Did you know that Knipex makes locking pliers?
I was going to go with Grip-On locking pliers, based on Toolguyd’s review, until I discovered that Knipex makes them too.
Which do you reckon’s better? Knipex or Grip-On? Are any other contenders in this league?
I’m sorta fond of Knipex in general but I’ve never used their locking pliers and they look almost “run of the mill” but looks can be deceiving so I just don’t know, If I were looking for high end lockers’ I would take @ToolGuyd’s opinion to heart.
Facom also makes some styles of locking pliers:
https://www.amazon.com/Facom-Quick-Release-Locking-Plier/dp/B013GYX580
Amazon prices from third party sellers seem high.
The Knipex that I have is this:
I think the Knipex locking pliers could be worth it, because they’re made in Germany from chrome vanadium steel.
I wonder if Knipex makes locking pliers for Facom, because they look identical:
http://www.knipex.com/index.php?id=1216&L=1&page=groups&isMobile=&parentID=2547&groupID=1364
I don’t know about any Knipex-Facom connection - but many of the Facom locking pliers have no Knipex equivalent that I can see - and they are said to be made in France.
https://www.facom.com/cz/products/Series-500A-Description.html
I hadn’t realised that Knipex made grips.
The Facom designs are nice. Although Facom is no longer independent, I’ve always liked their stuff and I think their quality is still some of the best on the market unlike many famous brands that have deteriorated badly.
From memory, I think that German Stahlwille also make what us Brits call “mole grips” aka Vise-Grips. I have a handful of Stahlwille spanners from 20 years ago and rate them the best I’ve ever seen. Superb steel, good finish, very slim. Their vise grips seemed very generic but I would still trust the brand.
Here’s one link to the Stahwille pliers:
https://www.kctoolco.com/locking-grip-pliers/?brand[]=50
Locking pliers are also sold under the Gedore Brand:
https://www.kctoolco.com/search.php?search_query=gedore%20grip%20wrench§ion=product
and by Hazet:
Harry J Epstein has started carrying BollmannGrip pliers which are also made in Germany. They have a few models that Grip-On doesn’t make. They are fairly nice, but I still prefer Grip-On. I have no experience with Knipex.
This pair with a pivoting lower jaw might be interesting to try:
https://www.harryepstein.com/index.php/10inch-paralleljaw-plus-grip-bollmangrip-lockingpliers.html
I’d been considering those ones along with the Combi Grip version. I ended up going with the Parallel Grip ones since I hadn’t seen them before.
What do plan to use them for? I’ve found that I almost always grab the knipex pliers wrench for almost everything I used to use other pliers for. Wiha makes a pliers wrench as well but only in one size as of yet. The pliers wrench has parallel smooth jaws with parallel clamping motion and extremely high clamping force.