I was in a local tool store this afternoon and was drawn to a few displays of Martin Tools. For those of you who are not familiar with Martin, they are a 100% US made industrial hand tool manufacturer. On one display they had a full selection of ball peen, hand drilling and cross peen hammers. Very nice. The faces are machined beautifully and they have a nice corrosion resistant coating. High quality and well balanced wood handles. They were not cheap, but IMO reasonable considering the quality. I believe the 24 oz. ball peen was around $22. They also had displays of open end service wrenches, open end angle wrenches, double box wrenches, flare nut crowfoot wrenches, large impact sockets and some adjustable wrenches. Very nice stuff. I ended up buying a couple of box end wrenches and two adjustable wrenches just to try them out. I would post some pics but the wife has my camera and is out of town until Tuesday.
Box end wrenches: The satin finish is very nice and smooth; the broaching is perfectly centered; the handles are thick but not too much so; the handle edges are perfectly rounded and smooth (very comfortable); the offset angles are very precise.
Adjustable wrenches: Very smooth satin finish; rounded handle edges, no play whatsoever in the jaws, nice wide capacity.
Let me say that Martin Tools are not very pretty, but these are some tough mother f'ers. And for me, the feel is outstanding. I see myself buying more. Maybe a hammer next time and possibly a few more box wrenches. They carry some very large sizes.
I also considered some of the angle wrenches, but one side has a standard 15 degree offset and I already have too many open end wrenches with that angle. I have my heart set on some Snappy four ways. With the Snappys, both sides of the wrench will see some use.
I will try to post some pics soon and give some feedback after using the tools.
Box end wrenches: The satin finish is very nice and smooth; the broaching is perfectly centered; the handles are thick but not too much so; the handle edges are perfectly rounded and smooth (very comfortable); the offset angles are very precise.
Adjustable wrenches: Very smooth satin finish; rounded handle edges, no play whatsoever in the jaws, nice wide capacity.
Let me say that Martin Tools are not very pretty, but these are some tough mother f'ers. And for me, the feel is outstanding. I see myself buying more. Maybe a hammer next time and possibly a few more box wrenches. They carry some very large sizes.
I also considered some of the angle wrenches, but one side has a standard 15 degree offset and I already have too many open end wrenches with that angle. I have my heart set on some Snappy four ways. With the Snappys, both sides of the wrench will see some use.
I will try to post some pics soon and give some feedback after using the tools.
My Snappy dealer also sells Martin, but I got mine through McMaster.