gripping surfaces with special hardened teeth, teeth hardness approx. 60 HRC: high wear resistance and stable gripping If you want a small, rugged and reliable tool designed to grip fasteners and undo them, no matter what, then my vote goes to the Cobra XS. They're no-nonsense, and those jaws will grip and remove fasteners, no matter how worn or chewed up they are. Got these for my daughter, hope she lets me borrow them! Same great Knipex quality but they're tiny. I am a fan of the cobra button and this slide design is solid too.

The Knipex 4-inch Cobra XS (left) has a significantly bigger bite than the 5-inch mini pliers wrench Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

THIS WARRANTY IS KNIPEX-WERK'S AND KNIPEX TOOLS LP'S SOLE WARRANTY FOR ITS TOOLS, AND IS IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. KNIPEX-WERK and KNIPEX TOOLS LP DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABLE QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. The Cobra® XS is of course - like all members of the KNIPEX Cobra® family - self-clamping on pipes and nuts: This prevents slipping on the workpiece and work such as gripping, holding, pressing and bending is much more effortless. The Knipex cobras are the world’s leading type of water pump pliers. They are durable and very versatile. And now there is a remarkably small Knipex Cobra dubbed the Cobra XS (86 04 100). It is the world’s smallest water pump pliers.

Remember these words before you let your nieces and/or nephews play with them. Don't ask me how I know. The bodies of the KNIPEX Cobra® pliers are made of forged chrome vanadium steel and also feature an ideal balance between hardness and toughness by means of a multi-stage hardening process. For a permanently secure "bite" on the workpiece, we also harden the gripping teeth to approx. 61 HRC with high-frequency current. Our efforts in production pay off: Every KNIPEX Cobra® is extremely tough.

Experience the power of compactness with the Knipex 87 00 100, widely recognized as the smallest fully functional adjustable pipe and nut plier in the world. Measuring only 100 mm in length, this tool provides optimal accessibility even in the tightest spaces. Its slim head, equipped with specially hardened teeth, allows for seamless maneuvering around pipes, gripping irregularly shaped objects, and clamping various materials with unparalleled ease. With these Knipex XS pliers, precision work has never been more effortless. The Cobra® XS extends the KNIPEX Cobra® family with a compact new member. It is a fully functional high-tech water pump plier, which proves its size especially in tight spaces. By means of fine adjustment directly on the workpiece it offers eleven setting positions, which grip nuts up to 24 mm diameter and other workpieces even up to 28 mm diameter - and all this with a length of only 100 millimetres. Due to its small size, the Cobra® XS can be easily operated with just one hand.

fine adjustment with 11 setting positions for optimum adaptation to different sizes of workpieces and a comfortable handle width Bites like a big pliers: the smallest fully functional adjustable pipe and nut pliers in the world Optimal accessibility in the tightest spaces: an even more compact model, very slim head One-hand...The 250mm pliers are unsurprisingly the most popular size with all tradespeople as they are a great tool for general maintenance and domestic jobs. These pliers are awesome and look great, too. Finally, moving up to 300mm (60mm capacity) and 400mm (95mm capacity ) these are larger pliers used in more industrial settings. The 400mm Cobra XL for instance can grip a 2” pipe fitting and weighs 50% less than a 2” pipe wrench, which has a much lower gripping capacity. The overall slim profile of the tool lets you get into very tight spaces with ease. The thin jaws in particular let you get into spaces where the 125mm Knipex Cobra cannot. This is very important for a plant engineer who at times needs a small tool to inspect and tighten fasteners in hidden areas. Gripping capacity Gripping pipe with cobra xs (source: Knipex)