Not Harbor Freight tools thread

Danaher in Springfield MA used to make craftsman tools. Not sure if they still do though.

 

I've got 3 different air hammers all different strokes and hitting power. The right air hammer and chisels and punches make short work of rivets and taking factory brackets off. One of my favorite tools too. Loud AF but fun.

 

Yes. Black and Decker bought Dewalt and turned it into the leading power tools brand (after doing nothing with it for 3 decades). Before that Dewalt only made radial arm saws. They also bought Porter Cable and pretty much botched it.

Sears created and owned Craftsman forever and has spent the last 20 years running it into the ground because they were bleeding money. Now SBD owns Craftsman and is spending truck loads of money to recover the brands image.

 

Oops, phone autocorrect. Mac, not max

 

They used to make some of them and no they don't anymore. Sears went through a lot of vendors over the years.

 

I have almost all US made hand tools now. Mostly older Craftsman, some SK, Armstrong, Mac and Snap-On.

 

I'd consider Hilti more industrial then professional. The price gap between Dewalt/Millwaukee/etc is huge.

 

It'd be interesting to go through all my old craftsman and compare them and see what the vendors were at the time of manufacture and really see if there were any differences.

 

Yea, could be interesting.

 

I guess it depends on what you buy. I see a lot of the custom furniture makers and top end home builders and such using them over the others. It's kinda like festool comparing them to the other brands I consider them a pro tool as well.

 

DeWALT FTMFW!

 

I had two craftsman ratchets shit the bed thru the years first one was when sears was still solvent where I got a replacement wrench immediately, the second was during Sear’s decline and I waited 2 hours for them to rebuild it.

 

Several years ago I spent a couple weeks working in a satellite factory. Their toolboxes had badge readers on them, you had to use your ID badge to unlock the box. When you opened a drawer and took out a tool, it knew which tool you took and recorded who had it.
Would love to know how much a toolbox like that costs. For the life of me I can't remember who made it, but I remember it being a pretty common tool brand.

Edit: While falling asleep I decided it was Snap-On. Still don't know what they cost.

http://snaponlevel5.com/

 

I bought a nice Snap On 3/8 socket set that included the ratchet wrench at a garage sale when I was about 18. I loved it. After some heavy use, the ratchet wrench started slipping. I noticed a Snap On truck at a local mechanic shop I hapened to be at getting some work done and took it to the guy on the truck. He looked at me kind of condescendingly, I am sure wondering where I acquired the tools. Opened the wrench up and told me it was rusty. He refused to fix it. Told me I needed to take it home and work on it. I guess he knew he wasn't gonna get a sale from me and would never see me again. I wasn't impressed and started buying craftsman tools. That is back when they were good and had a no questions asked lifetime warranty.

 

Tool truck guys are gonna cater to their bread & butter. The guys that are paying their $20-$40 a week for the rest of their lives. I cross paths with 'em quite frequently, running shop parts for Napa. I occasionally deliver warranted tools of the Napa Carlyle line, never any questions asked.
My personal tools started with a $69.95 Craftsman set I purchased in 1973 just out of high school, and grew from there. Served me well, and most additions were Craftsman mainly. In the 70's whodathunk Craftsman would turn out the way it has? The odd S-K, Bonney, Proto, Klein, (and yea some HF too) etc, added to the collection.

If I were a pup just starting out, as a home/hardcore hobbyist ,I'd probably take a serious look at Carlyle for start-up a set. For the simple reason you can't swing a cat without hitting a Napa store (for warranty or repair) just about anywhere in this country. And they stand behind 'em, plus no trucks to chase. I'd say the quality is near truck tools, but not quite. But you have to consider the price difference too. Definitely as good (probably better) as any non-truck tool to be found IMO.

If I were starting out making wrenching my chosen profession, truck tools all the way...

 

Snap On has taken fantastic care of me. I’ve only stepped on an SO truck once, and that was to purchase. I’ve made 2 purchases from them since (direct from website) and had 2 warranty claims fulfilled through their customer service email. Never once asked for proof of purchase or pictures of anything to support my claim. Response within 48 hrs and 3-4 days later I have the replacement part in my mailbox.

Trucks are independently operated franchises so while they have a vendor agreement for certain brands and represent them as such, they’re also privately owned.. so while it sucks to walk on a truck and the operator not be interested in warranty stuff, he’s also never seen you before and/or never had you as a customer. Can’t make a living working for free. Being polite and courteous does a long way also, walking on the truck like he owes you something doesn’t go very far. Snap On does, maybe, but not the individual franchise owners.

That said.. it would be nice if they were all obligated to warranty items regardless of who it was purchased from. They’re a retail store and operating like part of a store network would be a beneficial way to handle warranty issues.

 

I just went and dug through our vendor price list and found them. Pretty sure our NDA means I cant tell you the cost, but "astronomical" comes to mind.

Just the badge scanner + license, etc portion is more than a Tacoma LT kit from a reputable brand.

 

I’ve never had a problem getting snap on tools replaced. This includes buying broken tools and getting them fixed or replaced for free. Here’s a tip—> always clean and lube if you can, tools that are rusty or have hammer marks are void, ditto for military or industrial they carry no warranty. You gotta be just a little smarter than hand the guy a turd. The ratchets had the words “oil regularly” engraved into the back and a stranger shows up with a mess. What do you expect? Worst case scenario you buy a rebuild kit and do it yourself, you still got a tool worth 25 to 40+ bucks. Look at what old snappy’s are selling for over on eBay

 

Anyone using wera joker wrenches? I have their wratcheting screw driver which I really like but the price for the wrenches is kinda ridiculous.

 

I love my milwaukee cordless stuff, ingersoll largely for air tools, snap on is better but a hell a lot more expensive, not to say I dont love my snap on tools, have tons of sockets, pliers, and ratchets that are snap on. I have started to try and go with tool truck brands mainly when it's a high wear item that I will warranty, $400 for mac drill bits, sure I've warranties over half of them out at least twice so far drilling out studs and shit.
Best pliers I've even used are snap on, that handle material feels great even when your using them for a couple hours straight.
I like lisle, otc, gearwrench, for non truck tool brands, I do need to find if I can warranty gearwrench, finally broke one of my many ratcheting wrenches.
I do like husky for at home or light use at work but also own some harbor freight stuff, I've no objection to harbor freight as long as it's something rather impossible to fuck up, $50 for a set of large axle nut impact sockets go great with my other harbor freight 1/2 impact sockets, no need for snap on there. Husky has some open end ratcheting wrenches that I bought for $40 and have used a few times, nice enough but dont use enough for the $300 snap on set.
I am conflicted about getting a larger tool box, right now I've got a 30 inch roll cart, a 40 inch snap on box and a 36 inch horizontal file cabinet. I'd love a 72 inch snap on or mac box but goddamn they are expensive, not to mention they dont make me any money.
I'm interested in the new icon line from harbor freight, they look very nice but I'm angry the toolbox drawers dont have a catch to keep them from opening on there own, if they did I'd buy the giant icon box happily.