Japanese Craftsman

[TheGrooveking]

I was wondering if anyone like me were a young guy of 17 and went to Sears and bought a set of inch and metric combination wrenches to get them home and find out they were made in Japan? I did, back in 1980, I still have them they are in my truck box. They are identical to the US made ones from that time period but say Japan on them.

TheGrooveking

 

[mikevango]

i think i have a couple of made in japan combos

 

[petty4243]

i have a few of them, but if you lok, they are not identical... stamping is completly different, all had a WF casting rather than the -v- 0r -vv- that the us made ones had

 

[RbrtAWhyt]

I saw a set on E-Bay for for crazy money. A couple of hundred dollars if I remember right...

 

[Blacknwhitepit]

i have a few of them, but if you lok, they are not identical... stamping is completly different, all had a WF casting rather than the -v- 0r -vv- that the us made ones had

All the Japanese Craftsman that I have seen and owned has had a BF stamp on them....

-BWP

 

[lbgradwell]

All the Japanese Craftsman that I have seen and owned has had a BF stamp on them....

Correct. They probably also say "MOLYBDENUM". I think petty4243 is confusing the WF mark (Western Forge) with BF...

 

[petty4243]

was just going off memory...bf and wf... similiar, but your correct and i goofed

 

[Elroy]

The original poster will find additional information on Japanese stamped Craftsmen in this thread:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28071

 

[tonydanzah]

So the wrenchs were made of impact socket metal?

 

[woody 73]

Hi Grooveking I have Japanese Craftsman ,French Craftsman and at one time Taiwan Craftsman all from the 1980's.

 

[lbgradwell]

Hi Grooveking I have Japanese Craftsman ,French Craftsman and at one time Taiwan Craftsman all from the 1980's.

Please post photos. Especially of the "France" stuff...

 

[american lockpicker]

My uncle has some of the Japanese ones.

 

[lauver]

Please post photos. Especially of the "France" stuff...

+1 on the french made Craftys. Let see some photos!

 

[mkdive]

+1 on the french made Craftys. Let see some photos!

+2

 

[lbgradwell]

+1 on the french made Craftys. Let see some photos!

You'll find them cowering in front of the German tools; just look for the little white flags...

 

[Tool Pants]

These have France on them. Made by Facom.

 

[lbgradwell]

Very interesting. Exactly what are we looking at here, Tool Pants?

Those are from the 1980s?!

 

[Tool Pants]

I think Facom calls it an angle wrench. Still in production. Sears sold them for just a short time during the 1980s. I think I still have the catalog where they are pictured.

They were very expensive for Craftsman stuff. I got the metric set on clearance when Sears was getting rid of them. Also had a SAE set. Wish I had bought the SAE set, but no spare money back then. The smallest is 8 mm. Sears did not have an 8 mm so I had to buy that one from a local tool store that sold Facom. The rest are Craftsman professionals, Made in France by Facom.

 

[lbgradwell]

Cool; like a hex-L-key, but with fixed sockets...

And Sears told you at the time they were made by Facom?

 

[Jay H 237]

I never knew Sears offered those angle wrenches. I have an identical Facom one, 13mm, that I found in one of our robots that was shipped from overseas.



My father has a set of metric Craftsman combos from Japan, problably from around 1984 when we got a Cavalier and it had metric fastners including the oil plug. The Japanese Cman seem to be much better quality than the wrenches of today.

 

[toxicz28]

You'll find them cowering in front of the German tools; just look for the little white flags...

HAHAHAHA!!!!!

 

[Scooterfish]

I have a C man plier set from the 80s made in Japan. I got them for a Christmas gift in the 80s. Sears seemed to slip these in around the holidays. They appear to be Truecraft tools to me and good quality.

 

[lauver]

Tool Pants,

Thanks for the photos of the French made angle wrenches.

I don't suppose the is a series code anywhere on those wrenches??? If so, please post.

 

[sk farmer]

yep, i remember them. thanks for the reminder. they were also in the sk catalog for a while but were still labeled facom.

 

[american lockpicker]

You'll find them cowering in front of the German tools; just look for the little white flags...

LOL I wonder if theres any tools still made in France.

 

[mkdive]

LOL I wonder if theres any tools still made in France.

On a serious note, I cant think of any tools I have ran across that were made in France. Wonder what the general quality was/is of their tools?

 

[Monte]

i posted a couple of french tool manufacturers in a other thread:

www.edma.fr www.fischer-darex.com www.peugeot-muller.com www.sam-outillage.fr www.mure-peyrot.com www.racodon.fr www.leborgne.fr www.sf-electric.com www.sacca-france.com www.bost.fr www.moboutillage.com www.virax.fr www.outillage-roux.com www.dolex.fr www.dussaussay-gallier.com www.gillet-tools.com www.bessey-ser.fr www.ultra-tm.com www.facom.com

Eurotools/Snap-on produces special tools for cars in france ("Z-International") and pliers. Some saws and tape measuring tools for Facom and also Stanley (Bow saws, wood saws) are also still made in France.

 

[boostedgt]

i'd buy a french tool! never fired and only dropped once

 

[Tool Pants]

For Gary, there is no series code. I said the 1980's, but it was the 1990s.

Here they are in the 1994-1995 catalog as a new item. They are also in the 1995-1996 catalog, and gone in the 1997-1998 catalog. $74.99 for the set, which was a lot of money for funny looking French tools. I did not know who made them when I bought the set from Sears. I think I paid half that when Sears got rid of them.

Later I saw them in a 1997 SK catalog. I got the catalog from the local Post Tool. Post Tool did not have these angle wrenches. The name Facom meant nothing to me back then.

I now know Facom bought SK in 1985. The set I bought from Sears was 10 mm - 19 mm, but there was no 16 mm. Sears had no open stock for a size not included in the set.

I bought the 8 mm Facom from a local tool place in January 1998 for $9.95, because Sears did not have this size. The Post Tool guy told me where to go, which was a place down the street from my office called G & G Tools. $9.95 was expensive for me back then for a little 8 mm, so I did not buy the 16 mm to complete the set.

Both local tool companies are long gone. I had converted to the metric system long ago for automotive tools. Another reason I did not buy the inch set when Sears was getting rid of them.

Why Sears had Facom tools for a short time is easy for me to understand today. SK made tools for Sears. Why they did not last? Too expensive and not something the typical Sears customer would buy. A bit stange buying a Craftsman tool Made in France, but I could tell they were very good quality.

This is the 10 mm from the Craftsman set, and the 8 mm I bought later.

 

[superautobacs]

Toolpants,

The price you paid is not bad at all. In fact, I think us North Americans get a good price on Facom tools....over what Europeans have to pay for them. I paid quite a bit of money to purchase the 6,7,8, and 9mm pipe socket wrenches in France.

BTW, Facom isn't the one that manufactures them. BOST is the OEM. They also supply other hand tools for Facom.

So, if you want to complete your set, you may try looking into purchasing from Bost and Stanley as well on Ebay (Bost is owned by Stanley).

 

[sawmillman]

I found a sears japan 3/4 and 11/16 stamped bf,and a copper berylco 7/8's at a pawn shop today and paid ed 2 buck for them.

 

[Mickey O]

On a serious note, I cant think of any tools I have ran across that were made in France. Wonder what the general quality was/is of their tools?

If a bolts too tight they surrender and give up.

 

[Vash Bitchko]

I just found a set of these in my attic 1/4 up to 3/4 the previous owners of my house must of left them here I love finding surprise tools.

 

[Rickster]

Not to go too far off topic, but I saw this about the French stereotype and it opened my eyes.

The image of the "cowardly Frenchman" has appeared in virtually every media possible, from movies to children's shows and video games, right down to the personal sentiments of Captain America (and he wouldn't lie to you; dishonesty makes Captain America vomit in rage).

Why it's All ********:

Ask Rudyard Kipling, who once famously said about the French: "Their business is war, and they do their business." And boy howdy, a quick glance at France's history shows business is booming:

Since 387 BC, France has fought 168 major wars against such badasses as the Roman Empire, the British Army and the Turkish forces. Their track record isn't too shabby, either: They've won 109, lost 49 and drawn (or as close as you can "draw" a war) 10 times. Professional boxers have been crowned world champions on shittier records than that.

And while it is true that France surrendered to Germany relatively early in WWII, that was only because they hadn't picked themselves up after WWI yet. And WWI (despite being an entire "I" lower) wasn't exactly an anemic playground chickenfight--the French suffered about 5.7 million casualties (the war killed or wounded an incredible 37 million people worldwide).

So yes, the next time around they let the Germans take over officially, but they never actually stopped fighting: the French resistance was one of the most enduring symbols of Nazi opposition in Europe. The resistance was the originator of the archetypal trench coat wearing merchants of ****** death you see in countless action movies and video games today. They blew up bridges, staged daring night raids, slit German throats while generally looking fantastic (if a little ennui-stricken) while doing it.

And not a damn thing's changed since then: France is the most underestimated military force in the world, with the third highest military spending on the planet and an estimated 300 nuclear warheads at their disposal. So basically... we might want to knock off the "coward" talk now, lest we find the impeccably-styled death squads smoking their thin cigarettes on our doorstep.

 

[redsky49]

Not to go too far off topic, but I saw this about the French stereotype and it opened my eyes.

The image of the "cowardly Frenchman" has appeared in virtually every media possible, from movies to children's shows and video games, right down to the personal sentiments of Captain America (and he wouldn't lie to you; dishonesty makes Captain America vomit in rage).

Why it's All ********:

Ask Rudyard Kipling, who once famously said about the French: "Their business is war, and they do their business." And boy howdy, a quick glance at France's history shows business is booming:

Since 387 BC, France has fought 168 major wars against such badasses as the Roman Empire, the British Army and the Turkish forces. Their track record isn't too shabby, either: They've won 109, lost 49 and drawn (or as close as you can "draw" a war) 10 times. Professional boxers have been crowned world champions on shittier records than that.

And while it is true that France surrendered to Germany relatively early in WWII, that was only because they hadn't picked themselves up after WWI yet. And WWI (despite being an entire "I" lower) wasn't exactly an anemic playground chickenfight--the French suffered about 5.7 million casualties (the war killed or wounded an incredible 37 million people worldwide).

So yes, the next time around they let the Germans take over officially, but they never actually stopped fighting: the French resistance was one of the most enduring symbols of Nazi opposition in Europe. The resistance was the originator of the archetypal trench coat wearing merchants of ****** death you see in countless action movies and video games today. They blew up bridges, staged daring night raids, slit German throats while generally looking fantastic (if a little ennui-stricken) while doing it.

And not a damn thing's changed since then: France is the most underestimated military force in the world, with the third highest military spending on the planet and an estimated 300 nuclear warheads at their disposal. So basically... we might want to knock off the "coward" talk now, lest we find the impeccably-styled death squads smoking their thin cigarettes on our doorstep.

I agree with this too. While it is great sport to pick on the French, the continuing effects from WWI can not be overstated. Plus, the poor planning of the Maginot Line defense strategy (my understanding is that the Germans simply drove around the worrisome sections in the application of the "Blitzkrieg" mechanized tactics) made the decision to surrender understandable.

Don't forget that the French national pastime was battling the Brits (for about 1,000 years going back to the Battle of Hastings (1066) and before that to the post-Roman rule era), as well as their other European neighbors.

Maybe we should allow them one "pass" on this one. America really has no idea what the consequences of modern warfare would be like on our own soil.

Just my opinion

 

[petty4243]

I agree with this too. While it is great sport to pick on the French, the continuing effects from WWI can not be overstated. Plus, the poor planning of the Maginot Line defense strategy (my understanding is that the Germans simply drove around the worrisome sections in the application of the "Blitzkrieg" mechanized tactics) made the decision to surrender understandable.

Don't forget that the French national pastime was battling the Brits (for about 1,000 years going back to the Battle of Hastings (1066) and before that to the post-Roman rule era), as well as their other European neighbors.

Maybe we should allow them one "pass" on this one. America really has no idea what the consequences of modern warfare would be like on our own soil.

Just my opinion

not going to knock the French, but we do know what war on our own soil is like.... Have we forgotten Pearl Harbor? yes not as modrn as current, but stil own soil... next 911 attack on world trade centers.... absolutly modern... not to mention other terrorist attacks within borders

 

[Mickey O]

On a serious note, I cant think of any tools I have ran across that were made in France. Wonder what the general quality was/is of their tools?

****, they retreat when the going gets tough. Plus according to Homer S they're a bunch of cheese eating surrender monkeys.

 

[MrRocket]

Well, as far as tools go being made in Japan. The Japanese are excellent at alot of things and they sure know how to use steel. It's like it's in their blood. They have the best made fighting swords (katanas)the world has ever seen. I would love to have some Japanese made Craftsman tools.

 

[Major Ramifications]

Well, as far as tools go being made in Japan. The Japanese are excellent at alot of things and they sure know how to use steel. It's like it's in their blood. They have the best made fighting swords (katanas)the world has ever seen. I would love to have some Japanese made Craftsman tools.

Too bad for them that their guns are so crappy.

I'll sell you my Craftsman combo wrench set that was made in Japan. I got them for Christmas when I was younger.

 

[jlenander]

Too bad for them that their guns are so crappy.

I'll sell you my Craftsman combo wrench set that was made in Japan. I got them for Christmas when I was younger.

The Japanese make some very high quality guns. Ever heard of Mirouku? They make some of Brownings finest guns. They are in an entirely different league of manufacturing quality than the rest of their SE Asia neighbors.
I too have metric and SAE Craftsman Japanese wrench sets. They are sort of sentimental to me since they were the first sets I ever bought. Paid for them on lay-a-way...rode my skateboard to the store when I had the money for a payment. I did not discover the fact that they were not US for many years; even then I was not bothered. The stamped sizing and script on them is sharper than any of my USA made Craftsman sets.
Jon