Lots of great tips in this video, thanks. My strategy when I was buying K-body-type clamps: - Stick to one brand. It's so much easier to use clamps in a glue-up when they're all the size height and shape. Bessey, Jet, Jorgensen, etc., are all good; just pick one. I picked Bessey mostly at random. - Most times; I bought one clamp per paycheck. It spread out the pain. - An exception to the one-per-paycheck: occasionally, the Big Box stores would switch suppliers for their clamps. For example, in my area, Home Depot is currently a Bessey store and Lowe's is a Jorgensen store. In years past when I was buying clamps a store would change. When they did, they'd "blow out" clamps from their old suppliers at really cheap prices. I remember once driving to 3 different Home Depots when they were getting rid of the Besseys. Each store only had a few left. I saved a ton of money.
Great review video Darrell. For some reason, my Bessey K Body clamps handle needs to unscrew enough to relieve pressure in order to get the heads to move freely. I've been using them for many years now and still struggle with moving them up and down the neck. Also, I highly recommend putting blue tape over the exposed parallel clamp shaft that sits under your glue ups. Once glue gets on them and dries up, it can be a pain in the butt to get good clamping pressure in the area where the dried glue is. Another advantage of owning Parallel clamps is being able to combine two clamps for extended reach with Bessey's clamp extender kit. And last (but not least) you can reverse the clamping pressure to pushing pressure by flipping the Bessey K Body clamp's head in the opposite direction. Thanks Darrell.
Hi Ej, I haven’t had my Bessey’s as long as you - so far no problems moving the jaws ( I’ll keep my fingers crossed) I try not to let the bars come in contact with the glue up - I’m using the bar spacers that come with the clamps to elevate them off the surface.
I did like, and I did subscribe. Thanks for the great review. It's hard to find practical reviews by YTers that aren't too worried about a potential sponsor or sale. I particularly liked the tips for your shim/blocking kit. Mine is a random hot mess and needs to step it up! lol
If I were to use a Pony double pipe clamp that straddles a flat panel do you think it would eliminate the need to adjust the clamp to get a flat surface?
