My Dad, who was a master mechanic and very handy with all things that involved using tools, absolutely detested ordinary slip-joint pliers. If you wanted to rile him up, all you had to do is grab a pair of ordinary slip-joint pliers and look like you were thinking of using them for something.
"Put down those damned pliers!" he'd roar. And he meant it, too. And with good reason. Using them to do anything with a fastener would quickly turn that fastener into something worthless that no tool could ever grasp again in any useful way.
He wasn't opposed to all pliers - just the garden variety of slip-joint pliers. It didn't matter who made them. He hated the solid-gold ones from Snap-On as much as he did a pair from the dollar store. Because of this, I have always cringed from just looking at a pair of them. Is that wrong of me?
Anyhow, as I've gotten older - very much older - I've grown to recognize that there are some very useful pliers. Some of my favorites are:
Channellock Pliers - Sometimes called "water pump pliers," or a variety of other names, these actually have many uses. Adjustable so their parallel jaws can fit almost any size of object, while allowing a strong grip with their long handles, they are very useful for holding and grasping round things when you don't need something like a pipe wrench . Their disadvantage is their tendency to pinch your fingers if they slip while you're putting pressure on something. You can have several pairs of these in sizes from 4" to 24". You should, too.
Vise-Grip Pliers - Available in a bewildering range of jaw shapes and sizes, they are something like the channellock pliers described above, but they can clamp down on an object without continued hand pressure. As a wrench of last resort, they are the tool you reach for when nothing else will do. They can also be used for jobs like permanenty replacing the handle on a LaZBoy reclining chair. In fact, everyone should have a spare pair for that use - just in case. You cannot have too many pairs of these, so buy them frequently and put them everywhere.
Side-Cutting Pliers - Also known as diagonal cutting pliers or "Dikes," these are the go-to tool for two jobs. Cutting wires and gripping cotter pins for removal, using the pliers as a lever. Always buy a good brand of these, because the cheap ones will be ruined when you try to cut a wire coat hanger, which you will do at some point, ruining them forever. Don't cut heavy piano wire or spring steel wire with them, either. Trust me on this.
Lineman's Pliers - These combination pliers include both side cutters and toothed jaws. If you buy a good pair, they will cut coat-hanger wire quite easily, due to the increased leverage of cutters close to the pivot point. For substituting as a wrench, though, they're not much better than the detested slip-joint pliers. Get a pair at least 8" long, to make cutting coat-hanger wire easier. And trust me, you will need to cut coat-hanger wire often.
Needle-Nose Pliers - Also called long-nose pliers, you will need several pairs of these in different lengths and thinness of their tips. Long ones, capable of almost reaching that nut that fell down behind the bell housing, are also available. But, so are extendable magnets. I'd get the magnet thingie. Some needle-nosed pliers also have side cutters near the pivot. Don't use those cutters. You'll ruin the pliers. Seriously. Nobody knows why the put them there.
The pliers listed above are tools worth owning, in my opinion. There are other types of pliers, but most are just variations on the five on this list. However, if you commonly work on drum brakes on vintage cars, you will definitely need a pair of brake spring pliers. If you don't work on such cars, those will be of no use to you whatsoever.
Now, you might have other favorite plier types. We'd all like to know about those, too, as long as they are not slip-joint pliers, so...
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