Ed Huntress wrote:
Since this thread started I pulled out a couple of my old ones, and it looks
to me like the Chinese, if they're trying to cut costs on these things, are
making a foolish mistake. Vise-Grips are so simple to manufacture that
shaving a few pennies on materials or tooling probably is more a result of
their "make it cheaper" mindset than good economics. But I have to admit
that I haven't looked closely at the Chinese-made models.

The whole thing is mostly blanked steel pieces bent over in a simple forming
die; one piece is a simple forging -- more likely a coining -- and the jaws
are brazed on. Maybe the jaws themselves are a vanadium alloy but the rest
is certainly plain high-carbon steel. The stamping that holds the top jaw is
probably ironed when it's bent.

It was things like this that the Japanese seized on when they started to
move up-market by making quality products. They could make things like that
just as good as Western-made ones, but they still had lower labor costs and
other cost advantages from export assistance and (mostly) bank ownership
that cut their capital costs. Maybe the Chinese are just getting to that
point now.

In any case, given their long life and the importance of their being
well-made, it's still worth it, IMO, to pay for the real thing.


I wandered into a tool store today and looked at the current stock. They
had both US and China made Vise Grip models on hand.
Looked them over the the Chinese ones seemed to have a rougher finish,
the knurling on the adjuster was not as sharp and the stamping seemed
shallow.

--
Steve W.