SK Hand Tools’ 2-piece compound pliers set is on sale for $35 via Amazon. The set includes two long-reach pliers: one with straight jaws, and the other with 45° angled tips.
The last time we saw this set on sale was over a year ago, and the price was $40 plus $9 shipping. With an average retail range of $55-65, $35 shipped is pretty darn good. Alternatively, Gearwrench’s 2-piece compound plier set is priced at about $40 all the time.
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SK 2-Piece Compound Pliers Set (17854) via Amazon
Product Info via SK Hand Tools
Dan Richards
I have the bent nose Gearwrench version of that tool, and the China really shows in it. Very disappointed. Wish I’d gotten these instead… still might get these.
IndyEngineer
I have the SK brand of these, both the Long Reach set and the XL Long Reach set. They are also made in China, just like the Gearwrench brand. However, I am quite surprised with the quality of them. They are constructed as well as anything I have seen made in the USA. The China factory must be really good at enforcing SK’s manufacturing specs.
What surprised me the most is the delicate touch these have when using them. They are very easy to control compared to other long reach pliers. Because of the double X design, they open wide without much effort and they are not as heavy in the hand as they appear.
I love mine and wouldn’t trade them for any other long reach plier.
uthscsaedu
For some reason I thought these were poorly reviewed
I thought I heard the mechanism was very stiff.
Stuart
Alex, that’s a pretty convincing review. I might just have to give these a try.
Uthscsaedu, I haven’t seen too many reviews of those pliers elsewhere. If you’re talking about reviews here, we reviewed Gearwrench’s hemostats which we found to be very stiff to unlock.
Dan Richards
Picked up the long set of these today, smoother than Gearwrench version. Very pleased with this set. The packaging is ok too, comes in a useless plastic tray in a cardboard box, much easier to open and then dispose of than the Gearwrench alternative.
Stuart
Hmm… smoother than the Gearwrench version you say? I may have to pick up one of these sets. But right not Amazon’s out of stock and well… it may be some time before the new SK can manufacture some more, unless they still have some older stock ready to be distributed.
Dan Richards
The long ones (17850) that I got are $70 on tooltopia and $75 on Amazon in stock, not quite a deal. I did a best-offer on one on ebay and got away with a decent buy. Very fair for a sealed new SK tool imo. The jaws on my Gearwrench bent nose wiggle around a bit, not sure if that’s typical. The real advantage over the GW is the handle geometry; at full-open the SK handles are over an inch closer together than the GW, making for a much more manageable and comfortable tool. The jaws on both open to exactly the same angle but the SK jaws are about 3/32 in shorter, at least on the bent nose. I don’t have a straight GW to compare and I don’t think that takes away from the SK at all, the usability of the tool is far better from the handle action.
Dan Richards
Just to note, I wear an XL Mechanix glove, to give relative perspective of the handles without taking photos. In hand at full lock the GW pliers are a stretch, literally, whereas the SK pliers are just right.