quickly tell between USA and China C-man sockets

[M-EGT]

So I went to my local Sears and to my surprise they had quite a few USA sockets.

the USA one is on the right, and has a barcode in front, centered. The one on the left is made in China and has no barcode on the front and has an offset label.
Using that method I was able to quickly find USA and non-usa sockets.

For those of you in the Phoenix Metro area, it is the Sears at Chandler Mall (101 and Chandler Blvd)

 

[Greg85mcss]

I have the exact same 300 something piece set in us & Chinese. As you can see in the picture Chinese are a brighter finish but not nearly as nice or durable. The tolerance is way looser. This won't matter to everyone but when they're on rails the stampings & even the orientation of the two ends don't line up. It does bother me when I look at my tray & they're all at different angles.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[drink]

Thanks for the shopping tip. I'll possibly be shopping at Sears in the near future sometime and what you showed us looks like a real time saver when trying to tell them apart.

Believe it or not I have never had any of my made in USA Craftsman sockets to break so far.

 

[drink]

Can you show pictures of the bottoms of the sockets to compare how they are machined?

 

[M-EGT]

Thanks for the shopping tip. I'll possibly be shopping at Sears in the near future sometime and what you showed us looks like a real time saver when trying to tell them apart.
.

Can you show pictures of the bottoms of the sockets to compare how they are machined?

no problem! glad it helped.
I plan on going to another Sears tomorrow, so I'll see if I can get a pic

 

[Bagherra]

I thought the tag would say "Made in the USA" whereas the Chinese one wouldn't say?.

 

[TXBDan]

My old craftsman sockets say USA on them. Do the new ones not or do they both and it's just meaningless?

 

[Askme42]

I thought the tag would say "Made in the USA" whereas the Chinese one wouldn't say?.

Used to that's the way it was. All of the USA stuff had an American flag on the tag.

 

[bonneyman]

I'm seeing more and more products that just don't say COO - or it's really small and hidden in the typeset description. USA-made products say USA, foreign products more and more are just silent.

Thanks for that tip! Love tips like this.

 

[Farmall450]

Note that the cased sets have different latch styles; those seen on gearwrench = china.

 

[anndel]

From my experience with Craftsman wrenches and sockets, if it's Made in USA it'll be stamped USA. If made in china no COO will be visible but it'll say made in china on the packaging and in that case I put it back on the shelf and walk out the door.

 

[four.cycle]

From my experience with Craftsman wrenches and sockets, if it's Made in USA it'll be stamped USA. If made in china no COO will be visible but it'll say made in china on the packaging and in that case I put it back on the shelf and walk out the door.

so once the item is out of the package, there's no way to tell COO except for the "production codes" stamped on the pieces themselves, some of which do not appear on lauver's list of production codes.

some more recently-manufactured combination and open-end Craftsman wrenches have no COO stamped on them, nor are they marked with any production codes. apparently the only way to tell the difference is in the finish on the shanks; some report the offshore-sourced product has a more "pebbly" finish on the shanks.

Mr. Lauver's list of CM production codes:
http://www.thegaragegazette.com/index.php?topic=867.0

 

[woody 73]

Unless things have changed the sockets were stamped in two ways.

(1) stamped USA

(2) stamped with other codes but no USA ID stamp. (meaning made overseas).**

** just what code #'s we need more information as to which Chinese company made that tool in question.

(3) As strange as it sounds like some American craftsman held up better then others case in point the Stanley years and their date codes I am sure we will see the same thing with all the new codes in later years.

 

[Dookie2122]

Great tip, stopped at my local Sears and cleaned up on the Made In USA sockets, your tip made them easy to spot, and half of the sockets purchased were on sale, thanks again.

 

[Brownsfan]

The key here is to QUICKLY identify the China vs USA by the tag. Instead of looking at the socket itself. It's easier to tell the difference between the tags than look at each socket. This way u can do it at a glance.

 

[larry4406]

Note the color difference of the plastic holder.

 

[M-EGT]

Great tip, stopped at my local Sears and cleaned up on the Made In USA sockets, your tip made them easy to spot, and half of the sockets purchased were on sale, thanks again.

awesome!

The key here is to QUICKLY identify the China vs USA by the tag. Instead of looking at the socket itself. It's easier to tell the difference between the tags than look at each socket. This way u can do it at a glance.

exactly

 

[skunkape1]

I just noticed this same difference about a week ago and subsequently have filled nearly all the holes in my socket sets after a trip to Sears and a trip to Ace Hardware. I'd say maybe 20% of the sockets at both locations were USA which are still stamped "Made in USA". I also found a 105 piece USA set next to the China equivalent at Ace. Sears had a 9 and a 5 piece 1/2 drive metric USA socket set mixed in with the Chinese. The China trays were black and the USA trays were gray.

Today, I was very happy to find a USA round point shovel at a Sears Hometown store. This was after looking at many other stores to find one. I always wanted/needed one but recently learned that they are now Chinese and not made by True Temper(I thinK) anymore. Again, the chinese shovel is black, the US, gray.

I think if anybody wants to find some of the last USA scraps at brick and mortar stores, now is the time.