Channellock 6.5" 412 V-Jaw Pliers - Review

If you look in any carpenter's tool bag, there's likely to be something in there made by Channellock. The reason for this popularity is that most people are in the know that the company is one of the premier manufacturers of gripping, grabbing, and holding hand tools. We have a few of their tools kicking around; one in the tool bag, two or three in the shop, and (we think) one under the passenger seat of the truck. They're reliable and durable and that's really all we ask for out of a hand tool. So when Channellock sent us their new 6.5" V-Jaw pliers, we figured there was a good chance that we were going to like them. And, not surprisingly, we did.

What Channellock has done is miniaturized their popular V-Jaw pliers to make it easier to handle smaller round stock; things like 1/2" copper and small diameter PVC. That's all fine and it does work nicely for those uses (it's a perfect fit for 1/2" stock actually), but coming from a carpenter's perspective, and not a plumber's, we also found other good uses for it. In the past couple weeks, the 6.5" pliers helped us pull nails, fish a hard-to-get wire from a wall, and handle a sharp metal edge on a chimney liner. It wasn't long before we moved its status up to one of the coveted exterior pockets on our tool bag.

In our opinion, everyone needs at least one pair of pliers (and honestly, three or four extras don't hurt). For your first set, get the regular, big old kind that everybody has, but if you find yourself having a hard time with smaller materials or you just want some variety in your tool chest, the 6.5" Channellocks should be at the top of your list.

They're also made in America (Meadeville, PA) which is nice.

The little pliers cost around $13, a fine price for a high quality hand tool like this.

At Channellock

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Posted by Doug Mahoney at February 1, 2010 5:00 AM

I see they are still using the old design that uses a bolt for a hinge pin. Once the pliers get a little wear on them the bolt begins to work loose. Very annoying. The thing I dislike about this type of channel lock pliers is that the bolt gets in the way. It will not allow the pliers to lay flat against an adjoining surface making them much more difficult to use in some situations and more likely to damage something. The last time I bought slip joint pliers I purchased Craftsman pliers because they have a box joint that doesn't have these issues.

Posted by: Robert at February 2, 2010 5:42 AM

i recently purchased a house it seems the previous owner did not weather proof the pipes.it took me 21 hours straight to fix the heating pipes and 8 to do the water pipes.all along wondering where are my one set of pliers.i would realy like this set for any future catastrophes which i know will be soon

Posted by: john at May 14, 2010 4:01 AM