can anyone tell me what these clamps are for?

[swervncarz]

I have these clamps, they are foreign made & fairly new I'm guessing but it's bugging me that I don't know what they are used for...any help?

[Billman49]

Looks like some sort of dowelling jig - back in the 1980's there was a die-cast aluminium clamp-on woodworker's table vice sold in the UK, that had very similar cramping screws.

I cannot find an image of it, but it had L shapes jaws that offered both vertical and horizontal working positions - possibly European (Italian??) in origin...

Stanley also offered a version that was similar, but their clamp on screw was integral with the vice..

[Branson]

Billman's got the right of it.  Dowelling jig.  I picked up a very similar set last year in a bunch of odds and ends.

[Bill Houghton]

"Leichtung" swims through my head as a possible maker.  Or Wolfcraft.  Not the best design I've ever seen.

[RWalters]

Indeed they are dowelling jigs, the Wolfcraft Dowel Pro set, still available from Sears, and elsewhere I'm sure. Billman49, I believe you're thinking of the Zyliss clamp on vise from Switzerland. I had one for a while. It looked cool, but wasn't very practical.

[scottg]

Evey few years somebody comes up with a "new" dowel jig.
  Turrets or clamps or whatever.
 Generations pass and nobody tells the kids the best jig has already been around forever.

  The Stanley #59 dowel jig is still the simplest, sturdiest, most flexible and....
 ---compact to store--- jig I ever used.
 I keep mine, complete with its entire set of bushings, in an old index card box.
Fits like a glove and 2 out of 5 yard sales will have a box for a nickel.

   But you have to get a 59 made pre-1960something, when they went to aluminum. Aluminum will work, but they are a world of flimsiness away from the venerable cast iron jigs.
  The old cast iron models are about a dime a dozen as soon as you start to hunt.
  In fact the only trouble you will ever have is finding bushings
 and Stanley will still sell you some, if you have-ta go there.
 I think I might have a couple orphans around if needs be. Probably not 3/8 or 1/2" though. These are the most used sizes, by far.

 YS is cheapest :)
    yours Scott
   

[rusty]

Popular Science (oddly) did an article on doweling, and it has pictures of quite a few of the various jigs. (Based on the weird square drive screw, I would say Leichtung was the correct guess.

Interestingly, the author also likes the old Stanley....

*1986, when people still made things....

http://books.google.com/books?id=07B8zK-PQq8C&pg=PA103#v=onepage&q&f=false

[Bill Houghton]

  In fact the only trouble you will ever have is finding bushings
 and Stanley will still sell you some, if you have-ta go there.
 I think I might have a couple orphans around if needs be. Probably not 3/8 or 1/2" though. These are the most used sizes, by far.

 YS is cheapest :)
    yours Scott
   

Although, because the bushings are clamped into a v-shaped opening with a screw, I bet you could use drill bushings or even, in a pinch, oilite bushings.

[scottg]

Although, because the bushings are clamped into a v-shaped opening with a screw, I bet you could use drill bushings or even, in a pinch, oilite bushings.

 They actually  --are-- drill bushings. McMaster or MSC will have them absolutely for sure.
 Just have to be a bit scared of the price. heh
    Buuuuuuuuuuuuut
 Oilite bushings are traditionally very cheap, if you don't have to pay postage on top. Nickel-ninety-eight!
  I hadn't thought of those.  Outstanding!
     yours Scott


 PS I have been waiting on an excuse to buy some oilites myself for another project.
 Best postage I have found has been offered at 3 or 4 times the price of the bushings I need.
 If anyone is making an order and wants someone to kick in with me, and split the offensive postage?? It'd make both projects practical.
   
   Actual postage for a few bushings is about a dollar in a small padded envelope,
        no particle of $8 to 11.95.