A Canadian craftsman named Kiefer, now retired, reports that he spends his days having "a great time in my little shop building boxes and all kinds of tools of my own invention." One such tool he came up with is this unusual benchtop clamp:

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"I can use this for bringing a box corner or mitre joint to square, or bring a frame with odd angles into the proper angle alignment, and also flatten out a panel made from several boards by manipulating the screws," he writes.

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The headstock has a foot that can swivel to give the clamp more stability and I also made some adaptor pads that slide onto the clamping pads which can be used to install other attachments.

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The screw handles are wood wrapped with leather strips, [providing a] good and soft grip, and the screws are threaded and glued into the handle and counterlocked with a brass fitting.

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The raster mechanism is very simple and to close the clamp the tail stock slides making a clacking sound like a toy and to open it the little lever releases the lock and it slides open.

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"Here is a pic of how I made the raster bars. I cut a bunch of pieces and glued them onto 1/4" MDF backer aligning them with a straight piece of hardwood and checking for square as I went."

It will even hold my wife's tablet or iPhone, and is gentle enough to hold an ornament with the leather faced clamping pads. There are already other uses that I will explore when I have a set of these built.

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You can check out more of Kiefer's projects here.