Well,
Went to a farm auction today near DeWitt. Ad said 52 pairs of ViseGrips and there was one photo showing them on the wall. Thought I could make out two pairs of bent nose as well as some of the big “lobster claws”.
Got there, and honestly I was disappointed in their condition. Painted orange stripes on them to keep them from walking away. Also, all of them had varying degrees of rust.
First lot was several pairs of the larger C clamps. Some of them were later Irwin models vs Peterson/ American Tool. Some of them appeared to be stretched, or bent out of alignment. First choice brought $30/ pair. Remainder were $25/ pair.
Second lot included the two sizes of bent nose, three lobster claws, two of the nut buster jaws, and several large regular models. First bid was $25/ pair and the two bent nose were gone. Lobster claws were like $20-22.50 per pair and the nut busters were around $20.
All others went for around $15-17.50 /pair and the last sale was a handful of really rusty ones for $15 total.
Of interest to me was one pair of locking sheet metal benders labeled as Malco. The guy next to me said that the Vise Grip plant made pliers for other brands. The Malco’s looked identical to the Vise Grip model except for the engraving.
This guy also told me that “back in the day” the store across the street from the plant sold factory seconds for $2 a pair. Generally they were seconds due to finish imperfections, or occasionally an error like a pair having one wire cutter jaw and one regular jaw.
For the uninformed, Malco now owns the factory and is trying to ramp up production of their own locking pliers. Word is that they are having troubles perfecting their jaws, so not yet into production.
Attached is the photo from the auction site.
