Altering Pliers

[Emmet]

I've got this pliers I'd like to alter but I'm not sure on how to do it correctly.

I'd like to have it flat so I can clamp down on seams etc.

Would it be better to fill the gaps in the teeth? Or grind them flat?

[shtoink]

Not sure if the value of the tool you want to modify, speaking strictly about modifications, here's my take.

It looks to be meant to account for the gaps in the jaws to mesh, so the angle of the is neither too large or too small. This means that grinding them off or filling them in will both be problematic. The best way I can see it working the way you want is to machine off the teeth, drill holes in the remain portion of the jaws, and have new faces to the jaws made up with the desired surface shape and holes drilled tapped on the back so they can replaced as needed. This isn't the easiest of tasks on a set of pliers that wide, because you still want the faces of the jaws to come together as nearly parallel as possible, the holes to mount them to line up correctly, and the mating surfaces between the jaw and the removable jaw face to be as clean as possible.

It may be possible that those pliers are reasonably valuable enough to merit not modifying them, too. In that case, it might be a better option to perform the desired modifications to a set of vice-grips and keep those other pliers unaltered to maintain their value.

It is totally doable, but I wanted to toss out a few ideas for you.

[electrathon]

For an easy answer, try wrapping them with leather and see if you are happy with that.

Aaron

[Emmet]

I got them for bout $30 on ebay so they're not too valuable where as the flat jaws one start at about $100 dollars.

I was thinking about maybe filling the teeth with silcone then wrapping with leather to try something non permanent first. But I'm thinking maybe another type of filler might be better but can't think of which type.

Emmet

[bruce johnson]

Another option is to get duckbill pliers for thinner seams and glass pliers for thicker seams. They can be found fairly wide, but not as wide as those webbing pliers.

[JAM]

What you've got there are canvas stretching pliers, for artists and upholsterers. You can get them new for $20 - $40. For a permanent filler that you can sand down smooth, I'd use epoxy paste. For a different set of wide pliers, I'd try sheet metal bending pliers (and alter the faces with filing and/or epoxy and/or leather).

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Look for sheet metal pliers that look like that, but they are smooth.

[Emmet]

Damn if only I'd known about sheet metal pliers, they look exactly like what I wanted.

Think I'll try the epoxy idea first and see how it goes.

thanks for the advice guys