Vise Grip's!!
That's what I thought. Flip it over....
Assembled in USA of foreign-made componants...AKA, cheap $hit.
You have to catch the early ones. The day Irwin took control of the Vise Grip name isn't the day they started making them in China.
IRWIN Timeline
1884 - Charles IRWIN purchases rights to solid center auger bit
1885 - The IRWIN Auger Bit Co. is formed
1924 - Bill Petersen granted basic patent for locking pliers
1934 - Petersen Manufacturing Co. formed to manufacture and market Vise-Grip locking tools
1938 - First official Vise-Grip tools plant opens in an old DeWitt, Nebraska drug store with a staff of 37
1945 - First National Hardware Show; Vise-Grip tools are there
1957 - Modern-design 10WR Vise-Grip locking pliers go on the market with curved jaw and wire cutter
1962 - Petersen Manufacturing opens a plant in Cumberland, Wisconsin for manufacturing twist drills
1978 - Petersen Manufacturing workforce expands to 637 people
1979 - Gorham, Maine plant opens, manufacturing Hanson and IRWIN branded tools
1985 - American Tool Companies, Inc. is formed by the Petersen family and acquires Petersen Manufacturing
1993 - American Tool acquires The IRWIN Tool Company, a revered manufacturer of power tool accessories and cutting tools
2002 - Newell Rubbermaid acquires American Tool
2003 - American Tool name officially changes to IRWIN Industrial Tool Company
