SK 1/4", 3/8" & 1/2" Socket Set - Pics and Review

[AL`]

I've recently purchased some SK sets from Tooltopia, including the 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" drive 6pt combo socket sets:

SK Hand Tool (SKT91848)<O</O
48 pc. 6-Point Fractional/Metric Socket Set with Universal Joint
</O


SK Hand Tool (SKT94549)<O</O
49 Piece 3/8" Drive 6 Point Fractional/Metric Socket Set with Universal Joint

SK Hand Tool (SK 4147-6)<O</O
47 Piece 1/2" Drive 6 Point SAE and Metric Standard and Deep Socket Set

I've attached actual pics of my set below.

Overall, I like the quality of all these socket sets, with the caveat that each set has QC flaws. I'm fairly certain these are old stock from previous SK ownership (can't swear to it though).

The 1/4" set has some sparse chrome and/or rust on the 7/16", 1/2" and 11mm regular sockets. I also felt the ratchet was a bit short and I find the knurling to be a little dull. Another member, slipjointed likes that. I prefer a sharper cut knurl myself.

</OThe 3/8" set had flawed chrome on the 3/4" and 19 mm regular sockets. I also felt the grip, and the ratchet itself, to be a little short. Likewise, I'd prefer a sharper knurl. A more conspicuous flaw of this ratchet was the handle or shaft being slightly bent. You can see this in the side by side pics of the ratchets I attached below. I don't think it really affects the usage however. Still, you can't help but notice it.

</OThe 1/2" set was the best overall on chrome application, although there was a fair amout of rusty dust below the two largest SAE regular sockets, and just a smidgen of freckling on the backside of the largest. The amount of dust would make one think the sockets themselves were pretty rusted, but not so. However, those same two sockets, the 1-1/16" and the 1-1/8" sockets had the square drive broaching buggered (see pics). The actual 6pt socket broaching is just fine, however, and while on principle I don't like the buggering of the drive broaching, I haven't made up my mind about getting them replaced. I'm not certain it functionally matters as there's still good contact with the ratchet driver inserted. I'll scratch my head on that, but I saw that slipjointed had good results calling SK for socket replacements and that is encouraging.

</OI liked the 1/2" drive SK Ratchet best of the three sets because the handle fit the best of them given its size. Still felt the knurling was a little mild and my Williams S-52 Ratchet grips better even with my hands a little sweaty. That rachet has seen a lot of work. It belonged to my grandfather who was a mechanic for a trucking company in the 40's and 50's. It also carries sentimental value as a result. It is easily the smoothest ratchet and I'm not sure how much that is due to the fact it has been used so much, and how much is by design.

</OSo, I also included pics of the ratchets from all three sets beside other ratchets I had for comparison. In order from left to right, they are:</O
<O
<O1/4 Craftsman RP Ratchet</O
<O1/4 SK Ratchet</O
<O3/8 SK Ratchet</O
<O3/8 Craftsman Ratchet (older one I have, I like the handle on it)</O
<O1/2 SK Ratchet</O
<O1/2 JH Williams S-52 SuprRatchet</O
<O1/2 Craftsman RP Ratchet</O
<O1/2 Craftsman Premium 84T Ratchet</O

 

[AL`]

A few more closups of sockets. I'm not sure what the deal with spacing is in my first post above was. I tried deleting all carriage returns and repeating but it remains such as it is.

Overall, I'm pleased especially given the price of these sets, but was a little disappointed with what seems like consistent QC flaws across the board in all three sets, if somewhat minor functionally speaking.

 

[Fedwrench]

The bent ratchet needs to go back to SK. That's just not acceptable in a new set. SK rathats have always had a shorter knurled handle. Rusty dust will be replaced with oil and grease residue so, that's not a big deal at least to me. These minor flaws do take away from that new tool purchase of superchrome feel though.
In you bottom socket picture, it appears that the square drive on the two bottom right sockets isn't square like the others. WTF? I am confused or is the square drive malformed?
These issues may be the growing pains of a resurrected company or old stock quality issues but, SK needs to work the bugs quickly out if they want to survive. I wish them luck.

 

[4x4gearhead]

I agree that is strange that it came bent brand new like that, it makes you wonder how it got to be that way.

 

[wchamberlain]

I agree that is strange that it came bent brand new like that, it makes you wonder how it got to be that way.

Gearhead,

Maybe it was rebranded Matco????? According to your signature that's all they do anyway!

 

[Boiler]

Forgive me for this long post, in advance...

Pretty much 95% of my sockets at home are SK bought between 2006 and 2008, as a point of reference.

I just had about 16 sockets delivered yesterday. I bought odds and ends to fill in my sets. They were a mishmash of drive sizes and a blend of short, long, metric and standard. I noticed a few things different than all my 3-5 year old stuff.

The new sockets have what seems to be great chrome on the outside, which is typical of SK products. It usually seems thicker / more mirrorlike / more lusterous than most brands. And they looked relatively the same as the older sockets, so much that in photos I thought they were the same. Through side by side comparison, you can tell the the grooves cut in the exterior are a little sharper, and possibly have less chrome adherance. They just don't look quite as nice as the grooves on my old ones. You can also see a small difference in the stamping fonts. Not an issue in any way, just that you can tell the difference if you look. They are definitely not using the old tooling (which is as expected per the news of Ideal purchasing SK.)

There were a few differences that I do not like, so I give get edge to the older sockets hands down. First, the older sockets were chromed inside. The new ones are a bright matte finish. They just seem like they'll rust earlier, but of course I haven't had mine long enough to know for sure. If I had to pick chromed or not chromed inside, I'd definitely take the one with the shiny innards.

The next difference is the square drive. The older ones were much more crisp inside. An old style deep socket had a shoulder about a "nuts depth" in from the end, after which was a smooth bore all the way down to the square drive, and it had a smooth face around a sharply broached square drive. This is just like now Snap-On does them. In fact I compared my old ones to snap on and they are nearly identical inside. Now the square drive has its interior corners all blown out on the inside from broaching. Its like their operations tear out the material in a place where they can't trim afterward. They will probably work fine, but these blowouts do reduce the surface contact between the male and female drives. So this will result in somewhat increased pressure between those faces. Basically there is more likelyhood for squishing out or yeilding the material on an extension.

Finally is the shoulder broach. On the old style, I believe they go in with a hex broach about a "nuts depth" in, then they bore through to the square drive face. They are a smooth round hole after the shoulder. On the new ones, its like there was a thin flange spanning the socket located at a "nuts depth" and they just sliced it into sections and rolled them back. Behind them is a larger diameter bore. The result? Cavities that can't be reached or seen. I hate sockets like this as they alway pack with grime. And if you try to run a rag through them, get get hung up on the broached fingers, and even if they don't you still don't easily get all the grime out.

So, they aren't as refined as they used to be, but all of the exterior features and faces seem to be up to their old standard, so that is a good thing. The chamfers at the ends seem to be just as good as ever, and the detents were deep and crisp, all except for one small socket, which seemed to barely have any detents at all. The rest however looked great.

Maybe all is not lost. They are actually operating again at a minimum. I kind of complained about the cheaper broaching to my wife. I reminded her that this is the new company after bankruptcy and pointed out how they cut out some of the quality. She looked at me straight in the eye and said "maybe they're trying to make a profit?"

She's right. SK has historically made top quality, made in the USA tools. They do it at often 1/4 of the price of the tool trucks. I guess it makes sense that something has to change in order for them to be a viable business. I just would have preffered it if they raised their prices 10% and kept the top notch quality, instead of leaving them low and doing some minor changes for cost cutting. Decreasing the quality for cost savings is the first step to trying to compete with the craftsmans and harbor freights of the world, which is not something users really need. We don't need more cheap tool options, there are tons allready. What we need are more high quality but reasonable price options, which is what made SK great before.

If SK turns into c'man, I guess I'll start going with all Snap On. If they decide to maintain quality and raise prices, I'll stick with them as long as they don't approach truck tool pricing. If they do that, I'll go with Snap On service and warranty every time.

 

[SMKS]

The bent ratchet needs to go back to SK.

I agree that you need to call SK about the ratchet. Other members have said SK has been good about replacing the few sockets that have imperfect chrome. They should send you new sockets to replace the ones with bad chrome. They might just send you a new ratchet, too.

When you consider the price of these USA-made sets, I think the flaws are pretty minor. Except for the ratchet. That's pretty bad and other members who posted pics haven't had that issue.

 

[superautobacs]

I wonder what happened there??!!

I've never seen anything like that before.

 

[adcrawfo]

I've got that on a 1-1/8" socket I bought back in 2003, don't know how long it sat on the shelf when I got it. I looks to me like it's left over material from the broaching of the nut size that was punched thru with a round punch to give it a finished look. Then after that they knocked the corners out of the drive end for some reason.

 

[Boiler]

I've got that on a 1-1/8" socket I bought back in 2003, don't know how long it sat on the shelf when I got it. I looks to me like it's left over material from the broaching of the nut size that was punched thru with a round punch to give it a finished look. Then after that they knocked the corners out of the drive end for some reason.

Hmm, maybe they sent me OLD sockets....

Heck who knows. Maybe its size based? I did buy the largest standard sizes in each drive type, and some of the smallest. The smallest 1/4" ones were hard to tell how they broached it, due to being miniscule.

 

[AL`]

I've got that on a 1-1/8" socket I bought back in 2003, don't know how long it sat on the shelf when I got it. I looks to me like it's left over material from the broaching of the nut size that was punched thru with a round punch to give it a finished look. Then after that they knocked the corners out of the drive end for some reason.

On the two of mine that have it, they are internally undercut. Not quite sure how to explain it and the pics don't show it, but past the hex broach (deeper) where the broaching becomes round, on the sockets which are normal that round broaching is a solid cylindrical face until the square drive is met. I.E., in that region, the cylindrical wall is solid from the inner face to the socket's outer diamter. However, on these irregular sockets, instead of it being a solid cylindrical wall, it has been hogged out or undercut by whatever. So the wall of the socket is much thinner than it otherwise would be. This is on both the 1-1/16" and the 1-1/8" sockets. Furthermore, if you look at my 1-1/8" socket, instead of that part being round, it is also hex shaped (sort-of), but of reduced diameter to the socket's size. But both are undercut in this region.

Whether this translates into a weaker socket I'm unsure of. It certainly is substandard workmanship. I'll see if SK will replace them and the ratchet.

 

[AL`]

I called SK Customer Service today and spoke to a lady there. She gave me a UPS number to send the ratchet and flawed sockets back so I dropped them off at a UPS store today. I'll report back when SK get's back to me.

Appreciate all the responses to this thread.

 

[adcrawfo]

On the two of mine that have it, they are internally undercut. Not quite sure how to explain it and the pics don't show it, but past the hex broach (deeper) where the broaching becomes round, on the sockets which are normal that round broaching is a solid cylindrical face until the square drive is met. I.E., in that region, the cylindrical wall is solid from the inner face to the socket's outer diamter. However, on these irregular sockets, instead of it being a solid cylindrical wall, it has been hogged out or undercut by whatever. So the wall of the socket is much thinner than it otherwise would be. This is on both the 1-1/16" and the 1-1/8" sockets. Furthermore, if you look at my 1-1/8" socket, instead of that part being round, it is also hex shaped (sort-of), but of reduced diameter to the socket's size. But both are undercut in this region.

Whether this translates into a weaker socket I'm unsure of. It certainly is substandard workmanship. I'll see if SK will replace them and the ratchet.

I know what you're talking about, mine's the same way, hence why I think it's left overs from the broaching. They did a rough machining on it before the broach and then left the leftovers from the broaching in the socket instead of cutting them out. As far as weaker socket I used a paper clip and the socket wall in that area is slightly thicker in the under region compared to the broached region, I can't comment on yours.

 

[Joelfke]

There were a few differences that I do not like, so I give get edge to the older sockets hands down. First, the older sockets were chromed inside. The new ones are a bright matte finish. They just seem like they'll rust earlier, but of course I haven't had mine long enough to know for sure. If I had to pick chromed or not chromed inside, I'd definitely take the one with the shiny innards.

According to my local SK dealer, the first couple batches they either messed up or couldnt figure out if they wanted chrome inside AND out or the matte finish inside. He showed me a couple loose sockets that had both finishes. Apparently the new stuff is getting trial runs that are accidentally put into "circulation"

 

[SMKS]

I don't think there's anything wrong with these sockets. I think they're just produced with a slightly difference method. I assume if the OP posted pics of the drive end of his larger SK sockets, they would be properly formed.

I knew I had seen this design before, so I just went out to the garage and quickly found 3 different examples of sockets made this way. They include Bonney, Proto and Gray.

Here's an older Gray 15/16" socket. There are areas above the drive end that are rounded from the manufacturing, but the actual drive end itself is properly formed.

Here's an older Proto socket that is a similar design. The drive is properly formed, but the area above the drive is rounded out from the manufacturing process.

 

[SMKS]

According to my local SK dealer, the first couple batches they either messed up or couldnt figure out if they wanted chrome inside AND out or the matte finish inside.

Hmmm...I wonder what would be the benefit of NOT having chrome on the inside?

 

[Joelfke]

Hmmm...I wonder what would be the benefit of NOT having chrome on the inside?

not sure. I thought personally it was a bit weird to see. With extra chrome wouldn't the distance from side to side on the inside be smaller? I would think the fit of the socket on the bolt/nut would be tighter and thus better.

Im no mechanical engineer though

 

[AL`]

Final followup on this thread:

Recall that I spoke with an SK Customer Rep and detailed my issues. She sent me the shipping address and SK's UPS account number. She was very pleasant to deal with.

Regarding the two odd looking large sockets. SK informed me that the undercut/odd looking broaching is a normal result of the manufacturing process although I had never encountered such before with other large sockets I own. So they returned those to me and I received them on Oct. 6. Looking them over there is still plenty of positive surface area fit on the square drive, and when I measured the undercut sidewalls, they were thicker than the thinnest margins of the hex broached area. There was never any problem with the actual hex broaching. So this thread is educational for anyone who hasn't encountered that situation before.

I had also sent in two other sockets with internal rust and the bent ratchet. I received replacements today, Oct. 17. I sent all these in on Sept. 14.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the warranty service since the fundamentals were addressed. In other words, customer service was friendly and professional, the defective tools were replaced, and I didn't have to cover the shipping cost. Of course, sending in returns is a time sink I'd rather have avoided. Turnaround was a little slow, but fortunately, I didn't have a pressing need for the tools.