Long Bessey Clamps have been taking up too much valuable space. With the building of any new shop bench or cabinet comes opportunity so I looked at how to best utilise every inch of space. The pictures following show how the stretchers of the workbench will contain a 'secret' compartment. 10mm up from the base of the stretcher is a dado that runs the length of the bench. 60mm further up is the rebate where the shelf will sit (that is where the diagonal piece is). That 60mm gap is where the bessey clamps will slide into. A soft felt strip will absorb vibration and rattles whilst lifting the heads slightly to lean the clamps back into the bench.
The shelves shown are only offcuts and do not show the full width of the bench. Another 250mm should be between the legs to appreciate how much space is under there. I should be able to fit nearly 20 clamps in there, leaving the smaller clamps for storage elsewhere.
The last picture shows the blade setup used for cutting
the long dado. I haven't used it often but every time I do it saves a lot of time and does a nice cut.
