Brand Name Vs. Generic: Tools By Any Other Name

Thu, 06 Feb 2025 15:19:43 GMT

There are a few tools commonly used on farms that literally aren’t made the way they used to be made, including Vise-Grips and Channellock.

Vise-Grips were invented in 1923 by blacksmith William S. Petersen in Dewitt, Neb. The tool was popular with local farmers, and by WWII it was so widely accepted the U.S. military provided Vise-Grips to its mechanics. Veterans spread the word, and Vise-Grips became a standardized tool across the U.S.

In Europe, locking pliers are called mole grips or mole pliers because they were first manufactured by the M.K. Mole and Son Tool Company — shortly after Petersen released his Vise-Grips.

Petersen’s family-owned company was eventually bought out, and the Vise-Grip-brand is now owned by Irwin Tools. Some professional mechanics believe old Vise-Grips work better than new ones. They scour auctions and pawn shops for Vise-Grips stamped with “DeWitt, Neb.” They also covet Vise-Grips with the locking lever held in place by a roll pin instead of newer versions that attach the lever with a rivet.

Vintage Vise-Grips made in the original factory in DeWitt, Neb., are identified by “Petersen Manufacturing, DeWitt, NEBR” in the logo and by a roll pin that attaches the release handle. Newer Vise-Grips are missing the hometown logo and use a rivet rather than a roll pin to affix the release handle.

(Dan Anderson)

The Tool That Defined Jaws

Just as Vise-Grip has come to mean any locking plier, Channellock now refers to any pair of pliers that have adjustable jaws. Channellock pliers have roots in a blacksmith shop run by George DeArment, which eventually became Champion-DeArment Tool Company. Chief engineer Howard Manning developed a pair of pliers with a unique tongue-and-groove, adjustable hinge point that were patented as Channellock pliers in 1935.

The popularity of the adjustable pliers spawned knockoffs until “Channellock” became a generic term, similar to Kleenex and Chapstick. To protect the brand, Champion-DeArment changed its name to Channellock in 1963.

Channellock pliers have roots in a blacksmith shop run by George DeArment, which eventually became Champion-DeArment Tool Company. Chief engineer Howard Manning developed a pair of pliers with a unique tongue-and-groove, adjustable hinge point that were patented as Channellock pliers in 1935.

(Dan Anderson)

A similar problem occurred for the Crescent Tool Company, which was founded in Jamestown, N.Y., in 1907. Adjustable wrenches were common, but the Crescent Adjustable Wrench featured a patented screw-mechanism that eventually led to them being standard issue in many military tool boxes throughout WWII. As with Vise-Grips, WWII exposed military mechanics to the value of Crescent wrenches, and after the war they found homes in many civilian toolboxes.

There are now many types of adjustable wrenches for sale. But only adjustable wrenches from the Crescent Tool Company carry the company’s trademark that guarantees they are Crescent-brand wrenches.

Your Next Read: Why Are Some Wrenches More Expensive Than Others?

4 Tips for Concrete That Lasts

Tue, 27 Jun 2023 18:03:21 GMT

Many farmers do their own concrete work. Here are tips from pros to improve the quality of the finished slab:

Fiber-strand reinforcing, which means fiberglass or other fibers are mixed with the concrete at the plant, provides excellent control of thermal and stress cracking. Unlike re-rod or wire mesh added during a pour, fiber-strand reinforcing is uniform throughout the slab.

“For thermal movement and expansion control, fiber reinforcing is as good as metal reinforcing, and you don’t have to mess with making sure it’s positioned in the middle of the slab during the pour,” says Alan Sparkman, executive director with the Tennessee Concrete Association.

Don’t overwork concrete. “Pour it, screed it once or twice with a bull float to level it, then leave it alone,” Sparkman says. “Depending on temperature and other factors, bleed water will come to the surface. After a while, that bleed water will disappear, and then you’re ready for a final finish. If you work it before that bleed water goes away on its own, you’ll create a cap that traps that bleed water in the slab, and you can have problems with the finished surface scaling off sometime down the road.”

Don’t overwork exterior slabs. “If you overwork an exterior slab, you get too much cement and not enough aggregate in the top layer,” Sparkman says.

He recommends simply broom-finishing the bull-floated surface after the bleed water disappears but says a single pass with a wood or magnesium float between bull-floating and brooming produces a slightly smoother surface.

Use a concrete saw to cut fresh concrete one-half the depth of the slab. Space cuts according to the formula: the thickness of the slab in inches multiplied by three. For instance, a 4-inch slab would traditionally be jointed every 12 feet, though many concrete contractors now multiply by 2.5 to get a joint spacing of 10 feet.

Sparkman encourages farmers to work with local concrete plants when preparing to work with concrete.

“We deal with concrete every day and know tricks and tips to get the best slab possible that won’t have problems with cracking or spalling down the road.”

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Brand Name Vs. Generic: Tools By Any Other Name

4 Tips for Concrete That Lasts