Hand Tools. . .

General General Discussion
1

Recently I had a storage unit burglarized. I was fortunate enough to only have had one small Craftsman tool box stolen. The oxygen thief(s) didn’t have time to look through and or steal anything else. Since I am currently an apartment dweller I keep most of my tools at my folk’s house out in the middle of no where. The tools I lost were all Craftsman; screw drivers, pliers, hammers, combination wrenches, etc.

I filed my police report with a loss of about $300. My insurance deductable is $250 so needless to say I’m just righting the tools off and starting over so I’m in the market for some new hand tools.

Since I started buying tools I have always bought Craftsman but recently have found some things out like that their operations are moving over to Vietnam and will be somehow still packaged as “Made in the USA”. Like AR-15s, automobiles, and pretty much anything else these days a few companies truly manufacture their own products. I’m at the point well I’m about to start buying name brands like Channellock, Vise-Grip by Irwin, Crescent Wrench by Cooper Tool, etc but would like to know if there are any “off brands” that won’t break the bank yet are made by some reputable manufactures?

2

I make my living with tools and there are places I am willing to skimp on and areas where I am not.

I like the brand Husky from home depot for most of my basic hand tool needs. The exception to this is their 1/4" ratchet. Their 3/8" ratchet is one of my all around favorites.

Napa makes high quality tools as well. They are available at… You guessed it, Napa auto parts.

Gear wrenches are the best thing to happen to tools since slices bread. You can pick up a decent set at napa for cheap.

Snap-on is the gold standard but they grow legs. I got tired of replacing them so I started going cheap. For good effective snap-on pricing, take the highest price imaginable multiplied by 4.

3
4

I agree 100 percent!

I can’t believe I forgot the pawn shop. You can probably buy all of your old tools back for $100!

Also, stay away from harbor freight if you can for basic hand tools.

5

Nope, haven’t tried e-bay yet but will start looking thanks. I’ve known guys who use to go to garage sales and buy old broken Craftsman tools so they could so they could trade them in for new ones. I don’t have that much free time on my hands however.

6

Matco and Snap-On. Buy once, cry once applies to tools also. I believe both are American owned as well.

7

Matco tools are actually made by Danaher.

http://www.danaher.com/business/strategic_detail.asp?key=12

Basically Stanely, Danaher, and Snap-On manufacture all the hand tools in the US. They are known as “The Big 3” in the tool manufacturing industry.

http://www.team.net/www/morgan/tech/whotools.html

8

So not rich enough for snap on, myself. Craftsman is the old standby for our tools.

We’ve actually had surprisingly great luck with the Harbor Freight handtools (sockets and ratchets). they’ve done very well for us (and we wrench a lot. Their socket sets are also great to pick up cheap to keep in the vehicle.

9

Snap-On is a division of Danaher.

10

I am NOT making a living with hand tools, but I did at one time buy them for guys that did on commercial construction sites. We had very good luck with the Husky 99-pc. set (Store SKU # 905846 in case the link doesn’t work). I wouldn’t take these into the NASCAR pits but in terms of fastening these kits served us pretty well, well enough that I have one at home now. I don’t even bother digging through the tool chest to look for the equivalent Craftsman tools I’ve had for over 15 years, I just grab the Husky kit and go at it. I was pleasantly surprised with their tools.

11

I have been told that Husky from HD is Mac and Kobalt from Lowe’s is Snap-On. Regardless, both brands of tools have performed adequately alongside my Mac and Snap-On tools while offering a warranty that was easy to use.

12

Anything to do with electrical work such as screwdrivers, wire strippers/cutters, pliers and so on. They are used by every union electrician I have ever seen, figured if those guys use them to make a living, I can use them to fix a light at home.

To work on my car I use mostly Craftsman. I like the lifetime replacement as I have broken quite a few sockets because I am too cheap to buy the impact ones and use regular ones with impact tools. But hey, they replace 'em, so who cares. I have some Snap-On tools for automotive work I was able to get at a discount because my friends have literaly $100K in Snap-On tools as they build race cars for a living. I find Craftsman is more then enough for my use load.

When it comes to power tools, I only trust Makita, Milwaukee and DeWalt, though I do have a Metabo angle grinder that is kick ass!

A lot of the union builders I see on a daily basis use Hilti power tools almost exclusivly, but I have not cheked the prices on them.

13

Anything to do with electrical work such as screwdrivers, wire strippers/cutters, pliers and so on. They are used by every union electrician I have ever seen, figured if those guys use them to make a living, I can use them to fix a light at home.

Screwdrivers, vise grips, pliers and such are where you definitely want to spend a bit of money 'cause the Harbor Freight versions just don’t cut it at this time.

When it comes to power tools, I only trust Makita, Milwaukee and DeWalt, though I do have a Metabo angle grinder that is kick ass!

A lot of the union builders I see on a daily basis use Hilti power tools almost exclusivly, but I have not cheked the prices on them.

Got a Hilti framing airnailer. Couldn’t tell you the cost. We rebuilt it a few years ago and it took us a while to adjust it properly, but it runs like a champ.

Makita’s good stuff, too. Have a cordless drill, miter saw, drywall screwgun, and small angle grinder. The rest of my power tools are older Craftsman stuff for the most part.

14

I am not sure if someone mentioned it or not but Craftsman is made by Danaher as well.

I have some Craftsman, Mac, Snap On, and a little Harbor Freight. One of the 3/8" ratchets that I have is a well made Harbor Freight with a plastic handle. I love that thing but you do have to be careful what you buy there.

Most tools I buy nowadays are from the pawn shop. You can usually pick up tools there for half the cost of new. One of the local pawn shops has a big box of miscellaneous sockets so whenever one goes missing (I have two boys) I just go over and pick out some good replacements for 25 cents a piece.

15

I have heard that but cannot find anything to confirm it. Snap-On is not listed as one of the brands on Danaher’s website.

I have looked at A LOT of tools lately at my local Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Sears and most “brands” i.e. Kobalt (Lowe’s) and Craftsman (Sears) etc are made all over the place. For example, one set of Kobalt wrenches are made by one company in the US yet their pliers are made in China by another. :confused:

Next time you guy’s are at your local hardware stores read the fine print on the packaging of the various brands of tools. One brand is comprised of various manufactures all over the world.

Since I don’t earn a living with my tools I am not going to invest in a Snap-On set. The more I do my research on the matter the more I conclude that I will probably by name brand tools. Crescent Wrench (Cooper Tool) adjustable wrenches made here in the USA, Channellock pliers are all made in the USA, Erwin hammers made here in the USA, Kobalt combination wrenches made in the USA by someone. The USA made tools usually carry a lifetime warranty i.e. replacement.

16

My apologies. Matco is a subsidiary of Danaher. Both-Matco and Snap On- are American owned. Don’t forget Mac(American) tools either; I did.

17

Yeah I’m hoping that one of these guy’s have an “off-brand” they make for some other outfit.

18

I do not make a living from my tools. I do buy Kobalt. It is true that they come from all over the place. I also have Craftsman stuff, and then random tools from companies I do not recall at the moment.

Pawn shops are a good place to look. Friend and I usually search them out if were are looking for power tools.

19

i’m a construction contractor… and i’m here to help. what tools exactly do you need? mechanic’s tools? carpentry? basic garage every-man-should-have-one tools?

since i’m not a mechanic, and dont use sockets and wrenches very often (but do still use them more than white-collar types), i buy the cheapest shit i can get my stained, ugly, calloused, but manly hands on. i have good socket wrenches- or at least “good” relatively speaking- i bought a handful of different drives in the Ace-brand “Professional” line… they work fine, fixing my old perpetually-broken work truck or securing ledgers, wall-anchors, etc, etc. for open/box wrenches- cheap, cheap, cheap. unless you’re using them as hammers (like i do), you’re not going to have problems. its a piece of steel.

for basic hand tools like screw-drivers, planers, chisels, tin snips, 16oz hammers, etc- husky is adequate, but they’re pretty cheapo. i think stanley and irwin are generally a better choice, depending on the tool. but these tools are really pretty disposable anyway- i buy cheap because i expect to replace tiddly tools regularly anyway, even if 'cause i lose 'em. chisels wear down, flat-bars wear down, chalk-boxes get stolen, tin-snips get chewed up, etc, and all need to be replaced often enough that it’s sort of pointless to overspend.

for power tools, and carpentry tools specifically- there’s no manufacturer that does every tool the best. my collection of tools ranges from dewalt to skil to bosch to bostich to hitachi, and several in between.

dewalt is curretly (always changes) making the best screw guns, chop saws, job-site table saws, and combination bit kits. hitachi (as always) is making the best framing nailers. my money is still on bostich for roofing nailers. can’t beat a Skil for a worm-drive- everybody went and got Bosch worms when they came out, but half of them are burning out as we speak. skil still does worm-drive the best. for sawzalls, milwakie is still king. for hammer-drills, don’t buy anything but bosch… so on and so forth.

so make a list, and we can probably get more specific.

20

Sorry if I didn’t make myself clear in my OP. I just need to replace my basic hand tools. Pliers (slip joint, needle nose, locking etc), manual screw drivers, adjustable wrenches, combination wrenches, strap wrenches, hammers. My power tools, sockets, yard tools all are safe and sound (knock on wood). I figured instead of just buying the same Craftsman stuff that took me about 10 black Fridays to accumulate I’d start over with some other brand tools.