Are junk tools less junky than a generation ago?

[dwasifar]

A few years ago, I was tightening something and torqued off a socket extension. Looking at it, I realized it was the last remaining piece of the cheap-*** socket set I'd bought at KMart in 1979, when I was young, piss-poor, and newly out on my own. Anyone of a certain age remembers those; cheap roundhead ratchets, sockets seemingly made out of pot metal, in a painted tin case with a thin blow-molded insert. They were sold everywhere. Somehow the extension had escaped from the rest of the junky set and stayed with me as I accumulated better tools, finally to be picked accidentally and die under moderate load.

It got me to thinking. It's certainly still possible to buy lower or higher quality tools, at lower or higher prices. But are the tools we'd call "junky" today anywhere near as bad as junky tools of past decades like that KMart socket set?

Typically the poster child for cheap Chinesium tools is Harbor Freight. And I'm certainly not claiming HF is the pinnacle of quality, but I have a few HF tools that are miles better than the junk tools I had in the 1980s. I've got a set of Pittsburgh box end ratchets that are actually quite nicely chromed and have stood up to abuse. Similarly, I can go to Lowe's or HD or Menards, and pick up tools from Kobalt and Husky and Masterforce that, although not the best available, are usually more serviceable than the barely usable junk that cluttered my toolbox 40 years ago.

So are we spoiled now? Are today's "junk tools" notably better than yesteryear's? Or is this just selective memory on my part?

 

[Firebrick43]

You know, to think of it, i have not seen a set of stamped steel wrenches in years. On the other hand I think USA craftsman ratchets are junk so I am not really qualified to assess cheap tools.

 

[XxToolAholicxX]

A lot more choices for sure as almost every town in America has a Home Depot, Lowe’s or Harbor Freight and they sell affordable good Not Great tools with easy lifetime warranty beats Kmart for sure..

 

[JazzBlueRT]

A few years ago, I was tightening something and torqued off a socket extension. Looking at it, I realized it was the last remaining piece of the cheap-*** socket set I'd bought at KMart in 1979, when I was young, piss-poor, and newly out on my own. Anyone of a certain age remembers those; cheap roundhead ratchets, sockets seemingly made out of pot metal, in a painted tin case with a thin blow-molded insert. They were sold everywhere. Somehow the extension had escaped from the rest of the junky set and stayed with me as I accumulated better tools, finally to be picked accidentally and die under moderate load.

It got me to thinking. It's certainly still possible to buy lower or higher quality tools, at lower or higher prices. But are the tools we'd call "junky" today anywhere near as bad as junky tools of past decades like that KMart socket set?

Typically the poster child for cheap Chinesium tools is Harbor Freight. And I'm certainly not claiming HF is the pinnacle of quality, but I have a few HF tools that are miles better than the junk tools I had in the 1980s. I've got a set of Pittsburgh box end ratchets that are actually quite nicely chromed and have stood up to abuse. Similarly, I can go to Lowe's or HD or Menards, and pick up tools from Kobalt and Husky and Masterforce that, although not the best available, are usually more serviceable than the barely usable junk that cluttered my toolbox 40 years ago.

So are we spoiled now? Are today's "junk tools" notably better than yesteryear's? Or is this just selective memory on my part?

I so remember those cheap $5 flea market sets. My friends dad used to sell them. They were all made in Taiwan.

 

[Shiftless]

Somebody can start a thread “Show us your crappy K-Mart or parking lot tent sale tool kit”

I doubt that anybody would pay postage to buy one for a penny would they?

 

[dutchgray]

Most of the cheap stuff is actually pretty good nowadays, there is very little you will find from common retail sources that is actually junk, when it comes to basic hand tools, cheap power tools on the other hand there is a lot of rubbish available.

 

[d.mcfarland]

Cheap and inexpensive are two different topics.

Inexpensive tools these days are not necessarily bad at all.

Craftsman raised panel ratchets are bad, all of them from any country, with the expception of the RHFT that has a raised panel handle.

 

[Ton ton]

Junk tools have the name Kobalt attached to them.

 

[IndyGarage]

I bought a cheap set of Taiwan tools, sockets, wrenches and screwdrivers, complete with toolbox from a vendor at the side of the road when I was in high school. I even remember the price was $125 and he knocked it down to $100 for me. For years, that's what I had to work with - I rebuilt engines, and transmissions, and restored a couple cars. I didn't know they were cheap tools. They worked.

A few of them are still around and the toolbox is too. Good tools are more convenient, but they aren't necessary for getting things done.

 

[RedneckWelder]

Cheap tools are better than the cheap junk of yesteryear by far.

I remember the Homier Distributing/Cummins tool road shows that came to the farmers market or civic center. I remember cheap Kmart type tools. Most of each was pure cheese grade steel junk. Back then you went Craftsman for the cheap end if you didn’t want to bust knuckles all day. As a teen in that era I knew of Snap On’s existence but not being a mechanic didn’t know anything of their quality or price (not that I could have afforded it) I do remember my father telling me the truck was stopping at the shops to collect payments as well as sell tools.

Harbor Freight was pure mail order. You didn’t know what you were getting quality wise but they didn’t have a decent reputation then. You could find unusual things in their catalog such as a Soviet military surplus watch. We did find that their cheap socket sets weren’t bad at all (except for the ratchets weren’t awesome but then neither were Craftsman).

The era of good Taiwan tools for great prices was getting in swing when I was a young adult on my own and was a godsend. Finally affordable tools that actually held up shockingly well. I also learned of industrial brands such as Proto and Wright that provided that US made option without being insanely high and provided good deals on the industrial surplus market.

 

[gungatim]

LGR!

 

[2ndGearRubber]

I think the big difference is the availability decent stuff. The 5 dollar sets of junk are still around. But cheap imports like 12.99 HF colored sockets are very serviceable and work well.

 

[Gunfixr]

I remember when the Buffalo tools truck came to town, and set up in a local hotel conference room for 3-5 days. I think I still have a few things from that company.
I remember ripping ratchets, splitting sockets, taps that were cut down by what you were trying to tap.
What I really find ironic, is that, back in those days, it was taiwanese junk we were breaking, and now, if not paying for tool truck or USA made, it's taiwanese we are seeking.

 

[zendriver]

Since we are mostly referring to China, up until around 1980, one of the most advanced forms of technically designed transportation there, was an ox cart, so I'd say the answer is "yes".

Almost all of my regular tools are from Asia and I have few/no problems at all with them.

 

[mv213]

Oh, yeah, most of the Chinese stuff these days is way better than the **** that was available in the late 1970’s. I remember buying a set of “Wilmar” combination wrenches that was made in India. I swear you could see the hammer and file marks on them where some kid had made them virtually by hand. And the **** screwdrivers that the tips torqued off of after 1 or 2 uses. When you’re a poor kid like I was sometimes those were your choices.

 

[Al Borland]

Absolutely better. The cheap APEX Husky stuff at Home Despot is worlds better than the Danaher-era Craftsman or the older US made Home Depot Husky. The sockets are available individually and cheap, so pounding them on to a nut/bolt is no big deal. Good AND disposable.

 

[justanengineer]

JMO but the common cheap unbranded/house branded Japanese and Taiwanese stuff sold in the 80s and 90s was lightyears ahead of the cheap Chinese stuff sold today, both in quality and price. I used it professionally for years and only sold it off as I could afford professional brands. I bought a lot of it at HF back in the day when prices were dirt cheap, half the store was American pro brands, and they still sold knockoffs of real industrial equipment rather than the mini toys sold today.

 

[bonneyman]

Oh I remember the "butter" sockets of the 70's and 80's. You were lucky to get one use out of them if you were really wrenching hard. But then the Sears brand of combo wrenches I bought in 1982 was surprisingly good. I think they were made in Japan, came in a yellow vinyl pouch.

I may have visited a HF a time or two back in the day, and didn't buy my first hand tool there until the pair of composite ratchets I got just prior to ICON's release. (I heard the prices were going up, so, figured that was the time to grab two and give them a whirl). Gotta say I was impressed with those ratchets. And HF sockets aren't bad, chrome is nice and they seem to hold up for many.

Overall I'd have to agree with the OP. I think most new tools - even the budget store brands - are pretty decent for the price.

 

[American Locomotive]

There's still tons of absolutely terrible junk being sold in the usual places by the usual people. There's just a lot more options for "marginal quality, better than junk" these days. Where as before you went from "absolute junk" to "decent quality" with nothing in between.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

I agree most tools today are good. Except the little $5 or $9 set at Harbor Freight in the plastic cases that don’t even have the brand stamped on them. Those are junk. So is the stuff you are describing from the 1970s and 80s. My dad when he bought tools it was Craftsman or Montgomery Ward or Kmart Auto brand. He still has a bit of each majority of it is Craftsman the EE series to be exact. One of my coworkers describes those butter tools as for the person that maybe tightens a bolt occasionally if something comes loose and doesn’t even do their own work on anything. I have had my fair share using those no name only size stamped tools and busting my knuckles.

 

[didit]

...So are we spoiled now? Are today's "junk tools" notably better than yesteryear's? Or is this just selective memory on my part?

I think you have summarized correctly. I do have a nice set of combination wrenches from the early '70s that I keep hanging over my bench for quick accessibility. The only marking on them is "CHINA". Not much else remains of Asian origin from that time period or earlier. I have a smattering of newer Asian import tools and am constantly impressed at the increased quality of the tools available at our Princess Auto or Canadian Tire. You have to step up and pay the price for most anything of better quality not coming from offshore these days. The Asians\Chinese are playing the long game, new technologies are implemented worldwide, and quality standards have improved drastically to gain market acceptance. Kind of a "the student has surpassed the teacher" strategy. It is human nature to "get the most bang for the buck", and that is the world we live in today. I don't see that changing. They will continue to surpass long established domestic tool manufacturers. Sorry if I wandered off a bit but that's just how I see it.

 

[Al Borland]

What is the intended purpose for the cheap tool?
Are you handing them out to a work crew? (Never to be seen again?)
1. It needs to get the job done. Failure of the tool causes delays. Time is money.
2. Needs to be inexpensive. You are going to replace them semi-frequently.
Cheap tools are expendables.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

What is the intended purpose for the cheap tool?
Are you handing them out to a work crew? (Never to be seen again?)
1. It needs to get the job done. Failure of the tool causes delays. Time is money.
2. Needs to be inexpensive. You are going to replace them semi-frequently.
Cheap tools are expendables.

To be fair, all tools are consumables. I think its more about controlling total expenses to create a set, than wanting low quality products. I dont think the typical home owner needs proto, Wright, sk, or vessel. IMO it's all about intended usage and expectation.

 

[CoogarXR]

When I was growing up, around here, about the only places to buy tools that I knew of was Sears, K-mart, and Odd Lots. Many of my first tools came from Odd Lots. Busted lots of sockets, ratchets and knuckles with those sets. Then I finally got a USA craftsman set at a flea market, and I was in heaven.

Considering that "heavenly level" is now even with the bottom tier, yes, the junk of today is much better than the junk of yesteryear.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Keep looking. HF has super cheap sets that are about the same quality as those old sets. You can also find that quality on "truck sales", and at bargain stores.

 

[woody 73]

Back in the early 1970's we had traveling tool tent sales, I think you know the kind it opened on a Sat and by Sunday late they were gone never to be seen again. Of course I loved some of their tools because I could use them in ways they were not supposed to be used, etc. welding them for a job at hand and bending them into a different shape. Of course it never hurt if I lost them in a junkyard or in case someone stole them, again no big deal because...Everyone knew they were cheap junk.

In the early 1960's most counter displays carried a tier of tools that was so low, most were made out of sheet metal and geared towards suzy homemaker for those little jobs. (I did a post about some of those tools on the GJ).

By 1970 Craftsman tools were just not the same as earlier years gone by, hard to explain but the quality was going down.

By the 1980's you could buy craftsman tools that were made in Taiwan, thank you Stanley.

Now today the quality has come a long way or full circle and some of those tools are very nice, at least much nicer then in the past.

Just an observation from an old geezer.

 

[woody 73]

This was just one of my many posts, I do hope that you guys/gals are enjoying them. it deals with very cheap tools being made in the early years of the 1960's

Oxwall Tool Company LTD.

I always say finding vintage tools is the easy part, (found in an old plastic tool kit), just two days ago; but sometimes finding company information is the hard part. So without further ado I will make a few guesses, first guess I think it started in April of 1947 ? Not sure who started the...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[Badgerstate]

A few years ago, I was tightening something and torqued off a socket extension. Looking at it, I realized it was the last remaining piece of the cheap-*** socket set I'd bought at KMart in 1979, when I was young, piss-poor, and newly out on my own. Anyone of a certain age remembers those; cheap roundhead ratchets, sockets seemingly made out of pot metal, in a painted tin case with a thin blow-molded insert. They were sold everywhere. Somehow the extension had escaped from the rest of the junky set and stayed with me as I accumulated better tools, finally to be picked accidentally and die under moderate load.

It got me to thinking. It's certainly still possible to buy lower or higher quality tools, at lower or higher prices. But are the tools we'd call "junky" today anywhere near as bad as junky tools of past decades like that KMart socket set?

Typically the poster child for cheap Chinesium tools is Harbor Freight. And I'm certainly not claiming HF is the pinnacle of quality, but I have a few HF tools that are miles better than the junk tools I had in the 1980s. I've got a set of Pittsburgh box end ratchets that are actually quite nicely chromed and have stood up to abuse. Similarly, I can go to Lowe's or HD or Menards, and pick up tools from Kobalt and Husky and Masterforce that, although not the best available, are usually more serviceable than the barely usable junk that cluttered my toolbox 40 years ago.

So are we spoiled now? Are today's "junk tools" notably better than yesteryear's? Or is this just selective memory on my part?

IMO, the, "junk" tools were never as junky as we may have thought. For a long time, I had a nice selection of old Craftsman, Husky, Mac and Snap-On tools. At the time though, I was pretty broke and I also had some Ace branded socket sets as well as some Companion sets. I used to for working on cars, snowmobiles, ATVs, dirt bikes and lawn and garden equipment. They all always worked fine and I still have them all to this day.
IMO, unless you are a mechanic who is using their tools all day, every day, you dont need expensive tools. The cheap stuff will work just fine and probably still last you a lifetime.

 

[f121]

This is something my dad was saying recently - how tools are better, cheaper and easier to buy. The stuff he had when I was a kid was terrible, the unbranded round head ratchet sets in a metal tin above, these days even cheap stuff is stronger and nicer quality. For very little money you can get something that a typical home mechanic will simply never break.

 

[Ralf11]

To be fair, all tools are consumables. I think its more about controlling total expenses to create a set, than wanting low quality products. I dont think the typical home owner needs proto, Wright, sk, or vessel. IMO it's all about intended usage and expectation.

How's that? You buy a Snappy item and if it breaks you get another one off the truck - you buy once; sell it when you retire or get buried with them.

And I say if, b/c only once did I have one of my Snappy sockets get broken and that was when I let a friend borrow it. It was only 20+ years old too.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

How's that? You buy a Snappy item and if it breaks you get another one off the truck - you buy once; sell it when you retire or get buried with them.

And I say if, b/c only once did I have one of my Snappy sockets get broken and that was when I let a friend borrow it. It was only 20+ years old too.

Right, it has a warranty. But it was still consumed. It really doesn't matter what name it has on it, I wear things out, even chrome sockets used exclusively on hand tools. I wallow the corners out yanking on them with everything I have. My point was that when used heavily, all tools will die. So claiming a cheaper brand is inferior because it can be worn out, isn't fair IMO. I wear out and break snap-on, cornwell, Koken, SK, VIM, you name it.

 

[Debcrow]

Are they better.....? All I have to think about is Globemaster and the answer is obvious.

 

[dwasifar]

I wear out and break snap-on, cornwell, Koken, SK, VIM, you name it.

That must be because you're in Pittsburgh.

 

[d.mcfarland]

Hopefully you're referring to rust and not the Hrbor Freight brand. In the case of rust and corrosion, you're probably correct.

 

[McGR]

Stuff like the standard HF Pittsburgh tools are infinitely better than the junk tools of yesteryear. The cheapo socket sets of the past were bad, really bad. My first sets were from Japan and were total junk.

 

[bonneyman]

To be fair, all tools are consumables....

And some are just more consumable than others.

 

[bwringer]

I have similar memories of the horrible soft cheddar cheese shite peddled by Kmart in the 70s-90s.

I finally purged the last of it from my tools about two years ago. Then again, just today I ran across a Kmart 11/16" wrench hiding in my inch **** drawer with the classic flaking "chrome" and the splayed open end. I mean, a magnet sticks so it must be mostly iron of some sort, but I have no idea how they make it that soft.

Yes, we absolutely do have more choices that are much more usable quality for very low prices nowadays. Yes, the soft, flaking $5 socket sets are still out there in odd corners, but pretty much everything on the shelves at Walmart nowadays is actually perfectly usable, which is a big change from the way things were not too long ago.

 

[Kscardsfan]

I think they’re better. I tend to buy odd lots/boxes of tools at garage and estate sales when I see that there are some quality pieces in them and then sort out the **** for my buddy to use as sacrificial parts or specialty tools in his shop. But if I grab the same size socket or wrench from the bucket of Velveeta grade steel tools and a Taiwanese imported equivalent of recent manufacture there is a noticeable difference in fit, finish and feel/intangible when it’s in your hand and using it.

 

[gearhead1]

They’re waaaaaay better! When I was a kid, I could break the Taiwan or Japan ratchet just by hand removing a head bolt from a Briggs push mower engine. I despised anything foreign made as a result. Pure junk. I think this is where my ‘buy American’ philosophy started. I would go to the flea market and buy used US made Craftsman tools from my aluminum can and used mower sales money.

The foreign stuff is more common and much better now so a teenager these days doesn’t have to ‘buy American’ out of necessity like I did.

It was fun digging through boxes, finding a US made socket for $.025 building socket sets. Tools came at a very early age for me. I always asked for tools for birthdays and Christmas and got to the point of saying ‘US made’ tools. I wasn’t being snobby, just wanted stuff that wouldn’t break!

 

[Bubba Fett]

I have a socket set and a wrench set that are super cheap. Pot metal ratchets, uneven sockets, and lobster-claw wrenches. I got the wrenches for next to nothing, and the socket set belonged to my Dad. He gave it to me for rigging up a light in his barn. It looked barely used, and was either a gift from Mom or a set he bought to fix something while on a road trip. It was and is ****, but I can't bring myself to get rid of it.