What kind of jobs do you use them for? I was thinking that it would be better to use flat faces, rather than round ones, to hold nuts but there seems to be some uncertainty in the following replies whether the flats stay parallel or not.
Frank makes a good point in a later reply that for that an adjustable spanner would be more appropriate for nuts. I see the link you gave to the Stanley tool is a cross between a spanner and a mole grip, so the best of both worlds.
Though Mole grips are quite useful if someone has already chewed up the nut badly, probably by using Mole grips when they should have used a spanner in the first place.....
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Maybe they should be renamed as 'Crocodile' or 'Alligator' wrench, since that more generally describes their action, particularly the version with long straight jaws.
Cic.
Apparently the name comes from the original manufacturers who were Norman Mole & Co Ltd or something similar.
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An electrical engineer who during the Second World War was involved in the installation, inspection and maintenance of the 1,000-ton "Whale" floating roadways for the Mulberry Harbours through which Allied military supplies were brought ashore in Normandy to supply the invading armies after D-Day, Tom Coughtrie also earned the gratitude of many thousands of DIY enthusiasts after the war for his invention of the remarkable "Mole" self-grip wrench. In 1947 he became assistant to the joint managing directors - both brothers - of the Birmingham engineering company M. K. Mole and Son, which had been founded in 1835. After the deaths of the two Mole brothers, in 1948 and 1950 respectively, he became managing director. He had already been working on his idea for a self-grip wrench and in 1955 his remarkable device was patented, and did much to underpin the fortunes of Mole and Sons. In
1960 the company relocated to Newport, Monmouthshire, then an area of high unemployment, and Coughtrie invented the slogan "Ship through Newport, the home of the Mole Wrench". Mole exported its lockable pliers to 60 countries and while the financial benefits came to Coughtrie through the company, the firm did sufficiently well to allow the inventor-manager to own his own Rolls Royce.---------------------------------------------------------------------
I use a wrench on nuts usually, but mole grips are useful for holding service valves etc whilst doing up the hex nut with a wrench. Also good for rounded off hex nuts.
It won't grip like mole grips. You adjust it like a normal adjustable, then pull the lock lever which locks it in place. I guess it closes the gap by a mm or 2.
Incredibly useful tool. Gives you an extra hand when plumbing, you can clamp it on a hex nut & it stays there. Very useful on stck brass hexagons. Almost impossible for it to slip & round off the flats.
Except the septics were 20 years ahead of him, patent had hit expiry, `fraid Vise Grip, now owned by Irwin , wins this one
Cheers Adam
Are Mole grips & Vice Grips that same thing? Do Vice Grips have that machanical advantage of do they just lock?
Pretty much identical :
Cheers Adam
I've bought a dirt cheap set of 3 in the 70s. Still going strong and have got me out of more scrapes than I care to remember.
The _really_cheap Moles were the '80s ones, in bright '80s primary colours instead of being plated. Still worked well though.
If you want weird though. I've got a pair of beryllium copper ones (not Mole) - sparkproof, for the petrochemical industry.
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The name 'Mole grip' or 'Mole wrench' has been used generically for many years in the same way that 'Hoover' is used generically for vacuum cleaners so nobody is really too bothered about the accuracy of the name.
As a tool I've always found its best use is as a clamp for welding etc. rather than as a spanner or pair of pliers. I've just made a temporary knock-down shed from surplus angle iron and used only two Mole wrenches and a couple of 'G-clamps' to hold things together for drilling.
Where a spanner is needed a proper true fitting spanner is best for most purposes rather a mole grip or an adjustable.
Cic.
The Mole is a much-improved version, with, in particular, a very easy- to-operate release lever. The real Mole ones, before the Stanley takeover, are much to be preferred to the American Vise Grips.
John
Years ago (and I mean many years) I had a pair of nut pliers. Incredibly useful and wish I still had them.
Straight jaws. They lock onto nuts.
Quality versions were VERY expensive. They were for engineering and mechanical work. Pipe fitters had little need for them. The smooth jaws versions are now invaluable for pipe fitting.
Only in the UK oer where Mole exported. Vice Grips is the more common, and original USA term
Apart from the smooth jaw versions, which took around 60 years to be introduced after the first invention.
The serrated jaws versions are what they are, a vice like grip, not for undoing nuts.
I bought a cheap set, of varying sizes, from Aldi or Lidl. Great for general use.
"Vice Grips" (with a c) are a cheap Chinese knock-off brand and really poor. "Vise Grip" (with an s, and singular) are the genuine US article and just as good (probably stronger) than Moles.
You are right. This is the one to have, not cheap but the business:
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