"Standard of the World"

sz0k30 · Mar 13, 2020

I was just reading a post in the "Vintage Tool Discussion" about what makes "Baldor" grinders so great? One reply said they are the "Standard of the Industry".

I remember when Cadillac's motto was: "Standard of the World"

So that got me thinking, what other brands are considered: "Industry Standards", or "Standards of the World"?

Some that I've always heard:

Grinders: Baldor or ???
Electric meters: Fluke or ???
Plasma cutters: Hypotherm or ???
Arbor press: Dake or ???
Anvil: Peter Wright or ???

Lets get the best of the best.

humpty · Mar 13, 2020

Kalamazoo band saw

Ridgid pipe wrenches

The other sad but interesting thought is all the brands that once were the standard and now they are gone or just a shell of what they used to be.

Porter cable and Delta are two that come to mind immediately.

matt_i · Mar 13, 2020

I would call an Amada saw or a HE&M saw a lot more exotic than a Kzoo...

PB Swiss has to be in some category...

aka Larry · Mar 13, 2020

Automotive Fasteners : ARP

Packard V8 · Mar 13, 2020

humpty said:
Rigid pipe wrenches

The other sad but interesting thought is all the brands that once were the standard and now they are gone or just a shell of what they used to be.

Porter cable and Delta are two that come to mind immediately.

Since you brought it up, spell it correctly and add Ridgid to the list. At one time, anything with "Ridgid" on it was as good as money could buy. Now, they've whored out the name to big box store Chicom cheapo machines. Not the worst on the market, but certainly not industrial quality.

jack vines

humpty · Mar 13, 2020

Dang it, didn't catch the misspelling.

That is why specified their pipe wrench, at this point I would only consider their "professional" pipe tools high quality.

humpty · Mar 13, 2020

matt_i said:
I would call an Amada saw or a HE&M saw a lot more exotic than a Kzoo...

PB Swiss has to be in some category...

True, Amada is way more exotic. He didn't specify American made but for whatever reason that was my thought process. I thought about it as what brand do you always see in the shop in those categories. It seems like every machine shop or maintenance shop has an old Kalamazoo saw.

To the OP's point every shop I've ever worked in has an old Dake arbor press in it as well.

humpty · Mar 13, 2020

I put Bridgeport Mill and Hardinge Toolroom Lathe up for vote as well.

16again · Mar 13, 2020

Let me say it. Hand tools SNAP ON!

Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

Zewnten · Mar 13, 2020

And the thread is already off the rails. OP wanted to know the companies people would widely agree set the standard for their product, not if it is worth the price. So yes Snap-on set the standard for mechanics hand tools, maybe not now but they did.

Others come to mind in just the way we use the brand name to identify the product; crescent wrench, Allen wrenches, etc. I would say those companies set the standard for their product.

lardy1 · Mar 13, 2020

Swanson speed square.

SeisMec · Mar 13, 2020

Stanley hand planes.
Disston hand saws.
Channel Lock pliers.
Petersen vise grips.

Bryan Burns · Mar 13, 2020

Klein,of course. So standard that their lineman's pliers are just known as Klein's.

dogdog · Mar 13, 2020

hmmm I though standards are not base on brands... but sure.. HF. :bounce:

LOW1 · Mar 13, 2020

Sawstop table saw?

Downwindtracker 2 · Mar 13, 2020

Sawstop table saw is good, but certainly not the best out there. The Delta was a better saw, but it wasn't best one out there, either.

The Makita 3x24 belt sander is found in almost every cabinet shop. I know when there is an auction, there is a bunch of them.
The Festool sliding compound bevel saw, Domino and track saw.

BFBOB · Mar 13, 2020

humpty said:
Dang it, didn't catch the misspelling.

Once you understand ... Ridgid is the trademark of the Ridge Tool Company - it's a deliberate misspelling of rigid. Pretty good play on words, actually.

matt_i · Mar 13, 2020

LOW1 said:
Sawstop table saw?

Despite not having the insta stop technology I'd place my vote for the Powermatic 66.

matt_i · Mar 13, 2020

humpty said:
I put Bridgeport Mill and Hardinge Toolroom Lathe up for vote as well.

Bridgeport definitely. Nothing has been copied more than that.

I'm partial to the Monarch 10EE as top toolroom lathe. :bounce:

2ndGearRubber · Mar 13, 2020

Avenging Bankroll said:
That's highly debatable. Paying Snap-On prices doesn't mean the hand tool is x times better than the competition. Besides there are hand tools that come within 90%+ of the performance of a Snap-On while it costs many times less than an equivalent Snap-On. Take for example a Snap-On ratcheting screwdriver. You can buy a Williams version that has the same bits, made in the same factory and missing the knurling/o-ring with the same hard handle style (just 3 sided) for $34.99 on Amazon.com whereas the Snap-On is about $70.

Price is irrelevant. Standard against which others are measured - Snap on fits the bill for that. Remember when Cadillac had that slogan, they were priced like snap-on vs. the rest of the market. V12 and V16 engines, coach built, etc.

IMO a lot of the brands this applies to have become industry standard names. "channel locks" come to mind, much like a "xerox" machine. Although I would say Knipex makes a superior product.

I'll add Picoscope for automotive lab scopes. Snap on and Pico are they only commonly seen players in the sector, and Pico blows snap on out of the water in usability.

redwrench60 · Mar 13, 2020

No introduction needed.

woody 73 · Mar 13, 2020

Back in my youth it was Stanley hand tools, but I think (key word here) they started to use made in china and the quality went downhill very fast.

Now the funny thing is that I can remember reading an article some time back (wish I could find it), in that Stanley starting getting wise when sales started dropping off and consumers starting complaining about the quality going down hill, no surprise there. Anyhow I seem too recall they were going to try and bring some of it back to the USA but I never did follow up if they did indeed do that ?

woody 73 · Mar 13, 2020

Oh I like this...sad but true quote from the following link:
" The tool box of the world to the garbage can of the world".

https://www.plane-dealer.com/single-post/2016/11/15/Stanleys-Junk

Bigblockyeti · Mar 13, 2020

Milwaukee Sawzall.

Every other reciprocating saw is referred to frequently as a "Sawzall" because the Milwaukee was first. I still have a couple like new aluminum body saws that were at the pinnacle of what Milwaukee made before they sold to TTI and quality started quickly slipping away.

Swervyjoe · Mar 13, 2020

Beverly Shears

WittHay · Mar 13, 2020

Wilton machinists vises and Weaver long chassis floor jacks. Classic designs that are made in the USA and probably still the gold standard in their categories.

neophyte · Mar 14, 2020

LOW1 said:
Sawstop table saw?

For table saws,
Felder, Martin or Northfield would likely be considered way more of a standard than Sawstop.
Maybe in future that will change, but not yet.

Festool, maybe for finish carpentry tools.

Mafell for timber framing tools, although Makita and Hitachi have a following.

Flex and Rupes for hand held electric polishers.

The Dewalt DW625 is pretty much a defactor standard for plunge routers, given that the origin of the design is the Elu Mof177 plunge router, which was basically just rebranded when Black & Decker purchased Elu and later rebranded the tools as Dewalt.
The design is virtually unchanged for decades since originally designed, other than tweaking the motor efficiency.

Starrett for Combination squares and a number of other machinist metrology tools.

Bosch for jigsaw blades, and maybe reciprocating saw blades.

Estwing hammers, are sold all over the world.

Etalon or Mitutoyo for digital calipers,

3M for abrasives, safety gear, and a bunch of other stuff.

Trumpf for sheet metal shears and nibblers.

CS Osborne for leather working tools.

Vinny · Mar 14, 2020

Cool thread!
I say Miller for welders.

redwrench60 · Mar 14, 2020

Smith & Wesson revolvers.

Downwindtracker 2 · Mar 14, 2020

Oddly enough for someone who preferred Proto, Gray or J.H.Williams, Snap-On certainly. But Estwing hammers,?, a lot of old time carpenters would argue. They never used them, but you would see a fair number of True Temper , now it's some boutique hammer.

E.A.Berg wood chisels, even Stanley admitted as much and imported them before the war.

Honda guy · Mar 14, 2020

Not any more, but years ago, Levis blue jeans.

larry_g · Mar 14, 2020

Kurt angle-loc vises.

lg

Ton ton · Mar 14, 2020

Ridgid ratcheting pvc cutters are still amazing. They're made for professional use. But they come with a price tag. I cheaped out and bought a Lenox brand pvc cutter.

bugnut · Mar 14, 2020

Dare I say

Starrett and Gerstner

top quality stuff

neophyte · Mar 14, 2020

Downwindtracker 2 said:
Oddly enough for someone who preferred Proto, Gray or J.H.Williams, Snap-On certainly. But Estwing hammers,?, a lot of old time carpenters would argue. They never used them, but you would see a fair number of True Temper , now it's some boutique hammer.

E.A.Berg wood chisels, even Stanley admitted as much and imported them before the war.

Estwing hammers are literally sold all over the world, even in countries that have high quality hammer manufacturers, and they’ve been sold all over the workd for decades.
From what I gather, Estwing is one of The standard hammers used in the UK by carpenters.
Estwing is also sold extensively in Australia.
I’ve also seen Estwing hammers for sale from professional tool suppliers in Germany, Sweden, Japan, France, etc., and Estwing even makes specialty models to cater to the foreign markets.
Germany and France both have major hammer manufacturers which produce huge ranges of hammers, and Picard of Germany basically started making a few models in the same single piece forged style as Estwing.
Vaughan has sold hammers over seas, but I’m not sure how well they compete with Estwing as far as exports, although there are definately Australian dealers.

neophyte · Mar 14, 2020

Also, Stabila levels.

bob15 · Mar 14, 2020

Vinny said:
Cool thread!
I say Miller for welders.

Nope. Lincoln Electric.

Besides making welders before Miller even was in existence, Lincoln also has a welding school that open around 1917 to which more than 150,000 people have gone to. Their welding handbook book is phenomenal as well.

Ton ton · Mar 14, 2020

OP, cool thread.

orangeblood · Mar 14, 2020

Honda guy said:
Not any more, but years ago, Levis blue jeans.

but if you are wearing western boots....then it would be Wrangler 13MWZ (original cowboy cut)

pelletman · Mar 14, 2020

Norton abrasives, not sure if that is true anymore. I know 3M makes good stuff, but Norton was for years the standard of the world. Now owned by St Gobain (French). I'm a local Worcester boy and my dad Worked for Norton and later Warner & Swasey in the grinding machine division. 1960 to 77

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