Groovy clamp handles won't slip from your grip

The smooth, varnished wooden handles on bar clamps look slick. But they're too slick to grab tightly when you screw down to create serious clamping pressure. To get a better grip, I carve grooves along the length of the handles with a motorized rotary tool and a ball cutter. A few grooves spaced around a handle makes clamping (and unclamping) lots easier. —Ian Ross, Smiths Falls, Ont.