Replacement for Craftsman mechanics tools?

[1978silverado]

Hi everyone! I was just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on what brands to consider when purchasing a mechanics tool set. I was looking for something mid range size,to take on different handyman jobs I do. I really liked the USA made Craftsman sets but they are getting hard to find. I really don't care for harbor freight stuff,so I was thinking Milwaukee, DeWalt, SK, gear wrench. I would prefer USA made if possible.thanks for any input.

 

[Tallpilot]

There are more than a few threads on this topic if you do some searching.

The general consensus though is big sets often include filler pieces so it’s more economical to buy separately. If you want specific options we need a budget. Made in USA will be at least double the cost and upwards of quadruple if you want both metric and fractional.

https://www.tekton.com/3-8-inch-drive-6-point-socket-and-ratchet-set-skt15301

http://www.toolsdelivered.com/Willi...ools-3-8-Inch-Drive-Chrome-Metric-Socket-Sets

 

[1978silverado]

Thanks for the input! I'm not as concerned about price,just would prefer a quality USA made set.

 

[1978silverado]

Thanks for the information. I got spoiled in the mid 1990s while in trade school using USA made Craftsman stuff.when I graduated in 1998, I bought a very large Craftsman mechanics set which served me well while employed as an automotive technician. I still have the set at home for garage projects. I will check out your items listed.

 

[Professional Tool User]

If you really want to go with a Made in USA set, go look for used stuff. Otherwise, from a cost benefit stand point, it's really hard to justify paying double or more for stuff that doesn't break often like wrenches and sockets. Milwaukee and Dewalt's Made in Taiwan hand tools seem to be decent. I bought a set of Dewalt wrenches to see if the ASD open end works so I didn't have to spend double or more that for the Proto equivalent. Gearwrench I would personally try to avoid because of Apex tool group's cost cutting, though their ratchets are some of the better cheap ones. As I mentioned in the beginning, with SK, Wright, Proto, Williams, and some of your other Made in USA options, buy used or online if you can get a good deal and don't beat on the tool (unless you know a local authorized dealer who is willing to help you with warranty). Snap on list prices are marginally more so it doesn't make much sense to buy from an authorized dealer.

 

[royesses]

Buy SK from Harry Epstein's if you want USA quality at a good price. Proto and Snap-on are more expensive USA tools. Some Williams are USA and there are others Wilde and . Used craftsman Professional USA versions are still on ebay and are very good quality. Wright Tool is very good. Channellock are still USA made and very good.

 

[JiminAZ]

If I were building out today I'd buy piecemeal:

Chrome Sockets from Williams USA or SK or Proto or maybe even Wright depending on where I could find best prices. If you're patient the Williams USA sets can be bought on Amazon for great prices otherwise toolsdelivered.com, HJE for NOS, etc.

Ratchets from Snap-on, SK, Wright. Ebay, HJE, amazon or sales from time to time at places like Circle Supply

Extensions from Wright, Proto, SK whatever I could find at a decent price

Screwdrivers from Williams USA (the old Snapon hard handle) and Tekton (US made rebranded likely from Wilde). Throw in a set of Felo insulated drivers.

Hex keys Bondhus or Ecklind, Hex/torx drivers I'd likely go VIM (Taiwan).

Take a look at Wilde for punches and prybars and scrapers

Combo wrenches from Wright (for the Wrightgrip) and likely SK for non flank drive light duty stuff where a non marking shorter wrench is desired. Also consider Stahlwille type 13 or 14 (German stuff) bought from amazon.de.

Impact sockets from Williams USA (or Taiwan), or SK

Maybe some low profile and nut grip sockets and universal joints (Japanese) from KoKen/Frankstools.com

And I've made some decent buys right here in the classifieds section for lightly used US made tools.

 

[Danglerb]

My favorite tool brand is used, excellent quality and price. Doing handyman work you will end up buying tools from wherever you buy supplies at least some of the time.

 

[woody 73]

Just my two cents...

Pound for pound the carbon copy of craftsman is SK tools Made in the USA.

 

[supertooljunkie]

You can't always find complete sets, but pawnshops are an excellent way to purchase US made tools at really good prices.

Last week I purchased a set of Armstrong10-32MM chrome combo wrenches for $80. The largest wrenches had never been used. Set was missing 10-15MM, but someone had stuffed in a 15/16" Armstrong and several other wrenches.

I purchased replacements for missing from Cripes for $50.

I have scored Snap on ratchets for $2-3 each. Larger Snap on combo wrenches 1-5/8" up to 2-1/4" Industrial finish for $20.

I buy US made Craftsman sockets for as low as 25 cents each.

Worth checking into.

 

[Wamsutta]

I think USA made Williams is a good replacement for Craftsman.

Proto is another good option.

 

[woody 73]

I think USA made Williams is a good replacement for Craftsman.

Proto is another good option.

Yes indeed Williams is a good replacement but...(always a but) if you are not careful you could end up with a set not made in the USA. On the other hand any tool from SK unlike Williams will indeed be made in the USA.


Wmsutta I enjoyed your post from many years ago about crimping wire that was a fantastic post you did good job.

 

[JiminAZ]

All you need to know to get US made Willliams is only buy products with letters in the product code. If it's 100% numbers it's Taiwan. None of it is China as far as I know.

 

[Tallpilot]

Yes indeed Williams is a good replacement but...(always a but) if you are not careful you could end up with a set not made in the USA. On the other hand any tool from SK unlike Williams will indeed be made in the USA.


Wmsutta I enjoyed your post from many years ago about crimping wire that was a fantastic post you did good job.

Good PSA. The trick of course is only order tools with letters in the part numbers.

Another trick though is only order from retailers that clearly state the coo instead of playing hide the wienie.

(Please don't take this personally) This complaint is usually advanced by SK fans trying to discourage people from Williams and push them to SK. I consider them basically equivalent but Toolsdelivered's pricing makes Williams significantly cheaper than SK.

 

[erty67]

I get American pride, but there are plenty tools out there that keep up with 80s craftsman quality without breaking the bank. When you say you don't like the Harbor Freight stuff, what exactly have you used? I get not all of there stuff is great, but they do have plenty tools that keep up or what you've used. Ratchets particularly come to mind. That aside, both Tekton and Carlyle are great Taiwan made choices.

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[John in OH]

I love my Wright tools ... made in US, excellent quality, "moderate" price (but don't expect to get them for the same price you used to buy Cman). A non-US brand you might want to take a look at is the Carlyle line at NAPA ... they are pretty good.

I don't think there are many US tool manufacturers left ... SO (too expensive and you don't need to pay for their service); Wright, SK, Williams (some made in US, some in Taiwan); Proto .... and that's about it.

 

[uncwstudent]

I'm personally a big fan of SK Tools. They are well made right here in the US and seem to have pretty good customer service. To be frank, they're also beautiful. They're a bit pricey but you can get better deals on Amazon, at Harry J Epstein's, or Circle C Supply.

 

[sberry]

How old are you guys? Can has been junk since the 80s. If anything g the China stuff is as good or better and a lot cheaper,, so what if they throw some bits in, it's really free.

 

[Citation]

Ignoring the COO issue, something I miss with the demise of Sears is the one stop shop nature of the line. While not always the best (in the price range) you could fill your whole tool box with almost nothing but Craftsman tools (including the box) and have a very serviceable set of tools. It was also easy to give a blanket Craftsman recommendation. Now that's no longer the case. Personally I think the Husky ratchets and wrenches are good DIY tools (they are Apex based on GW mechanisms) but the range of tools is more limited. Perhaps a new store will rise to that level.

 

[sberry]

In 80 I thought I would get Cman of old, I was disappointed when I bought the biggest set they had. It was 10% the cost of the truck then, dropped to less than 5 now and is the same. I have bought more, bought other but basically used it since in a tuff world. Broken sockets right out of the box was the biggest issue, replacements been fine, was mostly in the most common sizes.
Never broke a wrench and cheater some of them. Screwdrivers were good enough. The rest was ok, taps, dies, even hex, bits, all ok.

 

[sberry]

I bought several Cman sets in the 90s. Bought them to meet manpower demands for different jobs. Cheaper to buy than limp at that cost.
As for another store stepping up,, there is one.

 

[JiminAZ]

Sitting in my house, as we speak, I'm disappointed in Snap On for stooping to this:

****. I don't mind buying foreign tools when it makes sense but I really don't want (for political reasons) to send my money to China.

 

[John in OH]

****. I don't mind buying foreign tools when it makes sense but I really don't want (for political reasons) to send my money to China.

For what it's worth ... Taiwan is NOT China, so I have no real problem with Taiwan source tools.

 

[John in OH]

Sitting in my house, as we speak, I'm disappointed in Snap On for stooping to this:

Bummer. That is disappointing to see.

 

[Yarpo]

Sitting in my house, as we speak, I'm disappointed in Snap On for stooping to this:

Everyone's on path to have Chinese tools, just joining in the race to the bottom

 

[JiminAZ]

yes I'll buy Taiwan, Germany etc when it makes sense, but not China. Sent Williams/Snap On a strongly worded email to that effect.

Back to the OP who just wants some new preferably US tools, have you found anything you like? Hope you do.

 

[eschoendorff]

The closest thing to replace the Craftsman we all knew “back in the day” is SK.

/thread.

 

[NoMoreGreen]

To be fair to Williams, and while I dislike what Snap On is doing with the Williams brand, Williams Industrial tools still offers a significant amount of made in the USA tools along with their tawain and china stuff.

 

[JiminAZ]

Yep and I'm a big fanboy of the US made stuff. Holds up in the oilfield where I work and our guys abuse the heck out of the tools.

 

[Tallpilot]

Sitting in my house, as we speak, I'm disappointed in Snap On for stooping to this:

This is very interesting. I’d like to see some confirmation from Snap-on if these are actually made on the mainland or if they are bowing to political pressure to treat Taiwan and China the same.

If they really are moving to the mainland to save cost; that is extremely disappointing. Tekton has Chinese hammers for a fraction of the cost.

 

[DFB]

This is very interesting. I’d like to see some confirmation from Snap-on if these are actually made on the mainland or if they are bowing to political pressure to treat Taiwan and China the same.

If they really are moving to the mainland to save cost; that is extremely disappointing. Tekton has Chinese hammers for a fraction of the cost.

Interesting you mention that without getting into the political I also have been looking deeper into recent "Taiwan branding" of tools and if those business sources are actually having the manufacturing work performed mainland.

And if there is any truth behind that be quite a rude awaking to many that that consider the COO the measure of quality.

 

[John Timmins]

A Snap On dealer friend says he recommends that the younger starting out mechanics avoid going deep in debt and having big tool payments. He suggests the Blue Point sets but exchange the ratchets with Snap On like the F 80. When the mechanics make more then they can move up to the higher line later.
He said the new guys have other bills. They start out with SO using the school discount programs (which he does NOT get the accounts for) then they sweat paying the tools off. A lot of the schools for mechanics for cars, outboard motors and motorcycles hype up how much these graduates are going to make, then they get entry level pay doing oil changes and helper rate.
I've thought about selling my USA Craftsman SAE "suitcase" I bought on home shopping network for $99 and getting the Blue Point SAE + Metric combo "suitcase" and getting the T72 and F80 ratchets for $500 ??? The same tools with Snap On would be probably $2000 ?

I also like the Williams tools. I was an engineer in the merchant marine on US flag ships for 30 years. All ships had Williams from Grainger catalog

 

[JazzBlueRT]

Hi everyone! I was just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on what brands to consider when purchasing a mechanics tool set. I was looking for something mid range size,to take on different handyman jobs I do. I really liked the USA made Craftsman sets but they are getting hard to find. I really don't care for harbor freight stuff,so I was thinking Milwaukee, DeWalt, SK, gear wrench. I would prefer USA made if possible.thanks for any input.

The Chinese Craftsman sockets and RP wrenches at Sears are nearly identical to my 80s and 90s era stuff. Other than long term warranty concerns, they will do fine for all homeowner and hobbyist work. Get the largest set you can afford and watch the sales cycles.

The new gunmetal Craftsman at Lowes look pretty cool.

COO is irrelevant. Fact is, the retail markup on the tools probably employs more people and adds more to the economy than the razor thin margins of production.

 

[sdeeter19555]

I'm in a similar situation...

I'm piecing a set of "good" tools together for travel/work. All I've bought so far are sockets/ratchets and pliers.

I did some searching and found the 192 piece Dewalt is all sockets (up to 1") and ratchets and almost no filler and it's a suitcase. I think it's Stanley-made in Taiwan?

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[yrly]

Taiwan Stanley is kinda OK. I have a set from 15 years ago when they got stuck at $40 on a clearance markdown at a Wal-Mart here and no one could figure out how to mark them back up. They kept shipping more and more of them (I think it was like a $120 set).

Chinese Stanley looks the same but the ratchets are way worse.

If Allied Pros are still Taiwan made they were pretty good for the price.

 

[jdewitt]

For what it's worth ... Taiwan is NOT China, so I have no real problem with Taiwan source tools.

Pretty complicated. Taiwan thinks it's the real China, while the mainland thinks it's the real China. There is a lot of political pressure and maneuvering to force Taiwan (ROC) to be part of China (PRC).

 

[JiminAZ]

But not all that complicated. PRC is Communist. ROC (Taiwan) is a democratic republic.

 

[RCBS08]

I went with Wright, Proto, Sk, Channel Lock and others. Slowly adding some Snap-On. I tried the best I could to stay American made on the hand tools.

...I put them all in my Harbor Freight box.

 

[Tallpilot]

But not all that complicated. PRC is Communist. ROC (Taiwan) is a democratic republic.

True but go price a flight to Taipei. The booking site (unless the airline is Eva or China Airlines) will say Taipei is in China. Why? Because almost every airline that flies to mainland China bowed to economic pressures from PRC to call ROC China not Taiwan on their tickets.

How long until tool manufacturers do the same?