Well all, I went out and took the inexpensive (cheap) way and bought
pipe clamps. I bought Pony clamps and will be picking up the pipes
tomorrow. It seemed that being able to change size is a big benefit.
Since I am starting I hope pipes will do fine. Also, the Ponys have a
clamp with a 2 1/2 inch reach. Just for the hell of it I bought pair of
1-3/4-inch clamps. Guess I'll learn by mistake.

thanks for all the input. I learned a lot.

cheers

coltrane


Coltrane wrote:
I am looking for clamps that are at least are between 40" and 48".
I am just starting to get into wood working and I am starting with some
cabinets and tables. I want to get quality clamps that will last but I
don't want to get the "rolls royce" of clamps.

I have only seen Jorgensen Cabinet Master which can be found in 48".
Bessey has 3 different options the Tradesmen medium Duty goes to 40",
the Tradesmem Heavy Duty goes all the way to 90 with a 4.5 throat.
The last Bessey option is K Body clamp which has widths all the way to
98".

Can someone give me some input regarding these clamps or recomend
others.


If you have enough money to buy about 6-8 (or more) Bessey K bodies,
I'd do that (Although I don't know how big your table will be). If you
have patience, you can get them on sale for $20-25 each for the 24"
ones (shipped).

If you get tired of woodworking, you can ebay the Besseys easily and
recoup your money if you bought them on sale.

I started with pipe clamps, and got about 50 of them before I started
buying Besseys. The only time I use a pipe clamp is for extremely long
jobs or if I have to put an extreme amount of pressure on that (I can
crank down a pipe clamp harder).. Both cases are very rare.
The pipe clamps are so infrequently used, that I moved them out of the
shop and into the "junk" area of the basement.