You’re standing in your shop with a piece of cherry waiting to be glued up. Your clamps are out, but they has uneven jaws; one side is crushing your wood and other is hanging loose. That’s the exact kind of frustration that prompted Bessey to design there parallel clamp.
It’s not just marketing; it’s a mechanical solution to real problem. The problem with traditional bar clamps and F clamps is they tend to has moving jaws when tightened; it’s how they are designed. So there is tendency for those jaws to fight back and become skewed in relation to the stock you’re working with.
Comparing Bessey Parallel And Jorgensen Clamps
The Problem with Traditional Clamps
Bessey set out to make sure these clamp remained parallel to the work surface at all times. That’s not an easy thing to engineer, and it shows in design. In that light, we have another history to consider with Jorgensen name.
For decades, the name Jorgensen meant tough-as-nails heavy-duty bar clamps; they was powerful, durable tools. The lines is blurred between Bessey and Jorgensen these days due to the way they’re made. Knowing the backstory will help your buying choice today.
How Bessey Parallel Clamps Work
A Bessey parallel clamp feature a sliding jaw design, meaning as you rotate the handle the jaw actualy glides back and forth in a track rather than pivoting around stationary point. Pressure is then equally distributed and pressure face remains perpendicular to the bar. You will no longer struggle with a clamp to get it to seat your glue joint correctly.
The parallel design of this clamp is critical for clamping a large panel or wide board. It keeps stock parallel and you can really bear down on it without distorting the stock. Many think standard clamps are neutral.
They aren’t. Clamps will move stock around all the time and open up your glue lines or bow them out. Historically, Jorgensen clamps featured a huge screw and beefy metal bars to clamp things together.
Jorgensen Heritage and Heavy-Duty Clamps
These thing had a ton of holding power and could be used to clamp large structural beam or other heavy machine in place. When it came to brute force construction clamping, Jorgensen was your brand. The catch was that their jaws didn’t keep perfect parallel with each other, but their weight made up for that defect.
Bessey now owns much of the tool making capability that was part of the Jorgensen legacy. They now makes tools that bear there own names, whereas before they would of been Jorgensen style clamps. Those tools is still great, but there are multiple product line now which is why sometimes you’ll be comparing a Bessey parallel clamp to a Bessey non-parallel clamp that bears the heritage of Jorgensen.
When to Use Parallel Clamps
What works for you? For me, I use the Bessey parallel clamp if I’m working with cabinetry/furniture. It’s nearly impossible to beat it.
The even pressure make things go faster and there’s less cleanup. You don’t have to shim the jaws or add cauls to make a flat surface. That’s important when you’re in a rush to beat the open time of the glue.
Benefits of Traditional Bar Clamps
When it comes to heavier framing work or repair jobs in your shop, there’s still a place for traditional bar clamps. They’ll hold huge loads that would strip the threads from a finer parallel clamp. They can also take a beating.
Generally, their throat depth will be deeper and their jaw contact area smaller. That means reaching down into a stack of lumber becomes possible. So what happens?
Many woodworkers has both kinds of clamps. Bar clamps are used to hold things in place while you cut them, drill holes in them, or do whatever. Parallel clamps is used for joining things together.
It is not one or the other. It is a versatile arsenal. You need tools to handle different types of pressure based off your shop.
Price and Value Comparison
The other consideration is price. Because of the complexity involved in making a working mechanism like that, Bessey parallel clamps will typically come at a higher initial price. But if you save significant time on your glue-ups it might pay for itself.
It’s money spent on not being frustrated and getting precision. Old-fashioned clamps also cost less, but they take more finesse to work well. There’s no single best clamp; there’s just the clamp that gets the job done for your particular problem.
Choosing the Right Clamp for Your Project
The Bessey parallel design will be eye-opening if you’re having trouble keeping clamps even. Jorgensen is known for using big bars that require heavy effort. This will serve you well when you want to crank down and hold something in place without it jiggling around.
They both embody quality engineering but tackle the problem from very different angles. So what’s causing your current clamping pain? Is it lack of reach?
Are the jaws fighting for position? Find out, then select the tool that eliminates that roadblock. The result is stronger glue lines and straighter projects.
And isn’t that the true winner in this debate?