Puckdropper snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com on Wed, 08 Sep 2021 08:13:08 GMT typed in rec.woodworking the following:
And that is what I call "the Too Solid Goof Problem" - it can't be that simple. E.G., we'd been trouble shooting a production problem, finally came up with a solution, finished the rest of the run. Then is when I noticed, and asked the foreman "Did you mean to set the feed rate to half?" Oops. "Couldn't possibly be that!" It's also the reason I give for the occasional "all hands" search. Everything gets handled, picked up and looked at. Unfortunately, this some times is known as "toss everything to the other end of the bench or room, muttering sulfurously about it's past time I got @&$n organized"
I missed that part and yes that would be different.
I do, but that is only 3 miles away.
Well not by much, I paid $17 each and the reason that I bought 2 and then a short time later 8 all at the same time.
No, Bessey did the engineering, Jorgensen perfected it after switching to steel. FWIW I went to a small WW show yesterday in Houston. I enjoyed the show. Apparently Bessey has again updated their KBody clamps. I could personally see no difference. They said the bar was heavier.
They asked if I have Bessy Kbody clamps and if so how did I like them.
Well, they did ask... ;~)
I told them that I have 10 Cabinet Masters, 6 Jet K body style, and 7 Bessy Revo's.
They jumped in and asked asked how I liked the Besseys.
Well, again, they asked.
I answered, I reach for the older Cabinet Master's first, Jet's second, and Bessey's as a last choice. I hang my clamps on a clamp rack and all are beside each other with none blocking the access to another. So each clamp has an equal opportunity of being grabbed. No clamp is easier to remove from the rack than the other. All are very very easy to remove and replace.
Why in that order, they ask.
They kept asking!!!!
The Besseys are crotchety, you have to futz with the handle more than I want to to get the it to slide open. The leveling foot on the end of the bar is still stationary, it is movable to most any spot on the bar on the Cabinet Master or the Jet. The screw travel is way too short, I have at least double adjustment length on the clamp screw of the Cabinet Master over the Bessey. Most often I run out of screw travel trying to tighten the clamp before any pressure is applied. Then I have to unscrew completely work with the crotchety slide again to snug up to the work and try tightening again. This almost always happens with the Bessey's.
Last I said that we all drop things, including clamps. I have dropped most all of my clamps multiple times. The only ones that chip and have broken plastic parts are the Bessey's. Well we have a life time warranty, they say. So does every one else, I say.
And finally the Show special. A box of 4 Bessey KBody's for only $330. The boxes were about 4' long so none were long enough to be that expensive.
Maybe it is just me but when I am doing a complicated glue up of a cabinet the last thing I want to be doing is fiddling with a clamp to get it open and adjusted to the right spot.
On a similar subject, of all the pens you have purchased or obtained over lo these many years, how many were direct replacements because your current pens actually ran out of ink?
I've purchased/obtained probably thousands of pens but it never seems that very many run out of ink before they simply disappear.
I have two 55" Bessy's and four 24". Everything you have said above is exactly how I feel, except that I haven't dropped them enough to chip them. ;-)
Shortly after I bought the first one's (the 55's) I noticed how hard it was to move the handles. I had considering asking about that in this group when someone (you!) mentioned it in a thread related to clamps. That's when I knew it wasn't me or my pair of clamps, so I didn't have to ask.
I'm curious, what did they say when you were done rattling off your litany of grievances?
Of course I don't know about this specific case but retailer often keep records of who returns what. Too many returns and they scrutinize them more. If it's rare that you return anything, they'll take just about anything. Some retailers have been reported to refuse refunds to those on Santa's naughty list.
Chewy is very good. The only problem I've had with them is the level of "spam" (in quotes because I deal with them so it's not really spam). They rival Rockler in the quantity of e-adverts.
Bessey's parallel jaw clamps have gotten ridiculously expensive. I bought mine for $25-$40 at the BORG ten years ago. Fortunately I bought all I needed (I was going to say more than but...).
That's why I have an email address that's only used for vendors and other such spam-ish generators. e.g. I use it for Chewy but only check for emails from them when I've ordered something.
Well... I've done renovations on several houses and have found a hammer, tape measure, screw driver, chisel, and utility knife in the walls or block foundations... you could try looking there. ;~)
I do too, more or less, but there are things in there I want to read. It's impossible to tell who sells what to whom, so all retailers get that address. Some I like to read but they're not going to get my "personal" address. BTW, all my gmail stuff falls in there too (also only used for businesses).
It's less about the price of the material and more about the fact that you are entering into "specialty tool" category. I'd wager that the number of people who own 48" clamps is a small subset of those that own clamps in general.
Even the casual woodworker has a bunch of small clamps, with
24" (maybe 36") being the largest they own. I went for many years never needing anything longer than 36". Now I have two 55" Bessy's but they don't get used very often. (I do have a project coming up where I'll need them.)
"Oh, you're a serious woodworker? You build big stuff? Maybe even make money on what you build? OK, if you want 48" clamps, it's going to cost you."
I've been using fountain pens since the 7th grade. Eye droppers or syringes for refilling the cartridges. So when I lose a pen, it is gone. Although, on occasion a lost pen has been found when I move furniture. I suspect it will get worse again now that we have cats.
I'm moving, "Oh look, a collection of markers, dry erase, ball points, etc. Do they work? If not, "Toss."
I suspect there is an element of "the clampy bit" costs $X and the "bar" cost N a foot + plus a cutting fee. Don't forget to factor in the "shipping and handling" - longer clamps take more space to make, ship, store, etc, - you get to pay for that too. Sort of like U-haul - 30 bucks a day plus 1.40 per mile. Add in the demand for a particular length and longer clamps become "specialty" items.
Anyone who's priced galvanized iron pipe fittings recently is familiar with the fact that the price of steel increased by 50% this year. It's down a bit, but still significantly higher than it was in 2019/2020.
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