Bessey Tradesman Clamp set

[ryan.s]

What do you guys think of this set of clamps from Amazon? There are a total of 30 clamps costing an average of $8.55 per clamp. Wondering if it's worth it or if I'm better off stocking up on the HF clamps which usually go on sale for 50% off?

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...X0DER&v=glance

[LarryG]

That's much too expensive. The same quantity of HF Pittsburgh clamps, bought on sale at half price, would cost around $90. (I don't think HF has a 30", so I substituted four more 36" instead.)

Of course you have to consider that the Bessey Tradesman is a better quality clamp, in terms of manufacturing QC and finish. On the other hand, they are "speed" clamps and lack the multi-plate clutch that the Pittsburghs have, so I'd call this one a wash. They are no doubt some people who prefer the free-sliding speed clamps but I think most folks find clamps with clutches a lot less aggravating to use during the sometimes frantic final stage of a glue-up.

One last related comment ... many of us find any brand of ordinary light-duty F-body clamp to be much too flexy in lengths above 24", and IMO even that size is marginal. For your longer clamps, you should be looking at something with a more rigid bar, such as the Jorgensen HD series, the Bessey K-Body or other parallel jaw clamp, aluminum or steel beam clamps, or even pipe clamps (using 3/4" pipe). If you have a Home Depot handy, go and compare the standard light-duty Jorgensens with the Jorgensen HD series. You'll immediately see the difference.

[messmaker]

The F style clamps are handy for most things but I don't care for them at all for them for panels or doors. I like these better.http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=38184

[ryan.s]

I agree I do love my k body's but I thought I would stock up on some heavy duty clamps which weren't as expensive as the parallel clamps. The only thing that drew me to the tradesman clamps were that the bars themselves were much thicker than the HF clamps. I guess you guys are right, for general clamping I think I'll stick with the HF clamps.

[LCHIEN]

I have a double handful of the Bessey trademan clamps in 4" length I keep by the bandsaw, drill press and table saw for holding things to the fence or miter clamp, like stop blocks or auxiliary fences, where thay can be attached with a clamp. The little shorty length and the "speed" slip feature (no clutch plate) allows me to use them comveniently for these.
I've paid $4.95 for them

Overall they are much better finish and fit than the HF "F" clamps with clutch plates. The rotating pad has a plastic cover so it doesn't mar the wood like the HF's do. Maybe the beam is thicker on the Besseys and don't bend as much but I can't tell on the short ones.

The bessey's have always been silky smooth in operation and some of my HF F clamps have been a bit balky, needed some working in to smooth them up.

Considering the HFs run about $3 for the short ones to $6 for the long ones, say an average $4.50 then the Besseys are about $4 more on average.

So once again you get what you pay for.
So if you want high quality clamps, these are pretty nice.
I think my situation where I got a bunch of the 6" to 36" HF-F's on sale for my "bulk" clamping and some short Besseys for frequent jig useage is probably a good compromise.

[Kristofor]

The rotating pad has a plastic cover so it doesn't mar the wood like the HF's do.

Do your HF clamps not have a cover on the round pad, or does the cover on yours mar the work? I don't have very many HF bar clamps, but I've found the softer rubber pads on the HF clamps seem to do no damage, but the harder plastic covers on some no-names from Menards do tend to mar somewhat.

[LCHIEN]

Do your HF clamps not have a cover on the round pad, or does the cover on yours mar the work? I don't have very many HF bar clamps, but I've found the softer rubber pads on the HF clamps seem to do no damage, but the harder plastic covers on some no-names from Menards do tend to mar somewhat.

The HF "F" clamps I've bought like I've bought before
don't have soft pads on the disk attached to the wood handle.
I find that they leave a round dent in the wood.
The other end (left side in the above picture) don't seem to be as bad.

[ryan.s]

The HF clamps I have have black rubber covers but they do leave a mark on the workpiece unlike the orange rubber covers on the jorgenson clamps.