Bosch recently revealed a new line of insulated wrenches, pipe wrenches, and screwdrivers. Taking a peek at their promotional catalog, there’s even more on the way – new plumbing pliers and pipe wrenches.
There are two new pliers, a Pliers Wrench that’s similar to the Knipex Pliers Wrench, and adjustable pliers that are similar to Knipex Cobra pliers.
Both pliers will be launching in 10″ sizing, at least to start.
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The new Bosch Pliers Wrench is described as being simple and handy, and features 2-component soft grip handles.
As with Knipex’s design and its various clones, the Bosch Pliers Wrench has smooth parallel-opening jaws. The 250mm (10″) model has a jaw opening width of up to 48mm (~1.89″).
The pliers’ jaw opening width settings are labeled with inch markings on one side, and metric on the other.
Bosch is also launching 250mm (10″) button-adjustable pliers.
As with the Knipex Cobra pliers, the Bosch is described and shown to have “auto-locking” jaws. It can fit pipes with diameters up to 46mm (~1.81″).
Bosch is also launching 2 new pipe wrenches that are designed for use in tight spaces.
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Shown here is the 90° pipe wrench, with maximum jaw capacity of 60mm (~2.36″).
There is also a 45° angled pipe wrench with the same jaw opening capacity.
Both have an adjusting nut for continuous fine adjustment of the jaw opening width. Additional features include chrome vanadium steel construction and hardened teeth.
I don’t know what’s more surprising – that Bosch is entering the insulated electric hand tool space, or that they’re entering the plumbing hand tool market with pipe wrenches.
See Also: New Bosch Tools – Cordless Nailers, Wrenches, Pliers, More
USA details or availability have not yet been announced.
Daniel L
Boy.
Those cobra-type look *very* similar to the knipex versions.
As in, damn near identical.
Jared
It will be very interesting to see how they work. E.g. are they just look-alikes, or will these be genuine competition. They certainly look the part.
Phranq
Am I the only one that really hates the cushion grip trend for hand tools like this? It just makes them take up more room than is necessary.
Julian Tracy
For all my Knipex plier purchases, i prefer the standard grip. Hate the stupid bulky ones.
Ted
100% agree
Phranq
Glad to know I’m not the only one, and grateful that Knipex gives us options.
frobo
I agree; I’m not a fan of fat overmolded grips either. If anything, just a thin vinyl covering, like the traditional Channelock grips, is the sweet spot for me.
Ben
Cannot agree more. That said, I’m just some schlub at home who can store my stuff in a drawer of my workbench. I’m not taking them from job to job where the dipped handles may get beaten up more.
MM
For tools like this, yes, I prefer just the simple dipped grips. For some kinds of pliers I like the cushion grips but not these.
Josh
I also hate the cushion grip.
Mark M.
Yep. In fact, my favorite pair of curved jaw Chanellocks (RIP wherever you are) had no handle coating at all. An old electrician I worked with zipped the vinyl off with a knife and showed me how to ream pipe with them. I never for a minute missed any kind of handle coating. Not saying I want all my pliers that way but bulky is def overrated.
ITCD
I just appreciate that you’re given options on handle rather than being forced into one.
John
The problem I have with them is they often swell up when you get oil on them and come apart.
AngryDrumGuy
The last pair of cobras I bought had a rough handle coating, unlike the smooth vinyl on the pliers wrench. I exchanged them because they wouldn’t be easy to clean, then got a comfort grip. No complaints, but I still prefer the smooth vinyl.
James
Yeah my rough vinyl cobras are sooooo dirty. But when cranking on pipe I extra grip.
Like you, if I ever buy more cobras, I’ll get the smooth vinyl.
Ditto to many here that the bulk is no good; takes up space in tool bag/pouch, and also much more difficult to operate one handed because I can’t get my fingers around as easily.
JR Ramos
As my fingers have gotten slightly arthritic I appreciate the larger grips more than I used to. That said, I’m not very picky about cutters and pliers other than the quality of the steel and construction. Good old vinyl dip is just fine. Where I really do like these bulkier “cushion” (they aren’t really cushiony, none that I’ve seen) grips is on mini bolt cutters and nail/concretor end nippers where they really make it much more comfortable under high squeeze pressure. That bulk is also kind of a pain for pockets and storage, though. I didn’t expect to like them as much as I did but the grips that Engineer(/Vamplier) use are fantastic, nice middle ground between dipped and bulky. I find the recent trend with the extra thick insulated/electrical grips to be odd, too…but whatever floats your boat I guess.
Jersey sam
No I dislike them nice to give hands a lil padding. But problem is they are usually glued in and it fails then you have to fuck with them all the time. Re glue push back on. Sucks in the middle of a job when they fail.
fred
FWIW I had seen so many of the 90deg and 45deg pipe wrenches in use in Europe that I thought to try to introduce them in our plumbing business. I had heard them called “Swedish Pattern” wrenches. About 25 years ago we bought some Sandvik ones in several different lengths to pass around and try out. None of our guys liked them. IIRC the major complaint was “too much spring” in the handles.
taras
As a plumber, I can definitely back this up. I was curious to try them out, as I heard that the “locking” ability they have was good for loosening tight joints. I picked up a set of Bahco angled wrenches. They definitely lock and grab, but there is so much leverage that they can distort things that are thinner than Sched 40 if you aren’t careful with the adjustment.
The springiness of the handles is due to the the forward handle, not the palm handle. The palm handle is solid, but the forward one consists of 3 pieces, and this is where the flex feeds back into the whole wrench.
Rog
Tangentially related: Why does Bosch’s brand color waver between blue and green? Is there a marketing reason or is it just poor QC?
Periodically I’ve seen Makita’s main teal differ, but never on anyone else but them and Bosch.
MM
In the past Bosch has used green for their “homeowner” oriented power tools while they use blue for the “pro” tools.
Peter
MM is right on the money.
The green line never made it official to the states afaik.
Lyle
Yup. I bought some Bosch 12V stuff from Amazon.de since Bosch doesn’t release much 12V stuff in the US. Didn’t pay attention to the color and found out the hard way that the 12V batteries are different between the blue (pro) and green (home) tools. Luckily they charge on the same charger, but they don’t easily interchange between the tools. The plastic that allows the batteries to clip into the tool is different and would need to be modified.
JR Ramos
Yeah, green was always the homeowner but with accessories sometimes it was just a color change for some items. This goes at least as far back as 1994 which was the first time I saw something Bosch-green and it was surprising. Don’t see them much in the US except for online these days. Back then there were several items available with various woodworking outlets.
David Brock
Any idea on where they are being produced?
Nathan
Or who’s making them? I don’t know that Bosch has a hand tool company in their umbrella
But interesting.
fred
Robinair – a Bosch subsidiary make some HVAC wrenches and hand tools – but not like these.
Shawn Yuan
I’d be interested if they Bosch released a 4″ and 5″ version at a more reasonable price pending COO and quality v Knipex. The Knipex 4″ is only a want and not a need so $50 makes it at the very bottom of my Save for Later Amazon cart. I’m thinking $35 max.
Fred
Attention Lowe’s! This should be the answer you need in your Plumbing Department! A world class global brand with the resources to market the launch