Because several readers have asked about this, we are actually going to make an effort to review specific jewelry supply products here on Bloglander Jewelry Making. To kick this off, Peter from was nice enough to send us a few jewelry making related items for consideration.

We ll be attempting to review products from other companies as well. (If you manufacture or sell jewelry making products and you re interested in this, please !)
First up are these great compact Chain Nose Parallel Pliers which are made by Valor exclusively for Contenti.

These particular pliers are around 5 inches in length which are about the same length as the ordinary chain nose pliers that we use for making jewelry.
The pliers come in either flat nose style or chain nose style and with smooth or serrated jaws.

The one we got was the smooth chain nose variety. I believe there is also a longer model that features springs between the handles for easy return.
The overall construction is pretty solid, unlike a lot of the pliers that we have gotten at larger craft stores and swap meets.

The heft and fit, at least for my hand, was perfect. It actually reminded me a bit of my swiss army type Leatherman tool. It was a bit heavier than most of the cheaper plastic chain nose pliers that we have lying around.

The handles are nickel plated and have an indentation pattern for easier gripping. For folks who aren t used to rubber coated or plastic handles, this may take some getting used to. (Though, I assume it d be easy enough to dip them in the usual rubber solutions.

One of the only issues that I have with this plier are that the tips of the pliers don t taper down small enough at the end for certain smaller items. This makes it a bit difficult to grasp extremely small findings and wire. However, I don t believe this tool should be looked upon as a works for everything plier anyhow.

For me, it has turned out to be more of a specialty plier for larger items when I need better grip on things.