KNIPEX Internal Snap Ring Pliers With Forged Tips

I needed a retaining ring pliers (also known as snap ring pliers) to take off the snap rings from my Olympic dumbbell to be able to clean it. I had never used a snap ring pliers or handled snap rings before. I searched on amazon for ‘snap ring pliers’ and ordered one that was the most popular (highly rated and largest number of 5 stars). When it arrived and I tried for the first time to use it, it would snap out of the rings when I tried to engage it and would not even engage – I was very disappointed and thought that maybe it was my skill that was at fault. I looked up all the videos I could about using snap ring pliers and in almost all of them I saw the users engage the pliers without any issue. I was puzzled. Could it be the pliers then? How is it possible that the highest rated and most popular set does not even work? After trying several more times in futility I concluded two things:

1) It cannot be THIS hard if the tool is working. So it must be the tool and not my skill
2) The pliers were not engaging because they were not tough enough for the job. They were flexing and this was causing them not to be able to engage and slip out of the holes. Also the diameter of the tips of the pliers that go into the holes of the snap ring was too small for the snap ring with way too much ‘give’. This added to the tendency of the pliers to not be able to grip the rings properly and to slip out. So the diameter of the tips of the pliers mattered too.

After this I searched for as much information as I can find about snap ring pliers and for ‘better’ brands of snap ring pliers. That is when I came to know about the brand ‘Knipex’. I had never heard about them but they looked to be good – Made in Germany tools and a specialized company for pliers. On their website they had a large number of snap ring pliers with different specifications as there were different snap rings with varying dimensions (basically ring diameter and hole diameter) and so each needed a specific pliers. After some more research on the exact dimensions suitable for snap rings that are usually found in olympic barbells and dumbbels, I found this model. I ordered it from amazon and waited for a while as it was on back order.

When I received this and used it for the first time I was transported to paradise. Stunning quality and it gripped the snap rings and got them out as if they weren’t even there on the very first try and on every single try without failure and without any effort !!! This tool and the company is incredible. A welcome respite from the ‘junk’ that has flooded the market (from you know where).

There is just no comparison between this and most others found on amazon (you know what I am talking about). I would request amazon to fix their broken product search algorithm to show the best value and highest quality products at the top rather than the ‘junk’ that fills up the first few pages these days of their search results. Unless you know a product by its name (that you personally know to be good and high quality), you will most likely end up buying junk these days if you rely on amazon’s search results and the fake reviews on the product pages. I used to rely heavily on amazon reviews for my purchase decisions. I have been compelled to change that totally recently. I know it is ironic as what you are reading now is also an amazon review. The only saving grace about shopping on amazon these days is their customer service and customer friendly policies. The site has been completely flooded with ‘oriental’ junk.