NOS Irwin DeWitt Locking Pliers

[Dzmax77]

Does anyone know why Irwin didn’t stamp made in the USA on the USA made locking pliers? I just bought a 3 piece set and the package says made in the USA but not on the pliers themselves. Only way to know they are USA made is by the roll pin on the release lever.

 

[Lesserstore]

I noticed on the made in USA label on the right side of the packaging says "with global components" underneath it. Which would make it ineligible for USA or Made in USA on the tool unless that qualifier was added.
Just curious, is there a copyright date on the packaging to give a rough estimate of when they were made?

 

[d.mcfarland]

Probably 60% or more global materials (parts and pieces) or essentially assembled in the USA. That's the FTC definitions.

 

[justintendo]

Those are missing the dewitt logo. Wonder if they were only assembled here? All other older ones have it, or a made in usa on the lever

 

[Mr_B]

I guess that early stage of transition to china manufacture and they making lot of components in china but still assembling in dewitt facility .
I avoid buying any that IRWIN stamped .

 

[Dzmax77]

I noticed on the made in USA label on the right side of the packaging says "with global components" underneath it. Which would make it ineligible for USA or Made in USA on the tool unless that qualifier was added.
Just curious, is there a copyright date on the packaging to give a rough estimate of when they were made?

2007.

 

[Dzmax77]

I guess that early stage of transition to china manufacture and they making lot of components in china but still assembling in dewitt facility .
I avoid buying any that IRWIN stamped .

The quality of these pliers isn’t great. The 10” are loose and jaw’s don’t line up. The piece that connects to the screw on the needle nose came apart.

I regret buying these.

I have three more 3peaks and KTC locking pliers coming in from Amazon Japan.

 

[Bubba Fett]

The last few years of the USA-made era were not so great. They had already been cheapening the parts, and cutting corners. TBH, they got better after Stanley Black and Decker bought Irwin. Still made in China, but they are not as sloppy, from what I've seen.

These days, the Taiwan-made Bremen pliers at HF are closer to the quality of the classic Vise Grips, but cheaper than the name brand ones.

 

[justintendo]

I checked out some 9ln at lowes...new production. Some had bad misalignment, some were really ground down..some looked great.
Otherwise the newer vise grip have been ok. We use them hard here at work. Still have tons of dewitt ones floating around here.

 

[neophyte]

These were probably made after Stanley hot fined millions of dollars for lying about country of origin, even if it’s before Stanley purchased Irwin.
Irwin was a large enough target that they likely didn’t want any possible claims that they were lying about COO.

 

[LNKMK8]

Those were assembled in Dewitt after American Tool Company was purchased by Newell-Rubbermaid. They began outsourcing them a piece at a time to China until they had everything setup over there. The Dewitt factory closed in October of 2008. I believe the cross-bar and roll pin were the last items to be made in Dewitt before they shut down. The earlier versions after the buy out added the "Irwin" name, dropped the Petersen Logo in favor of "The Original" on the body, but had "Made in USA" stamped on the bottom of the handle.

So to answer your question, those were some of the last to pass through Dewitt before it was shut down. They were made largely of China sourced parts, in particular the parts where the "Made in USA" stamp used to be.