The manufacturing material and its processing determine the quality and thus the service life and durability of tools such as pliers.
Simple and therefore usually cheap pliers are made of inexpensive tool steel (WS). The material is relatively soft, little dimensionally stable and quickly blunt on cutting edges and serrations. What good is the cheapest price, if the tool does not serve its purpose? Quality tools from well-known manufacturers are made of high quality chrome vanadium steel (CV), the composition of which is adapted to the specific type of stress on the respective pliers model. The individual parts of the pliers are not cast but forged. The hardening of individual parts and the processing of the surface is now largely automated. An important point with pliers is the joint: Der Not (the axis of rotation) can be pushed through (above) or forged (below) being. With quality pliers, there are both options. The joints are permanently lubricated. The joint must not have any play, but still needs to be easy to move. But quality has its price: For 2,50 Euro you get already a combination pliers of the cheap class, you have to pay up to ten times more for brand quality.