Bessey’s Maxis VarioPivot clamping system extends the versatility of your bar clamps by attaching them to your bench, somewhat like the previously covered VersaClamp.  It works best with Bessey’s K-Body Clamps, but they claim the system works with other bar or pipe clamps too.

The two C-clamp-like ends attach to your bench top and capture any length of bar clamp between them. The clamps fit into rotating holders which can lock the bar clamp at any angle between 0 to 270°.  The holders rest in an L-shaped track, which allows you to position the bar clamp along the side of the bench or over the work surface.

The Maxis VarioPivot Clamping system comes with the two c-clamp ends and runs about $50. You’ll need to provide your own bar clamp.

Bessey Tools [Corporate Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

It’s not slight of hand; it’s a magnet. Wave Bessey’s MagWand over your swarf (metal shavings and waste) and poof! It’s gone — well, at least from the work surface. Now it’s stuck to the MagWand.

This 22″ long magnetic wand attracts up to 12 lbs. of magnetic metal waste so you don’t have to pick it up by hand and risk cutting yourself. You can wave or roll the wand over your work surfaces. To dispose of the waste, pull back the sliding magnetic insert and the waste will fall into the scrap bin.

You’ll pay somewhere in the $30 to $45 range for Bessey’s MagWand. Has anyone tried a less-expensive homebrew model?

MagWand [Bessey Tools]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

Ron’s Home and Hardware is selling this Bessey Ratchet Strap Clamp for $4.19.  It’ll clamp all manner of work, with or without the supplied corner pieces.

Bessey Ratchet Strap Clamp [Ron's Home and Hardware]
Street Pricing [Google]

OxArc is selling the Bessey WMS-3 Compact Magnetic Square for $5.  With 55 lbs of pull, it’ll work for a variety of setups when welding — at this price there’s no reason to suffer with a cheap import when you can get a US-made one.

Bessey Compact Magnetic Square [OxArc]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

If you’re building fine furniture, you probably won’t want Bessey’s timber framing clamp — unless you’re really into the distressed look.  See, in place of a fixed jaw these clamps have a spike you drive into the wood.  They’re definitely meant for framing applications where a few gashes won’t be noticed.

You drive the point into a timber by striking the anvil with a hammer.  The flared depth-stop makes sure you set the appropriate depth and also makes the point easy to remove with a claw hammer.  You can then tighten the clamp, with either the high-strength tommy bar or a wrench on the hex bolt if you really need to apply the screws.

Bessey makes the clamp with a 4-3/4″ deep throat and a 24″ clamping capacity.  The sturdy components — rolled, work-hardened, ACME threaded spindle; drop-forged steel jaws; and cold-drawn galvanized rail — allow you to apply up to 2,660 pounds of clamping force.  A swivel-mounted pressure plate tilts up to 35° to accommodate standard framing angles.

One timber framing clamp will cost you about $70 to $80.

Timber Framing Clamp [Bessey]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

If you thought one adjustable jaw on a spring clamp was good, does that mean two are better?  Bessey must think so because they’re introducing a spring clamp in the VarioClippix line with two adjustable jaws.

The second sliding arm on the XV5-170 extends the VarioClippix’s capacity from 4″ to 6-1/2″, with a 2″ throat depth.  Despite its large jaw capacity you can still operate the clamp with one hand.  The comfortable dual-component handles give you a firm grip, and the soft-touch swivel jaw pads won’t damage your workpiece.

The single-adjustable-jaw VarioClippix runs from $7 to $10 — we expect the double-jawed VarioClippix will be in the same ballpark.

VarioClippix [Bessey]
Double-Jaw VarioClippix (PDF) [Bessey]

If you need to clamp something in a hard-to-reach place, Bessey’s got your back with their Clippix needle-nose spring clamps.  The clamp’s long, tapered nose reaches into deep or confined spaces, and the soft-touch pads provide a firm grip without marring the workpiece.

Bessey imports two Clippix XCL needle-nose spring clamps into the US.  The 2″-clamping-capacity clamp measures 4″ long with a 1/4″ wide nose and a 2″ throat depth.   The 3″-capacity clamp measures 8-1/2″ long with a 3/8″ nose and a 4″ throat depth.  Bessey gives this model ergonomic dual-component handles for a firm grip.

The only pricing we could find was at Hartville Tool — they’re selling the 2″-capacity clamp for $4 and the 3″-capacity clamp for $5.

Clippix XCL Flyer(PDF) [Bessey]
Clippix Needle Nose Clamp [Hartville Tool]

Often times a vice just doesn’t cut it when you’re trying to machine an odd-shaped piece.  If you’ve got T-slots in your table, you have a lot more options — for instance, you could slide in Bessey’s RiteHite hold-downs.

Manufactured with a strong ductile iron body, these hold-downs are pretty hefty — the smallest model weighs half a pound.  The swivel rocker attaches to the hold-down body, so there are no small pieces to lose.  The rocker allows you to position the hold-down quickly, with no shims.  You just need to provide the T-nuts and the studs.

Bessey sells two different types of RiteHite hold-downs: long-reach and short-reach.  The short-reach hold-downs are made for closer setups and feature a higher load limit, compared to the similar sized long-reach hold-downs.  Some of these hold-downs can clamp up to 5″ inches and handle loads up to 80,000 pounds.  For the full product line, check out the link to Bessey’s product page at the bottom of the post.

These aren’t cheap, but then again, any halfway-decent machinists equipment isn’t.  A single RiteHite hold-down starts at $35.

RiteHite Hold-Downs [Bessey]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

This neat little accessory from Bessey turns a bar clamp into an edge clamp, and it’s cheaper than buying one of their standalone edge clamps.  You can even perform operations that you could never do with a standalone edge clamp, like clamp pieces off-center or attach multiple edge clamps to a single bar to distribute the force on wider pieces.

Made in Germany, Bessey’s single-spindle edge-clamp add-on secures to the bar of most bar clamps with a T-knob.  Street pricing starts at $8.

Edge Clamps [Bessey]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Riddle time: What do you get when you cross a set of vice-grips with a clamp?  Answer: A clamp that strips the hell out of your workpiece — well, maybe if you don’t use the optional protective pads.  But no, you get a kick-ass fast-action clamp with a throat depth of 2-1/2″ that can provide 660 lbs of clamping force.

Not only can Bessey’s SuperGrips supply a lot of force, they can repeatedly deliver the same amount of force. You control the clamping pressure with a set screw and lock nut, so squeezing the handles together only locks the jaws. To clamp tampered objects you can change the jaw angle up to seven degrees by adjusting a second screw and lock nut on the end of the handles.

The upper jaw slides on a cold-drawn, profiled steel rail, and a special recess machined into the lower jaw allows it to hold round stock. Bessey makes the jaws from hardened chrome-vanadium steel, but if you need to protect the finish of your work you can slip protective pads over the serrated jaws. As a final touch, they nickel-plate all metal surfaces.

The SuperGrips come with jaws that open either 4″ or 8″ wide, and Bessey sells them with or without protective pads.  Expect to pay anywhere from $50 to $75 for a pair.

SuperGrips [Bessey]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
4″ Jaw Via Amazon(B000JLSMXM) [What’s This?] [What's This?]
8″ Jaw Via Amazon(B0002FSISY) [What’s This?] [What's This?]

Woodcraft is having what they dub a “blowout” on Bessey clamps. Sunday car-sales pitches aside, they’re knocking about ten bucks off the larger Bessey clamps they have in stock, like 24” and 40” K-body clamps.

The clamps feature steel jaws and a non-marring, glue-resistant casing. It’s a “while supplies last” type of thing, so either they’re trying to get rid of overstock or Bessey is coming out with a new model soon and they don’t want these hanging around taking up space. Either way you can save a few bucks on some big clamps and add to the collection in the shop.

Bessey K-Body Clamps Sale [Woodcraft]

The Bessey WS angle clamps differ quite a bit from your standard corner clamps. They’re designed to hold, fix, and align material at a 90° angle, and they adjust to variations in wood thickness. They also feature a slot in the clamp, so you can drive fasteners in the joint while the glue’s drying, without the entire piece shifting.

They look pretty handy for furniture assembly and framing, plus they’re pretty small so you can throw them in a drawer or toolbox when they aren’t needed. We can definitely see ourselves taking advantage of the added slot in the clamp. If you think you need these, you might have to hurry, though — we’ve heard a rumor that Bessey’s going to discontinue them soon.

WS Angle Clamp [Coastal Tool]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What's This?]

Bessey’s irregular angle clamp solves one of the most frustrating problems in building staircases: clamping two pieces of wood together when they’re not joined at a 90-degree angle.  Standard bar clamps either can’t get a grip (or will mar the finish), and strap clamps don’t hold well enough.  But the Bessey’s ball-and-socket clamping surface adjusts from 15 to 180 degrees to hold perfectly.

The system consists of two spearate clamps — one to grab onto the angled piece and another to hold the square piece and pull the two together.  Here’s how it works: first secure the smaller clamp (on the ball and socket end) to the angled piece, then position the large bar clamps by hand to bring the two work pieces together.  Finally, tighten the clamp’s screw to firmly clamp the two in place.

Besides staircases railings — which almost by definition involve odd angles — we’d imagine this would work well furniture work, too.

Street pricing starts at $40.

Irregular Angle Clamp [Bessey]
Street Pricing [Google Product Search]
Via Amazon [What's This?]

I love the “compactness” of folding lockback utility knives — I’ve been carrying a Superknife model for some time now — but they’re often missing one feature common on standard utility knives: spare blade storage.  Luckily, a number of manufacturers offer blade storage without overly enlarging the knife, including clamp-maker Bessey.  Yep, we were surprised, too.

The model pictured is Bessey’s “DBKPH quick-change” model.  The “quick-change” in the name refers to the fact that you can swap blades without a screwdriver, which totally makes sense in a compact knife that you’re likely to carry in places where tools aren’t handy.  There’s a belt clip — which we hope is removable for the non-Batman crowd – and it accepts standard utility blades, five of which you can carry in the handle as replacements.

Two things to remember with these folding utility knives, however: first, since you can’t extend only a tiny bit of the blade, it’s easy to cut the living crap out of yourself with ‘em.  So be careful.  Second, do not under any circumstances take this to the airport.  If you show up with a standard, small pocket knife, the screeners are quite understanding, though you’re going to have to give it up or mail it back to yourself.  If you show up with one of these, you’re going to get some attention you don’t want.

Street pricing starts around $13, and there’s a version with a wood-grain handle available in the same price range if that’s your taste. 

Note: Sorry for no manufacturer link.  We can’t find this on Bessey’s site — which I suppose excuses our suprise in finding it in their product line. 

Street Pricing [Froogle]
Via Amazon [What's this?]

Bessey claims these are “America’s favorite woodworking clamp,” and indeed we have seen a number of these clamps appear on various woodworking shows.  We don’t have any personal experience with them (yet), but they look pretty slick  Their large, flat jaws are encased in “super-polyamid” — a plastic-like material that’s supposedly non-marring and glue resistant, yet strong enough to prove durable.  A cold-drawn, profiled steel rail makes holds those jaws together, and a set-screw-based locking system locks them down.

Bessey also claims their “ergonomically-designed” (read: comfortable) wood handle lets you crank in up to 1,000 lbs. of clamping force — about double what you get with most “quick” trigger clamps.  Though no bar clamp’ll ever match the speed and “handiness” factor of trigger clamps, Bessey does try to speed up the clamping process with over-sized threads.  Remember, larger threads equal less turns.

K Body clamps are available in a wide variety of sizes (up to 60″ or more), and you can never have enough large clamps around the shop.  Street pricing varies drastically with size, but starts around $31.

K Body Woodworking Bar Clamps [Bessey]

Bessey also notes that unlike other spring clamps, the VarioClippix can clamp with varying force; By setting the jaw opening larger than the item to be clamped, you reduce the clamping force.

The VarioClippix has soft jaws to avoid marring your clamped object, and soft handles to go easier on your hands.  Street pricing starts around $10 for individual clips, and we found some 8-piece sets via Froogle for around $50.

The VarioClippix [Bessey Tools North America]
Street Pricing [Froogle]

The most common tool used in those cases is a C-clamp, but it stinks to wear out your arm cranking (and cranking and cranking) to get one set for your needs.  Bessey’s clamp, however, features a slidingarm that lets you quickly position it close to the size you need, then crank to provide gripping force.  They claim it’s “9 times faster than a C-clamp,” and we’d tend to agree.

Bessey’s clamps are drop-forged and electro-galvanized for durability and feature a heat-treated, high carbon threaded screw to resist welding splatter.  They come in medium-duty, regular-duty, and extra-heavy-duty flavors ranging in size from 8″ to 60″ (nominal opening) and can be found on the street for between $15 and $300.

Heat Treated Steel Sliding Arm Clamp [Bessey]
Street Pricing [Froogle]