These pliers are used for disassembling pens, typically when something has gone wrong when making a pen from a pen kit, as a wood turner might do.
I was wondering if this tool was used for some other purpose first, maybe without the coated jaws. The cost is so low, it would seem not to be a pen-hobby specific tool.
I’ve googled quite a bit, searched Amazon, and looked through the mega pliers thread here (nope, didn’t click all the links!), to no avail.
Thanks for any info or ideas.
David
Being a pen Turner myself, these are on my wish list. Worked in many different industries but can’t remember seeing these before. However, I can imagine securely griping small delicate tubular materials they could be useful.
These look like standard vise grips with two small pieces of angle welded to the jaws and dipped.
It wouldn’t surprise me if somebody purchased a big batch of no-name vise grips, modified them, and resold them.
They don’t seem to be exclusive to Penn State Industries:
It looks like that, but I’m surprised they’d be selling them so cheaply. It seems labor intensive for a presumably low-volume item that I’ve seen sold for as low as $11.95. You figure there is labor, two sets of shipping, and two sets of markup in there, too - after the plier and dip material cost.
Things get made cheaply in China!
A little sleuthing and it looks like this tool is made by:
ZHANGJIAGANG KINGMASTER TOOLS CO., LTD.
with a brand name K-Master
I can’t find anything similar.
While there is more time and labor involved in attaching the special jaw attachment, maybe there is time and labor saved in not having to finish the jaws’ inner pliers?
One could always use square tubing and a dip-coating to create jaws for standard locking pliers, these are cheap enough where DIY might not be justified, at least not to save money.
