Craftsman sockets made in China

ripsnortMN · Mar 31, 2014

I've been out of the loop a little lately with tools. I went to Sears yesterday and noticed that all of the craftsman sockets are made in China. I guess I just can't believe that it's come to this. So now I have to find a reasonably priced American-made socket.

Exceller8 · Mar 31, 2014

I did the same thing last month. I was looking for 6pt 1/2" dr deep sockets and brought them up to the register only to find they were made in China. Only a few months before they were US made so I didn't even look at the package. Same price of $49.99 as the old American made ones.

I ended up buying the HF (made in Taiwan) ones for $12 until I can find something better that I like.

finn · Mar 31, 2014

I heard it snowed last winter.

Does the search function work on this site?

ripsnortMN · Mar 31, 2014

No need to search just stating my observations is all.

Exceller8 · Mar 31, 2014

finn said:
I heard it snowed last winter.

Does the search function work on this site?

Yep... Lots of threads about snow. :lol:

uniballer · Mar 31, 2014

LB-1911 · Mar 31, 2014

ripsnortMN said:
I've been out of the loop a little lately with tools. I went to Sears yesterday and noticed that all of the craftsman sockets are made in China. I guess I just can't believe that it's come to this. So now I have to find a reasonably priced American-made socket.

Gastonia plant closing
Work done in Gastonia today will go to Apex factories and warehouses in Dallas, Texas, and in China, a spokeswoman for the toolmaker said Thursday.
Gastonia’s factory started with steel, and then stamped and plated sockets, socket sets and handles.

http://www.gastongazette.com/gaston-plant-closing-220-to-lose-jobs-1.77192

Apex Tool Group Shuttering North Carolina Factory in June
http://toolguyd.com/apex-tool-group-shuttering-north-carolina-factory-in-june/

Sad Day - Apex tool Co. closes, 220 lose jobs
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=183064&showall=1

mrvm · Mar 31, 2014

ripsnortMN said:
I've been out of the loop a little lately with t I went to Sears yesterday and noticed that all of the craftsman sockets are made in China. I guess I just can't believe that it's come to this. So now I have to find a reasonably priced American-made socket.

CM was the reasonably priced US hand tool source for the average diyer/advanced user. Its getting tougher to locate US CM but I have been able to locate some to complement my tool stash. Maybe one day CM will come to its senses and realize the important niche it had in this market surrounded by questionable quality imports.

jdmstr · Mar 31, 2014

Its true. If you go to sears outlet stores you can find alot of nos is made stuff. Call me crazy but id pick china craftsman over HF sockets still.

finn · Mar 31, 2014

At least the Sears stores don't smell like the HF stores do.

That's reason enough to stick with CM.

n8n · Mar 31, 2014

Sadly the help at my local HF is waaaaay nicer, more helpful, friendly, etc. than at Sears. No complaints about Sears, those guys are nice too, but HF at least here is really stepping up their customer service game.

It is frustrating to me that to get the good deals I pretty much can't *shop* at Sears as by placing my order online I almost always save 20% off tag prices. So no point in even going to the store unless I am warrantying something, picking up an online order, or have a smart phone in my pocket (but I have no signal in the tool department... HMMM....)

For import tools about the same price as Cman, Gearwrench seems to be getting a lot of props, along with Carlyle (NAPA)

W0rLDWaR4 · Mar 31, 2014

I'm not a pro so I try to get my hands on as much USA Craftsman as I can.

dlcwent · Mar 31, 2014

Not Craftsman but got a smile when I aquired a 7/16" "mr. goodwrench" open end and it was labled MR. GOODWRENCH on one side and Made in Tiwan on the other.

Farmall450 · Mar 31, 2014

finn said:
I heard it snowed last winter.

Does the search function work on this site?

To an extent.

sberry · Mar 31, 2014

As a usable tool it looks identical to the old ones, they must have moved the dies along with it. Actually it looks improved, lets see if the ratchets are any better then the pos they had for 30 yrs.

I doubt they will make a big USA comeback, that ship sailed.

n8n · Mar 31, 2014

I disagree; I haven't taken a close side by side look but the roll stamping on the Chinese ones is way more sloppy than the old USA production, you can tell them apart at a glance once it's pointed out to you. Just like the RP stuff you can tell because the Chinese open ends are all awkwardly shaped.

Now does that mean the Chinese stuff is worse? I don't know, but I'll buy the old stuff while I still can.

sberry · Mar 31, 2014

They had already went south in early 80's. I had some old stuff, figured the new would be the same.

aaronrkelly · Mar 31, 2014

The new China raised panel ratches are horrible. Yeah, I know the rp ratches are budget anyways.....but my 10 year old ones are far better than the new ones. The edges are sharp, they are painful to use......castings are very rough looking.

I stupidly swapped out a 1/4 drive defective ratchet and didnt notice the difference till two weeks later - ooops.

I have alot of USA Craftsman sockets......but I recently needed a 1/2 set. Figured if the Crafstman were made overseas I might as well buy HF sockets. Ive used them off and on in the past and honestly, never had one break on me.

If I remember right the Masterforce stuff from Menards is still made in the USA.

Renchi · Mar 31, 2014

jdmstr said:
... Call me crazy but id pick china craftsman over HF sockets still.

OK. You're crazy.

I understand what you're saying, but Sears is just plain stupid in my opinion. The short-term gain of higher profits through more cheaply manufactured tools is going to eventually be a long-term loss. As tool quality continues to decline the average consumer will catch on that it doesn't makes sense to pay up to five times more for the Craftsman name if both Craftsman and Harbor Freight tools are coming out of China and offer lifetime warranties.

I have been a Craftsman ***** most of my life, so it pains me greatly to say that. I refuse to own a single Craftsman hand tool that isn't made in the USA, however, so Sears has almost completely lost my business now.

woody 73 · Mar 31, 2014

sberry said:
They had already went south in early 80's. I had some old stuff, figured the new would be the same.

Sadly they did start to go south back in the 80's. :sad:

devoncoolman · Mar 31, 2014

Exceller8 · Mar 31, 2014

jdmstr said:
Its true. If you go to sears outlet stores you can find alot of nos is made stuff. Call me crazy but id pick china craftsman over HF sockets still.

Why? I'd take HF (Taiwan) over Craftsman (China) any day of the week. Plus, the Chinese sockets I was looking at were $49.99 (Same as the old US made ones) and HF set was $12. :dunno:

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