7" Professional Lineman's Pliers

Comments about Pittsburgh Professional 7" Professional Lineman's Pliers:

Linesman pliers are an essential part of my "electrical" tool bag and I recently misplaced my old pair.  I suspect that they will turn up, but for now I needed a decent replacement.

These HF pliers appear to be just the thing. On sale at the time, the price was about what I'd pay for a couple of burgers and a fry and they have a lifetime warranty.   I noticed that there are a few choices at HF, but I picked these particularly because the steel is better "chrome-vanadium, drop forged and hardened". The grips are thick and comfortable. 

On the negative side, I wish HF would spec the electrical insulation quality of the rubber-like grips. They do that on a multiple-plier set, and should certainly do it for these and the mating pliers that are sold separately. I guess I'll have to double-check the conductivity before I use them. (I'm always highly cautious, but it would still be best to know the handles are non-conductive of higher voltages.)  

In any case, these pliers work well in the hand, no looseness in the pivot, and the jaws are well ground and thus close well and there are no gaps in the cutting edge. The jaws mate properly square, open to 1-1/2 inches at the nose, and the serrations are properly milled, both fore and aft of the pivot. The cutter edges are heat-treated, so hopefully they will maintain their sharpness over time.

The outer surface of the pliers are not polished or even finely ground, and though not really rough, you can see and feel the surface grind. That of course has nothing whatsoever to do with functionality though.

The grips are pretty decent and are "non-conductive"... at least for the house current voltages of 120- and 240-Volts (20 -30 amps) that I am dealing with. (But I would like to know the specs!); and, had the insulation specs been provided I would have rated these with 5-stars.