Photo: One Project Closer

Why You’ll Love It: Innovation hasn’t exactly shaken up the world of groove joint pliers over the last few decades. But Irwin has finally made a significant breakthrough, resulting in GrooveLock Pliers that are much easier to use.

The Full Scoop: Irwin’s groove lock pliers have a simple push-button size-setting mechanism at the joint of the tool. While other models require opening the tool fully to set its jaw size, the Irwin enables the jaws to be sized whether the pliers are open or shut (and the selected jaw size is retained until it is purposefully reset). This simple innovation eliminates the trial-and-error frustration that normally accompanies setting the size of groove joint pliers.

Irwin also claims its precision ratcheting system offers twice the number of settings than similar models. Irwin GrooveLock Pliers are available with straight, smooth, and V-shaped jaws, and all are backed by Irwin’s VISE-GRIP lifetime guarantee.

Author Bio: Ethan Hagan is the primary editor at One Project Closer; visit to read additional tool reviews, expert project guides, and more. OPC is unique in that just about every how-to article features the work of an experienced professional contractor.