At last year’s STAFDA trade show we spent some quality time talking with the reps at Knipex and Irwin about their respective lines of push-button style locking pliers. As Knipex prefers to say, they’re “selbstklemmend!” That’s “self-locking” for the few of you that don’t speak German. As a longtime Channellock user, I was intrigued by what I saw. [click to continue…]
pliers
When you call yourself: The (Blank) Company…it’s probably a good bet that the blank is all you do–and you do it well. Probably why Knipex makes such good pliers. I don’t normally get fired up over hand tools–but I can’t resist a well-made and solid one. Granted, it doesn’t have the capability to saw my house down to the foundation in one fell swoop–but I can get past that when we’re talking quality. [click to continue…]
I’ve used a variety of ChannelLock pliers over the years. So when Channellock sent us their latest plier to review, the 412 V-Jaw, I was surprised it was a bit . . . hmmm . . . how do I say this delicately . . . small. But then, it’s turns out that’s the point. The ChannelLock 412 V-Jaw pliers are specifically designed for smaller tasks. In particular smaller tasks that involve wrenching small round stock and tubing. [click to continue…]
There are a few good songs out there that are not only foot-stomping catchy but also tell a nice tale while they’re at it. Johnny Cash’s A Boy Named Sue is one of them.
Take a moment to listen to it and then perhaps you’ll know why we thought of it when we went to do this review of a tool named SAL.
SAL (or Self-Adjusting Locking Pliers), like Sue, has to make up for its non-butch name in the world of home improvement tools by being tougher than the rest. [click to continue…]
