SK vs Snap-On Quality! Is There Really A Difference?

[Skin]

There have been a few large threads over the years about Ideal SK and their quality control, or lack of it. For the most part I write off many of the responses since they're arguments about cosmetics. The thing is, I buy my tools to work. Could you get a cosmetically superior socket someplace else for cheaper? Sure. But at the same time how can you argue that American brands are only worth while if they look pretty? It defeats the purpose entirely of buying American to say you can get sockets that look better from Taiwan or China. Then why buy any American at all? Isnt it just as dumb, if not more so, to spend $10 a USA socket (brand doesn't even matter) if you can get comparable quality from Asia for $1?

If you're like me and working on a daily driver in an area that gets brine washed every year then you can ruin the cosmetics of a socket in about a week anyway so really, does it matter that the interior paint as a bit of overspray? Does it matter that the broach is off center by 20 thou? I don't think so.

If it really bothers you, send an email, make a phone call. It will be far more effective than some *****-fest about trivial things, most of which ultimately effect nothing.

I don't discount that SK has some quality issues that could be addressed, but generally speaking people blow things WAY out of proportion. How many people actually take macro shots of their sockets or stare down them to observe how clean and centered the broaching is? Are they art or tools? I know that many of us are obsessed and tool company by their own accords have glorified the beauty of their products and display them proudly in containers fit for high priced candy, but at the end of the day they're still tools made to be worked.

 

[Skin]

Now this is the internet. A lot of talk and little to back it up. I try to make a point on this forum to speak from experience though, so I put my money where my mouth is. I just got this brand new SK set, and I have a comparable set from Snap-On.

MSRP on this 44pc Snap-On set is $690.00. Since im not going to bother using SKs MSRP lets be extremely generous and assume you can get the Snap-On set off the truck for $450.00.

SK 91848 48pc set street price is $180.

Now given the price difference there should be real tangible benefits right? Snap-On maybe fits tighter, locks onto the socket better, or is simply designed superior? After all this is SK we're talking about, the dregs of US made socketry.

Funny thing though, I couldn't really tell much of a difference. Snap-On had a more pronounced flank drive broaching at the corners, but actual fit didn't seem to differ. To back that up I even mic'd a few sockets.

SK had less uniform detents but they were there on every socket and grabbed the detent ball just as well as the Snap-Ons.

In the end all I could fault SK for was 1 socket broached 30 thou off center (the 1/4 deep), chattering on sockets from 4-5.5mm, and a bizarre super shallow broach on the 6mm deep. SK also doesn't seem to bother with any flank drive/radiused corners on the 3 smallest sizes in the kit which is pretty inconsequential. Everything 8mm and above? Just what i'd expect for USA made working man tools. Everything was absolutely fine, no glaring problems and ready for years of service.

In the end I just don't get the drama. Sure SK has some quality issues with the tiny sockets, but how many people is that really going to effect? Especially shade-tree mechanics which most here are. I don't like the issue, and i'd hope they correct it, but in the end its pretty trivial and certainly not worth the hate.

So, is SK worth buying? In my opinion absolutely. Its an affordable American made product that looks good and functions just the same as anyone else except, maybe, where the absolute smallest fasteners are concerned. Point of fact this set is going to replace my current sockets on my home Hansen rails.

Just my 1000 words on this drama train.

Socket IDs-picked at random

SO

SK

SO

SK

SO

SK

Sets in question

The chatter

The 6mm broached down only about a 1/4 of an inch.

 

[Wamsutta]

This thread is some serious click bate.

I want both cosmetics and quality. GearWrench makes some beautiful cleanly machined sockets, but they put the detents in the wrong spot and it aggravates me. Snap-on has never aggravated me ever. It's worth the premium for me to work on my car and not be bothered by my tools. That said, my MAC sockets and Proto sockets don't aggravate me either. There's a few companies out there that know how to make sockets very well and have been in business a long time. I don't know what's wrong with SK. They stay up too late at night and don't get enough sleep or something.

 

[Fbmoose48]

I was curious about the stuff you can't see so I broke a handful of adapters from various tool brands and put it on YouTube. The SK was the weakest tool I tested. The Snap-on was far away the strongest. Link in the other SK thread.

I think a lot of SK complaints are based around the idea that if you're paying 3x tekton prices for an SK what are you getting for your money?

So the next guy doesn't have to wade through all the tool polishing to Page 7 of that thread...


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rc5wPql2t7E" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Nice video btw

 

[ChevyEFI]

The SK 48pc. set has been a better value all along vs. the Snap-On set.

I would start with the SK set, add a knurled spinner from Snap-On or Ko-Ken, extension: a long one, and a handle extension Snap-On or other, the 72 tooth Snap-On roto ratchet, and you can do TONS of work. For less then the 14mm Snap-On set.

The SK case doesn't have space for the 6.5" ratchet or more extensions, but it does so much as-is.

Source: 20 years with the 44(?) pc. set.

 

[Yarpo]

I think a lot of SK complaints are based around the idea that if you're paying 3x tekton prices for an SK what are you getting for your money?

Exactly, and op pretty much gives us that argument in his main post anyways. Sure its muddied by saying they only "look" better, but you get the idea.

Nice little YT test too, thanks!

It defeats the purpose entirely of buying American to say you can get sockets that look better from Taiwan or China. Then why buy any American at all? Isnt it just as dumb, if not more so, to spend $10 a USA socket if you can get comparable quality from Asia for $1?

 

[DerekV]

"In the end I just don't get the drama"

*Creates this thread*

[emoji23]

In general, today's SK sockets are junk. More so for the 1/4" and 3/8" drive sizes. Doesn't take a tool polisher to figure that out. It's disappointing, but nothing anyone here can do. Time to accept it and move on. /thread

 

[Snaparxon]

The only thing SK that I have liked or felt good in my hand is the knurling on there ratchets. But I haven't owned many SK tools other than some Super-Krome wrenches and a few sockets. I see SK at yard sales and pick them up and always set them back down. I have always considered them homeowner/DIY'er tools.

 

[Tennessee Cattleman]

I bought some SK 6 point sockets in 3/8" & 1/2" drive early this year & was pleased, the only thing I seen that needed improvement was the size stamping, it's not as deep as it should be for easy identification.

 

[PJNJ]

This thread will probably end up like the rest of them with insults, hyperbole, etc.

I like SK and have bought the 91848 and 94549 sets along with the 1/4 and 1/2 flex ratchets. I have had no problems with use or quality over the last couple of years. Is SO better - yep. Are there QC problems with SK - it seems so with the recent threads I've seen. Bottom line - I will still buy more SK if I need (or want) it. And hopefully SK will improve their quality control.

 

[xin]

The SK ones I got have the flute in the end like my Snapons have used all of them over the years no complaints.

AS long as the 'nut' is held in the end of the socket they are good in my book. - NOTE my SK sockets/ratchets are from the mid 90's and no issues. Even the chrome is still good and they have been used a LOT.

 

[skunkape1]

Why so angry? Life is too short to get your blood up over people pointing out flaws in your favorite socket brand.

 

[NinnyCTSV]

Just received my sk wrenches today and there are some blemishes in the chrome and on the 1/4 the sk stamp mushroomed out the beam and slightly warped the wrench. Warranty that 1 and I’ll deal with the blemishes as I’m not hanging them for viewing. Whatever blemishes are going to vanish as I get them scuffed up from use. All in all I’m pretty happy with a us made wrench that’s pretty comparable in price to the Asian variants.

 

[Wamsutta]

"In the end I just don't get the drama"

*Creates this thread*

[emoji23]

In general, today's SK sockets are junk. More so for the 1/4" and 3/8" drive sizes. Doesn't take a tool polisher to figure that out. It's disappointing, but nothing anyone here can do. Time to accept it and move on. /thread

Can you simplify that a little bit more? Tell us how you really feel.

 

[MattVette89]

I was curious about the stuff you can't see so I broke a handful of adapters from various tool brands and put it on YouTube.

Great video!

 

[M6erfan]

I think a lot of SK complaints are based around the idea that if you're paying 3x tekton prices for an SK what are you getting for your money?

You're getting American tools made by American workers with American steel. And adapters that are relatively weak.

 

[AmishFury]

And adapters that are relatively weak.

even being relatively weak (at least that one... sample size in testing is a thing) the failure point was beyond what anyone would reasonably expect to be putting on a 1/4" drive

 

[M6erfan]

even being relatively weak (at least that one... sample size in testing is a thing) the failure point was beyond what anyone would reasonably expect to be putting on a 1/4" drive

Still, SK dead last in the test, all things being equal. And I agree about sample size.

 

[3baygarage]

I think the tools have proven worthy over the last 90 years or whatever it is. All the qc problem items shouldn’t be hitting the shelves the way they are. Figure out why that is.

Lazy workers? Lazy management? Heavy fast paced production? Slave driving management? Lack of quality workers? Lack of training? Poor eyesight? Bad hand eye coordination? Spite? (happened once supposedly) Poor equipment and tooling? Poorly maintained equipment? Flawed production processes? Bad engineering? Combination of any of these? Other? Who knows.


I doubt we could fathom the number of sockets alone they cranked out over the years. People will come here to talk about issues. That is inevitable. Nothing wrong with that right, isn’t this a discussion forum?



All I wanted to say was interesting test results.

 

[M6erfan]

I think the tools have proven worthy over the last 90 years or whatever it is. All the qc problem items shouldn’t be hitting the shelves the way they are. Figure out why that is.

Lazy workers? Lazy management? Heavy fast paced production? Slave driving management? Lack of quality workers? Lack of training? Poor eyesight? Bad hand eye coordination? Spite? (happened once supposedly) Poor equipment and tooling? Poorly maintained equipment? Flawed production processes? Bad engineering? Combination of any of these? Other? Who knows...

That's great if you bought SK 90, 80, 50, or 30 years ago. What about the last 5-7 years? What about TODAY? ****, what about 10 years from now?

So China/Taiwan who are relatively new to the global manufacturing scene are making sockets better than SK. Awesome.

'Merica?

 

[Wamsutta]

That's great if you bought SK 90, 80, 50, or 30 years ago. What about the last 5-7 years? What about TODAY? ****, what about 10 years from now?

So China/Taiwan who are relatively new to the global manufacturing scene are doing it better.
Awesome.

'Merica?

You can't judge America's manufacturing ability on SK.

SK is trying to go on the cheap and it's starting to show. It costs money to make a quality tool using American labor. American workers need to eat and with American food prices what they are, it takes money to eat.

SK should raise their prices in line with Proto or Wright so they can afford to make quality tools.

 

[M6erfan]

You can't judge America's manufacturing ability on SK.

SK is trying to go on the cheap and it's starting to show. It costs money to make a quality tool using American labor. American workers need to eat and with American food prices what they are, it takes money to eat.

SK should raise their prices in line with Proto or Wright so they can afford to make quality tools.

Tool manufacturing is a tiny side show to the American manufacturing scene. The fact that China figured out how to make sockets decently well shouldn't come as a huge surprise to anyone.

What concerns me is areas like commercial aircraft. The US has one manufacturer of large commercial aircraft and they happen to be focused on just 3 models, one is 50 years old, one is 30 years old and one is 10 years old. How long will it be til China stops making trinkets and focuses on a clean-sheet half-price 737 competitor?

Good points.

I didn't mean manufacturing as a whole, but only in regards to sockets, specifically in contrast to SK sockets.

*Fixed it

 

[Wamsutta]

Tool manufacturing is a tiny side show to the American manufacturing scene. The fact that China figured out how to make sockets decently well shouldn't come as a huge surprise to anyone.

What concerns me is areas like commercial aircraft. The US has one manufacturer of large commercial aircraft and they happen to be focused on just 3 models, one is 50 years old, one is 30 years old and one is 10 years old. How long will it be til China stops making trinkets and focuses on a clean-sheet half-price 737 competitor?

China doesn't build anything off a clean sheet of paper. They are the masters of copying.

 

[M6erfan]

I'm old enough to remember the '70's. Japan was laughed at, LAUGHED AT, at the **** they produced in the automotive industry. About a decade later they were eating our lunch quality wise. How is Japan's quality today? I submit that generally it is near the top in the world. Yet they were producing pot metal **** just 40 years ago.

I think it's short sighted to underestimate the ability for China to do the same thing.

 

[Tonyuk]

Any decent manufacturer is able to make great fitting sockets, spanners etc.. if they just put the money into it.

Over £150 ish for a small socket set is very expensive these days imo, snap-on basic sockets are the biggest waste of money out there.

 

[Wamsutta]

Any decent manufacturer is able to make great fitting sockets, spanners etc.. if they just put the money into it.

Over £150 ish for a small socket set is very expensive these days imo, snap-on basic sockets are the biggest waste of money out there.

I'm not so sure about that. They put their detents in the correct spot; so therefore, their sockets don't aggravate me. There's a price to be paid for mental health.

 

[WittHay]

You're getting American tools made by American workers with American steel. And adapters that are relatively weak.

Adapters are weird tools. Something with the chrome and being forged as one unit makes them weaker.We used to break 3/4 to 1/2 Proto and Gray adapters on a regular basis. Never broke a 1/2 Proto breaker bar, even with 3 foot cheater pipes

Snap-on used to make chrome adapters in all sizes. They stopped doing that years ago. Don't think they even make a 1/2 to 3/8 impact adapter anymore. Bought a Mac 2 piece impact adapter recently

Sayin all that, no excuse for a US made adapter to be weaker than a Chinese one

Don't own any SK sockets so can't comment on quality. Regarding Snap-on, the quality of the finish on the inside of the 1/2 drive 12-point sockets seems to be improved. No complaints on the last few I purchased. Yeah i looked at the inside of a socket because of the ridiculous price Snap-on charges

 

[Spacey_G]

Off-center broaching is not a cosmetic issue. If the broach is off by .020", the wall on one side is thinner by the same amount. What do you suppose that does to the strength of the socket?

 

[thugline]

What concerns me is areas like commercial aircraft. The US has one manufacturer of large commercial aircraft and they happen to be focused on just 3 models, one is 50 years old, one is 30 years old and one is 10 years old. How long will it be til China stops making trinkets and focuses on a clean-sheet half-price 737 competitor?

Already happening. Ever heard of COMAC?

 

[thugline]

Off-center broaching is not a cosmetic issue. If the broach is off by .020", the wall on one side is thinner by the same amount. What do you suppose that does to the strength of the socket?

Agreed. This is a legitimate defect and unacceptable. Sloppy workmanship and perhaps apathy are to blame. I ordered a replacement socket because I was getting the run around with the warranty process. The replacement had the same off center broach. This leads me to believe it is a tooling or setup problem. Some people on here seem to be really upset and feel the need to defend SK. I am not partial to any one tool company.

 

[Davefr]

I think a lot of SK complaints are based around the idea that if you're paying 3x tekton prices for an SK what are you getting for your money?

And Texton is mostly rebranded HF at 1.5X the cost. What are you getting for the money?

And SO is 10X the price of Texton, what are you getting for that 10X?

Where do you draw the line?

 

[lugnut71]

Snap on does still make a 1/2 to 3/8 impact adapter. They are pretty strong also. The design now is a two piece .

 

[sweet victory]

As an engineer who works at a company with in house manufacturing, those in my industry have a slightly different definition of quality. Quality is defined as the reduction of variability and the adherence to drawing requirements. It's something can be observed, measured, and quantified. (It's not the "it makes you feel good" ******** people always talk about)

I've noticed a decent amount of variability in the products I've received from SK. Some likely reasons would be:

1. The SK drawing is toleranced such that it allows for the variance, and that's why it passes through QC. At this point, it's not a QC problem, it's an engineering problem.
2. Their processes are no longer in control and their QC dept. needs to adjust their inspection sample sizes. I've seen this happen twice; a very experienced machinist gets promoted to a position their not qualified for, like a plant manager. The individual lacks the education and training to know how to implement statistics into a process.
3. The corporate culture is such that employees are pressured to pass junk to meet timelines.

That being said, my experience with Snap On has been consistent. Every ratchet I receive just seems to be identical to the next. From my sample size, their products don't seem to have much variability and the product just always seems to be flawless.

So if you want to get into the niddy griddy of it, yes. There is a distinct difference. SK has a wide range of variance, resulting in poor quality. SO has been consistently awesome.

 

[bmwpowere36m3]

From my limited experience, Yes. Does it affect performance/usage... maybe? I haven't had a SK socket fail to perform, but I have noticed the following:

• off-center broaching
• rough interior finish, poor broaching, dull tooling
• lack of detents or inconsistent detent depth

As far as Snap-On, I haven't not experienced any of those "issues" with similar sockets (1/4" and 3/8" drive). SK sockets where attractive from a price perspective and being US made, but the quality has left mixed feelings.

At their [SK] price point, I think you would be better off with certain import tools at lower cost, better "finish" and likely just as capable/durable.

If you want something premium lacking those "issues" then you need to spend a premium and be looking at the likes of Snap-On, Koken, Hazet, etc...

 

[sweet victory]

Adapters are weird tools. Something with the chrome and being forged as one unit makes them weaker.We used to break 3/4 to 1/2 Proto and Gray adapters on a regular basis. Never broke a 1/2 Proto breaker bar, even with 3 foot cheater pipes

Snap-on used to make chrome adapters in all sizes. They stopped doing that years ago. Don't think they even make a 1/2 to 3/8 impact adapter anymore. Bought a Mac 2 piece impact adapter recently

Sayin all that, no excuse for a US made adapter to be weaker than a Chinese one

Don't own any SK sockets so can't comment on quality. Regarding Snap-on, the quality of the finish on the inside of the 1/2 drive 12-point sockets seems to be improved. No complaints on the last few I purchased. Yeah i looked at the inside of a socket because of the ridiculous price Snap-on charges

I had to spec a lot of fasteners for "cannot fail" high shock applications. (Products for the military) When you plate high carbon fasteners, you present a high risk of hydrogen embrittlement. During the plating process, hydrogen atoms will diffuse into the metal's crystalline structure. This makes the material very susceptible to cracking, and can happen with very small loads relative to the material's yield strength. There are other scenarios where hydrogen can diffuse into the material, but plating is by far the most common way it's introduced. This doesn't mean it's impossible to plate high carbon material, it just comes down to process control and testing.

 

[bmwpowere36m3]

Then why buy any American at all? Isnt it just as dumb, if not more so, to spend $10 a USA socket (brand doesn't even matter) if you can get comparable quality from Asia for $1?

This is the conundrum... and today we have more choices than ever. I still buy American if it makes sense. However COO is no guarantee of quality.

 

[M6erfan]

...If you want something premium lacking those "issues" then you need to spend a premium and be looking at the likes of Snap-On, Koken, Hazet, etc...

This is exactly why for sockets I went with Ko-ken several years back. Much less expensive than Snap On, heck much less expensive than SK, and excellent design/fit finish/durability/manufacturing quality.

 

[thugline]

This is exactly why for sockets I went with Ko-ken several years back. Much less expensive than Snap On, heck much less expensive than SK, and excellent design/fit finish/durability/manufacturing quality.

Where is the best place to buy Koken products? Do they offer complete socket sets? Asking for a friend.

 

[M6erfan]

Where is the best place to buy Koken products? Do they offer complete socket sets? Asking for a friend.

Frankstools.com
Rakuten
Amazon.jp

And yes.

 

[Fbmoose48]

You're getting American tools made by American workers with American steel. And adapters that are relatively weak.

Do we know for a fact SK in its newest Ideal incarnation uses American steel and not import steel? Is that information published or readily accessible to the public?

And realizing that a sample set of 1 is insufficient to draw any real conclusions, is the composition or treatment of SK's steel known? It could just be that the adapter in the test was a lemon, but if a pattern were to emerge then how is the poor performance of SK's alloy explained?