Bohle Silberschnitt running pliers

[Mark Wright]

I recently bought a pair of Bohle running pliers and they seem worthless. I cannot get a score to run without excessive pressure which causes a “bullseye” to chip out on the back side. Bullseye Glass (where I ordered them) says I am squeezing too hard and they are right, but any less pressure and the score does not run. Has anyone else experienced problems with these pliers? Maybe they are defective? I cannot see anything wrong with them except they do not have a curved jaw to work against like my other running pliers.

[Brock]

I had a pair and quickly abandoned them. Overpriced and inefficient.

[AndyT]

I've been using the same pair of cheap Taiwan runners for 30 years and they work great. About $15 or so retail.

Andy

[JenniferB]

I, too, bought a pair and found them very difficult to use. Like you, I had to squeeze far too hard but had no success with lighter pressure. They sit in the back of a drawer doing nothing, while I use a pair of inexpensive running pliers.
Jennifer

[Morganica]

I use both, but for different thicknesses of glass. The standard (cheaper) running pliers work well, and certainly work for both, and are better on thicker glasses. I find the Bohles are better on difficult-to-break glass (such as pale opals) since they break more slowly and let you control the run. They also tend to make very clean, fast runs on thin glass where the harder pliers might produce a crooked or slightly chipped edge (for me, at least). I like them for breaking out lots of small circles when I'm using the lenscutter on thin glass (and especially into irid, where a ding in the coating will show).

But no, unless I had a specific reason to buy them (i.e., lots of thin irid circles)..I don't know that I'd buy them again.

[Havi]

I also put this pliers aside, because of bad functioning.





Havi

[Morganica]

Well...I don't think they're bad at all. I quite like them, but they have a learning curve. They don't need all that much force, but you need to be patient about running the score without pressing too hard.

I'm just not sure that most glass cuts require that much finesse...

[Valerie Adams]

I bought them from a seller on Ebay, thinking I was making a score (no pun intended) because they were so inexpensive. Used them a few times and was glad I didn't pay retail. I also use the cheap running pliers; same pair for the last 11 years. I finally replaced the rubber tips.

[Lauri Levanto]

Most running pliers have curved jaws. They are good.
Bohle has a flat upper jaw and a tiny nibble in the middle of the bottom jaw.
I made a little groove n the upper jaw surface that matches the nibble.
That works.
-lauri

[Mark Wright]

Now my question is what to do with a pair of worthless pliers. I think I will pack them up and send them to Brad Walker. Perhaps he will favor us with his opinion.

Brad,
Feel free to keep them or whatever you wish. They have no value to me.

[Morganica]

Hey--send them to me.

Seriously, they're just a different way to run the break slowly and stay in control. I wouldn't call them worthless, just specialized:

Would I use them on thick glass? Nope. If it does break, it'll take forever.

Would I use them on 3mm glass? Maybe, depends on whether or not I've got some inside curves in this score and I want the glass to break very precisely on those curves. If the score hangs up, I can easily stop and attack it from a different angle. (that's one thing I do like very much about this tool--you can twist the top rubber bar to become exactly perpendicular to the tangent of the score, which comes in handy if the glass is in the way of the plier handles.

Would I use them on thin glass? Every time. The glass breaks cleaner, without the usual slanty or chipout direction at the point of the break.

The trick, as I said, is to keep the pressure firm but light, and be patient. If all you're doing is breaking 3mm sheet, mostly straight, you don't need them.

[Valerie Adams]

Would I use them on thin glass? Every time. The glass breaks cleaner, without the usual slanty or chipout direction at the point of the break.

OK; I'm going to put mine out on my workbench and try them for thin glass!

[grozier]

I find them very helpful when breaking out thin strips of 1/4" or less when working with 3mm glass.

[Faye Malench]

I cut a lot of long narrow strips and this is the last tool I would use. The glass chips away where the pliers are applied and more flares on the ends of the score. It does not work for me on thins and thin dichro either. For 3 to 9 mm I use my regular running pliers. For a lot of single layer narrow strips I use a smaller version of regular running pliers - I think it is a Dragon tool. It's small and fits my hand. The head is aligned so it fits perfectly for 1/4 inch strips, though I can get 1/8 with a small margin of breakage.

I like Bohle products normally - I bought the running pliers based on the rave reviews of a wgb member and was disappointed. Never thanked him for that.

[Mary Kay Nitchie]

Hi all,

Bullseye recommends the Bohle pliers for inside curves and thin strips, not for most cutting tasks.

We ran this thread by Janet, long-time manager of the Bullseye Resource Center. She sent me an email, saying,

In my experience with these pliers, Cynthia’s evaluation is spot on. Most of the time the inexpensive Running Pliers (7008) are all you need and are the best tool for the job. The Bohle Pliers are a useful tool under circumstances she mentions, where you wouldn’t use the Running Pliers (7008) pliers.

So, using the right tool for the right job is part of the solution. And if you can only buy one set of running pliers, go for the standard ones. And replace the pads when the pads wear out.

Mary Kay

[Bert Weiss]

Regardless of which pliers you use, the best strategy for strip cutting is to cut the glass in half. So, you might start out with a 4" piece. Cut it in to 2" pieces, then 1" pieces etc. When you do this, you will notice the flare gets evened out by the opposite stresses.

[Phil Hoppes]

I do a fair amount of strip work and these work like a champ. Never had an issue with them and most of the time work far better than anything else I've ever used. For irregular shape cuts, probably not. For strips, their the bomb and worth every penny.