Sears Canada screwdrivers and tool boxes

[pipsters]

Stop into a Sears in Canada, and wanted a little "Made in Canada" stuff. Only tools I found were some screwdrivers. Everything else was "imported", most did not specify, but the ones that did were from China.

The screwdrivers are nice, much better than the US ones. They are stamped "Fully Hardened Chrome Vanadium". The blades feel quite a bit stronger than the US standard ones. However, notice the warranty - the blade aren't warrantied unlike in the US.

The only other thing I could find was their tool boxes, which were nice. Better than the US ones, and also made in Canada. If we had room I would've bought one .

I did notice the prybars (from China) looked like the ones at Harbor Freight, for $20 vs. $7 at Harbor Freight.

 

[osborn.ozzy]

so... was this your first time in sears or someting?

 

[pipsters]

so... was this your first time in sears or someting?

In Canada yes, my "normal" store is in NC (USA). Just thought it was neat to compare, that's all.

 

[NinetyTwoFifty]

I like the comparison very much, thanks for sharing!

The screwdrivers remind me of the older USA-made ones.

 

[canuckian]

Shows how little I shop at sears! I coulda sworn their toolboxes were imports.
May have to browse their tool section a little more closely the next time my wife drags me to the mall.

 

[PowerGenGuy]

Shows how little I shop at sears! I coulda sworn their toolboxes were imports.
May have to browse their tool section a little more closely the next time my wife drags me to the mall.

Not all box and cabs are made in Canada, look in the Christmas wish book and they show which are and which are not!

 

[powertrip]

Fact check....
all of the screwdrivers are US made except the evolve line.

 

[NinetyTwoFifty]

Then why are those clearly stamped "CANADA"?

The packaging also says "Made in Canada".

 

[SMKS]

Fact check....
all of the screwdrivers are US made except the evolve line.

I think you are confused.

The OP is from the US, but was on a trip to Canada and was looking for Canadian tools in a Canadian Sears store.

The screwdrivers in the US are USA made. In Canada, they apparently offer Canadian screwdrivers in Sears stores.

 

[ChrisF250]

Are Canadian made toolboxes available in the U.S. at all?

 

[jjjrmx5]

Are Canadian made toolboxes available in the U.S. at all?

If they did I'd have a reason to break out the giant jar of Loonies I have layin' around.



Just sayin'

 

[sevnd3z28]

Sears has warrantied a couple of screwdrivers for me when the blade became mangled, specifically two #2 phillips drivers. I like the feel of the the sears drivers but the phillips tips ****!

The made in Canada boxes are made by SPG International....at least the bottom cab I have. I bought mine 5 years ago and I have noticed that while SPG is still the manufacturer,the quality is no longer as nice.

 

[powertrip]

I think you are confused.

The OP is from the US, but was on a trip to Canada and was looking for Canadian tools in a Canadian Sears store.

The screwdrivers in the US are USA made. In Canada, they apparently offer Canadian screwdrivers in Sears stores.

Yup your right. My mistake

 

[garfunkle24]

Sears Canada has horrible tools compared to the USA. The screwdrivers are Fuller and the boxes Waterloo I believe. Meh.

 

[Weedwaka]

This is interesting.

I was just down at the Sears in bellingham WA drooling over the nice USA made wrenches and knipex stuff. Sears up here in my area, offers a very poor selection of cheap china ****. Canadian Tire's selection of cheap china **** puts it to shame. I wish we had the US Sears selection of US made tools.

 

[matthew]

I'm fine with the Fuller screwdrivers, but the rest of their tool selection isn't particularly good, and tends to overpriced compared to similar (sometimes identical) offerings. I also find their selection isn't particularly great these days. If you're looking for consumer grade tools on this side of the border, go to Canadian Tire. If you want really good stuff, find an industrial distributor that carries Gray...

 

[pipsters]

I'm fine with the Fuller screwdrivers, but the rest of their tool selection isn't particularly good, and tends to overpriced compared to similar (sometimes identical) offerings. I also find their selection isn't particularly great these days. If you're looking for consumer grade tools on this side of the border, go to Canadian Tire. If you want really good stuff, find an industrial distributor that carries Gray...

The screwdrivers seem good, not sure why the fuss about them. I did stop in at Canadian Tire (or is it Tyre?) and their tool section is also really good. Not quite Harbor Freight level but still up there. I couldn't find any Canadian made tools but did find some US made product there. Mostly Chinese though.

 

[lbgradwell]

The screwdrivers are Fuller and the boxes Waterloo I believe.

The drivers are Fuller, but the boxes are SPG as sevnd3z28 mentions...

The made in Canada boxes are made by SPG International....at least the bottom cab I have. I bought mine 5 years ago and I have noticed that while SPG is still the manufacturer,the quality is no longer as nice.

 

[phikshin]

The tools at Sears up here in Canada aren't great. Selection is limited and tools very basic.

But they've given me a problem using the warranty for broken blades.

 

[byoungblood]

I like the comparison very much, thanks for sharing!

The screwdrivers remind me of the older USA-made ones.

Yes, they remind me of the ones I have that are marked "Forged" on the handle. They seem to be much more durable than the newer ones.

 

[buco]

International out of Quebec makes the Canadian tool boxes. I believe Gray tools out of Toronto makes the screwdrivers.

Both make fantastic products.

 

[scott4]

Wow. I'm jealous.

 

[lbgradwell]

I believe Gray tools out of Toronto makes the screwdrivers.

Fuller. It's stated 3 times above!

 

[wadd1]

The individual screwdrivers are Fuller, the blister paks or kits
are made in China
Beach and Waterloo used to make the boxes for Craftsman up here
but im not sure who makes them now maybe SPC or International

 

[lbgradwell]

The individual screwdrivers are Fuller, the blister paks or kits are made in China

The hard-handled screwdrivers are Fuller regardless of how they're packaged; you can see that's the case from the OP's photos:

Beach and Waterloo used to make the boxes for Craftsman up here
but im not sure who makes them now maybe SPC or International

SPG International is one company. Without question, they are the source of the current Craftsman boxes. (I see they have updated their website; that's good, since their old site sucked HARD!)

Way back in the day, Beach made at least hand boxes for Sears Canada; not sure about chests and cabinets. If anyone has an old (1970s or earlier) Craftsman chest and/or cabinet that was bought in Canada, please post photos!

I am not aware of any Waterloo products being relabelled Craftsman, but it's certainly possible. Again, please post photos of any such examples...

 

[matthew]

The screwdrivers seem good, not sure why the fuss about them. I did stop in at Canadian Tire (or is it Tyre?) and their tool section is also really good. Not quite Harbor Freight level but still up there. I couldn't find any Canadian made tools but did find some US made product there. Mostly Chinese though.

I wouldn't say there's a fuss, they're just good everyday screwdrivers.

CanTire isn't really like HorrorFreight, it's more on line with Sears in the US - homeowner grade, and perhaps not as good as it used to be, but affordable and generally not bad. Most of it is made in Taiwan or China, and is rebranded Stanley or Gearwrench. There's also a few terrible items, and some gimmicky ****, but so it goes. As I said, basically like Sears in the US.

 

[PhantomEB]

I pretty much use Craftsman (Sears) and Mastercraft (Canadian Tire) daily in my home shop with the 4x4s and at work as a Millwright. Honestly dont see a single issue with them, hell if I break something, Canadian Tire just replaces without issue.

 

[pipsters]

I wouldn't say there's a fuss, they're just good everyday screwdrivers.

CanTire isn't really like HorrorFreight, it's more on line with Sears in the US - homeowner grade, and perhaps not as good as it used to be, but affordable and generally not bad. Most of it is made in Taiwan or China, and is rebranded Stanley or Gearwrench. There's also a few terrible items, and some gimmicky ****, but so it goes. As I said, basically like Sears in the US.

No it just seems people think they ****. Not sure why, they are better than the US ones! Although they cost a lot more, around $3 per screwdriver vs. about $1-$1.50 in the US. $3/screwdriver is about what the Pros are at.

 

[thetreshon]

Fact check....
all of the screwdrivers are US made except the evolve line.

(deleted my comment that repeats what was said several times...)

 

[thetreshon]

Regarding TORX drivers, funny that Fuller makes the Canadian Craftsman drivers in size 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30....but for Fuller's own line, they ONLY offer the 15 - don't understand that...

I had to buy the U.S. made Craftsman driver to fill in my set with a size 27. The only way to get the size 40 in U.S. made was the pro-rubberized handle.

The U.S. stores still carry U.S. made MINI torx sets at $9.99 - 6,7,8,9 and 10 I believe.

 

[pipsters]

Here are some more pics

The phillips fits great

I went to Canadian Tire as well, they have lots of tools as well. Some USA made, but mostly import. Also a few gimmicky things, like the hockey puck socket dogbone wrench. In addition they keep their sockets and stuff locked up...kinda weird.

Noticed a big selection of Channellock as well.

 

[lbgradwell]

Quite a number of the Mastercraft layout tools are still USA (for some reason) when almost everything else is now China or, preferably, Taiwan.

That framing square is made by Empire...

 

[Weedwaka]

I love Crappy Tire. If this small town we live in didnt have a Lordco and Canadian Tire, I wouldn't have moved here.

The socket puck lol. You should see the auto hammer. For those too lazy to swing a hammer. They have a whack of lame stuff like that. At Xmas, I was watching women cram there baskets full of horrid multi use china tools and kits for their husbands / boyfriends. Imported straight from china to the landfill in Canada.

canadiantire.ca

 

[osborn.ozzy]

This is the Canadian HF equivalent
http://www.princessauto.com/

 

[pipsters]

This is the Canadian HF equivalent
http://www.princessauto.com/

Interesting, I found the "old style" Harbor Freight impact there as well, with a blue boot on it. Even has the exact same "oil daily" placard on it...

http://www.princessauto.com/workshop/air/air-tools/impact-wrenches/8380214-1/2-impact-wrench

 

[islandkent]

This is the Canadian HF equivalent
http://www.princessauto.com/

That's it all right.

 

[Gregg33]

Quite a number of the Mastercraft layout tools are still USA (for some reason) when almost everything else is now China or, preferably, Taiwan.

That framing square is made by Empire...

I notice the Mastercrap files which used to be Nicholson and made in various countries including the U.S., Mexico and Columbia (depending on the type of file) have been replaced with Chicom ****, that look like something you'd buy in a dollar store. Also the cheaper aluminum levels that used to be U.S. made seem to be Chinese as well now. With maybe a few small exceptions, the only tools Cdn Tire sells which aren't off shore aren't Mastercraft but, but other brands they carry like Channellock, Wiss, Frued (Italian...is that offshore? lol), Richard etc. Canadian Tire isn't very Canadian anymore, I find RONA has at least bit more Cdn made items, even Home Depot carries more U.S. and even Cdn made stuff.

I want to take my credit cards, get in my time machine and go to Canadian Tire in 1975 and load up on Gray Tools and just about everything else in the tool section.

 

[Gregg33]

Fuller. It's stated 3 times above!

To my knowledge any screwdriver made in Canada is made by Fuller. In addition to Craftsman, Fuller also makes the RONA hard handles (those are super **** lol), the Gray screwdrivers with the clear yellow hard handles and obviously their own Fuller brand. While the Fuller made screwdrivers aren't comparable to the high end brands like SO, they offer good bang for the buck. For about $45 I got a whole set (maybe 15) of the RONA's.

 

[Gregg33]

Also regarding the tool boxes. It's obvious they are SPG's but aren't the tool boxes in the U.S. Sears stores Waterloo?, they look very similar to me.

 

[GoBlue]

I wouldn't say there's a fuss, they're just good everyday screwdrivers.

CanTire isn't really like HorrorFreight, it's more on line with Sears in the US - homeowner grade, and perhaps not as good as it used to be, but affordable and generally not bad. Most of it is made in Taiwan or China, and is rebranded Stanley or Gearwrench. There's also a few terrible items, and some gimmicky ****, but so it goes. As I said, basically like Sears in the US.

I hugely disagree. Canadian tire is much more like a Lowes or Home Depot in the States...and before someone says it...Princess auto is like Harbor Freight 15 years ago! Sears in the States typically have a great tool section with a lot of American made quality goods. A lot of imports as well...but more American tools than ANY other tool store.