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.

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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How Klein Tools Packs 150 Years of Blacksmithing Know-How Into Every Pair of Pliers