Need Clamp Buying Advise

[Steven J Corpstein]

Now I need to know what the overwhelming favorite clamps are. I'm going to be buying both 36" and 4" or so. I'm getting ready to take on some kitchen cabinets. I need to play with my new toy. :-)

[Michael Cody]

Buy lots of them is the best advise


Personally I like your basic pipe clamp.. cheap, works well.... Bessey's are much nicer but you pay a lot more. If price is not that big a deal (think how much the cabinents are going to cost & how long you will have the clamps, makes the price not such a big deal)...

For pipe clamps though:

You can buy the pipe from a big box store, and I buy the clamps from Harbor Freight ... the 3/4" Pittsburgh ones.. Part# 31255-1VGA is priced @ 3.99 ea ... be sure u use "order from the printed catalog option" for this and enter that number, if you don't you could pay 6.99$ ea as that is the web price.

Some will say to avoid HF and if your not comfortable with how HF operates that is ok advise. Customer service @ HF is spotty and shipping is slow.. but that is the price you pay for the bargins. Lots of thier stuff is junk, but a lot are very good values, this is one of those. You will not get twices as good clamps by spending twice the money or more for Pony pipe clamps..

If you are bit more flush with cash then go with Bessey clamps they are the best and are a dream to use, just be ready to pay 25$ or more per clamp for the size you are looking at.

[ray clargo]

ive. got f clamps, pipe clamps, spring clamps???????? most every type of clamp, but when im glueing up a cabinet of laminating a panel i alwayyyyyyyyyyyys reach for the bessy k body. best clamp in my opinion, and now they are coming out with small k bodys though the price is still big. hope this helps ray c.

[Joe_Ott]

Bessey K-Body and Jorgensen's new Cabinet Master clamps. I like the Jorgensen clamps a little better than K-Body clamps. Plus, they are a coule bucks cheaper. When I need more (and I always do of course) they'll be Jorgensen.

Since you mentioned building kitchen cabs... I am im the middle of doing the same right now. I went out and bought a bunch of clamps that I thought I would need. To be honest, I haven't used them that much! But like they say, you can never have too many!

I'm using a Kreg Pro kit and don't seem to need the clamps a lot. For what it's worth.

Good luck.

Joe

[Jim Becker]

I'm a dedicated Bessy K-Body addict when it comes to cabinet clamps. (The Jorgensen and GS are also nice, but I tend to stay with one brand on things like this) I also like the Bessey Tradesman and their new UniKlamp series.

I tried the HFT 3/4" pipe clamp sets a few years ago as the price was "extraordinarily attractive". Unfortunately, I had problems with over half of them...there is something unsatisfactory about having to use a hammer to adjust the clamp position on the pipe. (The "real" Ponys work great)

[Ken Salisbury]

When it comes to blades I always think "Forrest". When it comes to clamps I always think "Bessey"
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<IMG src="http://www.kenswoodcentral.com/bessey.jpg">

Bessey Clamps</p>

[Dave Avery]

While Bessey clamps are great for furniture making, I also use Quick Grip 6" and 24" clamps all over the shop

[Jim Becker]

Originally posted by Dave Avery
While Bessey clamps are great for furniture making, I also use Quick Grip 6" and 24" clamps all over the shop

I have a few Quick Grip clamps that I do find handy, particularly for setups and jigging. But I find they have a lot more deflection and distortion under pressure than heaver clamps and don't prefer them for any kind of glue-up activity...that deflection and distortion makes it hard to keep things in alignment. IMHO, of course. Others may have different experiences than me!

[Keith Outten]

Geez...I'm always out of step it seems. I prefer the old fashioned wooden hand screw clamps. They seem to have more brute clamping power than any other clamp I have ever tried. I have lots of the Quik clamps and of course pipe clamps for glue-ups. I'm probably the only woodworker at my age that has never owned or used a Bessey clamp.

Hand Screws are adjustable as far as angle goes and I even prefer using them on the drill press. I also use them to hold small parts for drilling or sawing on the bandsaw. Our junior high schooll wood shop was full of hand screws and in almost 40 years I have never found any clamp to take its place.

[Christian Aufreiter]

Bessey clamps seem to be great but I've never tried one. I use Gross Stabil clamps which I like very much.
These are "my" clamps:



Regards,

Christian

[Bob Boake]

I know a few cabinet shops that use jorgenson pipe clamps exclusively and have for decades. Since cabinet depth is pretty standard, they don't get adjusted much, just tightened and loosened. Also cabinet carcass glueups rarely require deep throated clamps.

My cheap chinese knockoffs work ok but may not give you the service lifetime of a better brand. If they are not in frequent heavy use it may not be an issue. I may only have a half dozen of them. I think one has come apart.

I have a selection of pipe clamps, bar clamps, I-beams, quick clamps, C clamps and wooden screw clamps. Use mostly quick clamps for the little stuff and jorgenson bar clamps or I beams for the casework. Wood clamps are usefull for bringing together odd angles. Spring clamps are good for sealing bags of potato chips.

[Ken Wright]

even seen one other than on his show .... but I think I would really like some of David Marks clamps. Would be nice if anyone knew the brand .... they may be antiques since David rarely "sports" shiny new tools........ he probably spends more on MDF for templates than most of us spend for wood on a project .. but I ain't knocking him .... love to have a small degree of his skills.

And Keith .... you're not alone ..... neither have I ever owned or used a Bessy .... always choked on the price when looking at them. I'll just keep riding my Ponies. They're more at home in my barn shop anyway.

[Robert Henderson]

I use Gross Stabil.....

[Bartee Lamar]

Check out this Redmond and Sons Sale on Gross Stabil..

This is a very good price. These are very good clamps.

[John Miliunas]

And yet another member of the Bessey K-Body camp. Still looking to try out their new UniKlamps. In the same breathe, though, I do know of many folks being equally (more) happy with the Jorgenson Cabinet Masters, as well as the GS line. All of the above are about equally priced (that being, HIGH!). I got lucky and hit the big Sears sale last year. Also big fan of the Quick-Grip line for smaller work, where deflection isn't an issue.