Fine nosed pliers

[Herald1360]

Feeling rather pleased with my latest tool acquisition- found in a rummage box at a steam and vintage show, one sorry looking pair of Lindstrom 7892
"129 mm Steel Long Nose Pliers With 29mm Jaw Length" for £1. Looked up the RS number and was duly impressed by the current price of £69.05 inc VAT.


The curved end of the jaws was just an impression of something but a few minutes on the bench grinder resulted in a nice straight long nose tool akin to the Lindstrom 7890.


Guess mine are classic pliers now- they have the original box jointed handles rather than the present day simple scissor type.

[G6Tanuki]

A great find! Lindstrom stuff is the bee's knees: I've got several sets of Lindstrom pliers and side-cutters 'acquired' from my time associated with private-wire circuits in telephone-exchanges a few decades back.

[GrimJosef]

In recent months (it may have been going on for longer but I've only just become aware of it) I've seen some very odd behaviour on Amazon UK concerning Lindstrom and similar (e.g. Bahco) hand tools. A small number of them will suddenly appear at a very low price indeed - perhaps as low as 20% of the list price. As each individual item sells the price will rise, although the last one still tends to go for less than half the list price. Then that's it - in a while (few days, maybe weeks ?) another item will appear with the same deal on it. I've recently bought a couple of nice pairs of fine flush cutters at knock down prices this way. But I've no idea why Amazon does it.

Cheers,

GJ

[vinrads]

I purchased a pair of Lindstrom side cutters the cost me £40 plus, they were not box jointed and made in Spain , still very good cutters.

[Sinewave]

I've got a few nice sets of Lindstrom pliers and other hand tools, they are nice, but not sure they're worth their new price tag. They were issued to me when I worked in the oil and gas industry, we were all made redundant so were allowed to take our things with us.

[TrevorG3VLF]

I have a pair of long nosed pliars bought at Southhamplon market in about 1960. These were made in Poland and with a black finish. The handles are slowly getting polished due to regular use. An axcellent tool.

To be off topic, I have two Lindstrom side cutters, one scissors hinge and one boxed. The scissored one is best and will cut the finest wire. How do they make the box joint?

[Sinewave]

Originally Posted by TrevorG3VLF

To be off topic, I have two Lindstrom side cutters,

Lindstrom is the topic

[MrBungle]

Just remember that when you knacker a pair of Lindstroms it hurts you more than when you knacker some cheap ones. I speak from experience

[BulgingCap]

Mr Bungle: It hurts even more when someone else knackers them for you !
A machine mechanic in China grabbed a pair of Lindstrom full flush cutters whilst my head was turned, then smiled sweetly when he returned them. 35 years later they still have a large notch in them where he cut a steel locking wire off a bolt head. They are specified as '1mm unplated copper, max'.
BC

[alanworland]

As an electronics production engineer I used to buy all shop floor tools, always of good quality, Lindstrom, bahco etc and I used to cringe at how some of the production operatives would 'use' them!

Alan

[GrimJosef]

My niece runs a small business making custom hats (quite a lot of her clients are women going to weddings). Some of the hats involve decorative wire work, either as support for beading or just as a 'creation' itself. One of my Christmas presents to her this year was a pair of small flush-cutting Bahcos .

Cheers,

GJ

[Herald1360]

The box joint is a bit of a trick...... one of the handles is split longitudinally. It's not obvious unless the plastic handle sleeve comes loose.

My painful Lindstrom experience was at Gatwick security- my sponge bag containing the pair of diagonal flush cutters I used as nail clippers(!) was in my cabin bag. For some reason a pair of nail scissors in my ex's bag was OK, but the cutters weren't. No time to go back and post them to myself

[kalee20]

My fine-nosed pliers are Erem! I prefer their tools to Lindstrom.

However, there is a good argument for having a set of cheap tools, market-stall stuff, for jobs where they are likely to get damaged or lost. A £5 pair of pliers is just as good for holding a screw while it's trimmed by an angle grinder as a £65 pair - and as for fingers to hold the screw, well they're priceless!

[MrBungle]

Yes indeed.

I figured that Lindstrom were out of budget when I broke the last pair so I went for Piergiacomi ones which are better than the cheap junk at cheap junk prices:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003UQWJAA

If I break them I don't cry. I'm on my second pair in 4 years so it seems to be a wise investment so far.

They do pliers as well.

[Sinewave]

To be fair these days I buy the cheap as chips Duratool from CPC which turn out to be really good. So good even people at work as where I got them from.

[Granitehill]

GPO / BT has to have been one of the biggest users of fine nose pliers ("Pliers wiring No. 2), otherwise known to all and sundry as "81s". I don't remember ever seeing Lindstrom pliers, but lots of unbranded and some Wilkinson ones - all scissor jointed. They seemed to last about a couple of years, but wore out eventually.
Lindstrom were one of the suppliers of diagonal cutters ("Snips") though. These were box jointed and seemed to last longer than the pliers.

[barrymagrec]

Originally Posted by Herald1360

The box joint is a bit of a trick...... one of the handles is split longitudinally. It's not obvious unless the plastic handle sleeve comes loose.

It`s a very good trick - I have a pair of Lindstrom diagonal cutters inherited from my Father in Law and probably ex RAF which have no plastic sleeve and I still can`t see the join.....

[Herald1360]

Perhaps they have a genuine box joint?

[threeseven]

My Dad used to say, you should always buy the best you can afford, and if at all possible just buy the best anyway, then take great care of it. It's a philosophy that would seem to work as I inherited his tools and they all still work perfectly and are in amazing condition. Of course I always buy the best I can myself and Lindstrom is one of the best. Another I can highly recommend is Engineer of Japan. Disproportionately high quality for their very reasonable price.

[elanman99]

Modern box joints (well Lindstrom ones anyway) are made with the outer leaves of the hinge fully slit so they can be assembled and the two 'tails' hidden inside the plastic handle.

I always understood that the traditional box joint was made by creating the two separate halves of the tool to finished sizes, then the half with the rectangular hole is heated up in a forge and the hole opened up with a tapered spike so it is just large enough for the centre leaf to be installed. A few quick whacks with a hammer then closes the box.

Ian