Combination Pliers

[niall Y]

I have several of these, relegated to an old drawer where I mainly keep my old tools ( the ones for rough work that I don't mind getting damaged ). For one reason or another, they are universally bad. Out of three of them, none will cut any more. The oldest pair spends most of it's time with the jaws seized. Given the narrowness of the handles they are all uncomfortable to grip and downright painful in some instances, especially when trying to cut with them.

I would be interested to know what experience others have had, and what makes they would recommend. I did have a good working pair that I kept for best, but sadly these seem to have gone " walkabout", I'm not too sure, but in retrospect, I believe they were an 8" Hilka pair.

Looking around to replace them. I'm not finding any of the reviews to be trustworthy. In that, if any particular make were indeed worth the praise that is afforded them, then they would feature at, or near the top of all the reviews. But, in some instances they don't feature at all.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I suspect many reviews are designed to sell products not to inform you of the best. My best ones are Knipex and Lindström.

 

[graham88]

I use knipex pliers/cutters. Got put onto Knipex from a sparky friend who swears by them. It's been his daily use pliers for years now and the cutting surfaces are barely damaged, though there's a nice scorch mark from a live wire.
Mine have cut through 1.2mm stainless steel wires and don't seem to complain.

 

[Sideways]

Ordinary combination pliers are not my go to for anything, but I use several other variants.
Knipex, NWS, Lobster from Japan are preferred brands. What they have to get right is the strength and free movement of the pivot which cheaper brands rarely get right, and the heat treatment of the steel which in pliers involves localised induction hardening of the wire cutting edges.

There's nothing to choose between Knipex and NWS for me. Both make excellent tools and each have some tools that are noteworthy.

NWS from my toolbag. The 90 degree combination pliers are much more useful than the traditional. The "fantastico plus" wire cutters have a compound action and cut much thicker piano wire than you can comfortably do without. Bent long nose and the cable cutters have uses. All four of these are pliers where you may need to apply a strong squeeze either because of the task or in the case of the bent long nose on the left because they are small and you don't have the leverage of long handles. So all have the big multicomponent grips.

Lobster brand - these examples have the old fashioned thin plastic dipped handles. If you need dexterity, thin plastic is the way to go. These are some of my most used and I would replace them with exactly the same. Wire cutters have a notch for wire stripping because sparkies use their cutters for stripping all the time, just holding the blades a little open.

My small electronics cutters are Lobster too at the moment. I've used Lindstrom, Bahco and others and these are very comparable and cropped up when I was in need of a new pair.

And a couple of pairs from Knipex that live in the day to day bag. Heavy compound wire cutters that I snagged after trying at a trade show and the parallel jaw "pliers wrench" that is the most innovative tool I've seen in decades. I have these in 3 sizes. The small ones are rarely used, a mistake, the 180mm used all the time, the 250mm are also totally worth the money because they have huge capacity. Plumbers love them. They are more useful than waterpump pliers.

If you have a pliers wrench and a set of waterpump pliers, you can grip anything better than a pair of combi pliers can. Again the pliers wrench has the simplest coated handles because the dexterity is better than the other two options, and there is so much compound leverage that you don't need bulky grips.

If you need to cut wire, wire cutters are again better than combi pliers. But if you do want just combi pliers, get the NWS ergonomic ones on the right of the first photo. They are good.

For electronics where you want clean flush cuts on thinner wire and fine plier tips - Lindstrom are what I was issued with on my first day on the job. Excellent.

HTH

 

[niall Y]

Ordinary combination pliers are not my go to for anything, but I use several other variants.
Knipex, NWS, Lobster from Japan are preferred brands. What they have to get right is the strength and free movement of the pivot which cheaper brands rarely get right, and the heat treatment of the steel which in pliers involves localised induction hardening of the wire cutting edges.

There's nothing to choose between Knipex and NWS for me. Both make excellent tools and each have some tools that are noteworthy.

NWS from my toolbag. The 90 degree combination pliers are much more useful than the traditional. The "fantastico plus" wire cutters have a compound action and cut much thicker piano wire than you can comfortably do without. Bent long nose and the cable cutters have uses. All four of these are pliers where you may need to apply a strong squeeze either because of the task or in the case of the bent long nose on the left because they are small and you don't have the leverage of long handles. So all have the big multicomponent grips.

View attachment 185971

Lobster brand - these examples have the old fashioned thin plastic dipped handles. If you need dexterity, thin plastic is the way to go. These are some of my most used and I would replace them with exactly the same. Wire cutters have a notch for wire stripping because sparkies use their cutters for stripping all the time, just holding the blades a little open.
View attachment 185972

And a couple of pairs from Knipex that live in the day to day bag. Heavy compound wire cutters that I snagged after trying at a trade show and the parallel jaw "pliers wrench" that is the most innovative tool I've seen in decades. I have these in 3 sizes. The small ones are rarely used, a mistake, the 180mm used all the time, the 250mm are also totally worth the money because they have huge capacity. Plumbers love them. They are more useful than waterpump pliers.

View attachment 185973

If you have a pliers wrench and a set of waterpump pliers, you can grip anything better than a pair of combi pliers can. Again the pliers wrench has the simplest coated handles because the dexterity is better than the other two options, and there is so much compound leverage that you don't need bulky grips.

If you need to cut wire, wire cutters are again better than combi pliers. But if you do want just combi pliers, get the NWS ergonomic ones on the right of the first photo. They are good.

And for electronics - Lindstrom are what I was issued with on my first day on the job. Excellent.

HTH

Thanks for your input - a very comprehensive reply. Knipex seem to be the common denominator in all the posts so far. I'm particularly intrigued by the water pump, type pliers that you show.
So, as it stands at the moment - in the frame are Lindstrom, Knipex and NWS. I note that Zoro tools are currently advertising a pair of Lindstrom's VDF combination pliers for £509.99 though in their defence they are copper /beryllium.

 

[Sideways]

I'm particularly intrigued by the water pump, type pliers that you show.

At the shows when these first came out, the favorite demo was to hand you the pliers and ask you to squeeze the (smooth, flat) jaws closed on the edge of a flat piece of metal. "Now hold on while I try and pull it out of the jaws"...
You can pull a guy off his feet and drag him along the floor without the pliers letting go of that flat
Here are the 180 and 250mm sizes gripping the same size bath tap flange nut. They both cope but the big one has more leverage for big nuts and as you see, the jaws open 8-10mm wider.

They are nice for plumbing as the flat jaws don't scar chrome plated fittings, and for ordinary nuts, when you squeeze they eliminate all play so you are much less likely to round a nut than you are with a fixed or adjustable open jaw spanner.
Combi pliers don't get a look in.

HTH

 

[MikeJhn]

Is it just me, but the use of "Combination Pliers" in the Thread description is wrong to describe cutters or snips, I was expecting a discussion on Water pump pliers or those shewn above in post 6.

 

[Chubber]

See the link below, pricey but can be found in second hand shops etc., the side cutters are indestructible, designed to cut spring steel and the parallel jaws are very useful.

As used on 'The Repair Shop'....


www.maunindustries.com/Maun/Pliers

 

[spanner48]

I suspect many reviews are designed to sell products not to inform you of the best. My best ones are Knipex and Lindström.

Plus one for each of those.

 

[spanner48]

I use knipex pliers/cutters. Got put onto Knipex from a sparky friend who swears by them. It's been his daily use pliers for years now and the cutting surfaces are barely damaged, though there's a nice scorch mark from a live wire.
Mine have cut through 1.2mm stainless steel wires and don't seem to complain.

Not for combination; but for side- and end-cutting, I have used Maun lever cutters for 40+ years. Not smart-looking; but the hinge is bullet-proof, and the cutting edges mega-hard.

 

[John Brown]

I wish I hadn't read this thread - I feel my life won't be complete until I have a Knipex pliers wrench!
Worse, I see they come in three sizes!

I remember Lindstrom fondly, from the good old days, when the company paid for the tools.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I have a pair of these that are excellent -
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Channelloc...dafca123bcca83245526ef98448&th=1&gad_source=1
I'd have thought the grip would be stronger on them than the Knipex design.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I wish I hadn't read this thread - I feel my life won't be complete until I have a Knipex pliers wrench!
Worse, I see they come in three sizes!

I remember Lindstrom fondly, from the good old days, when the company paid for the tools.

I remember being advised to buy Lindstrom at silversmithing evening classes in 1975. We were told to spend the money once, we'd never need to spend it again. At another lot of evening classes about 20 years ago we were told the same by a different tutor.

 

[niall Y]

Is it just me, but the use of "Combination Pliers" in the Thread description is wrong to describe cutters or snips, I was expecting a discussion on Water pump pliers or those shewn above in post 6.

I was indeed asking about Combination Pliers- which appears to be the usual description for ordinary straight pliers with the serrated jaws and cutters inside the mouth.

The thread has gone slightly off kilter, because the title is a bit ambiguous but I don't mind that, otherwise I would never have discovered the "Knipex Push Button Pliers Wrench" - Thank you @Sideways .

 

[niall Y]

At the shows when these first came out, the favorite demo was to hand you the pliers and ask you to squeeze the (smooth, flat) jaws closed on the edge of a flat piece of metal. "Now hold on while I try and pull it out of the jaws"...
You can pull a guy off his feet and drag him along the floor without the pliers letting go of that flat
Here are the 180 and 250mm sizes gripping the same size bath tap flange nut. They both cope but the big one has more leverage for big nuts and as you see, the jaws open 8-10mm wider.

View attachment 186008

View attachment 186009

They are nice for plumbing as the flat jaws don't scar chrome plated fittings, and for ordinary nuts, when you squeeze they eliminate all play so you are much less likely to round a nut than you are with a fixed or adjustable open jaw spanner.
Combi pliers don't get a look in.

HTH

Oh dear! You are leading me astray.

These would have been really good for holding part of my ER32Collet Chuck. In fact, I did start out using water pump pliers, but these have the advantage of not having serrated edges.

 

[Sideways]

We never asked @niall Y
What are your most common uses for combi pliers ?
The main reason for dragging the thread a little of topic is they are a compromise tool. Depending on the use, there is often something better.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Any combination tool or machine will be bettered by a more specialised one.

For general use on nuts and bolts the old favourite takes a lot of beating.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bahco-8072...4495-B0001IX8UU-&hvexpln=74&gad_source=1&th=1

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The thread has gone slightly off kilter ...

Sometimes you learn more when threads go out of kilter as it can prevent your getting tunnel vision.

 

[stuart little]

Any combination tool or machine will be bettered by a more specialised one.

For general use on nuts and bolts the old favourite takes a lot of beating.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bahco-8072...4495-B0001IX8UU-&hvexpln=74&gad_source=1&th=1

Got two of those 1 - imperial, 1 metric. Well, it does say; 10" on one!

 

[stuart little]

We never asked @niall Y
What are your most common uses for combi pliers ?
The main reason for dragging the thread a little of topic is they are a compromise tool. Depending on the use, there is often something better.

I have several water pump pliers, Saab included them in their car's tool kits.
I have some Bahco pliers, one being side cutters I use for piano wire.