The New SK Stuff just came in.

jsackin · May 31, 2011

Just got in new merchandise from SK. Here's a pic of the socket set. I'll bring my good camera tomorrow and take some close-up shots of the chrome.

Jori

http://store.harryepstein.com/cp/14drsets/91844.html

slipjointed · May 31, 2011

Wow, very cool.

What is your opinion on it?

jsackin · May 31, 2011

slipjointed said:
Wow, very cool.

What is your opinion on it?

I've always thought SK stuff looked good. They look exactly the same as they always have to me.

slipjointed · May 31, 2011

jsackin said:
I've always thought SK stuff looked good. They look exactly the same as they always have to me.

That's good to hear.

I'm seriously considering picking up some from you if the quality is on par with the pre-ideal stuff.

domain · May 31, 2011

jsackin said:
I've always thought SK stuff looked good. They look exactly the same as they always have to me.

Wow looks like things havent changed. Thats good to hear/see and I will be awaiting the close ups :bounce:

otis66 · May 31, 2011

Nice... I'm going to go see if my local tool store has them in stock.

madamd · May 31, 2011

is there a 3/8 set? i could not find it in op's link for a 3/8 set

jsackin · May 31, 2011

madamd said:
is there a 3/8 set? i could not find it in op's link for a 3/8 set

There is a 3/8 set, but they back ordered it on us, so we just have the 1/4 right now.

tooth · May 31, 2011

I was in Harry Eipstein a few weeks ago - what a cool place and very nice guys.

Would have loved to see these had they been there.

supertooljunkie · May 31, 2011

Pretty...............Glad to see SK is back!! Time for some new SK stuff!

TheGrooveking · May 31, 2011

I have that same set, but it is eleven years older, great to see they are doing it right! Thanks for posting.

TheGrooveking

treasureseeker · May 31, 2011

$113.75 is about what I paid for that set in 2006.

pipsters · May 31, 2011

Had I not just bought that 299 piece socket set from Sears I would be buying these SK sets. They look good! Only $2.50 per socket give or take, not a bad deal at all.

csargents1546 · May 31, 2011

I too have that exact same kit, I think I paid about 30 dollars at a second hand tool store. Glad they are back in buisness.

Greatbear · May 31, 2011

Hrmmm, looks like the older stuff, same case and everything. This is indeed a good thing. :thumbup:

Granted, most of my SK is from the days when it came in metal boxes, but I have a couple plastic case sets of recent vintage. Here's to SK, and here's hoping to see them in many locations. :beer:

Trucky · May 31, 2011

awesome. I have a 1/4" ratchet from them and it's the smoothest thing I have here next to the lithium grease in my box.

can't wait to pick up a 3/8 and 1/2!

jsackin · Jun 1, 2011

Here are those detail pictures.

kartracer55 · Jun 1, 2011

How do we know this isn't remnants from the Pre-idea days that had already manufactured long ago and was stocked in a warehouse, ******* in another warehouse etc etc etc?

Greatbear · Jun 2, 2011

Ah, that luxurious SK chrome.

King Bojack · Jun 2, 2011

Greatbear said:
Ah, that luxurious SK chrome.

I would be lying if I said that those pics didn't excite me a bit physically.

Zebu Fellenz · Jun 2, 2011

kartracer55 said:
How do we know this isn't remnants from the Pre-idea days that had already manufactured long ago and was stocked in a warehouse, ******* in another warehouse etc etc etc?

I'm curious about this too.

Not saying I doubt you but do you have a manufacturing date or something to show that these are indeed Ideal SK and not NOS.

The tools look great, will you be a full line SK dealer? I might be interested in picking up some sockets.

Joe B. · Jun 2, 2011

kartracer55 said:
How do we know this isn't remnants from the Pre-idea days that had already manufactured long ago and was stocked in a warehouse, ******* in another warehouse etc etc etc?

I'm sure if the old SK or now Ideal had a chance to ship these any earlier, they would have. SK did not have the cash to sit on sellable inventory and the new Ideal owners have not been successful by sitting on inventory. (If they are older stock they would have shipped them by now.)

The guys running SK seemed out to lunch but he Ideal kids seem to have it together.

sk farmer · Jun 2, 2011

that set is most definately a mix of old and new stock and i can prove it. i would also venture a guess that there was a pretty fair amount of old stock sk laying around. warehouse, distributers and sk itself most likely had stock. especially stuff that was not fast moving.

TheGrooveking · Jun 2, 2011

sk farmer said:
that set is most definately a mix of old and new stock and i can prove it. i would also venture a guess that there was a pretty fair amount of old stock sk laying around. warehouse, distributers and sk itself most likely had stock. especially stuff that was not fast moving.

So how does the dealer's* old stock end up at Ideal's facility to get packaged in with the new SK tools?

*Many dealers, especially those who were burned in the old SK's lack of warranty coverage would probably of not sent tools back to Ideal, unless they were paid very well.

I do question that the extensions in the picture seem to be different, one is missing the two rings around the female drive end and the knurling as compared to the other one.

TheGrooveking

woody 73 · Jun 2, 2011

old stock/new stock, I am just glad they are still being made in the USA.

sk farmer · Jun 2, 2011

i don't know and i can't answer that. i would guess much of it was actual sk stock left in their warehouses or mfg. facilities. when you think of what people could not get it was stuff like ratchet rebuild kits, sockets and other more common items. i woud bet that thing such as rebuild kits, and the most common socket sizes(ex. 1/2, 9/16, 3/4, 15/16 and similar sizes in metric) made up the vast majority of returns. if you rob the common peices from sets they are no longer saleable and have a much lower value. one would have a difficult time getting over 50% of the original price of a set that was only missing a couple of peices. again, i can't prove it but i bet that there was a whole stash of sk stuff that was incomplete or partial sets somewhere. i know for a fact that some of the sets at my local dealer got scavenged. guess what? after robbing one or two peices out he could not sell them. i would also bet that dealers were quite willing to return old stock and get something for it, even if it was only a fraction of what they paid. ask jorie, they buy loads of stuff all of the time for pennies on the dollar. why? because it is a pile of work to sort, catalog, inventory, price and sell odd lots of tools and the majority of places won't deal with the hassle. epstein's fill a niche very well but i am sure he will tell you that sets sell, singles and partials sit.

SMKS · Jun 2, 2011

sk farmer said:
that set is most definately a mix of old and new stock and i can prove it.

I'm interested in seeing how you prove it. I'm curious if some old stock made it into these kits. The differences in the extensions is what made me think there are two different eras of tools here.

But, if there is old and new, there doesn't seem to a be an obvious quality difference that I can see.

sk farmer · Jun 2, 2011

stephen9666 said:
I'm interested in seeing how you prove it. I'm curious if some old stock made it into these kits. The differences in the extensions is what made me think there are two different eras of tools here.

But, if there is old and new, there doesn't seem to a be an obvious quality difference that I can see.

the groove king hit it. the extensions are the proof. the grooved extensions were phased out several years ago. my 2008 catalog shows a mixture of both styles but isuspect most of that was just old pictures. any new stock that i saw shipped after the 08 time frame was a smoothe female end with knurling on the longer extensions. some extensions made before that with the grooves also had knurling.

jsackin · Jun 2, 2011

So I was curious and opened up two other SK sets and they all look identical, with the grooves around the little extension and the plain long extension. This makes me think that they had a bin of these little extensions that they couldn't get rid of and are just going through them till they need to make more. I could see no difference in any of the sockets, so they are either making them identical to the old SK and mixing them, or these are all new sockets.

sk farmer · Jun 3, 2011

just to be clear, i am in no way saying anything is bad. i am just quite certain that there is a mix of old and new in there. it could be all nos with one new piece or one of nos and the rest new pieces. like others have said, i am glad they are back and looking good.

The New SK Stuff just came in.

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