Wetzler clamps... WOW

[Roger Benton]

I ordered these sight unseen, based on reviews and seeing them in use in books and magazines. I knew they would be beefy but jeez louise...
I ordered 4 clamps with a 7" throat depth, two 12" long and two 24". As you can see, they make my bessy tradesmans, k bodies, and jorgensen heavy duty f-clamps look like toys.

Apparently God did not create all acme thread equal because with these wetzlers it feels like i can just keep cranking and cranking until the pressure threatens to implode whatever it is I'm clamping. The bar dwarfs that of the k bodies and cabinet masters, it even looks beefier than the bar on my jorgensen 7200's. The castings are huge - super huge. The "footprint" of the fixed head is easily twice the surface area of the biggest heavy duty tradesman or jorgy f-style.

For anyone who has never used these, I have to say so far they are definitely worth the cost.



*No affiliation here whatsoever, just opinion. *

[Frank Drew]

For what they are, the Wetzlers are very serious clamps, but if I wanted to glue up a panel I'd grab some K body clamps.

[Keith Pitman]

I'm suprised your received the clamps. I have several that I bought years ago and I tried to order several more last year. Paid for them. After months of waiting, I tried to get in touch with them by phone and email with no response. I finally got my credit card company to reverse the charges. Poorest customer service I've experience in a long, long time.

[Ed Griner]

The best you can buy. Their strap clamps are really outstanding. Good Luck/Ed

[Roger Benton]

I'm suprised your received the clamps. I have several that I bought years ago and I tried to order several more last year. Paid for them. After months of waiting, I tried to get in touch with them by phone and email with no response. I finally got my credit card company to reverse the charges. Poorest customer service I've experience in a long, long time.

Keith,
Sorry to hear of your bad experience.
Their customer service is definitely wanting (apparently it gets REAL bad), but I think they may have changed their policies regarding when they actually charge a card. After I placed my order, I got an email confirmation. Week later, my card still hadn't been charged. I called, got someone with the local number (the 800 number never got picked up), they said they would check on the order and get back to me. They never did. Emailed them and they replied next day saying the order would be shipping two days hence, upon credit card acceptance. So basically, once the order was together and ready to ship, THEN they charged me, and once that transaction went through, they shipped. While I was initially waiting for the charge to appear in my account I started snooping around online for current mail order experiences with them and came across quite a few stories (like yours) of months late orders with no returned communication. I started stressing about it, but finally got an email back and they arrived when I was told they would. The part of my current project I wanted them for definitely came and went before they arrived, but after living with them for the last couple weeks, I know I will definitely be going back for more.

Searching "wetzler clamps" on this site produces this thread, http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=124134&highlight=wetzler+clamps
which deals with a few horror stories involving waiting months with no return communication but also explains that the clamps are mostly made to order and eventually, even months and months later, they do show up. Whatever the reason for the delays, they are great products and it is a shame that they are shooting themselves in the foot by mishandling so many customers.