On 10/10/2013 3:16 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 09 Oct 2013 16:45:43 -0500, Leon wrote:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lcb11211/10176896066/

I see your link has you showing the new style of Bessey's. Do you have
any of the old style to compare them to? Have you seen any great
benefit to the new style over the old ones? I've got the old style and
haven't bought any new ones.

Yes, I've seen the adverts, but I'd rather hear a practical opinion
from a real user.



I have used the old style Besseys, I have always preferred my Jorgensen
Cabinet Masters. My latest purchases have been the Revo Bessey's.

Currently in the K-body style clamps I have 10 Cabinet Masters with 10+
years of use, 7 Bessey clamps with about 4 years use, and 2 Jet clamps
with about 8 years use.


When the smoke clears I still prefer the Cabinet Masters for my money.

The new Besseys IMHO are smoother functioning than the older style, not
as crotchety. But still not as easy to use as the Cabinet Masters. The
Bessey clamps are now comparable to the Cabinet Masters in terms of the
size of the clamping surface. I am careful not to let glue drip on the
bars as I have heard that Bessey K bodies don't work well or as smoothly
with a contaminated bar. This for me has never been an issue with the
Cabinet Masters and I got a lot of glue on the bars before I learned
that it could be a issue with the Bessey clamps. The Bessey clamps are
not as tough as the Cabinet Masters. I don't like to admit this but I
on several occasions have dropped my clamps on a concrete floor.
Plastic chips break off of the Bessey clamps, I have not noticed any
thing damaged on the Cabinet Master housings. The moveable foot on the
Cabinet Masters is terrific if you are using clamps that are longer than
your work surface. The feet on the Bessey's are not adjustable and
useless on a smaller work surface.

The Jets look good on paper. In real use, by comparison to the Cabinet
Masters and the Besseys, are considerably more difficult to get a good
feel for how tight you are clamping. The clamp screw mechanism is
simply not as smooth as the other two brand clamps. And almost with out
fail the Jet clamps leave indentations on the stock, no they are not
being over tightened compared to the other two brands of clamps, the
plastic clamping surface is harder.

My experience is that the Cabinet Masters are built to take abuse and
still perform as expected. The Besseys need to be a bit pampered, the
Jets, for me, were a purchasing mistake, they are my last go to clamp in
my collection.