smorgasbord
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- Jan 7, 2022
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I was watching some YouTuber on panel clamps, which was mostly worthless, but he did mention that Bessey's have a lifetime warranty, which got me thinking about some of my old K-Bodies that have "deteriorated" over the decades.
TL;DR: Bessey Warranty service is great! Newer K-Bodies have some real advantages over the original.
Here's the long version.
I bought a variety of K-Body clamps in the early 1990s as I got more serious about woodworking and had bought a house to remodel. I used them for not just "normal" woodworking, but also for some heavy-duty construction things, and some other weird clamping things, and for some quick and dirty assemblies where things didn't fit perfectly and so I tightened down what most would consider "too hard."
As a result, four of my OG K-Body clamps were close to useless. These original K-Bodies are the ones made in Germany, with wood handles, non-removable plastic wrapping, and crimped bar ends to the lower jaws can't be removed.
View attachment 1
As you can see, I put wrenches on the handles' ferrules to get more clamping pressure. Today's clamps have a 6mm hex socket so you can do that without the outside damage.
What may be harder to see is that when the jaws are just touching, the handles angle way too close to the bar and there isn't much thread left to tighten. Something inside has bent/deformed. Before using I had to unscrew the handles just right so that I could move the lower jaw freely and then bash my knuckles to pivot the handle toward the bar and have enough thread to tighten before running out of thread.
I also have two 24" clamps and I don't honestly remember how these got damaged, but the result was that something in the jaw faces is pushed up, and so using these clamps results in impressions in my work.
View attachment 2
Anyway, I found the Bessey US Warranty Pageand submitted a warranty request. The page failed to load. Tried another browser and got the same error. So, I sent an email to the address on the page and got a response back in a few days.
They wanted some more photos, which I quickly supplied and they granted my request! I just received 6 brand new K-Body clamps yesterday!
Interestingly, the replacement 24" clamps are made in China while the 12" are made in the US. Can't tell much difference between them, but I haven't gone over them in detail yet.
I will say that in the 30 years since my OG K-Bodies, the clamps are gotten better. My OG versions have the jaw that slides on its own, the wood handles don't provide a good grip so they're harder to tighten, there is no foot at the other end of the bar to keep the clamp horizontal on a flat surface, the end is crimped so you can't remove the lower jaw, which means no reverse spreader and no way to extend by joining two clamps together. The newer clamp "KRE3" has a two part composite handle that provides both a better and larger grip, has the 6mm allen socket, has a more secure sliding mechanism (downside is you can't just loosen and slide, you have to pull the handle away from the bar), the jaw doesn't slide down on its own, the clamping pads are replaceable, and the total pressure rating is much higher. Since the jaws are removable, Bessey sells clamps to join two bars together to create one longer clamp - this would have saved me some serious money back in the day. I still have two 96" clamps that I use occasionally, but they're great to have when you need them. Finally, they come with plastic spacers to keep the work off of the bar itself.
I've read a lot of these improvements came from competitors coming out with K-Body clones and adding these new features, but good on Bessey for adopting them where they could.
When I get the time, I'm going to cut open the plastic around one of the clamps to see what the underlying structure is. I haven't seen anyone to that on any K-Body. And then I'm not quite sure what to do with the old clamps. The 24" are project ruiners, but maybe useful on some rough things? The 12" are usable, but a pain. It's not right for me to sell them, even As Is, since they're warrentied replaced. Maybe I'll figure out if someone local thinks they can use them and is willing to put up with the handle issues.
As you can imagine, I'm stoked that Bessey stood by their products, I'm somewhat ashamed that I probably relied on too much clamping pressure for some jobs, and hope my son will get some use out of these clamps in 30 years when I'm certainly at least no longer going to be strong enough to use them.
TL;DR: Bessey Warranty service is great! Newer K-Bodies have some real advantages over the original.
Here's the long version.
I bought a variety of K-Body clamps in the early 1990s as I got more serious about woodworking and had bought a house to remodel. I used them for not just "normal" woodworking, but also for some heavy-duty construction things, and some other weird clamping things, and for some quick and dirty assemblies where things didn't fit perfectly and so I tightened down what most would consider "too hard."
As a result, four of my OG K-Body clamps were close to useless. These original K-Bodies are the ones made in Germany, with wood handles, non-removable plastic wrapping, and crimped bar ends to the lower jaws can't be removed.
View attachment 1
As you can see, I put wrenches on the handles' ferrules to get more clamping pressure. Today's clamps have a 6mm hex socket so you can do that without the outside damage.
What may be harder to see is that when the jaws are just touching, the handles angle way too close to the bar and there isn't much thread left to tighten. Something inside has bent/deformed. Before using I had to unscrew the handles just right so that I could move the lower jaw freely and then bash my knuckles to pivot the handle toward the bar and have enough thread to tighten before running out of thread.
I also have two 24" clamps and I don't honestly remember how these got damaged, but the result was that something in the jaw faces is pushed up, and so using these clamps results in impressions in my work.
View attachment 2
Anyway, I found the Bessey US Warranty Pageand submitted a warranty request. The page failed to load. Tried another browser and got the same error. So, I sent an email to the address on the page and got a response back in a few days.
They wanted some more photos, which I quickly supplied and they granted my request! I just received 6 brand new K-Body clamps yesterday!
Interestingly, the replacement 24" clamps are made in China while the 12" are made in the US. Can't tell much difference between them, but I haven't gone over them in detail yet.
I will say that in the 30 years since my OG K-Bodies, the clamps are gotten better. My OG versions have the jaw that slides on its own, the wood handles don't provide a good grip so they're harder to tighten, there is no foot at the other end of the bar to keep the clamp horizontal on a flat surface, the end is crimped so you can't remove the lower jaw, which means no reverse spreader and no way to extend by joining two clamps together. The newer clamp "KRE3" has a two part composite handle that provides both a better and larger grip, has the 6mm allen socket, has a more secure sliding mechanism (downside is you can't just loosen and slide, you have to pull the handle away from the bar), the jaw doesn't slide down on its own, the clamping pads are replaceable, and the total pressure rating is much higher. Since the jaws are removable, Bessey sells clamps to join two bars together to create one longer clamp - this would have saved me some serious money back in the day. I still have two 96" clamps that I use occasionally, but they're great to have when you need them. Finally, they come with plastic spacers to keep the work off of the bar itself.
I've read a lot of these improvements came from competitors coming out with K-Body clones and adding these new features, but good on Bessey for adopting them where they could.
When I get the time, I'm going to cut open the plastic around one of the clamps to see what the underlying structure is. I haven't seen anyone to that on any K-Body. And then I'm not quite sure what to do with the old clamps. The 24" are project ruiners, but maybe useful on some rough things? The 12" are usable, but a pain. It's not right for me to sell them, even As Is, since they're warrentied replaced. Maybe I'll figure out if someone local thinks they can use them and is willing to put up with the handle issues.
As you can imagine, I'm stoked that Bessey stood by their products, I'm somewhat ashamed that I probably relied on too much clamping pressure for some jobs, and hope my son will get some use out of these clamps in 30 years when I'm certainly at least no longer going to be strong enough to use them.
