Over at Woot (an Amazon company), they have a great sale on Armstrong hand tools going on right now.
This 3-piece USA-made quick-release locking pliers set is on sale for just $22. There is a limit of 3 sets per customer, and ground shipping is a flat $5.
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(Woot has removed the made-in-USA part from the product description. It looks like these pliers are made in Taiwan. This is still a good deal for industrial-branded locking pliers, regardless of COO).
The set includes 5-inch curved jaw, 6-inch long nose, and 10-inch straight jaw locking pliers. All 3 models feature a quick release mechanism.
Update: According to Stan’s note in the comments, these pliers might not be made in the USA after all, despite what it says on Woot. If you buy them and they’re not marked as being made in the USA, you could always return them.
Even if you take shipping into account, that’s just $9 per locking plier, which is a fantastic price.
(A quick google search shows that the 3-piece set has a street price of about $28. This is somewhat low for an industrial brand, which leads me to believe a large quantity of the sets were sold to liquidators and surplus outlets. That would help explain how Woot can get away selling the set for just $22.)
There are a couple of other deals worth looking at, such as 1/4″, 3/8″, and 1/2″ professional 6pt socket sets. A couple of Crescent tools are also included in the sale.
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The sale ends August 30th, 2013 at 9am CT, unless supplies sell out sooner.
EXPIRED!
Stan
Stuart, wait, so there IS a manufacturer that produces 100% American made locking pliers currently in existence? If that is the case, this is quite the announcement.
Wow, if that is the case then this changes EVERYTHING with how I buy locking pliers, as if Armstrong manufactures American made locking pliers, there might be less need to buy vintage American made locking pliers on eBay and then some.
Stuart
It looks like these locking pliers might be “new old stock,” and there’s no telling if Armstrong locking pliers will continue to be USA made.
It is completely possible that these were leftover from a government-purchase special run from 10 years ago. Or they could be from half a year ago. In other words, I wouldn’t get too excited over this. It’s a great deal for sure, but even if additional sizes and styles are or will be available, they’re going to be more accurately priced for industrial customers.
Stan
I actually found Armstrong’s website with their phone number and called them about this product. The person I spoke to told me these were made in Taiwan, not USA at all.
Tried calling Woot, but no luck though either.
I was only excited, as I thought Armstrong might actually produce USA made locking pliers currently.
Stuart
It is possible that these were made in the USA even if current ones are not. It’s hard to say for sure without holding one in-hand and looking for markings.
Stan
I agree with you completely Stuart. Wish whoever had taken that image had included the country of origin of this set in particular though.
But according to some research I did a while, chrome vanadium isn’t always used on American made tools and is more common on overseas tools.
None the less, Armstrong had told me that these locking pliers were made in Taiwan, so that is all the information I have to go on at this point.
Richard
The buyers at Woot have confirmed that only the sockets are made in the USA, not the locking pliers:
http://tools.woot.com/forums/viewpost.aspx?postid=5539606
They’ve updated the listing of the pliers to remove the Made in the USA line.
Stuart
Darn, it looks like this was too good to be true. I also just noticed that Woot removed the “made in USA” part of the product description.
Even so, $22 + $5 shipping for Armstrong-branded locking pliers is still a good deal in my book.
Stan
Stuart, when you initially posted this article, I thought this was almost too good to be true myself, but Armstrong added this line of locking pliers in 2011, so I honestly don’t think these could ever been made in America. Maybe not, but who really knows at this point.
Maybe you can field this question better, but to my knowledge there isn’t a single manufacturer that produces American made locking pliers on the market currently or within the last six or so years. I imagine you have industry contacts or so, so maybe there is one manufacturer that still produces USA made locking pliers.
Soda
Thanks for the heads up on this deal! I took advantage of the great prices and purchased one each of the 3/8″ drive and a 1/4″ drive Armstrong socket sets.