Knipex Pliers Wrench Coating Change?

Tool Talk
#1

I purchased one of the 7-1/4" Knipex pliers wrenches from Menards a few days ago and noticed some color variations among the different sets of pliers while I was in the store.

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Do anybody have any idea what’s going on with the finish between these two pliers? The “golder” finished pliers on the left are what I’ve usually seen stocked. The more aluminum shaded ones on the right are new additions. From a cursory examination, the finish on the aluminum shaded ones seemed slightly rougher, but that may just have been regular variation from pliers to pliers.

I couldn’t spot any other differences.

#2

Good observation, for a company known for extremely tight tolerances and high quality control in the rough and tumble hand tool world you’d think the same QC would carry over to the finishing department. I gotta believe the discoloration or lack of color is due to change over of the final finish bath making for the tint difference. At least that makes sense in my head lol.

#3

Or it could be a change in the pre-coating process.

The yellower hue might be due to more nickel content under the chrome layer. The question is why?

#4

Any chance it is just age or curing differences? I assume powder coated?

#5

They’re not powder coated, they’re chrome plated.

#6

For some tools Knipex uses black coating and for some Nickel/Chrome plating, If I am not wrong there was a tool with two options, one with black coating and the other one made of stainless steel (mostly). There are some tools that stainless steel is OK to use, it seems. So no need for plating. Plating is not a very good protection for tools, they come off quickly as tools are for tough use.
Here are the ones I was talking about