Couldn't do it

[Jim Wilson]

Stopped in the Borg today to get a propane torch cylinder, and saw the yellow tags on the Bessey K-bodies. I don't own any of these clamps.

I played with a couple of them for a bit. They close straight, nice and square. Peeked up in the works to see how they keep the head straight as the screw advances. Looked again at the price. A 24" clamp was $25; it was $30 for a 31", which seemed a more useful length to me for a clamp like this, but still a little too short for general cabinet work. 37" would be better.

A pair for $60 -- what can you do with just one clamp of any given type?

-- four would be $120. Glanced toward the crowbars for some help, but it was no use. I just don't have enough complaints about my good ol' pipe clamps.

Guess that makes me a confirmed cheap bastage.

Jim

[Bay Area Dave]

yup.

dave

Jim Wils> Stopped in the Borg today to get a propane torch cylinder, and saw the

[Phisherman]

I always buy my clamps in pairs. I use the Bessey K-body 24" clamps a little more often than the 31", and the 40" less often than the 31s. The price at HD is a real bargain for these, but here they were all snapped up within a week. I managed to get 4 of them. I use my pipe clamps the least. I guess it depends on what you are building.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I too was cheap about clamps. Then I got a couple of Besseys and never looked back. It seemed less productive to buy clamps when I could buy wood instead. Or at least a tool more fun to play with.

Once I got a couple I realized how smart it is to have a least a few of them. Ed [e-mail]

[Leon]

Don't rule out the Jorgensen Cabinet Master clamps either. They tend to be cheaper across the board, normally 10-15% and often, 2 or 3 times in the last year and half are reduce to less than half price. Most comments from those that own the Cabinet Masters along side the K-Bodies prefer the Cabinet Masters. I bought 6-48"ers and 4-36" ers on sale for about $225.00 delivered.

[Tom Kohlman]

Jim

I am a cheap bastage also and swear by the pipe clamp solution (they have served me well for so many years with only a little more attention to detail than it takes Norm to bang his stuff together with his $10,000 collection of clamps)...except last night I took a small (1 3/4" sides) oak drawer glue-up out of the "ponies" only to see that something really bad happened between the perfectly square set-up at the bench and the final product that I set aside to dry.

I'm now gonna hang my head in shame, take that moth ridden wallet out of my pocket and buy a few of the Besseys, at least for the smaller stuff. Hoping I don't get the fever for the bigger stuff.

[Jim Wilson]

Where did you get them from?

I do have a few clamps. Never too many -- obviously! -- but not often too few. Eight of the 48" Jorgie I-beam monsters are what usually I reach for when I need mid-length cabinet clamps. Incidentally, those are built heavier than the Bessey K-bodies. I use pipe clamps when I need something longer. I pocket-screw my face frames nowadays, and usually box out the cases so they are less than 40" wide; the biggest is usually a 39" wide sink cabinet. Easier to install that way. So, I don't often need clamps longer than 48".

There are probably 30 of the Bessey Tradesmen clamps hanging on the rack. Those are the real workhorses; they get used every day in all manner of glue-ups and odd jobs. There are another 30 or so of the short Jorgie's (actually, most of them are the Pittsburgh knock-offs), probably 20 of the 6-inchers and the rest 12".

I'd probably like the K-bodies, and might like the Cabinet Masters even better, but I need a job to give them. One fellow posted that they'd be handy for drawer glue-ups. I can't remember having a problem with that recently, though. I guess what I'm trying to say is that in my shop, at least for now, the high-dollar cabinet clamps seem to be a fix looking for a problem.

Jim

[Leon]

The first time I bought them was on my birthday month. I got them from Woodcraft. In sets of 4 there is a substantial break in price + 10% during my birthday month. The last 6 I got from Woodworkers Source. These were really cheap. 2, 48" and 4, 36" for $128.00 shipped. There have numerous other locations with the great deal on these clamps. You have to keep you ears open and act fast when you hear of them. I think the small removable foot on the ends makes these clamps really user friendly as you can put a long clamp on a short table and move the adjustable end with out having to disturb the glue up. Setting on the fixed end of the clamp and the foot the clamping end will move freely back and forth along the bar. Being able to reverse the clamp and use as a spreader has been great also. I have used this feature to hold a new wall plumb while I attached the cross brace, straightened out a bowed roof truss during the decking stage, opened up an old drawer to reglue the joint, and yesterday I used it to spread a face frame to add another piece to the frame in the middle.

[Frank Ketchum]

Been there, keep doing that. I keep thinking of the other things I can buy with the $$ and havn't bit the bullet yet. Oh well.....

Frank