What country makes the best tools ??

Dimitri · Super Member Joined: Nov 25, 2005 Posts: 5946

What country makes the best tools in your opinion ?? Confused

Dimitri

BLASERMAN · Member Joined: Apr 08, 2005 Posts: 68 Location: Baltimore

I think that might be a opion question.

Hunting tools as in glass , European glass is the best.

Hand tools , USA Tool companies , Snap On < Matco ect.

Dimitri · Super Member Joined: Nov 25, 2005 Posts: 5946

Yup its a opinion question hense why it fits so well in this part of the forum Very Happy

Anyways I ment hand tools and machining tools myself Smile

Dimitri

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

Snapon is best quality but IMO, horrible wrenches because they shin'em to a mirror finish that is too hard to hold with greasy fingers. Give me Craftsman tools everytime.

-DallanC

Bushmaster

And that, Mr. DallanC. is why Snap-on tools are not the best American made tools....Craftman tools I have a tendency to break in my daily life as a Marine/Diesel mechanic. Not durable enough. 98% of my tools are SK Tools. I have no idea if they are as good as the once was as all my tools are over thirty years old...And well used...They are not polished....Of course this is my (not so) humble opinion...

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

Bushmaster wrote:

And that, Mr. DallanC. is why Snap-on tools are not the best American made tools....Craftman tools I have a tendency to break in my daily life as a Marine/Diesel mechanic. Not durable enough. 98% of my tools are SK Tools. I have no idea if they are as good as the once was as all my tools are over thirty years old...And well used...They are not polished....Of course this is my (not so) humble opinion...

For a professional mechanic I can see why Craftsman wouldnt hold up... I've broken a few myself but they have all been replaced free of charge. I'll look into SK tools... I really want to get a set of the new wrenches with the ratcheting box ends

-DallanC

Bushmaster

www.skhandtool.com The wonders of the internet...Have a look...As I said, I have not replaced any tools in a while and have no idea if they have gone to all smooth chrome or still have the non-slip finish that they once had. The mechanics in our shop has complained about the same thing...Don't like the smooth chrome hand tools because they are slippery when your hands are oiled and greased up...

longwalker · Guest

Best is a hard thing to nail down. What is best for one person is not for an other. If there was only one best, all the other companies that supply similar product would be out of buisness.

If there is a rule to work from it is this. A product has a cost involved with it. Overhead, labor,material costs, and some factor for profit. If you find a similar product that is much less expensive find out why. It may be the material is different. The labor cost is less. Potentially the business plan is such that one company will only make so many products that there are fewer parts to distribute the overhead costs across. There by having a higher cost per part. It could be that the parts are better but how much better.

Here is an example. Some parts we see are sold as "billet" machined parts. This is suppose to be better. So you can and should pay more. The individual part might cost more but if you only make a few it is cheaper than buying a forging die and a press to forge the parts that will still need machining. When in reality the forged part may infact be much stronger and use much less material. BUt the overhead cost is much greater.

I talked to a gun dealer the other day that touted the one piece bolt handle that they offered on their guns. I asked they why this was important. He told me "you would not want that bolt handle to break would you". Having never broken a bolt I didn't find that to be a major concern of mine. Not much value to me. I would not pay the extra for that feature.

On the other hand buying cheap cutting tools cen be a waste of time and money. If you machine brass and aluminum you might deside to purchase inexpensive HSS cutters. However if you purchased high quality Carbide cutter they will last longer give a better surface finish and require much less regrinding. If I make one or two buy the less expensive cutters if you need the tools every day buy carbide.

Best is always a compromise of the price/preformance ratio.

longwalker

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

oops... just noticed the forum isnt set to "members only" ... i better fix it before that website guy from China comes back to spam his dating site.

Laughing

-DallanC

Bushmaster

What's he sellin'?? Mail order brides???

Dimitri · Super Member Joined: Nov 25, 2005 Posts: 5946

Oh lol Thats what was the annonymus was about I didnt see his post though Very Happy

Anyways SK says there tools are "SuperKrome". Confused

Dimitri

515034s10ring

Tools for basic stuff Craftsman and Blackhawk and for HD machine work i only used SK as well. Many of the Snap-on, Matco, and Cornwell <(sp?) trucks that would come up to the shop i used to work at i didn't even give a chance to because of the horrible performance they would give when i was an auto mechanic. Don't get me wrong though because they have pretty innovative tools, just not for me.

SK though, where do i start....The first tools i had from them were a set of line wrenches. I bought them because every other company i had was either breaking of even worse (*&@#$^ !% fittings to where i would have to cut or replace the tube (very costly) Mad

. So, with my trusty tool allowance Very Happy

i went down and talked to my rep at the store and ever since then, it's been SK Cheers

Instruments, i'd have to say Brown and Sharpe, Starrett, and Mitutoyo are very hard to beat and very competitive amongst themselves. I've owned/own all three and can't complain about any of them....and especially with Mitutoyo being a far eastern co. they atleast stand behind their product......oh...unlike another company...lets say like Ziess Mad

that wouldn't even back their machine when it was only 6 1/2 months old (quite like their scopes in America) without a price wtf

. So the shop i worked at had to resort to manual testing, and for that.... i'd never own a Ziess product!

mikekuzara

I don't know about wrenches, except that with the home auto repair etc. that I do, Craftsman wrenches work fine, and they replace any broken ones free.

For work, I do a lot of work with small parts and electrical components. As far as screw drivers and pliers etc. I go with Kleins. I especially like their rubberized grips, even with greasy, sweaty hands, they don't slip. They cost more, but they are worth it.

BTW my dad still uses an old Blitz brand circular saw he bought in the 50's. It is a worm gear drive, and weighs about 10 pounds, but it still runs and works better than most of the modern ones I have used. He also has a 1960's Milwaukee brand 1/2 horse drill. It is still going strong as well.

The thing both these old beasts have in common? not a single piece of plastic on them. They have probably been dropped hundreds of times and still work fine. Say what you want about modern power tools, but if you dropped even one of the most expensive ones more than a few times, maybe even once, it is in a million pieces.

The newer tools may be lighter and cheaper, but I doubt my kids will be using any of my power tools when they grow up, they won't last that long.

Bushmaster

I had a craftsman crosshead screwdriver...Broke the tip of the crosshead. Took it to Sears for a replacement...The clerk broke out a magnifying glass and told me that I had used it in the wrong size screw and they would not replace it...I believe he still has that craftsman crosshead screwdriver. He was right...I did use it in the wrong size screw. SK never questioned how I broke their tools. In fact they have gone out of their way to help me with tool design and given me longer persuaders....Craftsman...The poor man's tools...When you can't afford the very best... Cheers

Dimitri · Super Member Joined: Nov 25, 2005 Posts: 5946

Bushmaster,

For Craftsman it sometimes depends what kind of customer service person your talking to.

I only own a small presision screw driver set from them but I got alot of MasterCraft myself. I broke a few tools it was my fault anyone could tell but they still gave me a new tool every time Very Happy

Dimitri