Thanks for this! I’m shocked at how poorly the Knipex fared. I have a few or their pliers that are really well made, especially a pair of flush cutters I bought a few years ago. Simply the nicest I’ve ever owned.
Regarding vice grips, I’ve owned some really bad ones over the years. I bought a pair of Irwin’s last go around and thought were decent. They say “Vice Grip” right on the side, so I assumed they were the original. Obviously these Malcom’s are far superior, which of course means you won’t be able to get them anymore.
Is it me, or is anything worth a shit soon to be manufacture discontinued these days?
"Is it me or is anything worth a shit soon to be manufacture discontinued these days?"
Pretty much. The just-unveiled new Honda Accord dropped the 2.0T, and the manual transmission, and all but the base trims are now hybrid-only. So the last mainstream family sedan that wasn't shit is now shit. But the fucks at C&D will probably still keep putting it on their worthless 10 Best anyway.
And even if I can somehow stomach the hybrid powertrain next go-around (just got the title from the bank last week), Honda also dropped what I consider to be an additional safety item, fog/driving lights!
There might be a next-generation Passport in my future, who knows?! I won’t even consider another car purchase until the market returns to something resembling normalcy, where I might be able to TEST-DRIVE the car before I take the plunge!
TruTech Tools has all but the 10" curved jaw in stock.
The only time I ever recall my father giving me a look of disgust was when I started waxing poetic about my 6" curve jaw Vice Grips because of all the things it could do.
"To do a job well, you need the right tool."
"Sometimes a Vice Grips is the right tool."
Interestingly, he had a number of Peterson branded Vice Grips including the relatively rare chain wrench.
A high quality US made product and an interesting story - unfortunate in this case, make a great gift. Ordered multiple, tool-heads and even a few who are not will be getting one. Thank you for the recommendation!!
I just ultrasonic cleaned a pair of antique USA vise grips, but went ahead and ordered some Eagle Grips anyway, one can never be too prepared. Alas, Summit appears to be out, so it was from the Bozosphere that I ordered them.
Aside--raced MTB today at Road Atlanta / Fox test track (only open a couple times a year to non-fox employees but more on that another time) and met a friend of a teammate who does something at the driving club there--got to go by the clubhouse and see a Superlight with an LT5 in it (great lines--an aesthetic masterpiece, and apparently functions as well as its form) and about 300 Porsches (the track was thick with them too, apparently PCA today). Anyway, mentioned coming to the track one day and also that I was a track day member of your sub stack, and he remembered you from when you came to Xtreme Xperience some years ago (actually a little painful to type that--my brain is all "SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!"). Ended up talking a little about trading an MTB for some coaching / track time. We will see....
Nice trails, worth checking out, although it's pretty XC--your Trek is probably overkill.
I have an enduro and a Lynskey Pro29 for that sort of thing, but realistically speaking I'm too fat and crippled to pedal seriously for that length of time :)
Read this, almost bought a pair, then figured I'd check my tool chest first. Turns out three of my five Vice-Grips that I inherited from my father are genuine made-in-the-USA Petersens. The 5-inch regular and needle-nose versions I have are Irwins, but I use them so rarely they'll do.
That said, I am looking for quality replacements for the set of three Chinese needle nose pliers that I've got if anyone's got suggestions...
I’ve been in the electrical trade for a lot of years now. Klein are the go to tools for us in the same way Snap-On is in the automotive world.
Their hand tools are excellent. Most are made in the USA. I just checked their page on needle nose pliers. Worryingly, it says that their pliers are Forged in the USA of USA made steel. That sounds good, but are the parts then sent to Mexico for assembly?
With all that said, their needle nose pliers are truly excellent. A standard pair of 6” pliers is around 30.00. They have all kinds of specialty sets as well.
Thank you for the suggestion on Klein. I've got one Klein needle nose (without going to the garage to check, I believe it's a 6") and will investigate options for smaller Husky pliers I've got.
I was joking about Vice-Grips and Duct Tape in an earlier post ! Ironically, I had ordered a pair of these many months ago after watching the Project Farm video and they were out of stock. I just placed another order and keeping my fingers crossed they will arrive this time. Thanks for the heads up!
Another adjacent tool you should check out if you already haven’t are Vampliers. Great for getting out small damaged screw heads and other objects. Used them to great effect after I mangled a bunch of JIS screws on my R1’s air box trying to use a Phillips. Not US made unfortunately but Japan. Precision made and I find myself using them more than I probably should.
I've been eyeing Vampliers - seems like one of those tools that is best bought when you don't need it so you've got it when you do. Got recommendation on the best size(s) to have for general auto and motorcycle maintenance and repair?
The funny thing about that drawer full of pliers is : over my career several 'mechanics' have made a point of loudly berating me for having that many special types of pliers, only when others were around to join in the merriment .
Not surprisingly these were also the guys who most often came to me with problems they couldn't figure out themselves .
Typically in any shop, the guy with the biggest, fanciest rollaway is the least capable Mechanic along with the loudest mouth .
I have a few of the Irwin branded vice grip pliers, I don’t really like using vice grips , but for some jobs, you just have to, nothing else grips like them when you have no wrench pads on the fasteners
Getting one of these shipped out of the US is pretty expensive, but i use my generic chinesium vise-grips all the time, so if these are as good as it gets, i guess its worth the expense getting a pair before its to late.
FYI for anyone still following this... I was totally sucked in by the linked review. Hungry for quality anything in the mass-garbage modern era, I went to Summit to investigate... not in stock, but Summit said it would ship in a few days. I was skeptical but I've never had a bad experience with Summit, and I've bought... a... LOT... from them over the years. Like........ a lot.
Anyway, the 10-in pliers just shipped. I also ordered the 7-in pliers, but they haven't shipped yet... if anyone is interested, just ask by reply and I'll be sure to update...
I ended up ordering a few from Summit, they're all now here but they shipped in two groups. Let me know what you think of them when they arrive -- no harm if you reply in a newer article.
Jack - the 7-in Malco pliers just shipped from Summit. Both are now on the way... Just like you said, two separate groups. Summit Racing has never disappointed as long as I've been a customer...
I went ahead and ordered a couple pairs. I started building my tool collection in the late nineties(I was in my early twenties) and nearly all of them of them are USA made which is funny because the last thing I was thinking about at the time was where they were manufactured. I pretty much lucked my way into quality tools. My vice grips are all chinesium so I needed to replace them anyway so I appreciate the heads up on these so I could get some before to disappeared or started bringing big bucks on eBay.
Thanks for this! I’m shocked at how poorly the Knipex fared. I have a few or their pliers that are really well made, especially a pair of flush cutters I bought a few years ago. Simply the nicest I’ve ever owned.
Regarding vice grips, I’ve owned some really bad ones over the years. I bought a pair of Irwin’s last go around and thought were decent. They say “Vice Grip” right on the side, so I assumed they were the original. Obviously these Malcom’s are far superior, which of course means you won’t be able to get them anymore.
Is it me, or is anything worth a shit soon to be manufacture discontinued these days?
"Is it me or is anything worth a shit soon to be manufacture discontinued these days?"
Pretty much. The just-unveiled new Honda Accord dropped the 2.0T, and the manual transmission, and all but the base trims are now hybrid-only. So the last mainstream family sedan that wasn't shit is now shit. But the fucks at C&D will probably still keep putting it on their worthless 10 Best anyway.
^ This!
And even if I can somehow stomach the hybrid powertrain next go-around (just got the title from the bank last week), Honda also dropped what I consider to be an additional safety item, fog/driving lights!
There might be a next-generation Passport in my future, who knows?! I won’t even consider another car purchase until the market returns to something resembling normalcy, where I might be able to TEST-DRIVE the car before I take the plunge!
“Nothing works anymore” is a saying for a reason
TruTech Tools has all but the 10" curved jaw in stock.
The only time I ever recall my father giving me a look of disgust was when I started waxing poetic about my 6" curve jaw Vice Grips because of all the things it could do.
"To do a job well, you need the right tool."
"Sometimes a Vice Grips is the right tool."
Interestingly, he had a number of Peterson branded Vice Grips including the relatively rare chain wrench.
I need a new vise-grip. My old one (like 30+ years) is getting a bit long in the tooth. So I went and ordered one.
Thanks
A high quality US made product and an interesting story - unfortunate in this case, make a great gift. Ordered multiple, tool-heads and even a few who are not will be getting one. Thank you for the recommendation!!
I just ultrasonic cleaned a pair of antique USA vise grips, but went ahead and ordered some Eagle Grips anyway, one can never be too prepared. Alas, Summit appears to be out, so it was from the Bozosphere that I ordered them.
Aside--raced MTB today at Road Atlanta / Fox test track (only open a couple times a year to non-fox employees but more on that another time) and met a friend of a teammate who does something at the driving club there--got to go by the clubhouse and see a Superlight with an LT5 in it (great lines--an aesthetic masterpiece, and apparently functions as well as its form) and about 300 Porsches (the track was thick with them too, apparently PCA today). Anyway, mentioned coming to the track one day and also that I was a track day member of your sub stack, and he remembered you from when you came to Xtreme Xperience some years ago (actually a little painful to type that--my brain is all "SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!"). Ended up talking a little about trading an MTB for some coaching / track time. We will see....
Nice trails, worth checking out, although it's pretty XC--your Trek is probably overkill.
I have an enduro and a Lynskey Pro29 for that sort of thing, but realistically speaking I'm too fat and crippled to pedal seriously for that length of time :)
You ever want to get rid of that Lynskey, let me know. I crave a ti bike. Sadly cannot afford one right now.
I have a vise grip slide hammer attachment that’s been pretty valuable for removing press fit parts.
Read this, almost bought a pair, then figured I'd check my tool chest first. Turns out three of my five Vice-Grips that I inherited from my father are genuine made-in-the-USA Petersens. The 5-inch regular and needle-nose versions I have are Irwins, but I use them so rarely they'll do.
That said, I am looking for quality replacements for the set of three Chinese needle nose pliers that I've got if anyone's got suggestions...
Channellock pliers- made in Meadville, Pennsylvania. https://www.channellock.com/pliers/
I’ve been in the electrical trade for a lot of years now. Klein are the go to tools for us in the same way Snap-On is in the automotive world.
Their hand tools are excellent. Most are made in the USA. I just checked their page on needle nose pliers. Worryingly, it says that their pliers are Forged in the USA of USA made steel. That sounds good, but are the parts then sent to Mexico for assembly?
With all that said, their needle nose pliers are truly excellent. A standard pair of 6” pliers is around 30.00. They have all kinds of specialty sets as well.
Thank you for the suggestion on Klein. I've got one Klein needle nose (without going to the garage to check, I believe it's a 6") and will investigate options for smaller Husky pliers I've got.
I was joking about Vice-Grips and Duct Tape in an earlier post ! Ironically, I had ordered a pair of these many months ago after watching the Project Farm video and they were out of stock. I just placed another order and keeping my fingers crossed they will arrive this time. Thanks for the heads up!
Bought one
Another adjacent tool you should check out if you already haven’t are Vampliers. Great for getting out small damaged screw heads and other objects. Used them to great effect after I mangled a bunch of JIS screws on my R1’s air box trying to use a Phillips. Not US made unfortunately but Japan. Precision made and I find myself using them more than I probably should.
I just bought a set of five Vampliers. They are gorgeous.
I've been eyeing Vampliers - seems like one of those tools that is best bought when you don't need it so you've got it when you do. Got recommendation on the best size(s) to have for general auto and motorcycle maintenance and repair?
This is what I bought, works well on everything I’ve tried so far. https://www.vampiretools.com/shop/products/pliers/vampliers-6-25-screw-extraction-pliers/
YOU JUST COST ME 40 BUCKS!!!
Pliers are always a tricky tool to use .
My primary roll away tool chest has one drawer dedicated to pliers, many different specialty types .
Bummer they stopped production .
-Nate
The funny thing about that drawer full of pliers is : over my career several 'mechanics' have made a point of loudly berating me for having that many special types of pliers, only when others were around to join in the merriment .
Not surprisingly these were also the guys who most often came to me with problems they couldn't figure out themselves .
Typically in any shop, the guy with the biggest, fanciest rollaway is the least capable Mechanic along with the loudest mouth .
-Nate
I have a few of the Irwin branded vice grip pliers, I don’t really like using vice grips , but for some jobs, you just have to, nothing else grips like them when you have no wrench pads on the fasteners
Thanks. I just ordered one from Summit, too.
Getting one of these shipped out of the US is pretty expensive, but i use my generic chinesium vise-grips all the time, so if these are as good as it gets, i guess its worth the expense getting a pair before its to late.
FYI for anyone still following this... I was totally sucked in by the linked review. Hungry for quality anything in the mass-garbage modern era, I went to Summit to investigate... not in stock, but Summit said it would ship in a few days. I was skeptical but I've never had a bad experience with Summit, and I've bought... a... LOT... from them over the years. Like........ a lot.
Anyway, the 10-in pliers just shipped. I also ordered the 7-in pliers, but they haven't shipped yet... if anyone is interested, just ask by reply and I'll be sure to update...
I'm still following it!
I ended up ordering a few from Summit, they're all now here but they shipped in two groups. Let me know what you think of them when they arrive -- no harm if you reply in a newer article.
Jack - the 7-in Malco pliers just shipped from Summit. Both are now on the way... Just like you said, two separate groups. Summit Racing has never disappointed as long as I've been a customer...
I went ahead and ordered a couple pairs. I started building my tool collection in the late nineties(I was in my early twenties) and nearly all of them of them are USA made which is funny because the last thing I was thinking about at the time was where they were manufactured. I pretty much lucked my way into quality tools. My vice grips are all chinesium so I needed to replace them anyway so I appreciate the heads up on these so I could get some before to disappeared or started bringing big bucks on eBay.