Made In The USA, Semi-Emergency Edition: Malco Eagle Grip Pliers

I'm afraid you'll need to act quickly

as nice as it gets, and it gets very nice

Three posts in forty-eight hours is more than most readers would like, so I apologize — but this is one of those situations where time is short and celerity of action is necessary.

Our story so far: A hundred years ago, a Dutch immigrant invented the locking plier. For a decade he made them more or less by himself, filing for two patents. In the Thirties he got mass production started in Dewitt, Nebraska. The Petersen Manufacturing Company, and its primary product, the “Vise-Grip”, had a very good war — multiple sources state that Vise-Grips were so popular with welders that many a Liberty Ship hit the water with multiple Vise-Grips simply left in place, to save time — and a remarkably good post-war.

The frenzy of corporate purchases and merges that also swallowed Gibson and Fender wreaked its own havoc on Petersen, which did business as Vise-Grip then Irwin among other names. In 2009 the DeWitt plant was shut down and manufacturing was moved to China. Every locking plier sold in this country after that was made overseas.

Five years, Malco bought the plant and started tooling-up to make the Vise-Grip again. Their “Eagle Grip” is a product-improved version of the Petersen original.

Project Farm has done two locking-pliers videos. In the one not shown above, a vintage Vise-Grip absolutely humiliates every single one of the overseas pliers available today. In the video you see here, the new Eagle Grip comes strong out of the gate and is even more dominating, gripping much harder and absorbing much more force than any competitor. It’s not even close. There is no better locking plier in the world than the Malco Eagle Grip.

I’ve been working on an idea. I ordered some Malcos and some vintage new-in-box Petersens from eBay and I was going to do an article comparing them in the near future. However, Malco has suspended production of the Eagle Grip and shuttered the plant as of two weeks ago.

Why? Some people say “cost”, but the Malcos weren’t much more than the belle-of-the-ball, Spanish-made Grip-Ons so beloved of tool YouTubers. And they were exceptionally well-made, a true improvement on their already best-of-breed ancestors.

I have a friend who lives in a literal castle, drives a paint-to-sample Porsche GT3 Touring six-speed, and collects tools as his sole hobby. He tells me that he has bought two of every Malco — one to use, and one to save forever. You don’t need to go that far, but now’s the time to get one if you’re curious.

The original Eagle Grip marketing plan leaned heavy on Amazon, and the Bald Boy’s site still has the ten-inch standard version for sale, but if you want to deal with a genuinely decent American company there may still be some at Summit Racing, for a lower price. A few other small-batch sites have Eagle Grips in stock as well.

For me, there’s an odd “time is a flat circle” aspect to this. As a child, I built entire BMX bikes using only a pair of Vise-Grips that some neighbor of ours had lent my father years ago. At the time, I hated them and I dreamed day and night about the day when I’d have a proper set of bike tools. Thirty-seven years later, I’m quite charmed by the Eagle Grips and look forward to only using them when they are exactly the right tool for the job. Happy hunting, and may the odds be ever in your favor.