Facom Tools made in France

nbrfd007 · Apr 18, 2012

I purchased a set of tools from a retired aviation mechanic; most of them are Facom made in France. He said this is what they used in the factory. Seem pretty good so far. Anybody use them? Looked on the web, seems to be a large company in Europe.

vssjim · Apr 18, 2012

Facom tools made in France are really top quality, might be the finest hand tools made. But like every thing Stanley has bought alot of Facom is not made in France any more which is sad. Just like US companies that start to out source production, not a good thing.

vintagefan · Apr 18, 2012

They got bought out by Stanley, most of the tools are Taiwan now. The Facom that made the tools you're referring to doesn't exist any more.

jjjrmx5 · Apr 18, 2012

Use them all the time and are one of my favorites.

Have several sets of the France COO screwdrivers and Facom used to be the official team tool supplier to Ferrari back in teh 90's

Now most Facom is Asian sourced or made in the Czech republic and some sourced out of Spain IIRC. Most if not all of the French mfgr is gone.

shoturtle · Apr 18, 2012

You got some good tools there. They are up there among the high end european tool companies. The are as good allot of comparable US tool company like armstrong, SO matco, and proto.

vintagefan · Apr 18, 2012

jjjrmx5 said:
Use them all the time and are one of my favorites.

Have several sets of the France COO screwdrivers and Facom used to be the official team tool supplier to Ferrari back in teh 90's

Now most Facom is Asian sourced or made in the Czech republic and some sourced out of Spain IIRC. Most if not all of the French mfgr is gone.

That's what I meant above by "it's not the same company any more". All it is now, like much of what Stanley sells, is assorted tools from mystery factories, with various brand names stamped on them. That doesn't mean they're bad, just that they certainly aren't "real" Facom IMO.

shoturtle · Apr 18, 2012

When you are in europe, you do see more french made ones at stores. It is a bit pricer then their lower grade tool.

Stanley still has good high end brands, like proto and blackhawk in the US.

nbrfd007 · Apr 18, 2012

I am glad to hear this. He retired in the eighties. All the tools are made in France, he said that they where top end tools. Seemed to be well made, fit good.
Thanks,
Tim

jjjrmx5 · Apr 18, 2012

vintagefan said:
That's what I meant above by "it's not the same company any more". All it is now, like much of what Stanley sells, is assorted tools from mystery factories, with various brand names stamped on them. That doesn't mean they're bad, just that they certainly aren't "real" Facom IMO.

LOL.
And relax.

Take no offense by my post above as it was just 2 minutes after yours and I did not see what you typed. You seem rather offended though. Are you French?

The Czech made screwdrivers are quite good as are some of thier other offereings even today BTW.

Like most other tool companies, mfg facilities move and QC fluxes. I still hold Facom products in high regard and am happy to own them.

el tanque prohibido · Apr 18, 2012

Some of the Facom designed ratchet heads have made their way onto MAC ratchet handles. :thumbup:

John Timmins · Apr 19, 2012

In the 1980s my brother ws a test pilot at the Lear Jet factory. He was involved with delivering jets that were modified to locations in France and Germany. The mechanics he spoke with over there preferred Snap On.

shoturtle · Apr 19, 2012

Snap on were not in europe until the last decade. They would not have used snap on tools in germany in the 80's or 90's.

el tanque prohibido · Apr 19, 2012

shoturtle said:
Snap on were not in europe until the last decade. They would not have used snap on tools in germany in the 80's or 90's.

SNAP-ON TOOLS LTD., FRANCE
Zone Industrielle De La Petite Montagne Sud
13 Allee Du Dauphine 91018 Evry, France

Telephone: 60-77-47-43
Facsimile: 1-69911729

Page 390 of the 1990 catalog.

vintagefan · Apr 19, 2012

jjjrmx5 said:
LOL.
And relax.

Take no offense by my post above as it was just 2 minutes after yours and I did not see what you typed. You seem rather offended though. Are you French?

The Czech made screwdrivers are quite good as are some of thier other offereings even today BTW.

Like most other tool companies, mfg facilities move and QC fluxes. I still hold Facom products in high regard and am happy to own them.

Misinterpreted my post. I was just expanding on what I had posted previously, mostly for the benefit of the OP. I wasn't offended, nor am I French.

My point was that Facom's image and reputation was built upon tools coming from certain factories, which either are ghosts of their former selves, or have ceased to exist entirely. All I was saying is that if the OP was interested in expanding on the tools he already owns, the replacements, although similar in appearance and function, are not really the same tools.

I actually like some of Stanley Facom's new offerings, the 440 series wrenches, for example, are superb. I also love their new Pear head ratchets. That said, they certiainly are a different company now, than they were then. I still (at this point, at least) have a reasonable confidence in their tools... what I don't have, is any type of nostalgic feeling towards them, like I did with the old Facom.

shoturtle · Apr 19, 2012

In france maybe in the early 90's, but not Germany. Snap on did not put their tools through TUV and GS certs until the late 1990's. In germany to sell any tool you need to get approval so you could not buy them in Germany.

ZRX61 · Apr 19, 2012

shoturtle said:
Snap on were not in europe until the last decade. They would not have used snap on tools in germany in the 80's or 90's.

They were in the UK in the '70's, didn't buy any tho, prefer Facom & still have a bunch.
& it's not been Germany = Europe since 1945

Juddy · Apr 19, 2012

Sidcrome in Australia are using rebranded Facom ratchets now but that is no surprise as Stanley own sidcrome

richfinn · Apr 19, 2012

Modern Facom tools are still good quality, In fact I think I prefer some of my newer stuff to the older French made tools.

shoturtle · Apr 19, 2012

ZRX61 said:
They were in the UK in the '70's, didn't buy any tho, prefer Facom & still have a bunch.
& it's not been Germany = Europe since 1945

I am bad, I tend to consider Europe as the german race horse with a french jockey. I forget sometimes,

And for an american that is a bit short sited.

Yeah the UK has less problems getting thing to market vs germany. TUV is an expensive and long process. It is allot easier to get things to market in the UK then in Germany. Ohlin suspension is not street legal in Germany, while they have been around for decades. Because they do not want to put their product through TUV. It was just this year the Hyperpro got their suspension product tuv approved for germany.

billymade · Apr 19, 2012

If you have some pics of your tools; I'm sure we would all appreciate seeing vintage Facom stuff...

admranger · Apr 19, 2012

I have Facom combo metric wrenches and 1/2 shallow 6pt sockets as well at one 3/8 drive torque wrench and two 1/2 drive ratchets. Love them all except the 3/8 drive torque wrench as the grease has dried up (notorious Facom ratchet problem) -- but this tool has no obvious way to open and regrease like my 1/2 ratchets do...

Sockets and wrenches are really nice, but I only have Kobalt and Craftsman stuff to compare.

nbrfd007 · Apr 20, 2012

billymade said:
If you have some pics of your tools; I'm sure we would all appreciate seeing vintage Facom stuff...

Here some shots of the bigger wrenchs.
Tim

M-technik-3 · Apr 20, 2012

Nice tools, Griots used to sell the Facom line and I believe the still do. I bought some years ago when I was working in Luxembourg used to commute there from Bitburg every day.

Liked these and Hazet but company I worked for payed for Snap-On tools since we were a govt contractor.

jjjrmx5 · Apr 20, 2012

M-technik-3 said:
Nice tools, Griots used to sell the Facom line and I believe the still do. I bought some years ago when I was working in Luxembourg used to commute there from Bitburg every day.

Liked these and Hazet but company I worked for payed for Snap-On tools since we were a govt contractor.

LOL.

I got a lot of my Facom tools thru Richard Griot but he stopped selling them years ago. (along with Beta tools btw).

Was a great source tho back in the day.

admranger · Apr 21, 2012

jjjrmx5 said:
LOL.

I got a lot of my Facom tools thru Richard Griot but he stopped selling them years ago. (along with Beta tools btw).

Was a great source tho back in the day.

I got mine from Steve D'G at the Ultimate Garage. He still sells them I think...

ultgar · Apr 25, 2012

admranger said:
I got mine from Steve D'G at the Ultimate Garage. He still sells them I think...

I have over 2,000 Facom part numbers in stock.......most of them are listed here...... see http://www.ultimategarage.com/Facom-Inventory.xls .

Approx 65% of Facom tools are still being made in Europe.....ratchets, torque wrenches, toolboxes, screwdrivers and pliers. Most of the sockets and ratchet accessories and wrenches are now made in Taiwan.

Quality is excellent and the finish is typically a higher polish than what was coming out of France 15 years ago. SD

spv · Apr 25, 2012

Current Sidchrome pliers are identical to Facom and are marked as Made in France. Good news is that some Facom is still made in France!

ultgar · Apr 25, 2012

Never heard of Sidchrome but looks like they are the same.... even some of the new A series circlip pliers are being sold under the Sidchrome name. Their combination wrenches (spanners) are even being sold as the 440 series (same as Facom).

Thanks for the info.......SD

Monte · Apr 25, 2012

memories.....

vintagefan · Apr 25, 2012

Monte said:
memories.....

Yep, that makes me sad... I had grown quite attached to a couple of Facom ratchets I used at my old work, in fact they were the first "good" ratchets I ever used when I was first starting out.

Recently I wanted to assemble a Facom tool set for Nostalgia, but frankly I'm not interested in buying generic Taiwanese tools with Facom stamped on them. No nostalgia there.

Monte · Apr 25, 2012

once upon a time...

...combination wrenches...

vintagefan said:
Yep, that makes me sad... I had grown quite attached to a couple of Facom ratchets I used at my old work, in fact they were the first "good" ratchets I ever used when I was first starting out.

my first good ratchets too, bought 4/18/2004

vintagefan said:
Recently I wanted to assemble a Facom tool set for Nostalgia, but frankly I'm not interested in buying generic Taiwanese tools with Facom stamped on them. No nostalgia there.

in 10 years the Taiwanese ones are nostalgia because the newer ones will be from China

JLSwany · May 30, 2012

I have worked for Snap-on Tools in the past for about 8 years and have just left Stanley Black & Decker after 3 years. At Stanley we produced all the Mac, Proto, Blackhawk, and a few other brands of wrenches, ratchets, and sockets that were hot and cold formed. At Stanley we worked on several joint ventures with the people at Facom in France where they still produce wrenches, sockets and pliers under the Facom name. They do have other product lines of lower quality that are made in the Pacific Rim companies just as Stanley does which are sold at the mass merchandisers like Walmart, Target, and many home centers.
i have visited several Danaher plants which make Craftsman Professoional, Matco, Kobalt, and others and they too use the Pacific Rim and now India and China for mass produced products.
When it comes down to tools you have allot to choose from and most are made with similar steels, finished and plated the same way, and all sold in differnt methods. I have a hard time picking a favorite brand but I always go for the feel in my hand.

John

Rico. · May 30, 2012

Probably 80% of my hand tools are Facom, I have spent quite a few years
and quite a few thousands of pounds buying it. Some of it was made in France
and some of it wasn't and the quality of all of it is simply stunning.

Facom have tools made now in France, UK, Taiwan, Czech Republic, Italy and
quite a few other countries, but it's always made to Facom's very high standards.
The quality of finish on every single socket, spanner and pair of pliers I have is flawless.

I am not an easy chap to please, but out of the hundreds of Facom tools
I own I have never been disappointed with any of it. Everything feels rock solid
and works as good as the day I bought it. Fantastic stuff,

454ragtop · May 30, 2012

Just bought a used roll away with a bunch of Facom and other Euro tools in it. Here's a pic of the Facom stuff, and another of the cool 1/4 drive beam type torque wrench. There's a real nice pin type adj spanner wrench, and a real strange cape chilel, the likes of which I have never seen before.
Jim

elvisslipperman · May 30, 2012

Hi , ive been using facom france ratchets for many years , recently bought a new one only to find the quality has gone downhill, sloppy ratchet mechanism and poor socket interface. I will now hunt for new old stock!

scudracer · Jan 17, 2013

FYI Facom 39, 40 (speed) and 67 (ratchet ring end combi) are made in France. 440 series made in Italy. 440 Non Sparking is made in China. Source: Element 14 aka Farnell Components. I was procuring about 106 +/-220-piece tool sets w/rolling cabinets for a European auto make network in Malaysia. Wanted Facom but eventually settled on Beta due to QCD (Quality/Cost/Delivery) considerations.

howleo · Sep 27, 2020

I have a large Facom socket set that my father got in France and used to work on tanks while he was a US army tank mechanic during WW2 (even though it is metric). It appears to be cadmium plated. I have never been able to find a catalog listing for it. I’d be interested if anyone could advise where I could find old Facom catalogs or any additional information.

M6erfan · Sep 27, 2020

howleo said:
I have a large Facom socket set that my father got in France and used to work on tanks while he was a US army tank mechanic during WW2 (even though it is metric). It appears to be cadmium plated. I have never been able to find a catalog listing for it. I’d be interested if anyone could advise where I could find old Facom catalogs or any additional information.

Have you tried contacting Facom directly? They might be able to help.

Also, there is a "tools of the old world" thread that might get you more exposure to your question.

Good luck.

Ralf11 · Sep 27, 2020

jjjrmx5 said:
LOL.

I got a lot of my Facom tools thru Richard Griot but he stopped selling them years ago. (along with Beta tools btw).

Was a great source tho back in the day.

Yes, Griot went to USAG IIRC.

When did Stanley buy Facom?

neophyte · Sep 28, 2020

Ralf11 said:
Yes, Griot went to USAG IIRC.

When did Stanley buy Facom?

Stanley bought Facom in 2006 or thereabouts.

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