locking pliers and adjustable wrenches

[chipper]

Looking to upgrade my adjustables and locking pliers and just wondering what brands you guys use right now I'm using vise grips and a kobalt set and just kobalt and some hf adjustables what would be a step or two up without going overboard?

 

[btbsandman]

I suggest Irega Adjustable Wrenches.
The Channellocks Adjustables are just rebadges from Irega.
I have the 6 inch and the 8 inch and I love them!

 

[MPOWERD]

I have 15", 12", and 10" adjustable wrenches by Crescent. Made in the USA.

 

[sk farmer]

^^^^used to be made in the usa. good luck finding one now.

 

[shoturtle]

For adjustable get the spanish made channel lock. Way nicer then the USA made crescent. If you want USA made ones, Sears Craftsman adjustable are made by western forge. I would not bother to much with the locking pliers. The irwin you have are fine.

Another option instead of the adjustable wrench is the plier wrench form knipex. But they are pricey.

 

[MPOWERD]

^^^^used to be made in the usa. good luck finding one now.

Zoro still shows them as USA marked in their imagery on their site...

http://www.zorotools.com/g/Individual Adjustable Wrenches/00069591/?gclid=COCbuNyHtLYCFQ3qnAod9CoA4w

 

[Haukur]

Bahco for adjustable wrenches. I'm sure you can find Snap-On rebadges of the Bahco wrenches in the USA.

 

[ddo]

For adjustables id give bahco reverable adjustable / pipe wrench a try. Also love my channellock wide mouth 6 and 8 inch adjustables.

 

[plinker]

Channellock, Klien or Western forge for adjustable wrenches.

WF makes them for a number of other US companies. The code blue & wide jaw Channellocks are really nice.

 

[sk farmer]

Zoro still shows them as USA marked in their imagery on their site...

http://www.zorotools.com/g/Individual Adjustable Wrenches/00069591/?gclid=COCbuNyHtLYCFQ3qnAod9CoA4w

yup, you can still find pictures of us made craftsman in their literature and websites but you better double check when you get it in hand.

i think a fair amount of old crescent stock still exists. around here the new stock crescent adjustable wrenches are "not" us made.

 

[rmsg0040]

grip-on and irega, channellock rebrands irega adjustables

 

[F-117HWK]

I wouldnt trade my Channellock's for anything. I got the Black Phosphate models

Channellock

 

[Fordman7795]

yup, you can still find pictures of us made craftsman in their literature and websites but you better double check when you get it in hand.

i think a fair amount of old crescent stock still exists. around here the new stock crescent adjustable wrenches are "not" us made.

Yep all crescent wrenches around here are china. I have a few usa made ones saved up from garage sales over the years. I do prefer the usa made snapon wide beam over anything else though

 

[Armstrong1720]

Adjustable wrenchs Proto proto proto proto proto proto proto proto AMERICAN MADE and not rebaged !

 

[chipper]

I just went to my sears they had cresent and craftsman adjustables made in the USA i didn't pull the trigger yet ill shop around tommorow

 

[shoturtle]

The proto are great but a bit more money like the snap on options. The US crescent is nothing specially. The jaws always auto open, the craftsman are quite a bit better then the crescent. When I dump allot of my tools before my last move. I kept the craftsman and got rid of the crescents.

If you are looking for something that is easy to find, I would stay with the craftsman or the spanish channellocks at home depot.

 

[TJx]

My Irega made Channellock's are significantly nicer then the Irega Bahco's which had so much slop I sent them back to Amazon.
The Channellock's are also quite a bit nicer than the Western Forge made Ridgid's which were barely worth keeping. I'm going to wipe them down with Break Free CLP and put them in my SUV.

 

[96snma]

Hands down the best adjustables I've used are my gray tools adjustable. Absolutely no rattle. Not sure who the OEM is but can be had from Mac as well.

http://www.mactools.com/shoponline/...o-rattle-precision-adjustable-wrench-set.aspx

Grip on is my favourite locking pliers. Don't explode when opened. Proto rebadged them and is cheap from zorotools.com

 

[Msd.Sociance]

Locking pliers : Vise Grip (not Irwin) - Bollmann (Germany)
adjustable wrenches : Irega - Bahco - Proto , .....

 

[stonesfan68]

Locking pliers- Grip On or the Proto re-badge version

Adjustables- Irega or Channellock. Williams makes them in the USA.

 

[sberry]

I find it hard to argue with turtles logic here, he knows more about specific tools than I do but in general if its in my hand and it works wtf????? I bought some HF about 10 years ago just for giggles, they were not half bad considering a set cost 10$ and I think they have assimilated to the point that no one pays attn.

Quality has went so hi so fast the real cheap stamped tool has mostly went away, I bought a set of ATD on sale for 15$ expecting ****, they are as good or better than the couple dozen Proto I have, same wrench, different marking.

I picked one up the other day from that era, an 8 inch and recognized it from a set from that era, it has managed to survive and for an instant I thought,, that cheap India sucker,,, and then I figure,, its been working all these years, it don't know any different. It does look a bit cheesier than the rest and the finish is crummy but never bent it, never sprung and the jaw works.

I dont know about all these other pliers but Vise Grip is a standard and suspect if a guy has a problem with a Kobalt plier an upgrade wont be a significant help. We ran in to a situation last summer on a remote job and managed to find a stamped pair of imitation vgrips, it was a case of the tool was not good enough, my helper and I agree, a real paiur would have worked but we never intended to lean on the 2$ pair as life support anyway, the point was kind of moot, they had served well worth their 2 as a clamp or why we had them there???

I finally revamped the tub and grate, was always blowing soot all over, over tools etc.

 

[sberry]

Having some rugged field experience brings a lot of different perspective to tools. What industry standards are, see so many different often imaginitave ways of using them, which ones really get the use. I have 1000's of tools but they all basically boil down to different versions of the ones on the truck.

 

[sberry]

I really whittled and figured out I can do about 75% of what I do with this.

But,,,, as a note of interest,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, look at the handles of the hammers in the pic in first and third pics above.

 

[Scout Driver]

Proto are the best I have used. Expensive new though. Seek out used ones and you will be happy.

Scott

 

[fivespdcat]

Unless you're working on really high torque stuff, the best adjustable is the Knipex pliers wrench. The Knipex basically made all of my crescent style adjustables obsolete.

 

[sberry]

Proto has been an industrial standard for a couple of generations in the trades. They are so fundamental like the 12 inch Channelok that computer aided design helps very little and almost none for strength, they just cant make it any better, I think other things may seem better and I dont use all that stuff as these are my staples that I already own. The ergonomics of a channelok are so near perfect that clones dont work the same.

I had only one other back in the day a Cman I might still have must have been a rebadged item in the product line, it was ideal for the plumber. Big contractors that supplied tools custom ordered the model number from them, it wasnt the "perfect tool" every plumber envied, it worked but it wasnt the model of choice among a 1000 commercial plumbers,,, ha.

 

[sberry]

The one little improvement the Asian blank has made is they opened the jaw up another pinch on one of the bigger models to accept a structural nut. In some cases saved another size wrench for utility work.

Ok, here is a swipe from the bench, I probably have another half a dozen of the 8 inch like this scattered and know of at least 4 more brands not pictured I own in that size off the top of my head, a Diamond a Cman and an ATD and probably a Crecent as I recall.

 

[sberry]

Unless you're working on really high torque stuff, the best adjustable is the Knipex pliers wrench. The Knipex basically made all of my crescent style adjustables obsolete.

Show a pic of this tool. I am all for improvements especially in universal tools. Not all work out. My worls a good 1$ screwdriver with a tip in serviceable condition, one in philips beat an expensive 5$ 4 in one where pieces become lost etc. Cutting pliers are slightly different, many are similar but they dont last.

What makes the 12 inch channelok so good is it tends to replace a small pipe wrench, I do a lot of plumbing and its really rare I use a pipe wrench. If I do I get one bigger than the pliers.

 

[fivespdcat]

Knipex pliers wrench info:

http://www.knipex.com/index.php?id=1216&L=1&page=group_detail&parentID=1368&groupID=1500

Images:

Wait for them to go on sale at amazon and sears or bite the bullet and buy a set from Chads

 

[chipper]

Thanks for all the info guys i decided just to expand on my vice grips by irwin and just picked up a 4 piece craftsman USA adjustable set i really like the knipex stuff but i think ill try to catch that on sale thanks again

 

[shoturtle]

For the money the craftsman adjustable is a good value, and is a nice adjustable wrench.

 

[sberry]

Yes, got nothing against that cman. As for vise grips the standard straight jaw are the first ones, in 6 inch and in 10 as well as a set of needle nose. The curved jaw I really can almost do without.

 

[aluminum13]

My Irega made Channellock's are significantly nicer then the Irega Bahco's which had so much slop I sent them back to Amazon.
The Channellock's are also quite a bit nicer than the Western Forge made Ridgid's which were barely worth keeping. I'm going to wipe them down with Break Free CLP and put them in my SUV.

Yeah I made a thread on my Bahco, I'm picky apparently. I kept mine, they work and really are quite nice overall, but I didn't like the slop. I wish I got some chrome plated ones for rust resistance in my car, though.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=154964

FWIW while the Bahco's you buy in the US are made in Spain, I don't think they are made by Irega.

SNA europe:
http://www.snaeurope.com/our-brands

 

[ddo]

I believe Irimo is the maker of spanish made Bahco. Some of the older Swedish made Bahco's are worth tracking down. I have a Bahco Volvo wrench with the alligator wrench jaw on the handle end, and while I don't use that much, the action on the adjustable side is great. The knurl is a shallower pitch than any adjustable I've used. The big drawback is the adjustment action is backwards to what is considered normal.

On the Spanish made Bahco wrenches I own, I have not seen significant difference between these and the Swedish made versions.

Snap On adjustables are made at the same location with same styles.