Bessey K Body clamps?

[ken masoumi]

John we both should try LV's high friction tape:

[Larry Copas]

The best K body clamps that I've found are Stanley. Nice big handles, stout construction, and never a problem. For some reason they never sold and died an early death. I got my clamps on clearance from Big Lots. Next best is the Jorgensen Cabinet Masters.

After those two its Besseys with all the others. The Besseys are always my last choice.

One problem with K bodies is there not always the best clamp for the job. I often use Hargraves which are no longer available. Jorgensen 72's are almost as good, but they also seem to be disappearing.

[Bob Michaels]

I have about 60 of the 10 year old K's. 12" to 96" and most sizes in between. I wrapped all the wood handles with inexpensive old fashion friction tape. Solved any hand slippage issues. Search Amazon...that's where I purchased the tape.

[Mark Stutz]

I have a combination of older Besseys, Jorgensen, some yellow ones with Scott Phillips signature (the price was right on clearance at Woodcraft) and I prefer the Jorgy's. Just seem to work more smoothly. Has anyone used the ones from Lee Valley?

[John Sanford]

I did a big glue-up over the weekend, using both old and new K-Bodies. The handles on the new K-Bodies are light years better than the old. I actually toyed with the idea of simply replacing all my old ones with new ones, but the cost is prohibitive for such an upgrade, so if I do it it will be done very slowly.

[Alden Miller]

I have a bunch of the older K body Besseys and love them. I find myself searching ebay and craigslist for them to expand my stock of 24" and 40" clamps but so far to no avail. I find I can apply more than enough clamping pressure with them with no need for additional tape on the handles. When I glue up I just try and bring the joint together, I don't want to crush it so that it is glue starved.

-Alden

[Alan Schaffter]

I made a little jig for my router table so I could add flutes to the handles of my older Besseys. After I cut the first flute, I inserted an index pin in a slot in the jig at the 45° position so there would be 8 equally spaced flutes on each handle. It was fast and worked great!:

[Mike Heidrick]

Awesome idea Allen, Submit that to Wood magazine or other publication. You will get paid for that one I bet.

[Frank Martin]

I made a little jig for my router table so I could add flutes to the handles of my older Besseys. After I cut the first flute, I inserted an index pin in a slot in the jig at the 45° position so there would be 8 equally spaced flutes on each handle. It was fast and worked great!:

This is the best idea I have seen. I have the Rockler
sleeves on mine but they sometimes slip. Never liked the tape idea. May give this one a try.

[John Sincerbeaux]

I put a couple of drops of 3-1 oil on the threads and that made a world of difference on mine. Also, a pair of "grips" gloves will give you a lot more grip for tightening.

I did exactly this yesterday with good results. ^^^^^^^^^

I turned the grub screws a bit but don't think that helped much?

I think I will try what Allen did. Great idea.

[Jim Matthews]

Why not drill a hole and glue in a bolt?

[John Gornall]

A fellow down the road asked me to help with a large bent lamination glue up - about 40 clamps. Some clamps so close it would be hard to grip the handles. He had removed all wooden handles and welded a nut in place. A couple of impact drivers with sockets on extensions made for a very smooth and panic free glue up. He does a lot of these and started using the drivers and a helper after he screwed one up a few years ago and wasted a lot of nice wood.

[Robert Engel]

I have both Besseys and Jets.

The Jets are my go to clamps because I like the release and the handles are "hands down" better than Bessey's.

I would try some bike handle grips or the grip gloves.

I read somewhere a guy put small lag bolts into end and uses impact driver to tighten. Think he had arthritis or something.

[Alan Schaffter]

You need to be careful putting a lag bolt in the handle- allows you to tighten (over-tighten?) for sure, but the bolt may back out when it is time to loosen the handle, so be sure to use a little epoxy. As was said earlier, if you need that much force, you may not have done a very good job jointing your edges in the first place.

I sent my handle modification tip to most of the usual suspects, none published it. I've had over 30 tips published, two in FWW, and of course there is the I-Box and Lock Miter Master, but adding flutes to Bessey handles didn't trip anyone's trigger.

[Clay Crocker]

I find myself searching ebay and craigslist for them to expand my stock of 24" and 40" clamps but so far to no avail.

Man, I find myself doing the same exact thing.....to no avail either!