Herbrand Tools

[chevy302dz]

Just curious if anyone knows anything about Herbrand Tools? They seem to be produced/ or were produced in both the US and Canada, but other than that I can't seem to find much info them.

[toolcrazy]

Herbrand tools are no longer around. Too bad, they are excellent tools. I have some of their swivel impacts in 3/8" and 1/2" drive, single and double swivel extensions, screwdrivers, files, 1/2 ratchet adapter for a breaker bar and etc. I haven't broken any yet. I think the majority of Herbrand tools were made in Canada and some in the US.

[eschoendorff]

I have one of their old 1/2" beam-type torque wrenches. It reads 5 lbs +, but I take that into account when I use it. Didn't seem to be a noticably high quality tool (better or worse than any other beam-type torque wrench).

[wythors]

My father in law had a couple of really old (1940's) Herbrand tools in his box, a 1/4 ratchet and a couple of wrenches. The ratchet was stamped "Los Angeles, Calif". We sold them all on eBay and got pretty good money for them.

[wrenchr]

anyone from the detroit area? There is a pawn shop on Michigan ave, 1 block past tiger stadium, the old one, going north. They have a bunch of Herbrand 1/2 drive socket set's 3/8 set's and maybe 1/4, and also SK tool's. These have been there for years, and the herbrand stuff is cheap!! And no I'm in no way related or anything else with this place, just passing on some possible good deals for G/J member's!!

[eschoendorff]

Wrenchr... where you at???? I am SW of Ann Arbor...

[ImportTuner]

I bought a 1/2" Herbrand ratchet adapter for use with my breaker bar off eBay and the first time I tried to use it to remove a wheel, it broke ...

[Rickster]

Originally Posted by wrenchr

anyone from the detroit area? There is a pawn shop on Michigan ave, 1 block past tiger stadium, the old one, going north. They have a bunch of Herbrand 1/2 drive socket set's 3/8 set's and maybe 1/4, and also SK tool's. These have been there for years, and the herbrand stuff is cheap!! And no I'm in no way related or anything else with this place, just passing on some possible good deals for G/J member's!!

We sometime stop there at lunchtime. I've bought a few things there.

[wrenchr]

Originally Posted by eschoendorff

Wrenchr... where you at???? I am SW of Ann Arbor...

Taylor. Howdy!!

[philw]

Check out the Alloy artifacts website:
http://alloy-artifacts.home.comcast.net/

Herbrand was made in Fremont, Ohio until the early 60's? They were eventually combined with Bonney and moved to S.C. Herbrand was marketed as the lower priced line and Bonney as the pro line. The early Herbrand stuff from Ohio was marketed as a pro line for mechanics and was good quality stuff for the time.
Wythors either has a very rare Herbrand or he confused Plomb with Herbrand. Plomb tools were marked Los Angeles but Herbrand was never made there.

[wrenchr]

Originally Posted by philw

Check out the Alloy artifacts website:
http://alloy-artifacts.home.comcast.net/

Herbrand was made in Fremont, Ohio until the early 60's? They were eventually combined with Bonney and moved to S.C. Herbrand was marketed as the lower priced line and Bonney as the pro line. The early Herbrand stuff from Ohio was marketed as a pro line for mechanics and was good quality stuff for the time.
Wythors either has a very rare Herbrand or he confused Plomb with Herbrand. Plomb tools were marked Los Angeles but Herbrand was never made there.

These are herbrand tool's, not sure if they are the pro one's or not though.

[dxdexter]

I have a Herbrand catalog from 1984 and the combination wrenches look very similar to those of MAC, with the 4 sided open end. Is there any connection between the two companies? Where they bought out by Stanley?

They did have a hand tool manufacturing plant in Toronto, Canada,at one time, as did Snap-on and Proto. I have a few Herbrand tools and they seam to be very good quality. The chrome finish on my starter wrench (half moon) is as good or better than Snap-on.

[wrenchr]

Yah, I have seen some of the wrenches before they are nice.
Bonney has a real nice wrench as well, to bad these are not made anymore.

[Uncle Buck]

Originally Posted by philw

Check out the Alloy artifacts website:
http://alloy-artifacts.home.comcast.net/

Herbrand was made in Fremont, Ohio until the early 60's? They were eventually combined with Bonney and moved to S.C. Herbrand was marketed as the lower priced line and Bonney as the pro line. The early Herbrand stuff from Ohio was marketed as a pro line for mechanics and was good quality stuff for the time.
Wythors either has a very rare Herbrand or he confused Plomb with Herbrand. Plomb tools were marked Los Angeles but Herbrand was never made there.

If it escaped anyones notice, Phil included the link to alloy-artifacts, the last word on wrench history for all the brands that I am familiar with, which is most!

[Uncle Buck]

Originally Posted by dxdexter

I have a Herbrand catalog from 1984 and the combination wrenches look very similar to those of MAC, with the 4 sided open end. Is there any connection between the two companies? Where they bought out by Stanley?

They did have a hand tool manufacturing plant in Toronto, Canada,at one time, as did Snap-on and Proto. I have a few Herbrand tools and they seam to be very good quality. The chrome finish on my starter wrench (half moon) is as good or better than Snap-on.

My first set of tools was a combination set of 1/4 & 3/8 Herbrand 1970's vintage. My dad gave them to to work on my bike. The set was absolute crap, many sockets broke under normal use, and finally the ratchet shot craps. I think what did Herbrand under was the undeniable slip in quality, much like Thorsen tools.

Due to the above reason I thought Herbrand were simply junk tools till I began finding old used stuff that had all the earmarks of quality tools, so regarding Herbrand I would offer these words of caution.

If it is not marked USA, or if you are not capable of telling the difference between new vs old tools, or you just do not know; leave Herbrand alone cause unlike Bonney, Herbrand's last years of tool offerings were no better, and possibly worse than today's Harbor Freight offering!

With all that said, I own a good many early USA Herbrand tools bought used of course. The early stuff is great stuff when you can find it.

[dxdexter]

Originally Posted by hholmberg

If it is not marked USA, or if you are not capable of telling the difference between new vs old tools, or you just do not know; leave Herbrand alone cause unlike Bonney, Herbrand's last years of tool offerings were no better, and possibly worse than today's Harbor Freight offering!

I'm not sure why you are quoting me I made no comment on the overall quality of Herbrand only the couple of Herbrand tools I own, but that being said one bad experience as a child (presumably) should not condemn the entire line of tools. I'm still not sure how you could break a set of sockets working on a bicycle???

Good tools (Herbrand or not) do not have to be marked USA in order to be of quality, but I don't live there so I have no such prejudice towards non-US tools (I myself think Canadian tools are just as good or better).

[Uncle Buck]

Originally Posted by dxdexter

I'm not sure why you are quoting me I made no comment on the overall quality of Herbrand only the couple of Herbrand tools I own, but that being said one bad experience as a child (presumably) should not condemn the entire line of tools. I'm still not sure how you could break a set of sockets working on a bicycle???

Good tools (Herbrand or not) do not have to be marked USA in order to be of quality, but I don't live there so I have no such prejudice towards non-US tools (I myself think Canadian tools are just as good or better).

Bro, throttle er back a bit, If you read my post carefully, you will see I am not taking a jab at the brand, I own a few pieces of the old stuff myself. Second, my comment regarding made in USA is not meant to incense anyone regarding country of origin. Virtually all the old quality hand tools that 99% of those working with or own, or are familiar with at least in this county will say USA if you took that as a shot at Canada or any other country I assure you that was the furthest thing from my mind. I was trying to point to the fact that the quality of the tool line tanked in the last few years before they folded; no need to take that personally.

If I gave you the same shitty Herbrand socket set I had as a kid you would quickly figure out how to break many of the sockets in that set. It took no special effort, no cheating etc. In fact that was the gist of my post, their quality went to hell in the final years before they disappeared from the scene.

I was simply trying to share with others that not everything branded Herbrand is necessarily a quality tool score so be careful with those not marked USA as the older quality Herbrand tools were. I really did not think the post was that inflammatory, and certainly did not intend it to be!

One last thought, I really have no experience with Canadian tools so my thoughts had nothing to to with Canada or Canadian tools. As far as I know I have none, and have never used any, so I really have no opinion one way or the other of Canadian tools! PEACE DUDE!

[dxdexter]

Originally Posted by hholmberg

Bro, throttle er back a bit, If you read my post carefully, you will see I am not taking a jab at the brand, I own a few pieces of the old stuff myself. Second, my comment regarding made in USA is not meant to incense anyone regarding country of origin. Virtually all the old quality hand tools that 99% of those working with or own, or are familiar with at least in this county will say USA if you took that as a shot at Canada or any other country I assure you that was the furthest thing from my mind. I was trying to point to the fact that the quality of the tool line tanked in the last few years before they folded; no need to take that personally.

If I gave you the same shitty Herbrand socket set I had as a kid you would quickly figure out how to break many of the sockets in that set. It took no special effort, no cheating etc. In fact that was the gist of my post, their quality went to hell in the final years before they disappeared from the scene.

I was simply trying to share with others that not everything branded Herbrand is necessarily a quality tool score so be careful with those not marked USA as the older quality Herbrand tools were. I really did not think the post was that inflammatory, and certainly did not intend it to be!

One last thought, I really have no experience with Canadian tools so my thoughts had nothing to to with Canada or Canadian tools. As far as I know I have none, and have never used any, so I really have no opinion one way or the other of Canadian tools! PEACE DUDE!

Sometimes its hard to detect the tone of written text, I was not suggesting what you said was right or wrong just wondering why you chose to counter my posting, in particular, with derogatory comments of Herbrand Tools.

Sometimes if products are made outside the USA they are not marked as to country of origin because the tend towards buying domestically (of which I agree ) may hurt their sales.The Herbrand tools not stamped USA are more than likely made in Canada (due to low exchange rates in the 80's) or elsewhere, but that does not preclude them from being of quality.

Anyway I think we beat this topic to death Lets please put this one to rest.

PEACE DUDE!!!!!

[philw]

Canadian Herbrand is different from the U.S. stuff. The Canadian stuff I have seen is decent stuff. Like I stated before, the U.S. stuff from the late 60's, 70's and 80's were marketed as a less expensive line. Like hholmberg mentioned and I agree a good comparison would be along the lines of Thorsen.
Even the old stuff which was quality for the time and era it was made would probably compare with regular Craftsman now.