In 1857, a telegraph lineman walked into the shop of a Chicago blacksmith with a conundrum: the jaw on one half of his pliers broke while on the job, and he needed a replacement. The German-born blacksmith—more familiar with wrought-iron work for hinges and locks—forged him a new part anyway, riveted the old half, and sent him on his way. A few weeks later, the same lineman returned, asking the blacksmith to forge the other half, which also broke. The blacksmith Mathias Klein agreed, and when he mated the two halves together, he forged the very first Klein tool. It wouldn’t be the last.
Some 166 years later, U.S.-based Klein Tools is one of the best-known tool companies in the world and is still a family-owned business.
“It was Mathias Klein Tool Company, and then it was Mathias Klein & Sons, and then it was Klein Tools,” Greg Palese, vice president of marketing for Klein Tools, tells Popular Mechanics. “Sixth-generation descendants are still running the company.”
Although best known for its pliers, screwdrivers, and nut drivers, the company has expanded into nearly every facet of the tool industry, introducing upward of 100 new products every year. The company has ten locations in six states, and is still expanding today. But the best way to understand Klein Tools’ 150-year-old recipe for success is to watch how its world-famous pliers get made at its manufacturing headquarters in Mansfield, Texas.
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“The forgings start off as a 20-foot bar of steel,” Matt Marinovic, vice president of manufacturing, hand tools, tells Popular Mechanics. “We heat up the steel until it’s bright orange and then cut it to length.”
Then, Klein Tools’ forgers pound the steel until it forms the familiar shape of plier halves—not dissimilar from the ones Klein forged so many decades ago. Next, workers drill the hole in both halves along with the cutting edges and the knurl, the small teeth-like structures that improve pliers’ grip. Finally, things come together; the two halves are riveted and welded together, and the rivet heads are ground off for a clean finish.
Once Mathias Klein forged that first tool, the telegraph lineman—so impressed with Klein’s pliers—told his friends and fellow linemen, and demand soon took off. Today, Klein Tools is still thriving on that reputation of quality, even as it makes tens of thousands of these tools every single day.
“We’re in it for the long haul and the family is really building a legacy,” Palese says. “Klein isn’t just the name of our products, it’s the name of the family, it’s the name of the company, and it has to live up to that heritage.”
Darren lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes/edits about sci-fi and how our world works. You can find his previous stuff at Gizmodo and Paste if you look hard enough.
