Time To Buy New Tools ?

[54blackhornet]

I noticed that ACE Hardware now sell Craftsmen tools in my small town, so I stopped and looked today. I was not impressed with the selection, any thoughts on where to buy Made in America quality hand tools..? I see a lot of poor quality inexpensive stuff and not much else.

[flashed]

I like Kobalt from Lowe's and Husky from Home Depot but neither one is USA made ,not many are now days .I buy my USA made tools at garage sales .

[imjeff]

Craftsman tools have gone way downhill in quality in recent years. I cringe every time I have to replace a socket because the old broken one was built so much better and heavier. I've been looking on Craigslist for professional grade tools. The only decent deals are from mechanics that are retiring. Wish I would have bought those pro tools many moons ago, but never thought I'd see a crapsman tool in a Kmart. I will probably be buying off the truck little by little. I hope someone has a good source.

[mmiddle]

You can get Proto from Grainger and MSC. Stanley-Black and Decker makes Stanly/Proto/Mac/John Deere. Most come out the plant in Farmers Branch, Tx (Dallas). Sockets, ratchets, extensions and wenches. Top quality stuff.

[69Rumbler]

eBay ..

[Dingfodgy]

I've. Bought a few tools from these guys. Very high quality, but be prepared to pay for them.

http://www.cornwelltools.com/

[Mike C]

SK can be had for a pretty fair value on Amazon.

[hugger6933]

The last time my shop was broken into and they swept out all of my hand tools [and a bunch of the special stuff too]I had some trucks in there that needed to be worked on and all I had was a 13 socket head wrench and a couple of others that they missed that were left over inside of a fender. So I ran into the edge of town and got a set of 3/8 sockets and 1/2 sockets and a couple bags of wrenches from the John Deere tractor place. I have had Mac and Snap-on and all others as well but the fit and feel of the JD wrenches is good to great. I prefer the JD wrenches over the Snap-on about 5 to 1 in the comfort catagory. Jim

[MARKDTN]

Pawn shop-especially incomplete or mismatched sets.

[cdowns]

get pro series tools from sears

[special-K]

Sears is still fine compared to anything but professional grade at much more cost,as always. I buy good old tools at flea markets.

[54blackhornet]

Thanks for the information guys, The JD dealer in my town has no tools ?

[hugger6933]

Ask him if he will get a bag of wrenches and a socket set for you to look at and feel and as my wife likes "to bond with " as she walks around a store with a new found item. Like I have said my hands are quite large [I wear a size 19 ring] and the John Deere wrenches don't hurt my hands when I really crank down upon a bolt like the Snap-on does. The cost of the wrenches and socket sets and the like were quite reasonable I thought at the time Good luck in your search, is there not another John Deere store close to you? If not the one you have ought to be all the more willing to help you. Jim

[JointTech]

I give up. Its to hard. I just buy whatever chinese garbage they have at homedepot as long as it has a lifetime warranty. US made is great but if I have to go out of town or order it its just not worth it. I dont run a shop where downtime hurts my wallet, just a hobbyist and Casa de Pot is right next door. For high dollar items I buy US whenever I can. hand tools, meh, whatever is cheap and close.

[72chevynoob]

I have found westward tools, jet tools, gearwrench, mastercraft maximum, and stanley all make good quality hand tools. I am canadian though, so "Made in USA" doesnt mean much to me. I just look for quality. I dont think you guys can get mastercraft either.

[franken]

Made in USA, Germany, Japan (or Canada) for example mean a lot compared to made in Taiwan, China, or India when it comes to tools.

Asian tools are somewhat better these days, but still don't compare.

You can (around here a least) still get USA made Craftsman stuff from the Sears outlet stores, and swap meets. I also troll garbage sales, pawn shops, swap meets, and CL for quality tools. I may have an addiction...

Since I had my eyes lazed, the near vision went, so the sockets with the old guy (huge print) sizes work well, but I bought them from Sears before the offshoring with brownie point gift cards from work.

[underliner6]

Gear wrench has really proven themselves to me. I was weary of buying them at first because they are made in Taiwan but i'll tell ya what, my ratchet and ratchet wrench's are impressively smooth after getting the hell beat out of them. Im impressed with them and you cant go wrong with a lifetime warranty...

[earl84]

I'll second the Gear Wrench endorsement. I only have a set of ratcheting wrenches, but they have been used quite a bit, and abused a little to be honest. They have held up quite well.

[Special-Ed]

im a snap on and mac guy... i have some matco specialty stuff, whitte, channal lock and cline