flippin
Well-known member
This certainly won't be a recommendation for everyone but curious if others have seen this too. Several years ago when I was stockpiling tools as I built my shop I came across a huge pile of old taps from a machinist. As per the GJ recommendation, old American and Canadian made taps are to be purchased whenever possible.
There were boxes of mostly brand new taps from #6 to 5/8". Union Butterfield, SKF, Dormer etc all great stuff. There was also a ton of taps that had been spot welded to old 1/4" and 3/8" sockets. It seemed that they made their own tap sockets. I still use them and of course they work perfectly without any slop. I guess like many of us they had pails of old orphaned sockets and didn't think twice of disposing of the old tap socket and making a new one the moment performance suggested they should do so.
Curious if this was common in professional environments.
To contribute to the OPs question and not feel as guilty with my babble, I have Lisle (quite old) and love them. I do notice that the rubber retention washer on a few of them dried out and need to be replaced. This will certainly make them extra sloppy if left untreated.
-Paul
There were boxes of mostly brand new taps from #6 to 5/8". Union Butterfield, SKF, Dormer etc all great stuff. There was also a ton of taps that had been spot welded to old 1/4" and 3/8" sockets. It seemed that they made their own tap sockets. I still use them and of course they work perfectly without any slop. I guess like many of us they had pails of old orphaned sockets and didn't think twice of disposing of the old tap socket and making a new one the moment performance suggested they should do so.
Curious if this was common in professional environments.
To contribute to the OPs question and not feel as guilty with my babble, I have Lisle (quite old) and love them. I do notice that the rubber retention washer on a few of them dried out and need to be replaced. This will certainly make them extra sloppy if left untreated.
-Paul