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Posted by D Sherman [72.47.9.228] on Monday, December 27, 2010 at 09:45:01 :
In Reply to: Re: Returning Craftsman Tools rachets at Sears posted by Kevin in Ohio [64.24.50.78] on Monday, December 27, 2010 at 08:25:21 :
Still using my dad's 1/2" and 1/4" socket sets from the '50s, still in their Craftsman tool box. I've never broken one or stripped a ratchet. It stays in the shop. The semi-good 1980s Craftsman set stays in my "good" portable tool box that rides around in whichever vehicle I'm currently using the most. Harbor Freight products are distribute widely with a set in each building and each rig so I'll at least have something handy wherever I am so I don't have to go back for my good tools, and I won't mind too much if someone steals them. In my experience, Harbor Freight is every bit as good as modern Stanley or Craftsman at half the price, probably because they're all made by the same Chinese company with different brands stamped on them, and the cheap tool you have on hand when you need it is better than the great tool that's back in the shop.
It's too bad Stanley's gone the same route. I have some excellent Stanley tools that belonged to my great-grandfather when he was a cabinet-maker in San Francisco in the 1880s. It's a good old American name that's now nothing but a name, like Black and Decker and Craftsman. Milwaukee's going down the same road, and I'm starting to worry about Starrett, which has held out for a long time.
I have a plastic bucket to throw in assorted found and yard sale sockets. Even the cheap ones have been handy when I've had to turn one down very thin on the lathe in order to get a nut or bolt out of a tight spot, like in some carburetors. There are even a few protos and snapons in the bucket. It seems to me that Craftsman tools went downhill in quality at the same time as they started to put shiny finish on them. The old, strong, ones have what looks like a dull galvanized finish. Those are the ones with the thinner walls and ratchets that don't strip out. The mirror-finished shiny ones are probably made out of chrome-plated rebar.