A clamping assembly for clamping one or more knife elements onto a woodworking machine, said clamping assembly comprising: a first clamping component comprising a body, said body being sized and shaped to have three discrete contact positions distributed on said body, said three discrete contact positions comprising a fulcrum located generally at one end, a knife abutting portion located generally at the other end for abutting said one or more knife elements, and a bearing surface located elsewhere; an actuator (110, 118) for applying a clamping force to said body along a clamping axis located intermediate of said knife abutting portion and said fulcrum; a second clamping component; said fulcrum being formed as a substantially planar surface wherein a line normal to said fulcrum is at an angle to said clamping axis; said bearing surface being formed as a substantially planar surface positioned on said first body wherein a line normal to said bearing surface intersects said line normal to said fulcrum at a position outside of said clamping component at a location farther askew of said clamping axis than said fulcrum; said knife abutting portion is positioned askew of said clamping axis; said bearing surface is positioned away from said fulcrum, and on the same side of a dividing plane as said knife abutting portion, the dividing plane being perpendicular to said clamping axis, and passing through said fulcrum; said line normal to said bearing surface and said line normal to said fulcrum form an angle of 70 degrees or less; and said bearing surface abuts said second clamping component, characterized in that said line normal to said bearing surface is substantially perpendicular to said clamping axis. a first clamping component comprising a body, said body being sized and shaped to have three discrete contact positions distributed on said body, said three discrete contact positions comprising a fulcrum located generally at one end, a knife abutting portion located generally at the other end for abutting said one or more knife elements, and a bearing surface located elsewhere; an actuator (110, 118) for applying a clamping force to said body along a clamping axis located intermediate of said knife abutting portion and said fulcrum; a second clamping component; said fulcrum being formed as a substantially planar surface wherein a line normal to said fulcrum is at an angle to said clamping axis; said bearing surface being formed as a substantially planar surface positioned on said first body wherein a line normal to said bearing surface intersects said line normal to said fulcrum at a position outside of said clamping component at a location farther askew of said clamping axis than said fulcrum; said knife abutting portion is positioned askew of said clamping axis; said bearing surface is positioned away from said fulcrum, and on the same side of a dividing plane as said knife abutting portion, the dividing plane being perpendicular to said clamping axis, and passing through said fulcrum; said line normal to said bearing surface and said line normal to said fulcrum form an angle of 70 degrees or less; and said bearing surface abuts said second clamping component, characterized in that said line normal to said bearing surface is substantially perpendicular to said clamping axis.