Tight Bite: The Best Locking Pliers and Plier Sets

The original, the legend. Irwin’s Vise Grip 10” Original Locking Plier with the curved jaw is the genuine article of locking pliers. The 10-inch unit is stout enough to generate heavy torque for the most stubborn jobs, and the brand’s pedigree reaches all the way back to the inventor of the locking plier. It tested exactly how I expected based on years of experience, proving dependable, well-built, and no-nonsense.

High-strength, heat-treated steel with a subtle knurled texture for grip characterizes the straightforward tool. The Vise Grip 10” with the curved jaw has essentially been the same tool since 1957 when the company added the easy-release lever. (The first Vise Grip was fabricated in the 1930s by a blacksmith who identified a need for a clamping plier: part vise, part plier).

Something about that makes me happy inside. A tool, invented by a trade worker out of ingenuity and personal necessity, has proven so useful and successful that it still hasn’t changed after six decades. The inventor, William Petersen, was well ahead of his time.

Good thing, too: I constantly use Irwin Vise Grip locking pliers for repairs and maintenance on my truck and around my house. From memory and experience, most Irwin Vise Grip tools are tightly built, with little play between the joints. The test specimen was no exception. The curved jaw’s shape grips just about everything and it adjusts to fit anything from a piece of paper to a sink drainpipe. The tension screw’s hex key acceptor helps users get maximum pressure.

During testing, I used the Irwin Vise Grip 10” Original for some moderate-duty truck maintenance. It broke fasteners free up to around 40 ft-lbs. of torque, but 10 inches of leverage was not enough for heavy-lagged, corrosion-encrusted bolts (I tried to remove 129 ft.-lb. torqued caliper bolts with 50k+ miles of built-up tension with the pliers, but no dice. I eventually used an 18-inch breaker bar).

Solidly built and dependable as tested, I consider Irwin’s Vise Grip 10” Original curved jaw locking plier to be a valid choice for anyone who’s only going to have one locking plier in their kit. Read the in-depth review here.

Crescent makes a three-piece locking plier set that deliver bang for your buck. The set includes a 10-, 7-, and 5-inch locking plier. Its wide range of sizes make it useful for many projects and applications. My test showed me Crescent 3-Piece Curved Jaw Locking Plier would be a good foundational locking plier set, especially for home users.

Crescent’s curved jaw design is identical to the Original Vise Grip. Crescent adds a rubber boot to the release lever for user comfort; that feature made zero difference to me, and one boot ripped after a few uses (to no functional effect).

I did notice that Crescent’s locking plier was built to a fairly loose fit. Joints, especially in the lower handle, had a lot of play. It irked me at first because I thought it indicated cheap manufacturing. But after a while, it made sense. I found that the loose build helped the tool fit in my hand, in whatever specific angle or position it was in.

The pliers were well-constructed elsewhere. Rivets and molding were consistent, and the screw operated smoothly. The locking function worked as intended.

The Crescent pliers tested as a good foundational locking plier set. I could use the various sizes for various parts of a job, from relatively minute items like hose mounting bolts in my truck to tougher tasks like lag bolts, under moderately heavy torque. I generally never have the occasion to use hex key cutouts in tension screws, but the Crescent set has them just in case.

For utility and value, it’s hard to beat the Crescent 3-piece curved jaw locking plier set. Read the in-depth review here.

For those who need the full spectrum of locking plier functionality and a trusted brand pedigree, the Milwaukee 10-piece Torque Lock Locking Plier set is the way to go. It features every locking plier style, including clamps and long-nose.

Each of the 10 tools features Milwaukee’s unique tension screw. Instead of a hex key, it has a through-hole; stick a screwdriver through the hole and lag it down. The set comprises four curved jaw pliers, two long-nose, two straight-jaw, and two C-clamp locking pliers, all in various sizes.

Though it looks dubious for a couple of reasons, Maxpower Tools 15-Piece Locking Plier set has established a solid review profile. With so many tools plus a tool bag at such a low price, it seems like the product would be junk. Instead, reviews are comprehensively positive. If I were a professional who relied on my tools every day for a living, I would proceed with caution. However, if I were a DIYer who just wanted the most bang for my buck, I wouldn’t hesitate.

Maxpower Tools’ 15-piece kit is the broadest on the locking plier market. It includes the familiar entries of most big sets; an assortment of the curved jaw, straight jaw, long nose, and C-clamp pliers. It adds a 90-degree angle pair, a wire cutter, a sheet metal clamp, and a U-shaped plier.

King’s 4-Piece Locking Plier set is a straightforward collection of four tools, including three curved jaw locking pliers and one long-nose. The kit is affordable and features just enough versatility for a wide range of home jobs.

The King kit has rubber-coated handles for an easy, comfortable grip. With any rubber-handled tool, the trade-off is the ease of cleaning for comfort. Though the rubber grip may be less abrasive in your hand and, under slippery conditions, easier to hold on to, they’re also hard to clean and tend to get grimy over time.

The Irwin Fast Release adds a one-handed release to its ubiquitous Vise Grip locking pliers. It’s one of the few technical advancements the tool has seen in the past half-century. Irwin Vise Grip 10” Fast Release Locking Plier adds convenience but comes at a price.

Irwin’s Fast Release line is all about user comfort. A short promotional video says the updated tool “makes hand strength a thing of the past” (which we don’t think should ever be a goal) by reducing the hand span by 20% and remove the traditional release lever from the equation. Rubber grips make this a plush plier. 

Instead of a tension screw, self-adjusting locking pliers let the user set a specific clamp pressure for any jaw width. Lockjaw’s range of products, including its z-nla 10-inch self-adjusting locking plier, are the category leaders.

Lockjaw says, “Dial in the amount of gripping force from slight to extreme and forget about it, regardless of the size of the object.”