Bessey KliKlamp Review

by Dave Wright

I have lots of pairs of clamps.  Quick-Grips, bar clamps, pipe clamps, spring clamps, and so on.  Different versions of some from different manufacturers.  They all have their perfect uses but limitations.  The Quick-Grips are good one handed but you have to really work to get good clamping force, and workpieces tend to squirm beneath the large puffy pads.  Bar clamps apply strong force and have less tendency to make the workpiece squirm, but take 2 hands to set and sometimes dent the workpiece. Pipe clamps with pads are massively strong and stiff but are awkward to install and have very shallow jaws.  All of these options are heavy and large for their opening dimension.

Enter the Bessey KliKlamp.  Faced with seven Cub Scouts needing to simultaneously hold work in place I recently added a couple of the 8" ones to my collection.  The KliKlamps are exceptionally light and compact for their capacity.  Let's compare them to a close competitor, the 6" Quick-Grip:

The KliKlamp pad is large and soft enough to prevent denting workpieces, but small and stiff enough to avoid the squirming problem of Quick-Grip clamps.

The clamping mechanism has a lot of mechanical advantage but the clamp force is easy to feel and adjust to your needs.  This is because the mechanism has very little friction to dampen the feel of the action.

The KliKlamp has set a new standard.  It offers more capacity, less size and weight for easy jobsite carry, greater jaw depth, higher clamping force, and better mechanical advantage to make getting the clamping force easier.  All for the same price. I haven't had the KliKlamps long enough to say how their magnesium jaws hold up compared to the Quick-Grip plastic jaws.  The bar pin sheared on one of my four Quick-Grips after extensive shop use.

The KliKlamp can be set one-handed, but not so easily as the Quick-Grip.  That difference will keep my Quick-Grips around, but I'll be using the KliKlamps for most tasks.  The KliKlamps will certainly be my travel clamps on account of their size and weight.  Note that KliKlamps, and Quick-Grips, are "convenience" shop clamps.  They get heavy use holding workpieces, stops, and in light duty glue clamping situations.  You still typically have to reach for bar and pipe clamps when gluing.