Spdfreak91
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They already started craftsman MADE IN USA, saw blades at their American saw factory in E-longmeadow ,http://www.masslive.com/business-news/index.ssf/2018/02/stanely_black_and_decker.html
Lowes Craftsman Ad, Available April 2nd
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Are you sure they already started? Should be interesting to compare the old Swiss-made Craftsman reciprocating saw blades to new USA-made versions.
"Stanley Black & Decker, which bought the Craftsman brand from ailing Sears in January 2017 for $775 million, will likely start making Craftsman-brand saw blades and other tools at the former Lenox American Saw plant in the second half of 2018, said spokesman Tim Perra."
Coach James
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I was in Lowes last night, but no C-man in the store. Stanley sockets and ratchets were ~25% off and a few Kobalt sets were 50%+ off, but that is normal.
Coach
Coach
Which one of you posted the reviews for the new 120-tooth ratchet sets?
Lol! That’s great!
Crazyjake8493
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No Lowes for sale in the store until May. The items online right now are online-only, the stores will be getting Craftsman tool boxes in soon, but won't be on the sales floor until May 14 since the Kobalt boxes have to be clearanced out first. No word on when Craftsman hand tools will be in stores.
Indy125
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Pleading ignorant here...
Why the excitement for Craftsman to be at Lowes, when its same product from Sears, or no? I can understand whens it USA again.
Why the excitement for Craftsman to be at Lowes, when its same product from Sears, or no? I can understand whens it USA again.
shawndp
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Lowe’s has the “new” Craftsman as made by Stanley - Black & Decker whereas Sears has the old “worst in the world and made in China” stuff...
Wamsutta
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I don't see how Stanley - Black & Decker can make a quality tool in the USA and still be cheap enough for Lowe's customers. Lowe's customers are some of the cheapest people on the face of the earth.
With all the Kobalt boxes on clearance now, is there anything I should be keeping an eye out for? For reference, I've been saving up to get either the new 46 inch Milwaukee chest or something similar from Husky. I'm just a home gamer so a decent big box store box should be fine for me, and I'm going big in hopes that I won't need to upgrade for a good long while. Will the Kobalt stuff stack up against the nicer Husky boxes and the Milwaukee?
shawndp
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There are some holding their breath for a US built line of tools, and the will buy it if it is quality or not. It’s the sort of people who buy a Ford Focus over a Corolla - domestic doesn’t have to be quality
Schurkey
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When Walmart told their suppliers to cut costs, the suppliers offshored to China.
When Lowes tells Stanley to cut costs, you think Stanley is going to bring production out of Asia back to North America?
Lowe's has no history of improving Kobalt quality; they have a two-time losing streak instead--Williams to Danaher, Danaher to Asia. Three-time losing streak, if they're dumping Kobalt altogether in favor of Stanley Crapsman. There's no reason to expect Crapsman at Lowe's to be an improvement over Sears Crapsman. DIFFERENT, sure. Better? Not likely.
What'cha think? A few years of Crapsman, then Lowe's dumps the line and brings back Kobalt...or some entirely different tool brand so they don't have to deal with any previous warranties?
Thanks for making my point for me.
Stanley hand tools are bottom-of-the-barrel.
Black and Decker is bottom of the barrel. I have an ancient B&D magnetic drill that's built like a tank, but it's ~20 years old or more.
B&D got so bad, they had to bring out a "Premium" line (DeWalt) which then got cheapened and sourced from Asia.
Bought any Blackhawk hand tools lately?
Irwin is still building Vice-Grips in Kansas...right? OOOoops. Maybe not.
Mac and Proto are doing OK, mostly by watching Snap-On and doing what they do.
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To pour more gas on the fire. Craftsman.com posted this a few days ago.
https://www.craftsman.com/We-Build-Pride#product-grid
https://www.craftsman.com/We-Build-Pride#product-grid
DTuck
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They should've completely got rid of the raised panel Cman wrenches, not continued manufacturing them.
Stanley Black & Decker suggested their new Craftsman tools would be "Made in the USA with global materials". The hype built up over a year, so plenty got excited about it.
So far, there is no evidence of any "USA" in the new Craftsman ratchets and sockets debuting at Lowe's stores.
finn
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I’ve even in Europe for about a month and had an opportunity to visit a few of the HD, Lowe’s, Menards equivalents here. Bauhaus, Obi, and at least one more.
I expected to see scores of high quality tools, unobtainable at home.
I did see lots of Bosch, and some limited Metabo, but the other powetools were AEG, Riobi, Skill, Worx, and some Harbor Freight quality knockoffs.
Hand tools included a limited amount of Wera and Knipix, but most were store brand Chinese or ROC imports with a few German made products mixed in.
In short, it’s not much different in Europe than in the US as far as tool selection for the homeowner and non pro, at least at the mass market retailer level.
I expected to see scores of high quality tools, unobtainable at home.
I did see lots of Bosch, and some limited Metabo, but the other powetools were AEG, Riobi, Skill, Worx, and some Harbor Freight quality knockoffs.
Hand tools included a limited amount of Wera and Knipix, but most were store brand Chinese or ROC imports with a few German made products mixed in.
In short, it’s not much different in Europe than in the US as far as tool selection for the homeowner and non pro, at least at the mass market retailer level.
Waterloo Industries provided Sears with Craftsman tool storage options that were Made in USA with global components.
After purchasing the Craftsman brand, Stanley Black & Decker also purchased Waterloo. That "USA" sticker is probably correct.
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AceofSpad3s
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wot in tarnation
I haven't kept up with this stuff since, jeez 2015 maybe? I heard a while backthat stanley bought craftsman, sears is still going down the toilet and that craftsman was still ******.
Now whats with this now? Lowes is carrying it now? Stanley is making some of the stuff here?
I haven't kept up with this stuff since, jeez 2015 maybe? I heard a while backthat stanley bought craftsman, sears is still going down the toilet and that craftsman was still ******.
Now whats with this now? Lowes is carrying it now? Stanley is making some of the stuff here?
WWheeler
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AFAIK all they said after the Craftsman purchase was "To accommodate the future growth of Craftsman, we intend to expand our manufacturing footprint in the U.S. This will add jobs in the U.S., where we have increased our manufacturing headcount by 40% in the past three years" and a lot of people construed that to mean there would once again be made in USA Craftsman ratchets, sockets, wrenches, etc. I've always been skeptical about that.
IIRC most of 'Craftsman' sales are lawn and garden, followed by power tools, and lastly hand tools. I've always been leery to think Stanley would try to bring back the latter to the US. The area where Stanley had already "increased our manufacturing headcount by 40% in the past three years" was their Dewalt power tool line.
Besides, if you think about it, if they start making lifetime guaranteed hand tools under the Craftsman name again, how would that even work? Will we be able to bring in broken foreign-made Craftsman tools to trade for the USA-made ones? Everybody and their brother would be intentionally breaking all their China-made Craftsmans to trade for new ones.
They took down the "Future of Craftsman" website that Stanley Black & Decker had set up last year, but here's a 2017 article on the subject:
http://toolguyd.com/stanley-black-decker-pledges-to-bring-craftsman-tool-production-back-to-usa/
"We are committed to bringing Craftsman’s manufacturing back to the United States, using materials from around the world, so you can take pride in knowing that Craftsman products sold by Stanley Black & Decker will once again be Made in the USA with global materials."
WWheeler
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Yeah I still don't see anything making me think they're going to be bringing back their main lines of hand tools (ratchets, sockets, wrenches) to the US. I hope I'm wrong though.
Then again, maybe that is why they are introducing these imported lines first though. That way they will have **** stock on hand for lifetime warranty claims before they break out the more expensive US-made ones. I still doubt it, but that would make sense to me.
SilverBulletZ06
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Interesting developments to say the least. I already picked up a set of 120xp Gear Wrench 1/4 and 3/8 but a new Craftsman 1/2 set would be great. Hopefully they keep it 6 point sockets instead of the usual 12 point nut rounders.
In any event, it will be awesone to see Cman come back to decent quality tools.
In any event, it will be awesone to see Cman come back to decent quality tools.
K13
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You left out the part where it says "as much manufacturing as possible" which seems like a pretty vague corporate speak qualifier.
JazzBlueRT
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Some people like the RP wrenches and ratchets.
AceofSpad3s
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JazzBlueRT
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I think the proper term for those people are **** fetishists
Are you that socially incompetent where you believe it is normal to insult complete strangers simply because they disagree with you?
Well, I didn’t expect this thread to blow up like it did.
The good thing about this is: people are being vocal about what they want from craftsman.
Affordable tools made in USA. Is it long shot dream? Yes, but never say never.
Emotions are high and that’s a good thing, because it’s what pushes companies to make changes. Hopefully they listen.
If someone from their team looks at this thread, they can clearly see a market for us hand tools. I don’t think a company would pay nearly a billion dollars to run the craftsman name into the ground like sears did.
If I were them I would take a good look at what Gearwrench has become. Is it made in USA, no. Is it a professional brand, no (I do know a lot of techs that use some of their products though). However they have plenty of great tools at affordable prices that are made for a prosumer. And they started in the 90s. Craftsman been around older than most of us.
Can we ask for the old days us made with us steel? Sure, but it will never be like that again. I think most of us just want quality tools again. Not Chinese garbage supporting a communist totalitarian society.
Note: Yes, I know a lot of GW is made in China, but I used there example for there rapid succession to a trusted tool brand amoungst tool users.
The good thing about this is: people are being vocal about what they want from craftsman.
Affordable tools made in USA. Is it long shot dream? Yes, but never say never.
Emotions are high and that’s a good thing, because it’s what pushes companies to make changes. Hopefully they listen.
If someone from their team looks at this thread, they can clearly see a market for us hand tools. I don’t think a company would pay nearly a billion dollars to run the craftsman name into the ground like sears did.
If I were them I would take a good look at what Gearwrench has become. Is it made in USA, no. Is it a professional brand, no (I do know a lot of techs that use some of their products though). However they have plenty of great tools at affordable prices that are made for a prosumer. And they started in the 90s. Craftsman been around older than most of us.
Can we ask for the old days us made with us steel? Sure, but it will never be like that again. I think most of us just want quality tools again. Not Chinese garbage supporting a communist totalitarian society.
Note: Yes, I know a lot of GW is made in China, but I used there example for there rapid succession to a trusted tool brand amoungst tool users.
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AceofSpad3s
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It was meant as a light hearted joke, if you took it as a serious personal insult than I'm sorry about that
WWheeler
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I think the proper term for those people are **** fetishists
Ouch. That's a bit harsh.
I never had any problem with raised panel wrenches. The ratchets, notsomuch, but the wrenches have been good to me. I've been putting to good use the same nearly complete set of them for more than 20 years now. They're a whole lot better imho than crapsman's china-made full polish lobster claws. I've had plenty of friends/coworkers (and here at GJ) that complain about them, but I always thought raised panels fit comfortably in my hand and let me feel like I had a good grip on it. The wrenches themselves have stood the test of time for me, all except the line wrenches anywho. They did fail to impress a few times before I gave up on them.
AceofSpad3s
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The US wrenches are fine, I just have a possibly irrational hatred of those ratchets. Probably because I got a drawer full of old ratchets from various brands that feel great to use. But years ago before I did, I had one of the RP's slip into neutral because the selector isn't too positive,skinned all my knuckles on some rusty steel. Not to mention the mechanism just feels crappy compared to sk round heads or proto pears.
M_George
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I have a set of SAE Craftsman raised panel wrenches that I've been using since the 70's and a Metric set I've had since the early 90's. They've served me well all these years.
Specs
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The ones that came in sets were so damn stubby, it was inevitable. Ive sacrificed many knuckle chunks on remorseless metal cause of my RP’s ratchets. I still have both as the Designated Hitters in case every last 1/2”,3/8”1/4” ratchet, socket and every last wrench, just all disintegrated at once LIRL. Straight up X-Files nonesense
I know before I die, I’m getting a S&K SUPERKROME set. I saw a set in real life and it is so damn shiny.
Moparman390
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Here here! By a strange coincidence they also drive blue Challenger R/Ts.
AceofSpad3s
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The sk ones I have are probably the nicest chrome of them all.
The wayne 1/2 is flawless, the nicer 3/8 and one 1/4 I have are very slick to the touch and look good.
The other 3/8 had some of the chrome chip off from whatever the last guy did but it's still fine. The industro super round head is a contender for nicest chrome too, that one feels good, I'd probably say it's just as nice.
While I partially agree with you; I have a Danaher ratchet, going to Asia was an improvement. The Taiwan ratchets, specifically the Toptul ratchets and the new ratchets that replaced them are again an improvement over the older Taiwan and certainly all the Chinese ratchets they've sold with the Kobalt name.
I don't imagine Lowe's will ever carry a USA Craftsman tool in-store, if they do it will be junk like Danaher and/or "Made in USA with global components" which is essentially the same as building it overseas but more expensive. An online only Craftsman Pro, rebranded and lesser finished Proto is probably the best one can hope for in regards to USA made...don't expect to be comparable in price to something made in Taiwan but maybe 10-20% less than Proto(at best).
The Taiwan made ratchets are a step in the right direction for Craftsman, and about as much as we could expect IMO.
kythri
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I can't wait for the crow feast when SBD ramps up US production of Craftsman hand tools.
K13
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I can't wait for the crow feast when SBD ramps up US production of Craftsman hand tools.
And I am sure you will be here eating it if the don't!
kythri
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If they don't, then sure, I will. They've already said they're going to, though, and I trust them more than I trust the haters here.