Hand tool restoration hobby

[brino]

@Lbrewer42 ,

Thanks for the "tool review".
I have also been thinking about trying to find a pair.

Brian

 

[Lbrewer42]

Not been doing a lot of restorations lately. Instead I have been revamping my entire work area with french cleats, building a heavy duty table for my metal lathe, etc.

But here is one. At a flea market I saw a hammer for 2.00 unlike any other I had ever seen. Turned out to be a WF 21 Oz. Weight Forward Hammer. Research online says they stopped making them around 10 years ago. They were either loved or hated by their owners. The swing is a bit weird, but I think for an all day job it would be good at saving effort.

What I like is the steel of the head goes down the front so a miss when hammering cannot hurt the handle. Cool idea!

I had to modify an extra 13 MM el-cheapo socket making a 3-nub socket (not pretty bu works) capable of removing the specialized nuts holding the handle, rubber gasket and head together.

 

[Calandrod]

Thank you!
When looking for an Eifel, I personally like the EIfel FLASH (says it right on it) b/c the jaws are a heavier metal than the newer models. New being relative term. I also suggest getting one of the smaller pairs as well.
If I was looking for one al over again, I would make sure I got one that had the normal jaw, the pipe wrench jaw, and the spreader jaw at least. They are worth the extra money it will cost on eBay than when someone sells just the typical Eifel with regular jaw. After using mine so much, I would gladly pay 50.00+ if I did not habve mine already and that was the only one I could find.
I have never had to use my pipe cutting jaw (and small metal clip that comes with it). And I have only used the wire bending jaw/spring maker a few times.
Uses: easier to describe a scenario than to try to list them all.
Just imagine ALL jobs you do with pliers - you have to squeeze the handles and also apply pressure to do the work you want to do. Such as removing a screw where the head has snapped off. You have to squeeze the handles to keep the pliers clamping what the exposed shank while trying to twist the screw out.

Oh...you wouldn't use pliers for this? I don't blame you. But with the Eifel, you are not squeezing the handles together. You are just holding them there so all the power you put into the job can be used to twist the screw shank out backwards. Yes...I have...many times

If you can get a grip on something, the plierench can get it out for you.

The tool makes the most sense when you actually understand how the mechanism operates. You have the right handle built with a gear head at the top (inside the mechanism) and that gear head meshes into a gear rack on the bottom edge of the moveable jaw.

With a normal set of pliers, the torque you apply (like undoing a stuck nut/bolt) is transferred by a stuck item back through the handles back to your hands. the entire scenario becomes a war of your grip vs. the amount of resistance to moving the stuck item has.

Once you have the rack and gear meshed where you want them to hold the nut/bolt head, there is no way that nut can push those handles apart b/c it is not fighting your grip. Any resistance the nut can give is now fighting a locked gear system instead of your muscles.

When the Eifel clamps, it says it has 1 ton of gripping pressure. So a rounded off nut typically doesn't stand a chance, again with the added benefit that all you are doing is holding the handles instead of trying to squeeze them tight together.

If I am de-rusting a part/bolt/nut with a bench grinder's wire wheel, there is no way the wire wheel can rip the part out of the one ton grip. With pliers if I push too hard against the wire wheel, the part can easily go flying.

In fact sometimes I just use a rubber band to hold one plierench closed and use it like a small vise.

B/c of that grip you also can get some incredible leverage. Try bending a heavy spike into a loop with e normal pair of pliers and you break your hand. Since you are not squeezing the Eifel tightly, you can get more leverage and bend the nail - no it still takes effort, you can make a loop in the end of the nail.

There IS a learning curve...that takes about 5 seconds. And I think that is why these are not in everyone's toolbox where they would save a lot of effort and time. People just assume they work like regular pliers and get frustrated b/c they cannot get the to clamp by just moving the handles together.

Just like people nowadays are going nuts over the two step operation of Knipex pliers (push button and set the jaws), I like my Eifel (push handle and set the jaws).

These are my go to tool now and have been for awhile. I find if I am using something else I wonder why I didn't use my plierench instead b/c the job would have been easier with less effort.

Oh...once the jaw is set, and let's say you are loosening a nut. Hold the handles together on the power stroke, release the bottom handle on the reset stroke, and the wrench's jaw will now be loose allowing to shift position on the nut...but the correct distance for the gears to mesh inside is not lost. So as soon as you hold the handles together again, for the next power stroke, your one ton grip is there again. It's like a built in ratcheting action.

One other thing...I did learn that some of the older ones have straight gear teeth on the bottom of the removable jaws and some have angled teeth. So the jaws are not always interchangeable from one plierench to another. So if you buy one and then plan to buy the jaws separately, this is a good, and undocumented as far as I have seen, thing to know.


Sorry for the book! My wife get's tired of hearing me say, Man I wish I would have known about these years ago," almost every time I use them!

Thank you for the great description. Do you happen to have pictures of those jaws you described? As I go searching I want to know I’m looking for the right thing.

 

[GeneT45]

Well, thanks to this thread my plierench showed up today... And I thought I owned a plier for every occasion!

GsT

 

[Lbrewer42]

@GeneT45 Congratulations! Welcome to the world of...Wow...it can do THAT job easily too? LOL!

Thank you for the great description. Do you happen to have pictures of those jaws you described? As I go searching I want to know I’m looking for the right thing.

Here you go. I use the ones marked with a star most. The wire bender/spring maker is the one you can bend a spike into a loop with.
Unfortunately while there is literature here and there available online (mostly ebay sales of brochures!) there is no demonstration video out there which I think would be a GREAT help. I spent a lot of time collecting pictures online etc. b/c the history of this tool is not well documented (such as I have not seen anywhere else that the older models use slanted racks on the jaws and newer ones use straight making them incompatible...well...mostly).

 

[Lbrewer42]

Oh...you will also find a clamp that was made for these units. I do not own one and without trying one, I am (not from experience!) thinking it might be more of a hassle than using a rubber band. I would like one for the fun of it. Also included is a picture of the pip cutting jaw and special clip installed. Never had a need for them but it does look like it will work.

 

[Lbrewer42]

OK- renewed interest made me finally do a video to show how to use these. I won't use the politically predjudiced youtube site to upload it to, so you will have to click the URL below to see it on Rumble.com.
EIfel Plierench - How to Use

 

[GeneT45]

Lbrewer42 - I suggest you start a new thread about Plierwrenches! I apologize for helping this thread go astray! I have more to say about the Plierench, but it seems like it would even further derail this thread. Awesome work, BTW. It's great to see good iron brought back in to service!

GsT

 

[Lbrewer42]

Thank you for the recommendation. I had thought about that and probably will do so later (hopefully sometime today). I actually used making/posting the video as a fun excuse to take time off of some admin duties on another hobby forum .

But now I'm working back on that project I need to finish it!

 

[brino]

Lbrewer42 - I suggest you start a new thread about Plierwrenches!

That's a great idea!
Please make sure Plierwrench is in the title for search-ability and put a link to it here.
Thanks!

OK- renewed interest made me finally do a video to show how to use these.

Thanks for that!
Without the video I would not have understood that the rack and pinion could be disengaged in order to offset them to get the handles into a comfortable position. That's a great feature.

This thread has got me looking for a pair too!

Thanks,
Brian