Jet or Irwin parallel clamp better than Bessey?

[Michael Marcinelli]

Hello all. I'm about to buy a bunch of new parallel clamps for my new shop and in doing research it seems that Bessey is not longer king of the parallel jaw clamp. Now Jet or Irwin seem to be the better clamp. I saw Irwin and Bessey together at Rockler and Irwin seems sturdier. The bar is stronger. The pad is larger. I've heard very good things about the Jet, too.

Anyone have experience with Jet or Irwin? Any thoughts?

Thx.
Michael

[Dave Falkenstein]

Wood Magazine tested parallel clamps in the September 2007 issue. Jet won Top Tool and Woodcraft won Top Value. Irwin was not available at the time, and was not included in the test. I'd trust the Jet brand name over Irwin any day - but that's just me and my humble opinion.

I have a bunch of Bessey clamps, and like them. I wonder if the new brands are as heavy as the Bessey clamps - they sure are heavy, which is not necessarily an advantage.

[mike holden]

I have a lot of Bessey's, tried a couple jets - I will be buying jets by preference, although no complaints with the Bessey's, but jets are slightly cheaper and have both the scale and a better handle and the pins that fit in bench dog holes and the quick release. In actual clamping they are indistinguishable from Bessey (or Jorgensen for that matter)
Mike

[Bill Wyko]

I have several of the JETs and I love em'.

[Russell Tribby]

I love the JET's. Easy to use and extremely functional. The scale on the bar may not seem like a big deal but it comes in handy.

[Al Willits]

I have both the Jessy and Jet, my Jessy's are the lift the handle to slide style and I found sometimes when in a akward posistion I have trouble getting them to lock, not so with the Jet with their lift the lever method.


The jets seem to be of a better/heavier quality also..seems like it anyway.

Al

[SCOTT ANDREWS]

another vote for the Jets

[frank shic]

i have a couple of besseys and after several of them opened up and slammed into my thumbs i was wishing that i had the jet version!

[Bill Huber]

Here is a thread you may want to take a look at.

I have long 2 Besseys and 2 long Jessys I only use the Besseys when I have to and the Jessys are really well made much better then the Besseys IMHO.
I can't comment on the Jets, sorry.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=58788

[Bruce Page]

What the heck is a Jessy?

I have never used the Jet or Jorgeys so I can’t compare them.

My Bessy’s have never let me down.

[Steve Rowe]

I have Jet, Bessey, and Gross Stabil clamps hanging on the wall. The first one I reach for is the Jet. All clamp very well but I really like the handle on the Jet best. I haven't used the Irwin.
Steve

[Craig D Peltier]

I have 4 jets only but love them.There so pricey, I guess any of those are.

[Will Blick]

Assuming you are buying parallel clamps.....

The Jets have the ruler feature (some find it useful), nice grip and work well with 3/4" dog holes in your workbench (unique to the Jets), and ~ 1" longer jaw, sometimes useful. Price is high, unless you catch'em on big sale, less frequent than the K Bodies.... Overall, the Jets are good, but not great at clamping force. It feels like they are getting tight, but they are not quite as "tighten friendly" as the Besseys and Stanleys.


Bessey's.... The new handled Bessey K bodies will be a real treat, it overcomes the biggest weakness the K Body had. I have tested many of these clamps with a pressure gage, clearly the Bessey and the Stanley Baileys are the best for ease of attaining 1000 lbs of pressure. I would not buy the wood handle K bodies, since the new angled rubber handled K bodies should be shipping real soon. K bodies have one other advantage, they can be joined together with a K Body Extender ($13), to increase the length of the clamp. Unless you only use one size clamp, this greatly increases the range of clamping options you have... joining two 48" clamps will get ya an 8ft clamp! If you can utilize this jointing feature of the K bodies, they are the best choice IMO.

Stanley Baily Parallel clamps.... Superb.... Yep, if the Stanleys had Extenders like the K Bodies, they would dominate my workshop. Perfect grip, rock solid, and produces 1200 lbs of force with ease. Since they don't join, I use them in the 12 - 18" range only. Amazon is running special on them, about $26 each, buy 4, pay for 3, a great deal.... The Stanley doesn't have the dog feet feature of the Jets.

Jorgies.... solid clamp, but IMO, lacks some of the desirable features of the others above.

In the end, people usually buy whats on sale. All the ones you are looking at are solid performers, you probably won't be unhappy with any of them.... unless certain features appeal to you..... hope these tips help....

[David Weaver]

Wood Magazine tested parallel clamps in the September 2007 issue. Jet won Top Tool and Woodcraft won Top Value. Irwin was not available at the time, and was not included in the test. I'd trust the Jet brand name over Irwin any day - but that's just me and my humble opinion.

I have a bunch of Bessey clamps, and like them. I wonder if the new brands are as heavy as the Bessey clamps - they sure are heavy, which is not necessarily an advantage.

The new brands are larger and heavier - their jaws are a little deeper.

I might be clinging to old habits (and none of my habits are that old), but I like the Bessey clamps better than the Jets simply because they're the right size (i.e., when clamping medium sized items, the smaller size of the bessey clamps is more pleasant to deal with) and they operate a little more smoothly once you get used to operating them (i.e., which way to yank the handle before you start screwing so you don't just run out of thread without the clamps tightening).

It's nice to have some of everything. So far, I probably have 15 bessey K body clamps and 15 jet clamps. I don't like the fact that the jet clamps are nearly as expensive as the bessey clamps and the jets are made in china. Again, that might just be me, but they should be cheaper than they are based on where they're made and what they're made of.

[Lance Norris]

Bessey's.... K bodies have one other advantage, they can be joined together with a K Body Extender ($13), to increase the length of the clamp. Unless you only use one size clamp, this greatly increases the range of clamping options you have... joining two 48" clamps will get ya an 8ft clamp! If you can utilize this jointing feature of the K bodies, they are the best choice IMO.

The Jet parallel clamp works with the Bessey K-Body Extender. Here are links to two threads I started. I only have Jet parallel clamps, but have used most of the other brands. I think that the Jet is by far the best clamp. Some of the other clamps may have more clamping pressure, but the Jets have more than enough clamping power for any glue up. If you cant bring your joints together with the Jets, you did something wrong.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=67765
http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB8&Number=3320241&Forum=,,All_Forums,,&Words=&Searchpage=1&Limit=25&Main=3312345&Search=true&where=&Name=45765&daterange=&newerval=&newertype=&olderval=&oldertype=&bodyprev=#Post3320241

[Bob Genovesi]

I'm really amazed that I haven't even heard of these.

I must have close to 20 Bessy clamps. I bought them in sets of 2 or 4 varying their lengths. They work very well and I rely on them for their accuracy and parallelism.

I just Googled them and took a look, I might have to bet a couple and give them a try.

Thanks for the information.

[Will Blick]

> If you cant bring your joints together with the Jets, you did something wrong.


Agreed.... the differences are small, but then again, when you are choosing between products that are so well made, you are down to fine details. Its nice that we have such great options for clamps.

The Jet clamps really benefit from adding some oil to their threads, as they seem to be the only clamp that comes dry from the factory. I increased clamp pressure 300 lbs by adding oil to all my Jets. My Besseys remained unchanged, as they were all well lubricated at the factory.

I will have to test the Bessey extenders with the jets, I think the two bar profiles are different enough whereas you will not achieve a great fit using the Xtenders on the Jets....of course, you can get it to fit as the link you provided demonstrates.

To the OP.... I would say the Jets have the most features of any of the parallel clamps... dog use, scales, finger QR, deepest jaws, nice grip (not equal to the Stanley and probably the new Besseys as they are rubber)....and if the Xtenders work, well, its a slam dunk :-). But, when those features are not that important, the much lower weight of the Bessys sure is nice!

[glenn bradley]

The Jets have some nice features and are a quality clamp but the weight of the Bessys is a deciding factor for me. It is all a matter of personal preference and methods of work when you are comparing quality products. Having worked with the Bessys for awhile the sliding mechanism is a non-issue for me but the finger trigger on the Jets is well designed / made. It comes down to what is important to you. I don't think there is a best or better classification here.

[Greg Pavlov]

The Jets have some nice features and are a quality clamp but the weight of the Bessys is a deciding factor for me......

Same here: I tend to use the Bessys when I need shorter clamps. They're lighter, and I like the smaller overall size of the heads, they're easier to position. I have several longer Jets, and I tend to use them over the Bessys when I need longer ones.

[Jerry Olexa]

All good valid points above. I have Bessys, Jorgies and Jets. The Jets are heavier but the trigger mechanism is a treat compared to my old Bessys. Overall, I give a slight edge to the Jets. They also work very well being compatible with my bench holes/setup when doing larger panels, etc

[Dixon Peer]

Too bad Bessey bought Gross Stabil and took them off the market, because they were, in my opinion, far superior.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Why do they call them a "Parallel Clamp" When they are not?

This is a parallel clamp. It can be wood or metal it's got two screws each with a right and left hand thread that allow the user to adjust the clamp so the pressure is dead parallel.

77139

anything else using that descriptor is falsely named.

Call me a clamp snob or a purist or whatever.

[Gary Keedwell]

Why do they call them a "Parallel Clamp" When they are not?

This is a parallel clamp. It can be wood or metal it's got two screws each with a right and left hand thread that allow the user to adjust the clamp so the pressure is dead parallel.

77139

anything else using that descriptor is falsely named.

Call me a clamp snob or a purist or whatever.
http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x286/jc623/cigar.gif http://www.woodworkslive.com/Smileys/default/evil.gif Whatever.......

[jonathan snyder]

The jets are also on Sale (http://woodworking.jettools.com/Media.aspx?nav=Promotions) through the end of the month. Click on the flyer cover to download the PDF sale catalog. I just ordered a few through my local distributor.

Jonathan

[Lee Hingle]

Too bad Bessey bought Gross Stabil and took them off the market, because they were, in my opinion, far superior.

Truer words were never spoken! I wondered what happened to them - I hadn't realized Bessey bought them out.

[Lee Hingle]

I have Bessey's, Jet's, and Gross Stabil's - I can't comment on the Stanley or Jorgensen clamps.

I think hands down the Gross Stabil's are best - but they are hard to find and expensive if you can find them.

The major problem I have with the Jet's (beside the weight) is that the heads are canted in slightly (1 degree to 3 degrees based on the length). Jet did this to allow the heads to become parallel under full clamping pressure (when the bar is bowed). However, I find that when clamping a face frame, that the plastic heads will actually dent the wood slightly.

I traded my 4 Jet's to a fellow woodworker for Bessey's.

Just my $.02

[Gary Muto]

I already had Bessey's and Jorgies when I bought my first Jets. I like them all, but if I was starting without any, I'd probably buy the Jets. I really like the bench dog attachment.

[Tim Malyszko]

I have both Jets and Besseys and started to buy the Jets exclusively since about April. I find myself always reaching for the Jets mainly because of the way they lock in place, so I stopped buying Besseys. I cannot tell you the number of fingers I've smashed using Besseys.

Every once in a while, Rockler has a tremendous deal on the Jet Cabinet Sets and Pairs of Clamps. Over the summer I picked up 2 sets of the Jet Cabinet Clamps and received a $50 gift card for around $200, which came out to less than $25/clamp. In addition, I've purchased 2 50" and 2 24" clamps there before for $50 on special. They are ususally in-store only deals, so if you have a Rockler near you, keep your eyes open.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, Rockler also had the Irwin Clamps on sale, but I did not buy any even though they were a great deal.

[Brian Dormer]

I have Jet and love 'em.

[Jules Dominguez]

I bought a large number of Besseys about a year or so ago when they were on sale, mostly based on the raves I had read on this website about them. The Besseys are sturdy and do a good job. I've never felt that I couldn't get adequate clamping pressure with them, and they hold things square. So they work and will do the job.
They can also be a major pain in the butt to use when the handles are not in a convenient position for tightening. If I were buying now, I'd get the Jets.