[Fred T]

When I was a kid, Craftsman made good hand tool. Sometime in the 70s, the quality started slipping, and has continued to drop. Dad's old socket sets and wrenches couldn't be broken, no matter how hard we tried. Dad never liked their power tools. Yes, they were made by a quality manufacturer, but they were built to lower specs. Dad's biggest complaint was the nose bearings in drill motors. I bought a drill from them in the 70s, it lasted about 10 years before the nose bearing went out. Haven't bought any of their power tools since. The wife bought me some hand tools about 10 years ago, the pro grade are good, the "homeowner" grade are junk. I started buying better quality tools, life's too short to spend cursing your wrenches.