I find this a fascinating read. In fact, I've just spent about an hour sifting through it all.
It made me realize that there are some people who are hard on tools and other who aren't. I'm one of the latter, my father is one of the former. Now I'm not a professional mechanic, but I've been wrenching on various things from trans-axle swaps on mi-80s GMs to nut-and-bolt restorations on Jaguar E-types since I was a kid, or about 15 years. My father ran an auto parts store and growing up I worked on a lot of race cars, hot rods, and motorcycles. Most of my tools are that vintage and they're a mixed bag of Craftsman, Stanley, Blackhawk, and I've filled in some holes in the last few years with some Husky and Harbor Freight "here's and there's". In all that time, I can count on one hand the number of tools I have broken. Honestly, I can't recall ever breaking a wrench or socket. My ratchets are all at least 10 years old and most of them are 30+ hand-me-downs from Dad. I've rounded screwdrivers and snapped drill bits, but outside of that, I've always been lucky. This thread made me think that maybe there are just those sorts of mechanics out there, who are like me, and don't break their tools, and there are those sorts like my father, who seems to constantly break tools. I wouldn't say he is a better wrench than me or visa versa, its just a different style and methodology.
Now I've had some problems with quality on some HF tools, but I've never had any trouble with their return/exchange policies. And I like the HF tools I have, I wouldn't have bought them otherwise.
.