How to ID craftsman wrenches?

[rtz]

Nowhere does it state where they are made. Each wrench had a different number. Does the AD stand for after the downturn of Sears?

I really hope these are made in at least Taiwan and not CN.

Why would they even bother to take the effort to stamp AD on each one?

 

[potato]

those are china.

 

[PelicanPines]

AD = China

 

[sk farmer]

it will clearly state on the wrench "made in the usa". i cannot think of an instance where that may not be true but if it does not say made in usa..........it is not!

i think that would hold true on about 99% of craftsman and many other tools.

no markings= not usa

 

[gtlaw]

 

[WWheeler]

China manufacture date 2014.
AA = 2011,..., AD is 2014, AE is 2015, ...

 

[DadsTools]

it will clearly state on the wrench "made in the usa". i cannot think of an instance where that may not be true but if it does not say made in usa..........it is not!

i think that would hold true on about 99% of craftsman and many other tools.

no markings= not usa

Agreed. The only C-Man exceptions on wrenches I've seen were ignition or "Midget" wrenches where "Made in USA" is marked on the pouch but not on the tools. Some that appear to be from the Danaher era with the darker chrome have no indicator on the wrenches at all. Earlier midget sets I've encountered from the 1970s have no COO in the wrenches but do have the Easco -v-.

Other than these and some weird oddballs like older USA Stevens Walden sockets that have "STW" or "WW" marks but with no COO, the rule-of-thumb you gave pretty much holds true across the entire spectrum of hand tools--if there's no COO, it's almost certainly made in Asia.

 

[5ktq]

I got a kick out of "After Downturn".

 

[AmishFury]

it will clearly state on the wrench "made in the usa". i cannot think of an instance where that may not be true but if it does not say made in usa..........it is not!

i think that would hold true on about 99% of craftsman and many other tools.

no markings= not usa

pretty much this... every craftsman wrench i've seen (with the previously mentioned exception of the midget wrenches) is either marked with COO or it is from china

RP would say FORGED IN U.S.A. (unless it was a Japanese made RP in which case it said JAPAN) while the full polish wrenches simply had a U.S.A. stamp on them