TOOLBOX...choosing tools

Why would Harbor Freight be in the poll? As a joke? HF is the WalMart of tool shops. They sell the poorest quality chinese shit I have ever had the displeasure of using.

 

This x1000

 

Speaking of china, tiawain tools. Kobalt from lowes use to be made by williams co USA. Who makes snap-on. They are still made by the same company they are just made in tiawan now along with blu-point and snap-ons cheaper lines of tools.

 

Read the reviews on US General (Harbor Freight) tool chests. I have Craftsman, but wish I had read up on the these first...

 

I have a good mixture of the following:

• Westward (I really like their stuff)
• Proto
• SK
• Greenlee
• Irwin
• Ridgid
• Wera
• Craftsman Professional or Industrial
• Mac (just a few)
• a few random specialty tools here and there

All my power tools are DeWalt and all electrical is Fluke.

 

I have a harbor freight box and they are very good boxes for the money, they are built alot better than the craftsman boxes and a tad worse than snap on boxes, i have a buddy with a snap on and there almost identical in quality ( snapon locking mec is better but same thickness of metal and the BB Draws are great, 1/3 the price, for 350 for a 44" bottom roller is hard as hell to beat the HF box. There had tools suck though.

 

SnapOn 5' wide roll cab
SnapOn sockets and wrenches.

 

I have an old craftsman tool box in the garage full of just whatever haha. My real tools are all Klein and some greenlee for HVAC

 

Klein is good stuff, most of there tools are focused on telecommunications and other stuff though.

 

Yeah they seem pretty good. Everyone says ill have those tools my entire career

 

You nailed it...I would have totally gone this route had I known before I bought my Craftsman. I have no complaints with mine, but those HF boxes are incredible for the price.

 

Craftsman mostly..my box is about 22 years old, 3 drawer flip top. Still works fine. Most of my sockets and wrenches are Craftsman as well. Then I have oddball stuff. I wish I had more $$ to spend on that kind of tools versus house project stuff I won't use as often.

 

mostly as a joke but believe me I find value at HF all the time... LED trailer tail lights for $40, 12volt 15 gallon spot sprayer for $80, heavy duty 6 ton jack stands for $32, $10 digital calipers, $10 buck grinders that you take back when they break... 10 pack of 4 1/2" cut off wheels for $6, quick clamps for $2.... the list goes on! sure the stuff breaks sometimes....I go about once a month and always have a good pile of broken stuff to return but so what! is a $60 Makita grinder really going to last 6 times as long as my $10 HF one? if I take it back once is it going to last another 6 times as long? I think not!

 

I would find that place useful for the things that very rarely get used, maybe only get used once, never been there though. I just wouldn't buy cutoff wheels, jackstands, or anything else that could harm me if it breaks from their because it only takes one slip up in Chinese manufacturing and you could get injured. My Makita grinder is great, its old enough to be made here in the U.S. too! I have random drills from the 50's and 60's that work fine also, kinda scary to use though lol.

 

The last Chinese angle head grinder I bought lasted one use, got hot, and never worked again...replaced by 7" industrial duty Makita.

Howard

 

Craftsman-i dont wrench for a living.
What the hell is Sanp-On in the poll?

 

Because many of us who came out of the aircraft industry bought giant boxes of snap-on tools before they started sending overhauls down to central America.

Howard

 

Makita is a Japanese company so might you mean old enough to have been made in Japan?

Honestly I would say 95% of jack stands in anybody's garage are Chinese....

after going through hundreds, if not thousands of cut off wheels the only thing I worry about is the nasty particles and dust as it wears out...never had one defect or come apart that wasn't my fault for incorrectly using the tool...

 

Snap-On? what rock have you been hiding under!? IMHO one of the better brands out there. Highly over priced but still very desirable

oh I see...you are calling out a typo...nice way to use your time!

 

I had to check, I don't know where I got the Made in USA from. Made in Japan is still much better than China though.

I would say that your stats are wrong because my jack stands are made here. This biggin right here was made by Walker
I need more jack stands though cause I only have two of these.