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I don’t know why I never made that connection, knowing that Ideal owned WF haha. Well, off to Lowe’s to spend some money…

Right, but the serial numbers match so they are the same without a doubt haha.

If WF was making the Ideal pliers, my local Lowe’s had a bunch left. They were on the back of the pegs with “identical” Chinese made versions in front of them… with the same SKU and price 😡

I found an answer to your questions while reading into all this. Those dies you show, and also the forging presses… came from Western Forge. If you look through the auction catalog from when Western Forge was sold off in 2020, the serial numbers for the forging presses match what is listed in...

The Ace thing was always odd to me. Maybe a last ditch effort near the end for Sears to try to bring in more revenue? Seems like the stores around me still have a mix of Sears/SBD Craftsman. Either way, it’s all sad. Even more sad when I realized that Malco was apparently planning to expand...

Thanks for the breakdown. Some of the articles about Western Forge mentioned they made ratchets, sockets and wrenches. So the MIUSA Craftsman mechanics tools ended completely in 2011? I know Apex has also destroyed American tool production with the closing of Easco, Armstrong, etc. but I didn’t...

Just going off of what I read in some of the articles about them closing. Good to know!

Did I get some of that wrong??

Any idea when these will be in stock? I’m due for another big Epstein order… since apparently I missed Epstein day 🤦🏼‍♂️

Western Forge was making most of it at the end. That company failed and equipment sold at auction in 2020. Armstrong (Danaher, then Apex) made some of it, but that company was ran into the ground by Apex and also all equipment in the Cheraw, SC plant was sold at auction a year or two ago. So...

See my thread I just posted- “Western Forge/Eagle Grip Connection?”. I’m pretty sure Western Forge was the final vendor producing American made Craftsman at the end. They went under in 2020 due to losing the Craftsman contract a few years prior (when Sears shipped production to China). All the...

I was reading somewhere that Martin Tool was looking into picking up American adjustable wrench production, but ultimately decided not to because the adjustment nut is too complex/expensive to machine here and they didn’t want a mix of American/offshore production. It is both sad and pathetic to...

I am a bit invested in researching American tool production and especially the death of the industry in the last 20 years or so. I found links to both the Western Forge and Eagle Grip factory auctions while I was reading about some other tool news. I was scrolling through the huge Western Forge...

I’m pretty happy with the building. As far as options, I did the extended 1’ eaves, vertical roof and siding metal, and chain driven door. I’m not at all happy with the walk in doors. I asked for standard residential doors and not the cheap shed doors. They used cheap shed/mobile home doors that...

Maybe I should start a separate thread just for the machines I bring home… This big guy followed me home yesterday. A Kearney & Trecker Model K No. 2 Plain horizontal mill. 6,000 pounds of pure American iron! It was the 8th in a batch of 60 made in August of 1941.

Well… I guess this is the first machine to “officially” get moved into the shop. This WW2 era radial drill showed up at an auction, I decided I had to have it, and the rest is history. My forklift is a 5,000 lb. lift and it was right at the edge of its capacity. Definitely heavier and more...

Thanks! I did compare, I got a quote for $11,000 for spray foam, not including the ceiling. The foam board cost me less than $2,000. I’m sure it won’t be as efficient, but at the end of the day it’s a shop and I couldn’t justify the extra $10,000 just for insulation. The power will be exactly...

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I found this today while trying to find out why some Proto Duratek screwdrivers are made in USA and some in France… apparently it’s more of the same from Stanley. They are permanently closing the Cheraw, SC plant that made these screwdrivers. Yet another slap...

Thanks! There is exactly 8’ to the bottom of the floor joists under the loft. The peak of the roof is roughly 17’, so I have around 8’ of headroom in the center up top and then it tapers down to around 3-4’ at the sides.

Another quick update… the loft is pretty much finished! I bolted the 2x10s together with 1/2” carriage bolts and structural lag screws into the posts. I also added these nice (and overpriced) T plates to finish it off. All of the flooring is down after a quick trip back to Home Depot due to a...