Hozan: Manufacturer of True 'Precision' Tools...

I bought my first 'proper' workbench tools over 30 years ago, a snips/cutters and a Snipe-nosed pliers, from Cricklewood Electronics, made by the prestigious German toolmaker C.K.  They cost a little over £10 each, way back then.  Despite the decades of abuse, these performed admirably, or at least one of them did - the first snips I destroyed within a few years, trying to cut something way beyond its pay-grade.  Lesson learnt, I immediately went out and bought another, and it's still in use today.  The original pliers, withstood three decades of similar abuse, but recently, heedless of past misdeeds, and being employed in a really dumb task, I managed to break this as well.  I was distraught.

But looking to get back on the horse as quickly as possible, I went searching for a replacement, and was elated to discover that Amazon sells the exact same pliers, though costing considerably more - almost £27 then, though the price continues its upward spiral, it currently costs £33.  But I was content to pay a premium for a tool of this quality.

Until receiving it anyway!  Examining it, it was immediately apparent that, in my opinion, the "C.K Classic T3772 120mm 'Precision' Snipe Nose Pliers", did not live up to this description.  I would have thought that the workmanship of tools made today would at least meet the standards of those produced by the same manufacturer more than 30 years ago - apparently not!  Although the jaws themselves were fine, where the two pieces hinge, there were large gaps, more than 1mm in places, and on both sides.  A side-by-side comparison with its much older (and broken!) sibling, highlights this (see pics).

 

Though some might accuse me of being pedantic, this was not acceptable to me, so back it went to Amazon.  I hoped my negative review about it on the site would at least have garnered a response from a C.K Rep, as C.K themselves are the Seller, but it was not to be.  Apparently, this level of 'Precision' is now the accepted norm in Germany.

All of this transpired back in February, so over 6 months ago, and I was still without a proper pliers for my bench-work.  So it was time to go shopping again, but this time I thought I'd give Ebay a try.

On searching, it became clear early on, that the Japanese company Hozan was one of the main contenders where quality tools were concerned, to the point that many Sellers, reassuringly all Japanese, post pics on how to spot forgeries.  One of these tell-tale signs was precisely the reason I returned the C.K pliers - poor manufacturing tolerances at the hinge-point.

Although I really only needed a pliers, as the C.K side-cutters is now quite blunt, I figured I may as well treat myself to a new snips as well.  Then I went completely mad and bought another, much more expensive, 'pulling-pliers' - or at least that was its intended use, to facilitate the removal of say, 8 to 14 pin i.c's.  Turns out the 'pliers' is actually a cutters and too small for extracting anything above 8-pin i.c's anyway, so it probably won't see much use.  All told, these cost $21 (snips), $27 (pliers) and $37 ('pulling' pliers) respectively.  See pics.

But, and the main point here, all of their 'tolerances'  are superb!  The fact that they are all 'spring-opened', rather than using a leaf-spring like the C.K tools, is a bonus in my eyes.  This is what I expect to see from quality 'Precision' tools.

So despite my having had a long history with C.K of Germany, I have reluctantly had to switch to a manufacturer that seems to care about the quality of the tools that they manufacture.  In my eyes, Hozan fits the bill on this count.  It's just a  shame that a long-established company like C.K seems to have become complacent with the passing of time.