Howdy from DRPD!

[winnievan]

Everything seems bigger in millimeters … he he he

 

[CHI_Tool&Die]

My small haul. The Ko-ken spark plugs are awesome. Absolutely will go all in on these as time goes by. I picked up a 16mm over the winter for my car and now a 20.8mm for my snow blower. The brass ring/grip is superior to my old rubber gasket ones. Also grabbed some KTC debris removers for tires. It’s a niche product for sure but I will be using them extensively. Lastly I purchased the stubby KTC swivel to complete the set and because I love using these ratchets. For me, Japanese tools shine in compactness and their stubby stuff is just awesome.

 

[reclaimer]

Any thoughts on carrying KTC tool boxes and roller cabinets in the future? That's something I'd be really interested in and haven't seen much online about. They even have a mini tool chest that would be cool! And the Nepros branded stuff we have almost no info about, its a shame. It would be nice to have a hands on video or something in English

 

[billspreston]

We would love to bring in some of the KTC and nepros boxes, but frankly we just aren't yet equipped to efficiently import these at the level required to offer them at an affordable price. Tool boxes are a specific challenge because they are big, heavy, carry a high duty rate, and come with additional complexities around antidumping/countervailing rules. These really need to ship via ocean full container load and we aren't pulling enough volume through that channel yet.

Hopefully that helps explain a bit about why we don't currently carry these (or other similar overly bulky items) – we will get there

Appreciate the input, we do get asked about these quite a bit so there seems to be a demand.

In the meantime, we also recently became a Lista/Vidmar reseller as those products ship domestically avoiding the above issues for us. A bit of apples to oranges I realize as they don't really do the fun smaller boxes KTC is doing.

 

[reclaimer]

I asked because I was on neprostools.com earlier and they have KTC storage stuff. I didn't put an order in, but filled out the shipping info and the rates were surprisingly low with a box in the cart. Wonder if its one of those deals where they contact you with the real shipping cost after?

 

[Pexto]

I put some of the goodies from a recent DRPD order to good use.

First was a Ko-ken spark plug socket, to replace the plugs on a Tundra V8. The old plugs still looked good, but they were the original plugs with 150K on them and the gap was well over spec. The last time I did spark plugs, on another truck, I had to tape the socket on to an extension. That works, sure, but I decided to upgrade and the Ko-ken with the clip is what you guys recommended.
These sockets are awesome. They provide a very secure grip on the plug, but still very easy to release. I'm always a bit paranoid about cross-threading plugs, but this socket makes it very easy to line the plug up perfectly square, with no wobble, and get it started by hand. They're not cheap, but really a pleasure to use.


The little 1/4" ratchet with a Nut Grip socket was perfect to remove the coil-pack screws. If I had dropped one of these it would have ended up in the skid plate somewhere and taken a while to fish out. The Nut Grip socket makes removal painless, and also makes it easy to reach down there and get the screw started. I just use the socket on an extension with a spinner, just like a nutdriver, and then add the ratchet for final torqueing.



I splurged a little bit and got some semi-deep sockets to try out. Haven't used them that much yet, but I like the way they give you a little extra reach. With regular sockets, I would've needed an extension to reach around this throttle body.
It's nice and clean now, but you should have seen it when I started! This truck has 150K on it and I doubt the throttle body had ever been cleaned, although the truck was overall very well maintained.

 

[Not So Legendary]

In the meantime, we also recently became a Lista/Vidmar reseller as those products ship domestically avoiding the above issues for us. A bit of apples to oranges I realize as they don't really do the fun smaller boxes KTC is doing.

I'm a big fan of my two Vidmar cabinets. I condensed 5 toolboxes and a set of shelves into them. One thing I would like is more resilient label inserts. The plastic could be thicker.

ya know, hint hint...

 

[Madjik Man]

I put some of the goodies from a recent DRPD order to good use.

First was a Ko-ken spark plug socket, to replace the plugs on a Tundra V8. The old plugs still looked good, but they were the original plugs with 150K on them and the gap was well over spec. The last time I did spark plugs, on another truck, I had to tape the socket on to an extension. That works, sure, but I decided to upgrade and the Ko-ken with the clip is what you guys recommended.
These sockets are awesome. They provide a very secure grip on the plug, but still very easy to release. I'm always a bit paranoid about cross-threading plugs, but this socket makes it very easy to line the plug up perfectly square, with no wobble, and get it started by hand. They're not cheap, but really a pleasure to use.


The little 1/4" ratchet with a Nut Grip socket was perfect to remove the coil-pack screws. If I had dropped one of these it would have ended up in the skid plate somewhere and taken a while to fish out. The Nut Grip socket makes removal painless, and also makes it easy to reach down there and get the screw started. I just use the socket on an extension with a spinner, just like a nutdriver, and then add the ratchet for final torqueing.



I splurged a little bit and got some semi-deep sockets to try out. Haven't used them that much yet, but I like the way they give you a little extra reach. With regular sockets, I would've needed an extension to reach around this throttle body.
It's nice and clean now, but you should have seen it when I started! This truck has 150K on it and I doubt the throttle body had ever been cleaned, although the truck was overall very well maintained.

I love using my Koken tools. Those spark plug extensions are perfect for my 3.4 Tacomas and the 1.8 Prius.

 

[Pexto]

I love using my Koken tools. Those spark plug extensions are perfect for my 3.4 Tacomas and the 1.8 Prius.

I think you were one of the guys who recommended it, so thank you! It works a heckuva lot better than a socket with a rubber insert taped to an extension.

 

[Ton ton]

Bill Preston, do you sell Japanese made bolt cutters? Thank you for keeping us updated !

 

[billspreston]

Bill Preston, do you sell Japanese made bolt cutters? Thank you for keeping us updated !

Currently we do not. We will be adding a premium Japanese pliers brand soon that we hope to be announcing in August. They do make a bolt cutter, but we will not be stocking it initially. I've made a note to consider that for a future purchase.

I would also like to apologize for the radio silence over the last month. We recently secured a new warehouse space that we are doing construction on that is occupying more of my time than I'd like! Exciting times, nonetheless, as this new location will really help us serve customers better – and who doesn't love a new shop build?!

 

[Retroman]

Congrats on the new warehouse/office glad to see you guys doing well.
I haven't made any purchases lately so that needs to change.

 

[jimf]

Great to see your hard work paying off. Here's to much continued success!

 

[Not So Legendary]

Currently we do not. We will be adding a premium Japanese pliers brand soon that we hope to be announcing in August. They do make a bolt cutter, but we will not be stocking it initially. I've made a note to consider that for a future purchase.

I would also like to apologize for the radio silence over the last month. We recently secured a new warehouse space that we are doing construction on that is occupying more of my time than I'd like! Exciting times, nonetheless, as this new location will really help us serve customers better – and who doesn't love a new shop build?!

I'm sure a build thread would be pretty popular on here.

 

[billspreston]

Thanks guys. We aren't doing any of the construction ourselves, but I'll be sure to share some progress the real pros are making along the way.

 

[billspreston]

1-side drywall went up last week – starting to look like something now. Rough electrical, low voltage, HVAC, and plumbing mostly in place. Insulation and remaining drywall goes in this week.

Sorry for the crappy photos, we need to get a wide-angle lens for the good camera.

 

[Ton ton]

Looks like progress to me, Bill Preston.

 

[billspreston]

Hey guys, a couple quick notes:

1. We are running a sitewide sale through Monday – 15% off all orders over $150 (sub-total) with coupon code SUMMER150.
2. Some insider info – we will be adding the majority of the KEIBA Pliers line-up in August. The product is en-route from Japan now, and then we will need to shoot high-res photos for the site. We will make an announcement via our mailing list and I will post here as well when we launch.
3. More drywall and insulation work completed this week at the new warehouse site – move in is growing nearer.

Have a great weekend!

 

[Iron-Iceberg]

I’m in A-Town let us know when you have a grand opening maybe some of us locals could swing by.

 

[billspreston]

I’m in A-Town let us know when you have a grand opening maybe some of us locals could swing by.

Yes, I imagine we will have some sort of small event when the new spot is up & running.

 

[merkyworks]

Used the 15% discount and picked up some sweet Koken and PB Swiss. Shipped super fast and even got some cool stickers 10/10

 

[billspreston]

Thanks for posting @merkyworks – nice haul

Wanted to drop a message here regarding KEIBA – pleased to say that we are out of the photo studio and now live with our initial offering there, I hope you have some time to check it out – KEIBA @ DRPD.

So why KEIBA? Our general goal as a tool supplier is to bring our customers a portfolio of tool makers that we feel are 'best in class'. Brands with a rich history that have been producing high-quality tools for a very long time. While KNIPEX is undoubtedly the king of the pliers category with a massive product catalog and equally massive global reach, we had a desire to bring in a complimentary pliers manufacturer to provide our customers with more unique offerings...

KEIBA pliers are manufactured by Maruto Hasegawa Kosakujo Inc. in Sanjo, Japan and have been done so since 1924. The racehorse logo represents the KEIBA mission of "functional beauty". The pliers are forged in-house and handmade using Japanese steel supplied by Kobe Steel in custom formulations for KEIBA called Marutolloy Steel. In short, all of this means you are getting proven, high-quality tools produced by Japanese craftsmen using premium materials all buttoned up with a touch of unique style.

Let me know if you have any questions or if we are missing a certain KEIBA tool you think we should be stocking.

 

[merkyworks]

Those High Grade with “bullet metal" are pretty cool

 

[Reed Prince]

I think we ended up concluding here a few years ago that "bullet metal" refers to the brass used for ammunition casings.

Keiba makes excellent tools, but some lines have smaller dimensions than people might be used to. The Pro-Hobby series have unusually short handles, and the Mini EPO tools are quite thin.

 

[mhejl]

Those look interesting, but way too many styles for me to wrap my head around ordered individually. Any thoughts on offering sets?

 

[billspreston]

I think we ended up concluding here a few years ago that "bullet metal" refers to the brass used for ammunition casings.

Keiba makes excellent tools, but some lines have smaller dimensions than people might be used to. The Pro-Hobby series have unusually short handles, and the Mini EPO tools are quite thin.

That's a very helpful comparison photo – thanks for sharing!

Correct on the High-Grade series 'bullet material'. I'm not sure if it's a poor translation or that's what they are calling it in Japanese, but it's essentially a brass rustproof bushing of sorts.

With regards to the tool sizing – I believe there may be a bit of apples to oranges comparison there. The ProHobby line are precision pliers for intricate work on things like models and small electronics. KNIPEX would categorize this style as electronics pliers. The name "Hobby" is a bit of a disservice to the line IMO as it might somewhat imply a lower quality tool in English – it's simply a line of high-quality pliers geared in the domestic Japanese market towards crafts, models, jewelry, etc. and the smaller handles suit those tasks.

The MiniEPO tools are for a similar purpose, but more towards the electronics market. These are very slim nippers and long nose pliers for reaching into tight spots that would be relatable to something like a KNIPEX SuperKnips.

We differentiate between precision and standard pliers when categorizing KEIBA pliers on our site – "Precision Pliers" category generally will be the smaller handles for precision tasks including the ProHobby and MiniEPO series where just "Pliers" would contain the more standard sized tools including the High-Grade series.

 

[billspreston]

Those look interesting, but way too many styles for me to wrap my head around ordered individually. Any thoughts on offering sets?

Thanks for the feedback – KEIBA doesn't offer any sets, but we will discuss both internally and with the manufacturer about some possible future options there.

 

[Not So Legendary]

Having just bought a resin printer these are very tempting. I love the smooth bare metal construction, you can just wipe off any resin that gets on them.

 

[reclaimer]

I got a couple of the smaller Keiba hobby pliers recently. I initially found out about them because I was looking for a high quality ring opener for keychains and stuff. Glad to see you got them, I was holding off from ordering from Japan again hoping you'd have what I wanted. I ended up ordering like 6 pliers, thanks!

 

[billspreston]

Having just bought a resin printer these are very tempting. I love the smooth bare metal construction, you can just wipe off any resin that gets on them.

The 3DP nippers are very cool – definitely anticipating these will be popular.

I got a couple of the smaller Keiba hobby pliers recently. I initially found out about them because I was looking for a high quality ring opener for keychains and stuff. Glad to see you got them, I was holding off from ordering from Japan again hoping you'd have what I wanted. I ended up ordering like 6 pliers, thanks!

Awesome, glad that worked out. Please let us know what you think when you get them, keen to get more feedback.

Progress update from the new warehouse – scrim and drywall is all up w/ taping almost complete. Looking good.

 

[billspreston]

Man, it's hard not to notice costs rising all around us these days. As DRPD nears its 3-Year Anniversary, we are slowly growing up and increased sales/shipping/import volumes mean that we are in a position to pass along some savings to our customers.

Over the past 6 weeks we have been bucking the trend and lowering prices on some of our most popular brands – PB Swiss, nepros, KTC and KNIPEX prices have all seen a reduction of 5-10% (a handful of special products did not change).

Check it out and thanks again for your support!

 

[gmt]

Great to hear this! Thanks

 

[billspreston]

Kicking off our Labor Day Sale tomorrow, but we've got our early access special for the GJ crew starting up now:

• 10% Off Sitewide
• 20% Off $300+
• Ends Monday, Sep 4 @ 11:59 PM Pacific Time
• Use coupon code LABOR23GJ
• *Limited Edition PB Swiss Anniversary Sets Excluded

Thanks again for your continued support!

 

[merkyworks]

• *Limited Edition PB Swiss Anniversary Sets Excluded

Haha

 

[cbracer]

I tried the coupon and saw only 10% even above $300

 

[billspreston]

Haha

Haha! For the limited edition pre-order items we typically exclude those otherwise the early pre-order buyers get a raw deal. We simply don't want to discourage people from pre-ordering early in the future.

I tried the coupon and saw only 10% even above $300

You are correct sir – this has been corrected this morning. Thank you for the heads up!

 

[Outahere]

Hi billspreston, has Koken discontinued the quick release version of their 1/4" drive Z-series ratchets? I downloaded the latest Z-Series catalog, dated Sep 2023, and it shows no 1/4" drive Z-ratchets with quick release.

Has Koken given you any detailed reason as to why they have issued a voluntary recall on the QR versions of the 72T 1/4" drive ratchets sold earlier this year? I have the long flex head ratchet with QR (2726B-160), purchased from you about 4 months ago . I would like to keep it, assuming it does not have a high probability of failure in the future from a manufacturing defect. I have given it a bit of a torture test, and it experienced zero problems with the ratcheting mechanism.

 

[tamaraw]

Hi billspreston, has Koken discontinued the quick release version of their 1/4" drive Z-series ratchets? I downloaded the latest Z-Series catalog, dated Sep 2023, and it shows no 1/4" drive Z-ratchets with quick release.

Has Koken given you any detailed reason as to why they have issued a voluntary recall on the QR versions of the 72T 1/4" drive ratchets sold earlier this year? I have the long flex head ratchet with QR (2726B-160), purchased from you about 4 months ago . I would like to keep it, assuming it does not have a high probability of failure in the future from a manufacturing defect. I have given it a bit of a torture test, and it experienced zero problems with the ratcheting mechanism.

There was a recall for potential failure of the quick release mechanism. I think it was posted either in this thread or tools of Japan? I have to guess that Ko-ken is still working on a "fix" that meets their standards.

 

[Outahere]

There was a recall for potential failure of the quick release mechanism....

The email from DRPD stated the reason for recall as:
"A potential failure of the ZB locking mechanism to engage properly"

I am not sure if that is referring to the quick release mechanism or the ratcheting mechanism.

I am wondering if there are additional details. Is there a machining error in the ratchet components? Is there a metallurgical problem with the components? Something else? Will there be a repair kit from Koken in the future ?

DRPD offers 3 options on this voluntary recall:
1. exchange for non-QR ratchet
2. return ratchet for a refund
3. keep the QR ratchet as is, and sign a waiver.

I am considering option #3.

 

[billspreston]

Hey guys, happy to share what we know regarding the Ko-ken recall.

The recall was issued because some (not all) 1/4" ZB quick-release mechanisms were found to not consistently hold & release sockets from the quick-release locking mechanism. There is an engineering challenge due to the smaller size of the 1/4" units, which is why the 3/8" compact, 3/8" and 1/2" ZB mechanisms are immune. I do not believe there is a machining error or material defect – this is a design issue that would require them to go back to the drawing board on the 1/4" ZB mechanism.

Will they make a new version? We have not been given any indication of this happening – the official comms remain that all the 1/4" ZB models have been discontinued. I get a sense that the factory is currently enduring high demand with all of the new ratchet models they released earlier this year and they do not have the bandwidth to redesign the 1/4" mechanism at this time. While I do believe there is a decent potential for them to fix this in the future, I would not expect that to be any time soon.

Hopefully that helps explain things a bit clearer. While unfortunate, I'm also happy that Ko-ken is committed to supplying a quality product. Be sure to let me know if you have any further questions.