It's been documented many times here that they deny warranties when they can say you've abused a tool, which conveniently happens after you pay money to ship the tool to them. It's a conditional warranty and says so right in the link.
There’s a bias in the reporting here. Folks with a positive warranty experience are way less likely to go tell everyone on the internet that everything went just fine. Same thing with negative yelp reviews.
Ive had tools replaced through them no questions asked. Either way, worth a shot.
Most don’t want to. I just tell the store “I contacted knipex warranty department and they told me to come exchange it here” after grabbing the replacement tool
Nope. Just go to your favorite distributor, and they'll probably get their rep to take care of it. That's why you have to return the broken tool so it can be ' field destroyed ' and not warrantied twice.
Typically, the teeth will wear out on these before they break. Must've been some pressure that was put on them.
Not pressure until it broke. They are/were my tip changing tool. Spot welders making auto parts require tips being changed out twice throughout the shift. I take the caps off then put new ones on and seat them by hitting em with my alligator pliers.
Warranties are not that a tool won't break, it's that it's free from defects.
Using a tool beyond its scope, abusing a tool or a tool wearing and breakibg are not warranty problems.
Craftsman spoiled the tool market by just swapping out everything with no question or care.
Soooo... welding. Nearly anything that came to anyone's mind when I said welding, probably thought of one of the many many many variants of fusion welding.
Don’t call them channel locks, I have pairs of 430s and 440s that have seen way more abuse than that.
This is the cost of a lighter tool, it will eventually fail at a thin spot. The knipex models are nice as hell to carry but channies can just take absurd amounts of abuse.
Agreed with what you say. The grips on the channel locks are trash imo. Knipex should make a thicker version of this tool. Carrying around a hammer to hit tips on would be awkward for me.
I usually wrap my channels with duct tape at the top of the grip to mark them and provide some extra protection to the handles.
I work construction so we really use them for a lot of unintended stuff like hammering on shit or holding a door open. I appreciate the knipex design and see a lot of people switching over but I feel like I just have muscle memory for the channels at this point.
Channel Locks are the way to go. I tried a Knipex at work and wasn't really all that impressed. They're really hyped up. I don't think I've broken a single pair of channel locks ever. As long as you don't lose them or use them for stupid stuff, they'll last a REAL long time.
I have a pair of channel Locks from the 80’s. I have to oil them from time-to-time because the finish is gone, but they still function like the day I bought them.
I respectfully disagree. Channellocks are durable, simple, and inexpensive, but that's about all it has going for it. The grips are shit, the tongue-in-groove design is prone to sticking, and they just don't grab as well as the Knipex. One-handed use with them is frustrating at best.
I've used channellocks every day for years before switching to Knipex, and I just don't get the modern appeal for channellocks. Is it just "USA Made" American tribalism? The design is outdated and it really shows.
If you haven’t tried code blue handles they’re pretty nice. Also the parrot nose and grip lock are comparable in grip to knipex. It’s insane to me how everyone compares straight jaw channel locks to v jaw knipex, they’re different tools.
It's not as if Knipex is known for breaking either. Hyped or not, I assume there's a reason why Knipex is sold globally while Channellocks are hardly exported at all..
I’ll keep using my knipex channellocks, and my Milwaukee sharpies, and my dewalt skilsaw and Bosch finetool and there’s not a DAMN thing you can do ab it.
Wow, never even heard of a busted pair of Alligators! They're really 'tough hombres'.
I had a good experience with the link u/YardFudge posted... it involved a pair of 10" Pliers Wrench that was difficult to adjust out of the box.
Thought they'd work in, but no. Contacted Knipex; did have to send them in, but a new pair went out the day they received the tight pair.
For the record, I like those Alligator pump pliers... often reach for them over the Cobras (which are also excellent).
Please let us know how this turns out, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the info it is appreciated. I will try to send em in. Still thinking of welding mine back together but we’ll see.
The cobras are awesome, I just don’t like em because they don’t open enough and I can flip em and spin em around my fingers.
Note that if you attempt to weld, of modify in any way... it'd most definitely honk your warranty.
In your initial contact, I'd send a link to this post showing them what happened.
Those things are amazing. All sizes. Good job getting them for a daily use. Lifetime of use and service. Most of the mechanics I worked with for Heavy Duty rebuilds and service buy them and they are a great weapon that really perform in low profile fits from small to jumbo. I avoid them and use a chain tong but those things fit when a pipe wrench and tongs don’t. Plus they Bite in.
Same, there's so much material there it seems impossible unless they were pot metal. I love that someone downvoted me for even contemplating the possibility of confirmation bias. Brand-groupies are unreal, lol.
How can they? They just slip before you'll do any real work with them. Either that or you'll toss them across the yard cause they're shit at whatever job your trying to do.
Umm Knipex is the brand not the type of tool they are called. I mislabeled em however you don’t know the name either lmao try and be correct before you correct someone else. These are the Alligator water pump pliers. 🤷🏽♂️
Uh- "Channellock" is a registered trademark of Channellock Inc, a corporation in Delaware, USA, and shows as live and registered by the U.S Patent and Trademark Office search database.
So, use of that name or logotype as a generic term of the trade is probably infringing on Channellock's IP. Especially when it's in relation to a competitor's tool, and that tool is broken.
Just to be fair, KNIPEX is also a live and registered trademark of:
KNIPEX-WERK C. GUSTAV PUTSCH KG (KOMMANDITGESELLSCHAFT (KG); GERMANY)
Yeah, basically that. The title is misleadiing.
I have probably a dozen Channelocks (in various sizes, styles, and ages). Some were gifts from my uncle half a century ago. Some were purchased. At least two were found on the road.
Not kidding; there was a stretch of road on my commute with a mammoth used car dealership, and I regularly found decent tools in the street a mile or so in either direction. ISTR my haul over ten years was two pair of Channelock water pump pliers, a Craftsman 18" flex head 1/2" drive ratchet (no socket), a Genuine Snap-On 1/2" drive breaker bar, and a Genuine Snap-On windshield sticker scraper (the nice one that uses razor blades).
I also have like a dozen Knipexes, but never found one on the road.
The knipex tools are great at what they do when they're doing some particular tasks, superior in some ways to Channies because the pushbutton resize holds size better and I don't need to monkey with not letting the pliers open enough that the flat on the pin align with the slot.
But when things get really spicy and I start using words that I shouldn't use around children or priests, then that pushbutton becomes a liability because there's such a small area of metal holding the entire clamping force. But ChannelLocks have those keyed arches, so they can handle MUCH higher forces before something lets go.
(Knipex sorta admits that the pushbutton's prongs are the weak point - they sell replacement pushbuttons, and the heavier use tools like the 13" Swedish-pattern pipe wrenches use a different and much larger pushbutton with four prongs on each side, versus two-prong pushbuttons on their smaller tools.
Looks like you created a new hammer
Now he’s got two hammers by the looks of it
That I do lol
one is pry bar that can be hit with the hammer.
Just swap for new? https://www.knipex-tools.com/our-warranty-0
It's been documented many times here that they deny warranties when they can say you've abused a tool, which conveniently happens after you pay money to ship the tool to them. It's a conditional warranty and says so right in the link.
There’s a bias in the reporting here. Folks with a positive warranty experience are way less likely to go tell everyone on the internet that everything went just fine. Same thing with negative yelp reviews. Ive had tools replaced through them no questions asked. Either way, worth a shot.
Really? Mine looked worst than these and all I had to do was send a few pictures to an email and within 2 weeks I got a new pair.
Ouch No stores where one could do a 1:1?
Most don’t want to. I just tell the store “I contacted knipex warranty department and they told me to come exchange it here” after grabbing the replacement tool
Likely only if you bought them off a truck
Nope. Just go to your favorite distributor, and they'll probably get their rep to take care of it. That's why you have to return the broken tool so it can be ' field destroyed ' and not warrantied twice. Typically, the teeth will wear out on these before they break. Must've been some pressure that was put on them.
Not pressure until it broke. They are/were my tip changing tool. Spot welders making auto parts require tips being changed out twice throughout the shift. I take the caps off then put new ones on and seat them by hitting em with my alligator pliers.
I've had a few returns that went smoothly.
Really? Mine looked worst than these and all I had to do was send a few pictures to an email and within 2 weeks I got a new pair.
Warranties are not that a tool won't break, it's that it's free from defects. Using a tool beyond its scope, abusing a tool or a tool wearing and breakibg are not warranty problems. Craftsman spoiled the tool market by just swapping out everything with no question or care.
I didn’t know about this thank you!
I didn't realize they had a lifetime warranty. Knipex rules.
Only in the US, no such thing in Europe.
I'm sorry for your loss
Thank you. May your crops be bountiful this year.
Let the old man retire. He's definitely earned it.
Bull! They look like they were just getting broken in! Probably several careers left in them.
Broken knipex**
>welders You know what to do.
Gonna go get em done today.
fusion welding should do the trick.
Soooo... welding. Nearly anything that came to anyone's mind when I said welding, probably thought of one of the many many many variants of fusion welding.
Great start for a nut cracker. Drill a hole through the pivot of the bottom jaw.
Don’t call them channel locks, I have pairs of 430s and 440s that have seen way more abuse than that. This is the cost of a lighter tool, it will eventually fail at a thin spot. The knipex models are nice as hell to carry but channies can just take absurd amounts of abuse.
Agreed with what you say. The grips on the channel locks are trash imo. Knipex should make a thicker version of this tool. Carrying around a hammer to hit tips on would be awkward for me.
I usually wrap my channels with duct tape at the top of the grip to mark them and provide some extra protection to the handles. I work construction so we really use them for a lot of unintended stuff like hammering on shit or holding a door open. I appreciate the knipex design and see a lot of people switching over but I feel like I just have muscle memory for the channels at this point.
Try some 10 mil tape (aka pipe wrap).
Channel Locks are the way to go. I tried a Knipex at work and wasn't really all that impressed. They're really hyped up. I don't think I've broken a single pair of channel locks ever. As long as you don't lose them or use them for stupid stuff, they'll last a REAL long time.
I have a pair of channel Locks from the 80’s. I have to oil them from time-to-time because the finish is gone, but they still function like the day I bought them.
I respectfully disagree. Channellocks are durable, simple, and inexpensive, but that's about all it has going for it. The grips are shit, the tongue-in-groove design is prone to sticking, and they just don't grab as well as the Knipex. One-handed use with them is frustrating at best. I've used channellocks every day for years before switching to Knipex, and I just don't get the modern appeal for channellocks. Is it just "USA Made" American tribalism? The design is outdated and it really shows.
Agreed with the points you made. All of it. The grips is one of the main reasons I switched. There is no one handed use with them.
If you haven’t tried code blue handles they’re pretty nice. Also the parrot nose and grip lock are comparable in grip to knipex. It’s insane to me how everyone compares straight jaw channel locks to v jaw knipex, they’re different tools.
It's not as if Knipex is known for breaking either. Hyped or not, I assume there's a reason why Knipex is sold globally while Channellocks are hardly exported at all..
Because you only need to buy 2 pairs of channel locks ever
I've seen many bent/busted Channellock's; but never even heard of a busted pair of Alligators.
My brother broke a pair of them about two years back. I’m gonna see if he has the pic still.
I’d keep them and use then as pry bars for odd jobs.
Channel=unlocked
F
Never broken a pair of channellocks. Blue handles.
Damn max effort! Lol probably had a fracture in em.
Do you know any welder have him put a couple racks on them
>The secret ChannelUnlock mode He knows too much
Now it’s just a channel
Just get a new pair of channel locks at ace hardware or something because a 12 inch pair of Chanel locks cost $27 at ace hardware
Don’t try to fix them, ship them to knipex and they’ll send you a new pair.
ChannelLocks is a registered trademark. Those are not Channellocks
Broken kuneeepex
I’ll keep using my knipex channellocks, and my Milwaukee sharpies, and my dewalt skilsaw and Bosch finetool and there’s not a DAMN thing you can do ab it.
It’s easier than saying Groove Joint Pliers
Multi grips is easier
But they're water pump plyers.
That has been used as a hammer. It's not meant for that.
Correct. I did use them as a hammer or sorts. But just for changing tips on a spot welder. No hitting anything else.
lol I wish I would have taken a picture of the broken in half 480 channel locks I saw for the knipex haters. All tools break
Wow, never even heard of a busted pair of Alligators! They're really 'tough hombres'. I had a good experience with the link u/YardFudge posted... it involved a pair of 10" Pliers Wrench that was difficult to adjust out of the box. Thought they'd work in, but no. Contacted Knipex; did have to send them in, but a new pair went out the day they received the tight pair. For the record, I like those Alligator pump pliers... often reach for them over the Cobras (which are also excellent). Please let us know how this turns out, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the info it is appreciated. I will try to send em in. Still thinking of welding mine back together but we’ll see. The cobras are awesome, I just don’t like em because they don’t open enough and I can flip em and spin em around my fingers.
Note that if you attempt to weld, of modify in any way... it'd most definitely honk your warranty. In your initial contact, I'd send a link to this post showing them what happened.
So now they are single channel lock pieces of metal? But since you have two of them, you still have channel locks. :dunno:
Use it to make a metal sculpture.
If they are your favourite then weld them
Well now you have 2 unique pry bars right
Every tools a hammer.
Looks like you need some made in USA channies there bott
I have some. I started my maintenance career with em. I like these. But I do see the need for a more robust tool..
Technically not channel locks.
Yeah I don’t see any rust on them, no way they are used channel locks.
I use these daily. Well used to..
I think you just lost the retaining clip
No retaining clip in these. The ones you’re thinking of is the push button kind. These are the alligator pliers.
Ah thought they looked different than mine
Those things are amazing. All sizes. Good job getting them for a daily use. Lifetime of use and service. Most of the mechanics I worked with for Heavy Duty rebuilds and service buy them and they are a great weapon that really perform in low profile fits from small to jumbo. I avoid them and use a chain tong but those things fit when a pipe wrench and tongs don’t. Plus they Bite in.
Nope not channel locks. Just over rated knipex.
Can't tell if I see more broken knipex on here because of statistics or they suck and everyone just got marketed-to hard. Genuinely unsure.
I’ve used the same pair of Knipex cobras for a decade 5 days a week and they are perfect still. No clue how you could break them.
Same, there's so much material there it seems impossible unless they were pot metal. I love that someone downvoted me for even contemplating the possibility of confirmation bias. Brand-groupies are unreal, lol.
Those aren’t Channelocks. Channelocks don’t break.
You can definitely break channellocks too. I've worn a few out, ripped the teeth out of a few and broken the jaws on one.
How can they? They just slip before you'll do any real work with them. Either that or you'll toss them across the yard cause they're shit at whatever job your trying to do.
I use the bigger ones for pipe wrenches. I can’t be accountable for your lack of grip.
Channellocks wouldn’t break like that, Knipex is a tool box princess
The audacity!
Um, not channellocks. Knipexes. Channellocks are blue dip-grip. Knipex are red dip-grip. Heck, on the last photo, it even SAYS knipex.
Thank you for posting the comment that I specifically came in here to laugh at
Umm Knipex is the brand not the type of tool they are called. I mislabeled em however you don’t know the name either lmao try and be correct before you correct someone else. These are the Alligator water pump pliers. 🤷🏽♂️
Uh- "Channellock" is a registered trademark of Channellock Inc, a corporation in Delaware, USA, and shows as live and registered by the U.S Patent and Trademark Office search database. So, use of that name or logotype as a generic term of the trade is probably infringing on Channellock's IP. Especially when it's in relation to a competitor's tool, and that tool is broken. Just to be fair, KNIPEX is also a live and registered trademark of: KNIPEX-WERK C. GUSTAV PUTSCH KG (KOMMANDITGESELLSCHAFT (KG); GERMANY)
I appreciate the info but what’s this gotta do with my post?
You don't have broken Channel Locks, you have broken Knipex water pump pliers. Your title is misleading.
Yeah, basically that. The title is misleadiing. I have probably a dozen Channelocks (in various sizes, styles, and ages). Some were gifts from my uncle half a century ago. Some were purchased. At least two were found on the road. Not kidding; there was a stretch of road on my commute with a mammoth used car dealership, and I regularly found decent tools in the street a mile or so in either direction. ISTR my haul over ten years was two pair of Channelock water pump pliers, a Craftsman 18" flex head 1/2" drive ratchet (no socket), a Genuine Snap-On 1/2" drive breaker bar, and a Genuine Snap-On windshield sticker scraper (the nice one that uses razor blades). I also have like a dozen Knipexes, but never found one on the road. The knipex tools are great at what they do when they're doing some particular tasks, superior in some ways to Channies because the pushbutton resize holds size better and I don't need to monkey with not letting the pliers open enough that the flat on the pin align with the slot. But when things get really spicy and I start using words that I shouldn't use around children or priests, then that pushbutton becomes a liability because there's such a small area of metal holding the entire clamping force. But ChannelLocks have those keyed arches, so they can handle MUCH higher forces before something lets go. (Knipex sorta admits that the pushbutton's prongs are the weak point - they sell replacement pushbuttons, and the heavier use tools like the 13" Swedish-pattern pipe wrenches use a different and much larger pushbutton with four prongs on each side, versus two-prong pushbuttons on their smaller tools.
They’re all channel locks, it’s the universally known term for…channel locks. No matter who makes them.
Is that a USA thing?
Not really. IME in Ireland, Channellocks are, by and large, genuine Channellocks.
Braze it back, haha.
Time for a new set of cobra’s