Stekol Parallel Clamps

[Austin_Turner]

I bought 4 x 50" and 4 x 24" Stekol clamps from david_bidding on ebay australia (they are the same as the Jet ones sold in the US). He is based in southern NSW, but he has a number of places around sydney where you can pick them up free of charge if you are nearby or I think he can ship them as he also shipped me a dust collection cyclone.

I had been using cheap square aluminum pipe type clamps from carbatec and steel ones from mitre 10 and I have to say the difference with parallel clamps is great. They keep the piece properly and firmly aligned, they have big non-marking surfaces, quick release levers and easy to tighten handles. If you want to see how useful they are, just see how the american guys love them.

Service was great too, I had a problem with a couple of the 50" clamps, the fixed end on three of them was out of perpendicular by about a degree or so. David responded straight away and offered a swap or return and refund if I wasn't happy. I swapped the clamps and now I'm very happy with my purchase. Getting this kind of service off ebay is nice to see.

If you haven't used parallel clamps, I would recommend considering them. Next stop, frontline clamps for panels I guess

[Austin_Turner]

By the way I'm pretty sure David's username on here is aldav if you wanted to contact him.

[derekcohen]

I've seen these advertised on eBay (Oz) and thought them very overpriced. The Bessey original K-clamps (which I use and are the Industry standard) are available at Carba-tec for considerably less!

For example: Bessey 600mm at Carba-tec: $68
Bessry 1250mm at Carba-tec: $98

Link: http://www.carbatec.com.au/bessey-k-body-clamps_c8520

Stekol 610mm on eBay: $110
Stekol 1270mm on eBay: $140

Link: http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_o...lamps&_sacat=0

The Bessey are excellent, and I could not recommend a copy of the Jet at about 60% higher.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Pac man]

Derek the prices on eBay are for a pair.

Some time back Masters had the Besseys as cheap as the Stekols. I bought the Besseys.

[Austin_Turner]

Derek the prices on eBay are for a pair.

Some time back Masters had the Besseys as cheap as the Stekols. I bought the Besseys.

Thanks Pac Man,

The lower price of them is what attracted me, I haven't used the Bessey clamps, but my thoughts are just that having this style of clamp is worthwhile and someone with knowledge of both brands could do a comparison.

[derekcohen]

Derek the prices on eBay are for a pair.

Some time back Masters had the Besseys as cheap as the Stekols. I bought the Besseys.

Ah so! Quite right!

They look a decent price then.

Anyone used them alongside the Bessey?

Regards from Perth

Derek

[NCArcher]

I have Jet and Bessey and I prefer the Jet by a large margin. I can't comment on the quality of the Stekol but I really only take the Besseys out of the rack when I have used all the Jets. If I needed more clamps (I know, silly statement ) and I actually had money I would buy the Stekols.

[aldav]

Thanks for the review Austin. I'm sorry you had to go to the trouble of exchanging the ones you weren't happy with. I was mortified when you sent the picture of that very badly acutely misaligned fixed jaw. I had checked and repackaged most of the clamps to freight and found only the one problem that I mentioned to you, but of course there had to be a problem with one I earmarked for local pickup and hadn't checked!

Like NCArcher I also have some Besseys and, also like him, I much prefer the Stekol/Jet clamps. Setup is so much easier and the sliding jaw stays where you put it regardless of clamp orientation, no more pinched fingers and awkward final adjustments while trying to tighten. It's no wonder that the Jets consistently come out on top in any clamp comparison. Most of the negative comment on the net about Jet clamps is on Amazon and is due solely to them sending out clamps (multiple times apparently) in the original packaging. Any clamps that I send via freight/post are repackaged, the original boxes are simply not adequate without additional bracing/strengthening.

Derek, the Stekols are NOT A COPY of the Jet. They are made in the same factory and are identical except for the sticker on the end of the fixed jaw. I could have bought them branded 'Jet' but chose not to because of potential problems with trademark infringement. So you get a sticker with an inane company slogan on it like 'Tool Improving Life'. Still that's better than another company I've dealt with whose motto is 'Innovation Through Death'. Not sure how that works but I have to have a chuckle every time I think about it.

All parallel jaw clamps are made in China/Taiwan (don't kid yourself that Besseys are made in Germany) and as the A$ goes down against the US$ they are only going to get dearer (Besseys have gone up 15% or more in the past few years). Prices on current stock, regardless of brand, are as good as it's going to get for the foreseeable future.

David

[derekcohen]

Thanks David

The Jet (Stekol) clamps have an excellent reputation. I'd be very interested in buying a couple of the 24" from you if the shipping to Perth was reasonable. PM me with postage for 4 (2 pairs).

Regards from Perth

Derek

[shanesmith80]

I do have both the stekol and Bessey clamps. I find them both as good as each other with the only difference being the quick release lever, which can be very convenient. Although it does get a bit sticky at times, but I have put this down to infrequent use. I would certainly buy some more.

[aldav]

Shane, did I sell these to you? If so it was remiss of me to have not alerted you to 'the trick'.
When moving the jaw - pull the trigger and tilt the top of the jaw away from the direction of travel. So if closing the clamp tilt the top of the moving jaw towards the rear of the clamp. Conversely if opening the clamp tilt the top of the moving jaw towards the fixed jaw. Hope this helps.
David

[Yanis]

It looks like aldav has gone to a different clamp style now. Still a pretty good price though.

http://stores.ebay.com.au/Aldavs-Sto...&_sid=58699713

[Chris Parks]

I bought a number of these clamps from Dave and they compare very favourably to my Jets, a different operating mechanism in the sliding head but they work just as well. I would recommend them as good value to anyone who is thinking of buying some.

[aldav]

Hi Yanis,

Yes the Stekol (Jet) clamps just got too expensive as the A$ dropped against the US$. I'd hate to think what they would cost now. That's what prompted me to look around for an alternative. Once I got the samples of the Parallel Action Clamps I could tell immediately that they were a good thing. I've sold quite a lot of sets of them to forum members. Apart from the comments from Chris Parks above (thanks Chris, glad you're happy with them) there are also a few comments from other members in this thread - https://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=197120

Although the special I was running on the Parallel Action Clamps for forum members has expired they continue to be available at a discount to the Ebay price for forum members who contact me direct by PM. See here - https://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=197448 I reckon this forum is a wonderful resource for woodworkers and regularly introduce people to it who buy from me through Ebay.

Cheers,
David

[Yanis]

Dave,
Thanks for the info. Hardly a week goes by when I don't use the clamps and/or the diamond plate I got from you.

Thanks
John