A few months ago a coworker held up the item pictured above and said, “This is called a cheeseborough.” I didn’t believe him, nor could I see any particular use for the tool. Later, I found out he wasn’t making up the term, and that all a cheeseborough does is clamp onto 1-1/4″ to 1-1/2″ pipe. And a few days ago I found out what makes this odd tool so cool.

Last week some guys were prepping for an outdoor event, and I got to see ’em put up an aluminum truss structure, made of tubing around 1-1/4″ to 1-1/2″ in diameter. I found out that with a cheeseborough and some pipe, you can hold almost anything. I saw cheeseboroughs used to hold ceilings, large fabric headers, plasma screens, and just about anything else that could be clamped down with it.

This week I did a little research. I haven’t found out why they’re called cheeseboroughs, but I did find out they’re also called less cool names, like pipe coupler or scaffold clamp. I found out they come in dozens of styles — some are rigid, some swivel, some can be bolted onto, some can have rope tied off. Just about any permutation seems to exist out there.

I also learned they aren’t too cheap. If they weren’t so expensive, I’d be trying to come up with projects for ’em all the time.

Scaffold Clamps [Rosco]

Couplers [The Light Source]

Street Pricing [Google Products]