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are any overseas made wrenches decent ?

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cvcman

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Ok I hate buying China tools or anything for that matter...I want a set of stubby metric and sae wrenches....I was going to get the Craftsman but...yup all China and our local Sears doesnt even have them...
Ive tried EPay...too expensive for SK and SO for me...

I dont use them that often but how about Kobalt or Williams..even though they are China is there any that are decent quality ?
 
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Texican

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Many overseas brands are of a good quality. Taiwanese made tools are usually of higher quality compared to the Chinese made. Kobalt is a store brand, it is rebranded but the few wrenches I have used have been pretty good.
 
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cvcman

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Texican said:
Many overseas brands are of a good quality. Taiwanese made tools are usually of higher quality compared to the Chinese made. Kobalt is a store brand, it is rebranded but the few wrenches I have used have been pretty good.
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the complaint I see on Kobalt metric stubbys is they dont have the 10mm...thats the most common metric wrench !
 
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Hootbro

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I was lucky to snag a set of Craftsman USA made stubbies last year but if I was in a similar situation again, I would actually give a serious look at the Northern Tools stubby sets.
 
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zkling

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I have heard quite a few good things about gearwrench. I have a few of their ratcheting wrenches and have been happy with them so far. I THINK they make a stubby set of wrenches.

I also think kobalt is pretty nice. If I couldn't find USA craftsman I would probably go kobalt or gearwrench.
 
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Super Sport

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I bought a new 10 piece set of metric SKs for $50 on ebay. Not sure what prices you're looking at, but I thought that was pretty reasonable and it wasn't the only set going at that price. Buy it nows are often insanely high, which is why they're still listed.

Stubbies aren't something that should see a lot of use or high stress, so you can go cheap on them. I'm sure the Kobalt or Williams will be fine.
 
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HTGTS350

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Ive got US, German, jap, chinese, Australian etc, etc wrenches and in nearly 20 years have only broken 3 a 2 inch chinese I broke with a sling and a forklift and 2 snap on, all but the poorest quality chinese or indian wrenches are quite good depending on how you treat them.
 
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unslow1

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zkling said:
I have heard quite a few good things about gearwrench. I have a few of their ratcheting wrenches and have been happy with them so far. I THINK they make a stubby set of wrenches.

I also think kobalt is pretty nice. If I couldn't find USA craftsman I would probably go kobalt or gearwrench.
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I have the GearWrench stubbies. I actually like them better than my Mac wrenches. I also have Kobalt. They're pretty decent for the money.
 
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jeffk14

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Hootbro said:
I was lucky to snag a set of Craftsman USA made stubbies last year but if I was in a similar situation again, I would actually give a serious look at the Northern Tools stubby sets.
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Yep, and Northern stocks individuals too in case you need to fill in or go bigger or smaller than what's in the sets.:thumbup:
 
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Kracin

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cvcman said:
Ok I hate buying China tools or anything for that matter...I want a set of stubby metric and sae wrenches....I was going to get the Craftsman but...yup all China and our local Sears doesnt even have them...
Ive tried EPay...too expensive for SK and SO for me...

I dont use them that often but how about Kobalt or Williams..even though they are China is there any that are decent quality ?
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seriously. this is what happens. people want quality, but dont want to pay for it, so brands turn to production overseas to cut costs to give a good quality at a lower price, and then the guy who wanted to the cheap stuff wont buy it because its cheap :lol_hitti
 
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cgv69

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cvcman said:
i dont get it...how are they usa ade all the kobalts i see are tiawian
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When Lowes first came out with the Kobolt line, they were mostly all Williams USA made tools. Only in the last few years did they switch over to Taiwanese sources. The set from Cripes is NOS
 
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cvcman

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Kracin said:
seriously. this is what happens. people want quality, but dont want to pay for it, so brands turn to production overseas to cut costs to give a good quality at a lower price, and then the guy who wanted to the cheap stuff wont buy it because its cheap :lol_hitti
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I dont mind paying BUT I do mind paying 200.00 for a US made set that I MAY use 2 times a year...I am trying to get the US Craftsman set on EPay..:dunno:
 
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Kracin

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cvcman said:
I dont mind paying BUT I do mind paying 200.00 for a US made set that I MAY use 2 times a year...I am trying to get the US Craftsman set on EPay..:dunno:
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so what was the point in complaining about made in china wrenches if you are using them 2 times a year and they are in your price range? and then leaned towards other made overseas brands. it seemed to me it was more of a refusal to use craftsman more than anything.
 
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cvcman

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Kracin said:
so what was the point in complaining about made in china wrenches if you are using them 2 times a year and they are in your price range? and then leaned towards other made overseas brands. it seemed to me it was more of a refusal to use craftsman more than anything.
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Bleep,bleep,bleep what ???? Listen, I dont like buying China ANYTHING...I wanted the Craftsman USA made ones, I cant find them except one set on EPay im trying to buy now... It doesnt matter if im using them even once a year or not at all I just hate buying made in China stuff...period

So...that said I dont want to spen 200.00 for a snap on set and it looks like any US made ones may be in that catagory...im still searching though...if I can find a set of polished US made for a decent price I will buy them...so thats all there is too it....dont try and make more out of it please:willy_nil
 
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RCStocker

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10 years ago I bought the Craftsman stubbies in both SAE and Metric. I have never used them. I also have both full sets in gearwrench and I have not used them. The Craftsman are fully pollished and are a beautiful looking wrench. My only bug is that they don't make all the sizes. I just don't get it. Sooner or later you will always need the one you don't have in a set. The Metric C man are the only set of anything I have that is missing any sizes.
I would go with the cheapes wrench I could buy. Ther is not much force being put on a short wrench. I would go with HF and be done with it. They will replace it if it goes bad. If you find you need better ones sell the HF and move up.

Williams is making a lot of tools and many of them are coming out of Tawian. Way to go Snap-on
 
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Kracin

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cvcman said:
Bleep,bleep,bleep what ???? Listen, I dont like buying China ANYTHING...I wanted the Craftsman USA made ones, I cant find them except one set on EPay im trying to buy now... It doesnt matter if im using them even once a year or not at all I just hate buying made in China stuff...period

So...that said I dont want to spen 200.00 for a snap on set and it looks like any US made ones may be in that catagory...im still searching though...if I can find a set of polished US made for a decent price I will buy them...so thats all there is too it....dont try and make more out of it please:willy_nil
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i call it like i see it, and this line just shows it

I dont use them that often but how about Kobalt or Williams..even though they are China is there any that are decent quality ?
Click to expand...

if you don't understand the significance behind someone complaining about us made tool prices, not wanting to buy china "****", and not finding anything in between, then there isn't much to this thread at all.

you said it yourself that you obviously don't use them very much so why not find something that can turn a nut and bolt and buy it? unless you really are going based on brand and not if it can take daily abuse for 20 years or not.


besides, if you hate buying made in china stuff, you shoulda take every single thing you own with a circuit board in it back to the store, because you bought things made in china and components made in china. whether people like it or not, it's a global economy, you either pay a high price to pay the american workers their higher wages, or you pay a lower price for the outsourced goods.
 
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03protege

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cvcman said:
wish they were polished
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So you want cheap, US made, and full polished... Good luck :lol_hitti


I bought the Kobalt set for $10 when I was in a bind and used it in conjunction with another full size wrench looped on it to give it more leverage and it held together just fine.

I was intending on purchasing the SK stubbies as they are fairly cheap (as mentioned above can be found for around $50 a set)and US made but until the Kobalts fail me I will just keep using them.
 
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7.62

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unslow1 said:
I have the GearWrench stubbies. I actually like them better than my Mac wrenches. I also have Kobalt. They're pretty decent for the money.
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Yep. They aren't stubbies, but I have some GearWrench long pattern wrenches, and while only time will tell how durable they are, so far I've noticed no significant difference between them and the SO wrenches I used at work.
 
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cvcman

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Kracin said:
i call it like i see it, and this line just shows it



if you don't understand the significance behind someone complaining about us made tool prices, not wanting to buy china "****", and not finding anything in between, then there isn't much to this thread at all.

you said it yourself that you obviously don't use them very much so why not find something that can turn a nut and bolt and buy it? unless you really are going based on brand and not if it can take daily abuse for 20 years or not.


besides, if you hate buying made in china stuff, you shoulda take every single thing you own with a circuit board in it back to the store, because you bought things made in china and components made in china. whether people like it or not, it's a global economy, you either pay a high price to pay the american workers their higher wages, or you pay a lower price for the outsourced goods.
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Humm I see i have to spell it out for you:lol_hitti some things you have no choice about buying like circut boards etc so thats a moot point for sure...the things I DO have control over are the ones im talking about...
So if you feel the need to offer anymore insight ...well please try to understand my meaning first...:eyecrazy: Also your "global economy" comment is just as silly as your response:lol_hitti
 
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gsmornot

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If you change your mind, the sets from Northern Tool work just fine. They are polished too. If you look close enough, you will find one here and there in the set that says Craftsman on it. They are made at the same place apparently.
 
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cvcman

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gsmornot said:
If you change your mind, the sets from Northern Tool work just fine. They are polished too. If you look close enough, you will find one here and there in the set that says Craftsman on it. They are made at the same place apparently.
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im seeing if i can get the Craftsman US made or the SK for a reasonable price...if not either the Williams or the NT...thanks !:thumbup:
 
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M4TTDUFFY

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My first post here. Have you ever used the TengTools gear before. I have a lot of there gear and my old man has been a fan of them for years aswell. They are a Swedish company. I may add I'm from the UK but they do make cracking tools so maybe worth a look and there stubbys have taken some serious abuse and are barely scratched even after having bars and alsorts on them

Matt


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
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Buckgnarly

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cvcman said:
How does the northern stack up to the Kobalt ?? Where do you buy them ?? Are they China made
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Not sure about vs. Kobalt, but the finish and size is great. To be honest I did not exect them to be as nice as they are. Would never get China wrenches but with such low torque that these see, it's no big deal.
 
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