Grill Restorers: Get this Knipex tool!


 
Colin said:
Got my Knipex pliers yesterday and a little disappointed. Now please understand that I grew up in an automotive repair shop where Snap-On was the tool of choice. What I noticed about these pliers was the nose/jaws do not line up.
View attachment 81565

Not a great picture but you get the jist.
To me, that is not indicative of a quality tool. I think I would have passed even at the sale price. Zooming in on Jon's original post pic, those jaws line up as they should.
Click to expand...
This is by design. IIRC it supposed to help give a better grip under tension. Every made in Europe tool I have seen of this design was like this whether Swiss made, German, what have you.
 
Colin said:
Got my Knipex pliers yesterday and a little disappointed. Now please understand that I grew up in an automotive repair shop where Snap-On was the tool of choice. What I noticed about these pliers was the nose/jaws do not line up.
View attachment 81565

Not a great picture but you get the jist.
To me, that is not indicative of a quality tool. I think I would have passed even at the sale price. Zooming in on Jon's original post pic, those jaws line up as they should.
Click to expand...
I would send them back and ask for a replacement.

One theory some have about Walmart, Home Depot - and that maybe applies to Amazon - is that they put so much pressure on their vendors for lower prices that the vendors respond by giving them lower quality “seconds.”
 
Jon Tofte said:
I would send them back and ask for a replacement.

One theory some have about Walmart, Home Depot - and that maybe applies to Amazon - is that they put so much pressure on their vendors for lower prices that the vendors respond by giving them lower quality “seconds.”
Click to expand...
Jon-I had some experience setting up meetings for a big Asian appliance manufacturer many years ago.

Home Depot and Sears had their own private meetings.

We would bring in entire lines of appliances and set them up in a hotel meeting room.

From what I remember:

Home Depot purchasing agent would say “we want that model stainless French door refrigerator, and we want the sale price to be $999…

The manufacturer would go to a sidebar and discuss what internals could be cut back on to make it happen.

The refrigerator in question would look almost exactly alike to what other stores were selling, but one number or letter in the model # would differ. The differences were internal.

One of the engineers told me if I wanted to buy an appliance, I should get it from a local mom and pop shop.

Fwiw
 
John, that makes a lot of sense. I know Walmart sells a lot of products that are unique to their stores. TV's and computers are two I know of for sure. They may sell a Compaq computer, but the specific model, while nearly identical to other models of that brand is slightly different and only sold by them. Same with TVs.

Anyway, I received my pliers today and I am quite happy with how the feel and look. The jaws are very well aligned.
 
Jon Tofte said:
One theory some have about Walmart, Home Depot - and that maybe applies to Amazon - is that they put so much pressure on their vendors for lower prices that the vendors respond by giving them lower quality “seconds.”
Click to expand...
One thing I can tell you is this. With a wife working for a major VERY high quality tool maker, they refuse to cater to those demands. Her company will sever ties rather than sell somehting of lower quality. They had severed ties with Home Despot for just that reason. To this point I don't think you can buy those made here tools at HD anymore. Though she did say they have begun a new distribution contract with another large home center. Won't say who as I don't know if it's public yet
 
LMichaels said:
Otherwise even though they're not made in US I still buy Bosch, DeWalt, for my battery tools. Simply because a better company behind them. No Makita tools in my possession though
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I grow up with Makita tools, my father used to be a contractor. He still have some of these tools, 40 years old and functional.
IMO the old tools were built to last longer, the new tools have better ergonomics.
I have a set of cordless Makita tools, made in China, bought 10 years ago and I'm happy with them.
 
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