Fedwrench
ALLIANCE MEMBER
You probably need to contact Cornwell tools and recommend that they change their about us page.
I am curious about Cornwell tools
- Thread starter impactims
- Start date
You probably need to contact Cornwell tools and recommend that they change their about us page.
Two mechanics at my shop recently, with in 3 months of each other, bought long half inch drive ratchets and the pawls broke on both on their first use. Cornwell guy warrantied them but said they weren't made for as that much torque, a guy leaning on it no cheater pipes or anything. That said I have a set of 3/8 drive deep wobble and they're fine, nothing to write home about but if their tools aren't on promo I find them very over priced for what you're getting.
Wamsutta
Well-known member
Being that Cornwell has an import line of ratchets that they do not make themselves, I'd want to get the model numbers off those two ratchets you speak of before I pass judgement.
BarryWells
Well-known member
Good luck but my Guess is SATA. Part of the Apex conglomerate
andyrohrer
New member
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2013
- Messages
- 1
We have a Cornwell guy who comes to the shop, I bought some of their budget Blue Power SAE sockets in 3/8 and 1/4, since I don't use SAE much, and I like them. Another guy in the shop bought the Cornwell-branded IR 2135 QT impact for about $100 less than the IR one and it's even quieter than my IR.
About a year or so ago, there were probably about 8 of their trucks in a restaurant parking lot near my house one evening. I was shocked! Wish I had a picture.
WittHay
Well-known member
INSP380
Well-known member
I’m a fan....
Steve
Steve
twertsy
Well-known member
You probably need to contact Cornwell tools and recommend that they change their about us page.
Funny story...........when I first did all the research on Cornwell and published it on my site, I received a "cease & desist or else....." threat from their lawyer. I called him and said "cease and desist what? Posting links to stuff that's already on the internet? Good luck with that." Never heard another word.........
Perhaps I'll have my daughter produce a "Cornwell Quality Tools, The REAL Story" video.............
An older tech at my job got really angry with the advisor one day and quit - that was about 8 years ago. He was a master BMW tech with over 28yrs in the dealership making good money with full benefits/vacation. He was in his late 50's.
Next thing we hear is that he's working at a tire shop. After that we hear that he cashed in his 401k and bought a Cornwell route. About two years ago he starts coming into the shop weekly. I (along with a lot of the other techs) bought stuff from him since we knew him and he was a cool guy.
About three months ago I needed an 18mm impact socket that I lost and he happened to be the next tool guy in the shop so I asked him for one. I aksed price and he said "About $20". Okay, a bit more than I want to spend on one socket but whatever, I needed it.
I go on a test drive and come back to find the socket with a receipt for $39.56. he was already gone. I didn't question it the following week and let it be. That was the last tool I bought from him. Talking to the other guys, seemed like they had felt he had taken them too, so they too cut back on buying stuff. He hasn't been around for about a month and a half now.
Hopefully he's okay but I can't even imagine cashing in your 401k so closed to retirement age (which is a ******** concept but for the sake of the story) and pray you make it selling overpriced tools.
Next thing we hear is that he's working at a tire shop. After that we hear that he cashed in his 401k and bought a Cornwell route. About two years ago he starts coming into the shop weekly. I (along with a lot of the other techs) bought stuff from him since we knew him and he was a cool guy.
About three months ago I needed an 18mm impact socket that I lost and he happened to be the next tool guy in the shop so I asked him for one. I aksed price and he said "About $20". Okay, a bit more than I want to spend on one socket but whatever, I needed it.
I go on a test drive and come back to find the socket with a receipt for $39.56. he was already gone. I didn't question it the following week and let it be. That was the last tool I bought from him. Talking to the other guys, seemed like they had felt he had taken them too, so they too cut back on buying stuff. He hasn't been around for about a month and a half now.
Hopefully he's okay but I can't even imagine cashing in your 401k so closed to retirement age (which is a ******** concept but for the sake of the story) and pray you make it selling overpriced tools.
jcturbot
Member
That Cornwell dealer wouldn't happen to be Larry Leblanc by chance? Super nice guy by the way.
Jeff
That's a terrible story. The first few pages left me with the impression he was looking for validation on a decision he'd already made - there were plenty of red flags raised up front. The last few pages were heartbreaking.
I think the intersection of skills and resources needed to be successful as the truck guy is pretty rare, and there's a lot of personal/financial hardship or ruin for the rest.
wafrederick
Well-known member
Cornwell treats their dealers like **** getting rid of dealers.l deal with Koon Trucking's independent tool dealer whom used to be a Cornwell dealer.Cornwell got rid of him,both did not see eye to eye at all
If he's the guy I'm thinking of (Joe, though I think there's another, younger guy), he seems like a nice dude. If I were trying to be a truck guy, being fully independent would be my choice if possible. Margins are probably slimmer since I doubt Milwaukee, GearWrench, Knipex, etc. sell directly to someone like him (but who knows), but at least he has more control of his inventory, costs, etc. and can skip all the BS travel, etc.
That's the kind of guy I could see HF enabling with the Icon line too - give him the ability (and a bonus) to sign them up for the Inside Track club and HF credit card, etc.
wafrederick
Well-known member
lt is Joe and another ex Cornwell dealer he knows went through the same thing.
freudianfloyd
Well-known member
Softail's story makes me think I should never buy a Cornwell tool off of a truck, but then again, it sounds like the truck drivers could really use the money and need all the help they can get.
Al Borland
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2016
- Messages
- 1,598
I have an old Cornwell ratchet somewhere. No more remarkable/better/worse than an old Craftsman RP ratchet. It works, but I'm not going to put any effort into looking for it. I gave away the sockets that went with it, because I didn't use them and a friend's brother-in-law needed some sockets. I would have given him the ratchet too, if I could have found it.
KnurledNut
Well-known member
Finance Guy
Well-known member
Cornwell truck ... Megan Fox couldn't give a rat's *** if you win the lottery (which you won't).
BlakeTheCarGuy
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I have a few Cornwell tools. No local distributors around here. At work they have a Matco warehouse. Used to have a distributor and there is tons of Cornwell stuff in there that was trade ins. I got a ratchet but it feels like it needs to be rebuilt. The rest of my Cornwell stuff has came from the pawn shops around here. They are nothing special really however I do wish we had more than one tool truck at work to give us a variety and have access to our favorite tools from certain brands. Like I really like the ratchet handles on Cornwell but don’t have a distributor so my second favorite the Snap-on hard handles I have been getting. Also a lot of people I know have never heard of Cornwell tools so I feel if they did start up or start back up if they were here before that they would go under real quick unfortunately.
Only Cornwell tool I have is digital tire inflator/gage. I like that it uses AAA Batts instead of the button style.
Had a Cornwell guy come to one shop I worked at. He had just started out. I think it put him into some serious debt. I never bought much of anything since I had only seen a Cornwell truck exactly once before and haven't seen one since I left that garage
The hardline tools looked decent but nothing special. The prices were only marginally better than the other truck brands. The tool boxes looked nice. The upper end boxes had a drawer latch similar to snapon epiq.
Had a Cornwell guy come to one shop I worked at. He had just started out. I think it put him into some serious debt. I never bought much of anything since I had only seen a Cornwell truck exactly once before and haven't seen one since I left that garage
The hardline tools looked decent but nothing special. The prices were only marginally better than the other truck brands. The tool boxes looked nice. The upper end boxes had a drawer latch similar to snapon epiq.
I did win a lottery once it was the Draft Lottery in 1969.Cornwell truck ... Megan Fox couldn't give a rat's *** if you win the lottery (which you won't).
I always read these Cornwell threads.
About 13 years ago, my wife took me to the estate sale of a man who had owned a local auto repair shop. It had closed years before, but he was demented and they were clearing out and selling the estate. The worst part... they bought the man by his estate sale. He did not understand what was going on, and thought that people were taking his things.
I filled a 5 gallon bucket with Cornwell, Snap-on, Matco, and MAC that day. I went from mostly Craftsman, to mostly truck tools that day. I have been adding to what I bought that day ever since.
Over half of the tools that I bought that day were Cornwell. So... Anyways, I have a **** ton of Cornwell.
About 13 years ago, my wife took me to the estate sale of a man who had owned a local auto repair shop. It had closed years before, but he was demented and they were clearing out and selling the estate. The worst part... they bought the man by his estate sale. He did not understand what was going on, and thought that people were taking his things.
I filled a 5 gallon bucket with Cornwell, Snap-on, Matco, and MAC that day. I went from mostly Craftsman, to mostly truck tools that day. I have been adding to what I bought that day ever since.
Over half of the tools that I bought that day were Cornwell. So... Anyways, I have a **** ton of Cornwell.
joseywales
Well-known member
Same. I haven't turned wrenches professionally since the 80s. Back then, we had a Cornwell truck each week. I had actually gone to high school with his son. Nice kid. His dad was huge and you could tell they didn't have much money. I was young, and poor, so I bought what I could from him, helping us both out and I figured it. He was good guy and I often think about him and his son. Softail's story makes me want to beat someone. I can't imagine going through that, at that age. Franchises, any franchises, are a slippery slope.
gatewaysysop
Well-known member
Cornwell treats their customers like **** too. I went through at least three dealers trying to find someone to sell me probably $500+ worth of stuff. Part #s in hand, cash in hand, willing to meet at one of their regular stops, easy money but not good enough for them.
I spoke personally to the district manager and his boss the regional manager. both were complete assholes that couldn't have cared less that I was having a hard time trying to buy any of their product. Lavished praise on their worthless, do-nothing dealers and blamed everyone else but themselves for the **** service their company was providing me.
The general manager in particular was real *************. He actually called me up in a huff, ******* and moaning because I'd left a message for his boss, the operations manager, after he failed to call me back for weeks. "I got my boss telling me I didn't do my job," he whines when I asked why he sounded pissed off at me. Considering he hadn't done his job, I was quite delighted to hear that his boss was up his ***.
Ultimately bought what I needed in the secondary market. I really like their old-school 30-tooth ratchets, but I wouldn't spit in the direction of one of their dealers ever again. I honestly cannot comprehend how they stay in business, and I'll be surprised if they actually do for much longer.
ZRX61
Well-known member
We had a set of their angle OE wrenches at the hangar. They look like they were stamped out of a sheet of steel plate & then chrome plated without removing the mill scale.
Jweebothee
Well-known member
Softails story sucked, I still read it from time to time, however, I can’t let his experience influence my mind on my own CW tool guy, he is awesome, gives great deals, the tool truck is his retirement gig, ( he did very well for himself in his prior career, has a great savings, stock market, retirement fund and pension from that career that has been going in the bank, and the tool truck is basically just for fun) his next venture is break away from CW and go Indy, in his words (tool trucking is just fun)
to edit, he is one of the very few that make it in the tool truck biz
Last edited:
It turns out Cornwell's tool boxes are Kennedy , Cornwell brought Kennedy some time back.
www.inddist.com
Cornwell's manufacturing facility looks pathetic compared to the Kennedy manufacturing facility:
www.cornwelltools.com
Cornwell Quality Tools Buys Kennedy Manufacturing
Private investment firm JVA Partners LLC is selling its KMC Holdings Group — which includes Kennedy Manufacturing — to Cornwell Quality Tools Co. Both Kennedy and Cornwell are based in Ohio.
www.inddist.com
Cornwell's manufacturing facility looks pathetic compared to the Kennedy manufacturing facility:
Manufacturing Operations at Cornwell Quality Tools
Mogadore OH, Van Wert Ohio, Tool box manufacturing opertations and Hand Tool manufacturing operations
www.cornwelltools.com
Ton ton
Well-known member
Thank you.That statement is just fucked up beyond all recognition
Although the search function could be your friend is this situation, here goes:
Cornwell owns Cornwell. They are a family & employee owned company going back to 1919.
https://www.cornwelltools.com/about
Their hardline is as well made in the USA as any other tool truck brand. Yes, they only make most of their hardline (ratchets, sockets, & wrenches) in house. they also recently bought kennedy tool box company recently so, they also make most of their tool boxes now.
Many of their tool designs remain unchanged for 50 years or more. Take their 30 tooth coke bottle shaped handled ratchets for example. Although, they offer a 72 tooth version, the classic 30 tooth model is as smooth as butter but looks like your Grandfather's ratchet from his hot rodding days.
Their chrome sockets (not the asian made bluepower series) still feature a single hole on one side of the square drive end for the drive tool retention ball instead of having a cut out on each side of the square drive as most other manufactures do.
Cornwell uses other suppliers for the rest of their offerings. Most of their bit sockets are made by vim, ratcheting wrenches by Kabo, screwdriver by Witte or an asian supplier, pliers by Channellock, Knipex, or Asian made, etc.
This is no worse than Matco, or the cross branding that occurs within the huge MAC, FACOM, USAG, or Stanley empire.
Cornwell produces solid performing, no frills, durable tools but, some of their designs are a bit dated and they aren't a segment leader in anything. Some of the nicest tool dealers I have ever dealt with over the years were Cornwell dealers. Now Cornwell supports their dealer network so, they don't sell to just anyone with money online. Their target market is the professional Auto/Diesel/Auto Body tech.
That's my spin on Cornwell
One of my friends was a Cornwell dealer for a few years. He was the only one on all of Long Island. I bought quite a bit of stuff from him. He sold the truck and moved on to something else. A few months ago, I misplaced my 2.5mm cushion handled alan wrench. I didn't want to replace it with just anything since they all fit into a plastic tray. I looked on line figuring I could buy a new one. No dice.
I contacted Cornwell and they put me in touch with the closest dealer... In Philadelphia.
The guy was very accommodating and sold me a new wrench and shipped it to me.
They're fine tools. I have mostly Snap On but my friend was giving me the Cornwells for such a great deal I couldn't resist.
I contacted Cornwell and they put me in touch with the closest dealer... In Philadelphia.
The guy was very accommodating and sold me a new wrench and shipped it to me.
They're fine tools. I have mostly Snap On but my friend was giving me the Cornwells for such a great deal I couldn't resist.
1foxracing
Well-known member
Ton ton
Well-known member
Those tools look beautiful.
I am having this happen to me now. I get emails from them every so often so I finally decided I wanted to buy some stuff from them for my new job. I don’t have a lot of metric stuff. So I emailed them a list of part numbers and I got a response back saying that they do not sell to the public and gave me a number to a district person . I did not hear back from him ended up just nuying the tools from somewhere else. I figure if I have that bad of a time trying to buy their stuff how easy is it to warranty if I have a problem.
I have a really good relationship with both my tire/alignment shop and the shop that takes care of the old BMW's and I'm pretty sure I could ask them what day/time their truck tends to show up and if I could be there. As I think I said earlier in the thread, the SO truck was at the tire/alignment joint a month or two ago when I was there, and the owner of the shop invited me to come on with him. Between needing to be somewhere and knowing getting on that truck would be tempting, I declined
. But I'm sure I could go back...driftpin
Well-known member
My friend in so. Florida has an air compressor sales and service business, probably 40 years. The Cornwell dealer had no problem selling me tools as a walk-on. I have a few items, never had to have anything warrantied, but my use of their tools is that they are well-made, durable, and available locally.
I asked the dealer if he would sell to me if I had a need, and called him, he said, "sure no problem," and he accepts plastic. I got a catalog and spoke to my friend the shop owner, and he said he's accept anything I ordered, and hold it until I showed-up.
I asked the dealer if he would sell to me if I had a need, and called him, he said, "sure no problem," and he accepts plastic. I got a catalog and spoke to my friend the shop owner, and he said he's accept anything I ordered, and hold it until I showed-up.
bob15
Well-known member
That statement is just fucked up beyond all recognition
Although the search function could be your friend is this situation, here goes:
Cornwell owns Cornwell. They are a family & employee owned company going back to 1919.
I do believe that justtools mean that Snap On should buy them, make them into their Blue Point line and then people could actually find and use their tools. Not sure how that wasn't picked up on........
Tinner
Well-known member
I thought you bought Cornwell tools from their website. That's what you told us in this thread:
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...ith-my-cornwell-tool-rep.465981/#post-8764054