What's the advantage of Jet, Bessy, Jorgensen parallel clamps vs. F clamps?

[Todd Brewer]

What to these clamps do that a much less expensive F clamp will not do?. I'll give you clamping depth, but beyond that why would I want to add a ~$40 24" parallel clamp to my arsenal when I have a bunch of $7 F clamps of approximately the same length? If I square up my project and clamp with F clamps do I gain something by using parallel clamps?

[Mike Heidrick]

The clamp jaw surface is 90 degree to the bar and is that way from the bar and the entire length of the jaw and the two jaw faces stay parallel during the clamp up. F clamps flex the bar and jaws to provide clamping force. Also you might have 1" total of surface area on the largest of F clamp pads and a smallish rectangle at the head of the clamp. Also there has been only one F clamp that I have ever see that you can rest the clamp on is head and it will stand up - parallels all do it and it makes stacking glue ups out of the way easier. Jaw pads being located at the end of the heads of F clamps require a lot more area under the work for an under work clamp up. Parallels need just the height of the feet.

[Alan Bienlein]

To me they just cost more and add extra unnecessary weight to the glue up. I've found that if your pieces don't clamp up square then you need to look at your joinery as it's not square.

[Sam Murdoch]

The clamp jaw surface is 90 degree to the bar and is that way from the bar and the entire length of the jaw and the two jaw faces stay parallel during the clamp up. F clamps flex the bar and jaws to provide clamping force. Also you might have 1" total of surface area on the largest of F clamp pads and a smallish rectangle at the head of the clamp. Also there has been only one F clamp that I have ever see that you can rest the clamp on is head and it will stand up - parallels all do it and it makes stacking glue ups out of the way easier. Jaw pads being located at the end of the heads of F clamps require a lot more area under the work for an under work clamp up. Parallels need just the height of the feet.

All the above, but the item in blue is worth all the extra on its own. You can place a glue up nearly anywhere off the bench and it remains stable and tight.

[Jerry Miner]

What to these clamps do that a much less expensive F clamp will not do?

Deeper reach (as you mentioned)
larger bars for less flexing
larger screws
larger heads for better pressure distribution
bigger handles are easier to turn

I have several, but I use the smaller F-style clamps way more often. Easier (& cheaper) to keep a couple dozen of these on hand for everyday stuff, but at times, those parallel-jaw clamps are awfully handy!

That's the trouble with clamps. You need to have every kind! And lots of them!!

[Julie Moriarty]

It all depends on what you're clamping. If you're doing door panels, F clamps will give you fits, even if your stock is perfectly square.

I've made a lot of doors. The K body clamps have made my life so much easier. I also use the KP blocks to help flatten the doors.

I have dozens of F clamps and they have a particular purpose that can't be rivaled by K clamps. It all depends on what you're trying to do. There's no such thing as having too many clamps. It's kind of like being rich and skinny.

[Mike Heidrick]

Wetzler clamps - Best F non-parallel clamps I've ever seen! Those and teh really large 7"+ deep Bessey F clamps which I think are a Wetzler knock off.

[glenn bradley]

I think its been covered here. Parallel clamps don't pull your squared up assembly 'out' of square like f-style clamps often do. It is interesting how we all work differently. I use the heck out of the 4" Bessey might mini f-style clamps but, beyond that, my f-style clamps are wall decorations probably 80% of the time. Why would I use an f-style clamp if I have an appropriately sized parallel clamp available? But, that me.

For medium clamping I use Bessey Uni-Klamps and k-body for almost everything else of size. As stated, for odd-job clamping things like temporary third hand and so forth I use small f-style clamps, spring clamps, quick grip, whatever. When I want a row of clamps that lay on their back, parallel to the work surface and clamp up perpendicular to the surface, and have a reasonable depth of throat I don't reach for my Jorgie 3400 series. As with so many things, the right tool for you will depend a lot more on you than on what anyone else uses/does ;-)

[William C Rogers]

I am in agreement on the all the above as it depends what you are clamping and how easy you want to make it. F-clamps by inherent design the bar will flex and the heads will not clamp parallel. That is why there is a swivel on one end to help minimize this, but will not eliminate it. You are now depending on your joint to overcome the out of parallel condition. Some joints such as box joint it is easily done and other joints such as rail and stile it puts more of a strain on the joint. Since there is a more localized pressure point with F-clamps I always block of wood between the clamp and finished part to prevent indents in the wood. Parallel clamps overcome the above limitations. Yes, you can get by with only F-clamps, but parallel clamp will give you a high rate of success on certain joints. I mainly use my F-clamps for cauls. I use the ratchet style clamps for most smaller things and believe it or not I like the cheap Tool Shop ratchet (up to 18") from Menards.

As said before it depends on what you are clamping and how easy you want to make it.

[Ole Anderson]

I just finished up gluing up 15 cabinet door panels yesterday. Aside from the aforementioned reasons, to me, the fact that the clamps allow you to lay the wood directly on the bar during the glue up is critical. Can't do that with an F-clamp, but you can with a K-body or a pipe clamp. Extra long glue-ups get the pipe clamps, shorter glue-ups get the K bodies. Probably because I don't own any really long K-bodies. And with the K-bodies I usually stand the last glue-up on end on the floor to dry while I work on the next glue-up.

[Brian Tymchak]

One factor that played into my decision to buy parallels (Bessey Revos) is that you can side clamp, giving you much greater clamp-head area. Useful for panel glue-ups. And then, as others have stated, I can stand the panel on the clamp heads off to the side of the shop to cure, clearing the bench.