I remember watching a video from Lisa Sorrell about bulldog pliers/shank pullers. In the video she said she preferred the ones with teeth over the lip based ones. I assume they provide more grip but I wonder if anyone with experience of both can verify.
Another variation I have seen in bulldog pliers is the angle of the head to the handle
Does anyone know the reason for these differences? Is it just personal preference? I can see the angle affecting the usability depending on if you use the handle with your ribcage standing up or your leg when sitting down.
I also found that 2 of the lip based bulldogs have teeth on the lower lip.
I rarely use these since most my lasts don’t work with my stand and I don’t use tacks, so I’m hoping someone here might be able to share some knowledge.
I would guess the angle makes a pretty significant difference in how you leverage them. I have a pair like pair #3, I find that I can kind of anchor the pliers against the opposite side of the boot while pulling the leather around the waist. That feels like a very natural way to make the pull. I could imagine pair #2 making that kind of pull a little awkward because of the angle, although I haven’t actually used that style, so I can’t say for sure.
As far as the wide teeth vs. lip style- my pair is the lip-based type. One thing I’ve found frustrating is that, with certain leathers, the lip can occasionally cut a line straight through the leather when I’m putting a lot of force into a pull. Because I’ve had that issue, I pattern a little extra leather around the waist just in case I end up damaging the edge with the pliers.
I hadn’t considered that the lip style basically concentrates all the force onto one line which could lead to the tearing you describe. I guess that also points to the reason for preference of the teeth based pliers.
Another thing that confuses me is the prevalence of the lip-based pliers. This is just my very rookie observation, but I feel like I see a lot more lip-based pliers than teeth-based ones, to a significant degree. It’s possible that the lip-based one were just cheaper and thus purchased more, or that everyone used the teeth-based pliers until they wore out, making them much rarer now.
The reason I bring up the latter is because a lot of EA Berg tools are valuable now and give the impression that they are ‘rare’. I recently befriended a retired John Lobb shoemaker and he told me that the Berg tools, knives in particular, were the best and a favorite among makers but since they used them so much, they became rare after a while. So maybe it is a similar story for the teeth-based pliers? Although I also don’t see a lot of teeth-based pliers with worn out teeth.
Gav Nicola says that the lip-based pliers are the original design and that the teeth are a modern thing. I haven’t done any research on this but it does seem like most the lip-based pliers are older than the teeth ones I’ve seen.
Here are some pictures to show what I meant about the handle angle.
The actual angle of the handle in use will depend on the lasting allowance you have but I think it shows how something like the #1 would suck to use with your leg over the handle. Although with enough lasting allowance you can use it in your lap without a jack.
Now you’ve got me curious: I wonder if any cowboy boot makers have ever tried both styles and actually prefer the lip ones. For me, I’ve always felt that they lose their grip if you pull too hard. Shoe makers might prefer this style because you can definitely overpull a shoe in the shank area.
Lex, noticing your pliers up on the bay I got to thinking about my USM plastic handles from @Customboots the heads of nearly all the older ones are for lack of a better term tear drop shaped.
I spend some time reshaping the nose of mine today.
This is a photo of Christiansen variation.
