Review on 21 08 145 Combination Tools by Michael Boyce

Ever since I discovered Knipex through some of their unique products (like the Cobra pipe wrench and the awesome pliers wrench) I go to Knipex for all the tools I need with pliers; be it electrical and assembly precision tools or all-purpose pliers. So far I have not been disappointed with the exception of a pair of pliers which I bought from Amazon with a rating of 'like new' (to the layman the pliers looked brand new but as far as I can tell they are either one Used for light duty or something for a while - it was a small flat angled chrome pliers you would use to move electronic circuit components and the oil deposits have spread and dried/hardened throughout the joint and on adjacent surfaces. Using a stronger solvent I was able to clean them to a reasonable degree and then re-lube them (I still saved time so be careful with Amazon ratings like new on these guys). A few things did agree with Knipex tools, both from my experience and from independent reviews I've read: The joints are adequately lubricated so the tools always run smoothly when you first get them - enough to when the tool is on a shelf for a period of time, is underway for a long time and/or spends a long time at sea. I personally don't like darker (machine?) oil. are used, so I clean new tools and re-oil with higher quality oil. The quality of the tools is second to none when it comes to connections, especially on pliers with EXTREMELY tight tolerances. When lubricating my tools, the old oil was squeezed out and continued to drip for a while until the final state was reached. Without the oil leaking out I wouldn't be able to see the pivot point at all (and in many cases the rivet, forget what it's called, is wavy instead of round - to prevent that I suppose). before skidding/spinning. That they can mass produce something like this in this price range is really incredible.) I personally prefer a comfortable grip which I find very comfortable. The cutting edges are very sharp and cut very easily, and some of them can cut wire larger than the tool's rating (Note: Chrome-plated tools have excellent corrosion resistance, but the coating is applied after sharpening, so they won't cut or neither does the handle). The tool heads are as small as possible to make them as comfortable to use as possible. All mechanics on the instruments are quite tight and durable. Pliers with gripping surfaces do this very well - for example, these pliers have a very pleasant pointed nose. The edges grip fairly well, covering the entire surface of the tip, so the relatively small surface area still provides significant gripping power. A feature of these pliers is that one side of the gripping surface on the tip has a concave profile for the last few teeth - apparently this helps grip flat surfaces or similar. I'm honestly not sure how it's going to work and I haven't had a chance to test it as such, but this attention to detail is just awesome! Oh, and it also has a useful cutout specifically for grabbing things like nails, which works really well and is convenient. extremely helpful. Overall these are great pliers and they were a great buy for the price I paid ($37). To top it off, I recently accidentally cut the safety wire with wire cutters. This resulted in both edges being rolled on the router, which is pretty normal as I did this with a previous beveler. Technically the wire was within the cutter's nominal cutting limit (steel wire 1mm - see catalog for details of limits used) but you shouldn't cut that with this type of tool. At first I wrote it was a silly mistake I made (again), but after a few days I checked the specs of the denominations used by Knipex and found that the wire was spot on for the cutter's specs. I contacted Knipex with some pictures of what happened and they were happy to send me a new pair. The rep also emailed them to the parts manager who eventually suggested a slightly larger (0.5 inch) version which I considered as a replacement in case I made the same mistake again. They asked for my approval to replace my current tooling with a different model as the parts manager felt it would better suit my job. After I agreed, the application was processed and everything went great. Would highly recommend these pliers or any other Knipex tool!