Is anybody still buying modern SK Tools?

[jagandballie]

Just checked the SK website after not visiting it for several years. Almost everything is made in China now. Pretty much everything but the chrome sockets and pliers. I know they were bought out by a Chinese company a long time ago but the majority of the hand tools were going to still be made in the US. I'm just curious who's paying $65 for a Chinese made 15/16" combination wrench, $100 for a Chinese 12" adjustable, or nearly $700 on a made in china deep impact socket set. Even the ratchets now are listed as "Assembled in USA with domestic and globally sourced components"

 

[dr_clyde]

They lost all appeal to me after they started importing their products.

If I want to buy import tools there’s a lot better options and availability.

Being USA made was one of the few selling points for SK in my opinion.

 

[LXCam]

They lost all appeal to me after they started importing their products.

If I want to buy import tools there’s a lot better options and availability.

Being USA made was one of the few selling points for SK in my opinion.

Couldn’t agree more.

 

[lardy1]

So sad for me to see what they've become. Times change.

 

[Steel_Rain]

I think I missed the SK craze back in the day due to my age. My Dad had very few SK tools in the late 80s/90s when I was a kid, but the things he did have were good.

The only thing I’ve recently purchased from SK were the mini pliers wrench and these were made in China by “HANGZHOU GREATSTAR INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD”:




The 3/8” socket of my Dad’s was great.

Noob question for ya’ll…did SK “lean” towards a certain trade?

 

[JeepYJ]

Interesting the hate for SK but the love for Milwaukee Tools.

 

[NHtoolguy]

Steel_Rain, in my experience, SK was typically sold in hardware stores. I don't remember seeing it used industrially, at least not at the plants where I worked.

 

[LXCam]

SK had a solid hold on the general mechanics industry in the 80/90’s. I know I’ve got plenty of sk sockets that are now close to 50yrs old and I still use them. Mostly 12 point btw.

I never much cared for their ratchets but I still have wrench sets from back then as well that have gone into other tools sets. About the latest item I bought was the X ratchet wrench set right after they were released. They were nicely finished and had a very smooth action…..and never got used. I’m not a fan of zero offset rat wrenches. I ended up giving those to my son a while back.

As for the new stuff, well I have no idea if it’s good or not. Fact is they made the decision to move it overseas at a time it needed to stay here. So f’em

 

[WhataTool]

Interesting the hate for SK but the love for Milwaukee Tools.

Milwaukee tools got better and better after being sold to hong kong and made in China.

Yet to be seen from SK

 

[jblnut]

I have a set of SK ratchets that I really really like and will grab first when going for a ratchet. No idea what they were made but I got them from a member on here a while back.

 

[jagandballie]

They lost all appeal to me after they started importing their products.

If I want to buy import tools there’s a lot better options and availability.

Being USA made was one of the few selling points for SK in my opinion.

Yeah Tekton and Gearwrench are way more affordable and have a great warranty process. SK warranty states you are required to pay any shipping costs to get your tool replaced. I don't see any benefit to buying SK now at their insane price point

 

[finn]

Steel_Rain, in my experience, SK was typically sold in hardware stores. I don't remember seeing it used industrially, at least not at the plants where I worked.

Hardware stores for sure, but they tended to be the premium line in that type of stores. I got some SK from my grandfather’s estate, and I’m fairly certain he bought them from the local Coast to Coast store.

My first SK- Wayne ratchet and socket set was bought by my dad from the industrial salesman servicing the materials laboratory he worked at as a metallurgical engineer for a steel company In the mid sixties.

If you’re buying a specific brand because they have a good warranty process, I’d question why you need warranty service so often. You only need a warranty if you’re buying junk or abusing your tools.

 

[jagandballie]

So sad for me to see what they've become. Times change.

yep, and plenty of other US companies are slowly going that way too Mac Tools is making more and more of their products overseas, Cornwell Tools is probably 93% made overseas and don't even really push their USA made line, majority of Matco Tools are rebranded Taiwan or China products. Industrial brands like Wright Tool and Proto are really the only ones I can think of that still produce the majority of their tools in the USA. Wright more so than Proto

 

[woody 73]

Fun story for some of you, a few years ago a hardware store had a sale of their store, not the one that lump and I went to it was another store and as I was to leave that store my old eyes caught a moving ladder that went to the top of their wall and I asked if I could climb it and look on top. They said yes and up I went, holy mother of bat man a brand-new round head SK bent head wrench that was covered in 40 plus years of dust, well that sucker was coming home with me, and the rest is history of a tool picker as they say.

I love old SK, but alas I have not bought any of the item's coming from main line China.

 

[Rinspeed]

They are dead to me. Even the last couple made in USA ratchets I bought from them are junk.

 

[CGarage]

The Americans refusing to buy from the Chi-coms really makes me laugh.

1) Mostly all of your beloved Milwaukee comes from China now.

2) You were all complaining about SK USA made charging ~ $66 US per wrench and you would not dare pay that.

3) Great Star, a giant Chinese conglomerate buys SK and re-imagines the tool line, updating and modernizing it along the way, and now you are complaining that it is made in China, that costs are less than half of what US production is, and now you won’t buy it because it is Chinese.




I have a secret to tell you. The Chinese are a near peer to the U.S. technologically at this point. Why do you think the Chinese are making all of these tools and buying up old production factories and machinery from the U.S.? It is so they develop their indigenous production industry so they can continue to develop and produce and manufacture advanced products domestically. The export products that you all buy from Harbor Freight, etc are a byproduct of their ongoing Industrial Revolution that is happening now.

I personally would prefer to support the Taiwanese and I do. But Asia, with a growing population, and a rising middle class, and vast economic development, is where the tool companies are investing in and betting on for the future.

Even Snap-On has Chinese factories.

So clutch your Sears Craftsman that you bought on a Sunday with your Grandpappy, let a tear roll down your cheek, and realize that the world you once knew and remembered 50 years ago is long gone, and it won’t be coming back.

Welcome to a rising Asia, and market conditions that will barely support U.S. manufacturing of basic hand tools.

The Chinese have a far more advanced space program than the Germans, and you all rush out for “German made” tools and other products (hint, some of it comes from China) and the German makers are great at playing ‘rule of origin’ games.

 

[CGarage]

Please spend a few minutes and watch this video. A short tour of Shenzhen, China.
Then, come back to me and try and convince me that the Chinese are incapable of building, of all things, a quality wrench or ratchet.

Also, a Shanghai tour

 

[LXCam]

@CGarage , just to be clear. My reasoning has nothing to do with overseas manufacturing verses America made.

I don’t know what drove the decision to sell out, nor do I really care.

Fact is timing is everything of which i vaguely touched on. I’ll leave it at that.

 

[AJHD]

Interesting the hate for SK but the love for Milwaukee Tools.

There was a thread recently with essentially everyone saying Milwaukee hand tools ****, both USA and China. I mostly agree and said as much in my post over there.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/milwaukee-usa-made-hand-tools-i-e-pliers-****.558684

I also agree with @dr_clyde post earlier, he said there are better options. There is no reason to buy imported SK tools, none.

 

[CGarage]

There was a thread recently with essentially everyone saying Milwaukee hand tools ****, both USA and China. I mostly agree and said as much in my post over there.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/milwaukee-usa-made-hand-tools-i-e-pliers-****.558684

I also agree with @dr_clyde post earlier, he said there are better options. There is no reason to buy imported SK tools, none.

I disagree and I think the Chinese SK X Frame ratcheting wrenches are very nice…the ratcheting mechanism is in the box end and it is very smooth and high tooth count...72 teeth I believe. They seem to be exact copies of the USA made version that preceded them in the market.

I also own the long reach pliers, recently released. Very nicely made in China.

 

[ohhimark]

This year I bought chrome 1/2" drive 6 point deep metric socket set, labeled SK but made by Wright I was told. I like them, and couldn't find that that variation from Proto, Williams, Cat, or Wright themselves. I bought a screwdriver bit/ratchet set of the SK China variety to help a friend assemble IKEA furniture, and it worked fine.

*everything is dead to me, technology peaked with Betamax, and US manufacturing ceased all relevance and value when McKaig-Hatch shuttered their doors*

 

[Callelle]

he ratcheting mechanism is in the box end and it is very smooth and high tooth count

Smooth? What X Frames were you using? Every X frame I've bought / tried feels like it's full of gravel.

 

[CGarage]

Smooth? What X Frames were you using? Every X frame I've bought / tried feels like it's full of gravel.

Yes, smooth.

I don’t know what to tell you. Soak the box end in ATF or spray oil on it.

 

[willf650]

Milwaukee tools got better and better after being sold to hong kong and made in China.

Yet to be seen from SK

I don't believe that is the case. I think there maybe some bias in that based on technology improvements.

Milwaukee always was the commercial mechanical construction trades standard with the magnum hole shooters and band saws as well as the sawzall.

In the cordless nicad market their drills were the as good as anyone's. They also had 24v tools way back and had the first cordless band saw I remember in the 90s.

The market and technology has improved so have cordless tools. They have expanded their product line substantially, it being better is up for debate.

I always liked SK. They were the first tools I bought that were better than craftsman. I think the last tool I bought from them was the x frame wrenches but that was when they first came out. They aren't that impressive to me for the marketing they had. The first tools I bought from SK was in the early 90s and came from an industrial products door to door salesman. I bought the long fine tooth ratchets, wobble extensions and a 1/4" finger ratchet. Still have all of them.

I haven't bought any SK since the new ownership and probably never will. If you're going to buy a foreign made tool there are more cost effect options that are more readily available.

 

[i84x]

Ive seen them but if I'm buying made in china tools I want them to be cheap and good enough. They're just relying on name recognition.

 

[KnurledNut]

I disagree and I think the Chinese SK X Frame ratcheting wrenches are very nice…the ratcheting mechanism is in the box end and it is very smooth and high tooth count...72 teeth I believe. They seem to be exact copies of the USA made version that preceded them in the market.

I also own the long reach pliers, recently released. Very nicely made in China.

I’m just going to assume by 72t you mean 6 pawl 216 position.

 

[Fedwrench]

Back to the original question, yes, I've purchased a few Great Star SK tools. Some like the 12 piece metric extra long bolt extractor combination wrench set have been great while others like the 90 tooth 1/4 drive pear head ratchet I didn't care for due to its high back drag. Like many brands, you have to judge each tool on its own merits. As a kid, most auto parts stores sold SK and they cheap to collect at the local Aero drive in swap meet on Sundays back in the day. I still have a ton of SK and the US made stuff wasn't as great as people seem to remember it today. I never really cared for their combination wrenches. I always thought they were wide and thick in the hips around the boxed end. The classic SK round head was bulletproof and lasts forever but, on today's cramped engine compartments, its head is often too thick, and I always thought the knurled handle section needed to be a half inch longer on the 3/8 drive version. SK became foreign made because Americans weren't buying SK tools. I also said that if SK took the anti-slip open end off of the first-generation X frame ratcheting wrench and slapped it on a long pattern combination wrench set, SK would have sold a bunch. Today's Great Star SK offers some decent tools but, there's more than a few Duratech items mixed in rebadged as SK.

 

[KnurledNut]

I bought a DT ratchet upgrade kit since ownership changed.
Continued support and manufacture of the legacy roundhead ratchets will keep a lot of previous users hanging on.

 

[neophyte]

Milwaukee tools got better and better after being sold to hong kong and made in China.

Yet to be seen from SK

This is bullsh!t.

The cordless tools may gave gotten better, to dome degree, but that had more to do with the switch to lithium based batteries than necessarily the tools, and the switch to lithium by Milwaukee had two major lithium battery systems get scrapped in the process of figuring out how to make lithium battery systems, rendering the lithium tools using those batteries obsolete.
The other major upgrades were brushless motors, but Dewalt and maybe Makita had already started using brushless motors by then. (Although I may be mistaken about this).
Plenty of the other tools got crappier after the switch to China, and any other improvements were just natural evolutionary upgrades in the industry, with many toolmakers advancing as well.

 

[lardy1]

I think the Great Star acquisition was a textbook case of foreign money buying a name. Name recognition is very powerful. Craftsman anyone?

 

[neophyte]

Please spend a few minutes and watch this video. A short tour of Shenzhen, China.
Then, come back to me and try and convince me that the Chinese are incapable of building, of all things, a quality wrench or ratchet.

Also, a Shanghai tour

The bigger question is whether all this tech **** and “societal advancement” are “sustainable”, and will continue to exist a couple decades and more down the line.
Diocletian built a palace in what is now Crostia, and the palace basically remained in use up until the present day, with a presumed amount of wear and tear.
The Romans also built toads and aqueducts that remained in use, some till the present day, others till they were intentionally destroyed during wars, but long after construction.
Plenty of neon lighting remained functional long after it was installed.
Escalators in a local Barnes & Noble in Philly meanwhile were constantly out of service for several years or more, both in an older location with older escalators, and a newer store around the corner the Barnes & Noble moved into.

 

[neophyte]

Back to the original question, yes, I've purchased a few Great Star SK tools. Some like the 12 piece metric extra long bolt extractor combination wrench set have been great while others like the 90 tooth 1/4 drive pear head ratchet I didn't care for due to its high back drag. Like many brands, you have to judge each tool on its own merits. As a kid, most auto parts stores sold SK and they cheap to collect at the local Aero drive in swap meet on Sundays back in the day. I still have a ton of SK and the US made stuff wasn't as great as people seem to remember it today. I never really cared for their combination wrenches. I always thought they were wide and thick in the hips around the boxed end. The classic SK round head was bulletproof and lasts forever but, on today's cramped engine compartments, its head is often too thick, and I always thought the knurled handle section needed to be a half inch longer on the 3/8 drive version. SK became foreign made because Americans weren't buying SK tools. I also said that if SK took the anti-slip open end off of the first-generation X frame ratcheting wrench and slapped it on a long pattern combination wrench set, SK would have sold a bunch. Today's Great Star SK offers some decent tools but, there's more than a few Duratech items mixed in rebadged as SK.

SK became foreign made, due to to Ideal cutting their losses, during a period of financial instability, when a bunch of manufacturers were competing for the more affordable “Made in the USA” label, and and there wasn’t enough market share to go around for those tools that were still “decently priced”, but way more expensive than decent imported tools, and without in many cases the “premium” reputation, of certain import brands like Knipex, and Facom, which used to be incredibly niche, at least in the USA.

With Ideal/SK, there were also rumors of issues with certain tools like the ratcheting X-Frame wrench design, and maybe the ratchets, an issue that also came up with the newer Armstrong ratchets before the new US production facility got killed off.

 

[neophyte]

I think the Great Star acquisition was a textbook case of foreign money buying a name. Name recognition is very powerful. Craftsman anyone?

The goal was possibly the name, but more likely the potential distribution network, and maybe some of the more recent designs.
Great Star acquired a number of older USA brands like Pony/Jorgensen, a brand that was and still is heavily sold by woodworking tool suppliers.
Shop-Vac probably was also acquired for the name.

Craftsman was and still is a ridiculously well known brand name for tools, and Stanley is perfectly capable of continuing similar quality production to the older Craftsman tools, just not in the USA, because there are and were limits to how inexpensively tools can be made in the USA, and sold thru major retailers, with expected profit margins.

 

[CHI_Tool&Die]

They have their green line or whatever they are calling it that you can find on Amazon and other sites. Nothing in that group really excites me. Their premium line, whether made in China or the US, is crazy expensive compared to their peers. I won’t buy that stuff because I can spend a bit more and get better service off the truck.

 

[tube_guy]

SK is completely dead to me.

Milwaukee is pretty much there, too.

 

[Ohio Andy]

I’m just going to assume by 72t you mean 6 pawl 216 position.

I assumed the same.... When I see those I think of this kit, which is one of my favorite to just kind of grab and go because it has a wide range. Very little filler. Very little overlap and it is a non-skip set. It does weigh a lot though.

SK Mechanics Tool Set, 1/4" & 3/8" & 1/2" Drive Sockets, SAE & Metric
149-Piece Tool Kit with 216-P Quick-Release Ratchet, SuperKrome Finish, Heat Treated, with Storage Suitcase

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZKT3SXQ?tag=atomicindus08-20

And right now Amazon has a used very good version that's about 150 bucks rather than the just over $200 it usually is.

When I first tried the ratchets I really didn't like them mostly because I don't like how you change the direction. They've kind of grown on me. They're not my favorite but I find them okay And usable.

A good deal if you're looking for a grab and go set. I often find that I need two of the same size socket and given that the no skips set includes both shallow and deep, if I carry extra ratchets then I can use the deep on one end and the shallow on the other end and that works pretty well for me. And in case you're wondering, yes I get the same with Tekton, but tecton doesn't offer a single case set 1/4 in, 3/8 in, and 1/2 in.

If I'm staying with SK, I prefer their 90 tooth USA made ratchets. I have a couple of those that have worked well for me.

 

[allinon72]

Quality left and the price stayed. A tale as old as time.

One wonders....why would anyone buy an SK tool? Homeowner, professional, doesn't matter. If we were a fly on the wall in their board room, who is their target market? They just sort of...exist.

 

[rust in the eye]

Please spend a few minutes and watch this video. A short tour of Shenzhen, China.
Then, come back to me and try and convince me that the Chinese are incapable of building, of all things, a quality wrench or ratchet.

Also, a Shanghai tour

A friend had a mechanic's specialty tool business, mostly sold on the white and red tool trucks. Most everything was done in Asia, to his specification. "to his specification" being the operative phrase.
They (Asian makers) will make something as good or shoddy as you are willing to pay for. The notion they only make junk is absurd.
Someone that establishes a quality build first can do a lot of damage to the US manufacturers. Anything come to mind?
Once folks get past the notion that nothing but junk comes from XXXX they discover great value from Asia and others.
SK was never a favorite of mine anyway so..........

 

[Steel_Rain]

They (Asian makers) will make something as good or shoddy as you are willing to pay for. The notion they only make junk is absurd.

THIS.

"There is good China and bad China". Its all about how much your willing to pay.

 

[dr_clyde]

The Americans refusing to buy from the Chi-coms really makes me laugh.

1) Mostly all of your beloved Milwaukee comes from China now.

2) You were all complaining about SK USA made charging ~ $66 US per wrench and you would not dare pay that.

3) Great Star, a giant Chinese conglomerate buys SK and re-imagines the tool line, updating and modernizing it along the way, and now you are complaining that it is made in China, that costs are less than half of what US production is, and now you won’t buy it because it is Chinese.




I have a secret to tell you. The Chinese are a near peer to the U.S. technologically at this point. Why do you think the Chinese are making all of these tools and buying up old production factories and machinery from the U.S.? It is so they develop their indigenous production industry so they can continue to develop and produce and manufacture advanced products domestically. The export products that you all buy from Harbor Freight, etc are a byproduct of their ongoing Industrial Revolution that is happening now.

I personally would prefer to support the Taiwanese and I do. But Asia, with a growing population, and a rising middle class, and vast economic development, is where the tool companies are investing in and betting on for the future.

Even Snap-On has Chinese factories.

So clutch your Sears Craftsman that you bought on a Sunday with your Grandpappy, let a tear roll down your cheek, and realize that the world you once knew and remembered 50 years ago is long gone, and it won’t be coming back.

Welcome to a rising Asia, and market conditions that will barely support U.S. manufacturing of basic hand tools.

The Chinese have a far more advanced space program than the Germans, and you all rush out for “German made” tools and other products (hint, some of it comes from China) and the German makers are great at playing ‘rule of origin’ games.

My issue is not that SK is Chinese made, it’s that they’re Chinese made and still charging USA manufacturing prices for somewhat mediocre tools.

They also aren’t really doing any innovation or anything remarkable outside of a few things like the X wrenches. Companies like Tekton and Milwaukee are absolutely killing it in regards to quality, selection, availability and innovation. Hell, Milwaukee has an absolutely astonishing amount of specialty and super niche tools that absolutely no one else makes, or if someone else does make it, they don’t sell it at Home Depot or Blains.

Just last week I saw they had a cordless fan meant to attach to the cage of a scissor lift. As someone who has spent countless hours sweating my balls off up in the ceiling of industrial buildings working off a lift, I would have paid double their asking price for that fan, especially doing steam pipe repairs. Space is super tight in a lift, and having a company innovate something as simple as a fan that attaches *outside* the lift to the cage tube shows me that they’re plugged in and paying attention to their customers.

I have no problem with Chinese tools, provided I get them at a quality and value that makes them worth the effort.

Don’t get me wrong, as someone who works in USA manufacturing I love supporting my team, and I’ll buy from USA manufacturing when it makes sense for me to do so. But I won’t buy mediocre tools at premium pricing that don’t do anything special. Would I prefer the tools be US made? Yes. But if they’re going to make **** in the US I wouldn’t buy it then either. It has to be good too. At least with Snap-on I know the hand tools will be top notch.