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Need offset wrenches. Other than Snap on or Mac, who is decent?

steelespeed

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I have the Proto sets in metric and SAE. They're still fairly new additions so I can't comment on the longevity of them. It's worth noting that the two sets have very different beam types. The metric set has thicker beams that are almost square, but not sharp-cornered like Mac wrenches. The SAE set has much more rounded beams with less volume to them. Maybe someone on this forum knows why the beam styles are so different.

Looks like different stampings as well. The SAE set has what appears to be a newer typeface design that I have seen on a few of their other products. Maybe your metric set is just a tad older and they haven't updated the manufacturing tooling to match. Both look nice, though.
 
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General Geoff

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Those look mighty niiiiiiice for the money, and they have a nice sharp angle on the offset, too. Thanks for the link!

Much as I love Tekton's stuff in general, the 45 degree angle of their offset means they'll be less useful. When you have to break out the offsets, it's because you're in a tight situation with stuff in the way, and sometimes that angled offset is going to keep you from reaching something.

The Stahlwille wrenches have the same 75 degree offset as the Dewalt set.

20170209130610-1e2ba103-xl.jpg


I prefer the matte chrome finish myself, but the Dewalts are definitely shinier.

Anybody know what the COO is on them?
Deutschland.
 
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JiminAZ

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I bought the Stahlwille metric deep offset set from amazon.de a few months ago and am thrilled with them.

Also own shallow offset DBE wrenches from Williams (which are just unpolished SnapOn as best I can tell). Williams are much heavier. The Stahlwille are just so nicely made and have an engineered feel to them. Very lightweight for their strength.
 

General Geoff

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Also own shallow offset DBE wrenches from Williams (which are just unpolished SnapOn as best I can tell). Williams are much heavier. The Stahlwille are just so nicely made and have an engineered feel to them. Very lightweight for their strength.

That is one of their best features, they are light while also being very strong. Definitely well-engineered. I've taken off lug nuts with them by standing on the end, no bending or flexing whatsoever.
 

redwrench60

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Germany, as all other Stahlwille tools.

The Stahlwille wrenches have the same 75 degree offset as the Dewalt set.

20170209130610-1e2ba103-xl.jpg


I prefer the matte chrome finish myself, but the Dewalts are definitely shinier.


Deutschland.

Those wrenches look sweet and I’m cool with German tools. $73 bucks seems like a steal. Don’t want to jack the OP’s thread but how easy is ordering from Amazon de? Same as regular amazon?
 

turnthewrench 2.0

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Those wrenches look sweet and I’m cool with German tools. $73 bucks seems like a steal. Don’t want to jack the OP’s thread but how easy is ordering from Amazon de? Same as regular amazon?

Same as regular Amazon. Just make sure your vendor is Amazon, some other vendors don't ship to the US - you'll get a message if you choose one of those.
 

BroncoAZ

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Those wrenches look sweet and I’m cool with German tools. $73 bucks seems like a steal. Don’t want to jack the OP’s thread but how easy is ordering from Amazon de? Same as regular amazon?

This is my first Amazon.de order, but I used my regular Amazon login and password. My home address and credit card on file both came up no problems.
 

BroncoAZ

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some of it made in taiwan, still A1 quality but wise check everything if important to you ...

I’ll be disappointed if the set I purchased is Taiwan. Not the end of the world, but I ordered these because I wanted German tools. The picture on what I ordered shows Germany, but a review on the 10 piece SAE set says not Germany.
 

redwrench60

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I’ll be disappointed if the set I purchased is Taiwan. Not the end of the world, but I ordered these because I wanted German tools. The picture on what I ordered shows Germany, but a review on the 10 piece SAE set says not Germany.

I’m kinda with you on that. I’d prefer my German tools be made in Germany. Is that weird? Any idea how long your order will take? I can’t understand a single word in that link lol
 

BroncoAZ

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I’m kinda with you on that. I’d prefer my German tools be made in Germany. Is that weird? Any idea how long your order will take? I can’t understand a single word in that link lol

My order page says arriving March 7.
 

BroncoAZ

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Curious, where is said review?

I was searching by part number from KC Tools for the 10 piece SAE set (96414405). There is one English review:

I expected typical Stahlwille German quality, but these are made in India. They're just "ok", not as nice as my other Stahlwille or Gadore made in Germany wrench sets. They will get the job done, though. I verified with Stahlwille that they are now outsourcing some of their lower end wrench designs elsewhere (India, etc).

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B002UUHY8Y/
 

BroncoAZ

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If true, that is awful.

I'll take a single Amazon review with a grain of salt, though. I'd verify with Stahlwille directly. Their 2018 catalog specifies "Made In Germany" on the same page that that set is listed on:

https://kataloge.stahlwille.de/katen18/#page_86

Thanks, that makes me feel better. My order has been shipped as of 3:43 am today, so I’ll find out when they arrive.
 

Handyandy23

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Not to go off on a tangent here, but who cares if they are made in Germany or India? I always thought the "made in China" hate was because a lot of the stuff is made of poor quality material. So unless Stahlwille has completely out-sourced the making of the wrenches, you should be getting the same material and product no matter where it's made. If it's a Stahlwille facility and going by a Stahlwille design and specifications, it's going to be the same product.

I kind of understand the sentiment of buying "USA made" tools by people who want to support local workers and the local economy, but when it comes to whether your wrench is made in this different country or that different country, who cares?
 

BroncoAZ

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Not to go off on a tangent here, but who cares if they are made in Germany or India? I always thought the "made in China" hate was because a lot of the stuff is made of poor quality material. So unless Stahlwille has completely out-sourced the making of the wrenches, you should be getting the same material and product no matter where it's made. If it's a Stahlwille facility and going by a Stahlwille design and specifications, it's going to be the same product.

I kind of understand the sentiment of buying "USA made" tools by people who want to support local workers and the local economy, but when it comes to whether your wrench is made in this different country or that different country, who cares?

China and India do not produce the same quality products as Germany, so I would be upset if the German tools I specifically chose because I want German quality tools made in Germany were made in Asia. I will knowingly buy tools made in Taiwan without issue or China when there isn’t a better option, but I know what I’m buying and what to expect quality wise. I refuse to knowingly buy any tools from India as the quality is terrible.
 
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General Geoff

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Not to go off on a tangent here, but who cares if they are made in Germany or India? I always thought the "made in China" hate was because a lot of the stuff is made of poor quality material. So unless Stahlwille has completely out-sourced the making of the wrenches, you should be getting the same material and product no matter where it's made. If it's a Stahlwille facility and going by a Stahlwille design and specifications, it's going to be the same product.

Not saying Stahlwille couldn't ship their own forging equipment to India, set up a dedicated factory, and ensure Q/C on par with German manufacturing standards with the own established managers on-site, but if they went through all that trouble, they wouldn't be saving nearly as much money as just handing the Indians a design spec sheet and saying "make these."

It's also possible that they just outsourced the SAE wrench production, because from Stahlwille's perspective, they probably sell about 1% as many SAE wrenches as metric, so that whole production line is taking up valuable factory space in Germany that could be better utilized for more popular products.
 
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Mr_B

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I’ll be disappointed if the set I purchased is Taiwan. Not the end of the world, but I ordered these because I wanted German tools. The picture on what I ordered shows Germany, but a review on the 10 piece SAE set says not Germany.

I'm pretty sure as in almost 100% those box ends are germany .
I know the ratchet wrenches are taiwan but you wouldn't know unless told as totally stahlwille in design and finish .
I'm sure you'll be pleased with them, all ones I have from germany are amazing quality, design, fit and durability, pretty much a world leader in durable good design wrenches .

I not seen any outsourcing to india so can't verify that ...
 

ericlar80

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Not to go off on a tangent here, but who cares if they are made in Germany or India? I always thought the "made in China" hate was because a lot of the stuff is made of poor quality material. So unless Stahlwille has completely out-sourced the making of the wrenches, you should be getting the same material and product no matter where it's made. If it's a Stahlwille facility and going by a Stahlwille design and specifications, it's going to be the same product.

I kind of understand the sentiment of buying "USA made" tools by people who want to support local workers and the local economy, but when it comes to whether your wrench is made in this different country or that different country, who cares?

Lower cost countries of manufacture will cut every corner possible and everything has to be constantly audited if not closely monitored.
 

Handyandy23

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I'm just saying there is a big difference between Stahlwille opening a facility in India versus out-sourcing their wrenches to some other company. If they are just paying another company to produce wrenches with their name on it for less money and not involved in the internal workings, then shame on them. But if it's their own facility run by their own standards then the COO means very little.

The big savings for companies going to countries like India is inexpensive labor. I work in manufacturing (not tools or steel), and plants all over the world in my business are capable of good quality. If anything, dealing with vendors in countries like China and India, they can have more QC in place due to the low cost of labor. I'm not saying it's right or good, but at rock bottom labor prices you can have ten times the inspectors as a North American plant at lower cost.

Anyways, sorry to take this thread off course. I have no first hand experience with any Stahlwille products, so I can't comment on their quality from either COO. But I would just say don't sell yourself short on assuming certain COO have only bad things, and some only have good things. If a set of wrenches from India show up I wouldn't automatically assume they are junk compared to the identical "made in Germany" ones everyone is cooing over here. It's possible they are, but would be interesting to see an actual strength / material comparison instead of just making broad sweeping assumptions.
 

Mr_B

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They not rebranding, any wrenches made outside of germany same forging and material spec .
I got suspicious on my 12pc ratchet wrench set as no made in germany in the forging like other stahlwille wrenches I got, found out from stahlwille they done in Taiwan, nice set and I like a lot of taiwan tools but glad didn't pay much as indeed assumed german coo .
Stahlwille state the offset boxes are german coo so be shocked if ain't ...
 

turnthewrench 2.0

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redwrench60

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Nice tools guys. I'm looking forward to trying these wrenches. They look like a great addition to the toolbox. Aside from my Knipex pliers these will be my only German/European tools. I guess the Knipex were kind of the "gateway" tools before moving on to the hard stuff lol. I guarantee nobody I work with has heard of Stahlwillie.

My apologies to the OP for kinda jacking his thread. Haven't heard from him since page one.
 
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Steve_P

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The stahwilles have the steepest offset angle of any I know of; it's significantly more than my old USA craftsman and sometimes it does make a difference.
 

jensputzier

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They not rebranding, any wrenches made outside of germany same forging and material spec .
I got suspicious on my 12pc ratchet wrench set as no made in germany in the forging like other stahlwille wrenches I got, found out from stahlwille they done in Taiwan, nice set and I like a lot of taiwan tools but glad didn't pay much as indeed assumed german coo .
Stahlwille state the offset boxes are german coo so be shocked if ain't ...

It is no secret that all ratcheting wrenches (e.g. Stahlwille 17 series and Hazet 606) are made in Taiwan. This is due to the fact that a Taiwanese company secured the patent on the ratcheting mechanism before a German company could do so.
 

bonneyman

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Nice tools guys. I'm looking forward to trying these wrenches. They look like a great addition to the toolbox. Aside from my Knipex pliers these will be my only German/European tools. I guess the Knipex were kind of the "gateway" tools before moving on to the hard stuff lol. I guarantee nobody I work with has heard of Stahlwillie.

My apologies to the OP for kinda jacking his thread. Haven't heard from him since page one.

I never heard about Stalwille till I started posting here. Now I am looking more and more at them for future tool purchases.
 

^&right

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Master mechanic/ tech teacher of mine claims Carlyle used to make the Snap On brand and what you can buy now are really older Snap On tools the patents ran out on.

I've bought a few Carlyle ratchets and been very happy with them.
 

hangfirew8

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The stahwilles have the steepest offset angle of any I know of; it's significantly more than my old USA craftsman and sometimes it does make a difference.
I agree. They can get in some tight places a ratchet and socket can't.

Also mine were purchased less than a year ago from Amazon UK and are marked made in Germany. Fit on fasteners, finish and broaching are all perfect.

-HF
 
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hangfirew8

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Master mechanic/ tech teacher of mine claims Carlyle used to make the Snap On brand and what you can buy now are really older Snap On tools the patents ran out on.

I've bought a few Carlyle ratchets and been very happy with them.
They might share some Taiwan OEM's, who may have copied Snappy... That's about as close as it gets, I think.

-HF
 

sgtgeo

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I bought the Stahlwille metric deep offset set from amazon.de a few months ago and am thrilled with them.

Also own shallow offset DBE wrenches from Williams (which are just unpolished SnapOn as best I can tell). Williams are much heavier. The Stahlwille are just so nicely made and have an engineered feel to them. Very lightweight for their strength.

How do I purchase from amazon.de?
 
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