to the curve of your staves: the aim is for the jaw tips to press tightly together once the staves are home.

Lay the thick ends of the staves against the two sides of the tenon and fix them with eight stout 2 1/4 in. (57 mm) screws (ours: four through each stave, as his fig. 54 shows). The tenon should be cut so that hard screwing is needed to bring the staves home. Countersink the screws flush with the stave faces.

From Paul N. Hasluck (ed.), **Harness Making** (Cassell, 1904), pp. 24-27 and figs. 52-55 (checked on the archive.org scan harnessmaking00hasl). The saddler sits with it between the knees, slanting against the left knee, the right leg thrown over it, so it does not yield under the awl. He gives no screw spacing; the four-per-stave layout, metric figures and tools are ours.