USA Made SK Chrome Sockets. New and Old, Side by Side Comparison

[impactims]

New to the left, old to the right.

Old as in 2008 era. Purchased new, by me.

New as in 2026 era. Purchased new, by me.

The outsides look the same. The chrome, the stampings, the markings. All the same. The inside is very different.

Again, new to the left, old to the right.

 

[impactims]

Does the insides of these new SK sockets resemble any other product. It’s different than Proto. Different than the old SK. Do they look like Wright?

 

[CGarage]

The new sockets I believe are Chinese made.

The broaching seems much deeper on the new sockets.

That being said, I had early 2000s SK sockets and saw a lot of inner finishing issues, improper broaching, etc….

I know this brand is an American icon for many, but I felt the quality was really “not all that”.

I do own SK tools and have new Chinese made SK wrenches, which I like.

 

[Steve_P]

The new sockets I believe are Chinese made.

The broaching seems much deeper on the new sockets.

That being said, I had early 2000s SK sockets and saw a lot of inner finishing issues, improper broaching, etc….

I know this brand is an American icon for many, but I felt the quality was really “not all that”.

I do own SK tools and have new Chinese made SK wrenches, which I like.

They are both marked USA. The new chrome SK USA sockets are supposedly made by Wright in the USA. Different tooling than USA SK from years ago, so there are differences.

 

[M635_Guy]

The new sockets I believe are Chinese made.

The broaching seems much deeper on the new sockets.

That being said, I had early 2000s SK sockets and saw a lot of inner finishing issues, improper broaching, etc….

I know this brand is an American icon for many, but I felt the quality was really “not all that”.

I do own SK tools and have new Chinese made SK wrenches, which I like.

They have a MiC set that's very different-looking than the MiUSA stuff.

I have 3/8" and 1/4" MiUSA sets, and grabbed the MiC set on a sale and promptly lost track of it in some life-chaos and then a move/reno/etc. Seemed decently made and came on a nice rail.

EDIT - Found some pix I took:


So... Left to right: Icon, MiUSA SK, MiC SK, MiT (?) Tekton. I grabbed my Tekton since the design looked similar, but there are a lot of differences (beyond just COO)

It does have the same strategy that below 14mm or so the sockets don't really get much shallower.

 

[KnurledNut]

That looks like old Ideal stock from back when they sprayed the insides with anti-corrosion paint.

 

[51dueller]

I wouldn't say those are Wright made. Wright doesn't use the rounded corners broaching on the square drive and on sizes 3/4+ are full broach depth on the hex side. It looks very similar to a Taiwan made socket, just stamped USA. It also has very shallow detents in the square drive. Would this be AJ manufacturing?, they do have socket capability as they are making impact sockets for Matco.

 

[bonneyman]

Thanks for posting the comparisons!

 

[CGarage]

They are both marked USA. The new chrome SK USA sockets are supposedly made by Wright in the USA. Different tooling than USA SK from years ago, so there are differences.

I own complete sets of Wright sockets in Fractional and Metric sizes. It would be a very good thing if SK used Wright to make the new USA socket range.

I was never really impressed by the USA made SK sockets.

I also think the finishing quality seemed to decline, over time. I.e. the early 2000s SK USA sockets seemed to have inferior quality control compared to the product that was available in the 70s / 80s and I suspect tooling changed, too.

 

[bonneyman]

The S-K socket sets I bought in 1981 came with the warranty "guaranteed against everything but theft". Over time I warranteed some sockets (maybe 2 or 3) with chrome peeling, and got replacements no questions asked. I didn't think much about it at the time but later thought why the chrome would peel. Since I got new ones I just forgot about it. But since then S-K's chrome problem only seems to have gotten bigger so maybe it's more historic after all.

I'll have to pull mine out and see what the chrome looks like now, and check the broaching depth.

 

[M635_Guy]

I was never really impressed by the USA made SK sockets.

I also think the finishing quality seemed to decline, over time. I.e. the early 2000s SK USA sockets seemed to have inferior quality control compared to the product that was available in the 70s / 80s and I suspect tooling changed, too.

The sockets I have seem beefy and well-made overall. Tolerances seem good too.

The set of SK X-frame metric ratcheting combination wrenches I bought had chrome issues all over the place out of the box. They replaced the whole set, and the news ones looked good...

...but not as good as my Icon that replaced them with a couple years later.

 

[Steve_P]

I own complete sets of Wright sockets in Fractional and Metric sizes. It would be a very good thing if SK used Wright to make the new USA socket range.

I was never really impressed by the USA made SK sockets.

I also think the finishing quality seemed to decline, over time. I.e. the early 2000s SK USA sockets seemed to have inferior quality control compared to the product that was available in the 70s / 80s and I suspect tooling changed, too.

Dunno, I have $$$$ of 2010-2015 SK USA sockets and the quality is as good as could be possible. Nothing to find wrong with them. Oh, yes, some have silver paint sprayed on the inside, OMG they're junk.

 

[CGarage]

Dunno, I have $$$$ of 2010-2015 SK USA sockets and the quality is as good as could be possible. Nothing to find wrong with them. Oh, yes, some have silver paint sprayed on the inside, OMG they're junk.

The silver paint isn’t the issue.
Some of mine were poorly broached (I.e. off center), not completely finished inside, etc
This was at a time when SK and Facom had a mutual relationship in the U.S.

“As good as could be possible”……..

Only for someone who has not experienced Japanese sockets, Hazet, Snap-On, Wright, etc which I personally rank above SK in terms of manufacturing quality control and finishing.

I have Taiwan made sockets that are finished better and with more consistency than the SK US sockets of that era.

 

[neophyte]

The silver paint isn’t the issue.
Some of mine were poorly broached (I.e. off center), not completely finished inside, etc
This was at a time when SK and Facom had a mutual relationship in the U.S.

“As good as could be possible”……..

Only for someone who has not experienced Japanese sockets, Hazet, Snap-On, Wright, etc which I personally rank above SK in terms of manufacturing quality control and finishing.

I have Taiwan made sockets that are finished better and with more consistency than the SK US sockets of that era.

Facom m, or the French financier who owned Facom, also used to own SK.
The managers at SK bought SK from Facom, within a year or so of Facom Group being sold to Stanley Tools, likely with the managers knowing that Facom was up for sale.

 

[Toold_up]

It looks very similar to a Taiwan made socket, just stamped USA.

Hmmmm....

 

[rust in the eye]

These are USA SK bought within the past year.
Broaching is fine, I have no issue with the coating inside.
The 6pt has been worked hard, the contact pattern indicates good engagement on the flats.