The "NEW" S-K Tools...

[Steve_P]

I've bought some new SK chrome sockets over the past few months and will weigh in. I don't know if what I bought is "new" or old, and SK probably doesn't either so keep that in mind.

The "new" armstrong "chrome" (nickel) sockets that I've purchased appear to be 100% identical to cman so I put them in the same boat on appearance- and SK is a mile ahead on appearance, which is very popular here. The SK stuff I received I will put on par to any company, incl SO, as far as appearance; it has chrome over nickel and the finish on the stuff I received is basically show quality if you want to put your sockets on the coffee table.

I also have some newer (and older) cman stuff. Is the SK worth the premium over cman? That's up to the buyer. I could care less if I can see my reflection on the inside of the socket, I'm not that bad; but, OTOH, I personally hate just nickel plating on sockets/wrenches/ratchets, so SK is presently worth the premium to me.

edit- I also have new williams chrome sockets and SK is nicer on appearance. The williams stuff I have looks like it has almost no chrome- just a hair better than cman. My new SK stuff looks like Hiball's first few pics.

 

[AZ_Catskinner]

I have to disagree, they are well above Craftsman in terms of quality. There more in line with Proto and Armstrong.

TheGrooveking

I wouldn't put them in a league with Proto - NOBODY makes anything as brittle as Proto does.

Seriously, IMO SK falls somewhere between the truck brands and Wright/Armstrong/Proto in all categories except ratchets. There's just nothing out there that's as simply, brutally tough as an SK ratchet.

 

[slipjointed]

I wouldn't put them in a league with Proto - NOBODY makes anything as brittle as Proto does.

Seriously, IMO SK falls somewhere between the truck brands and Wright/Armstrong/Proto in all categories except ratchets. There's just nothing out there that's as simply, brutally tough as an SK ratchet.

For me, the thing that makes SK's ratchets winners, and the reason I finally chose them over my strong preference of Wright, was that they have very low resistance, and work really well on clean bolts that don't have enough resistance to catch stiffer ratchets.

I'm not a very big fan of SK's combo wrenches though, the finish and tolerance on the smaller sizes is downright atrocious, while Wright's are so close to Snap-on they might as well be equal.

 

[SlimChance]

I absolutely love them. Great quality I have yet to be disappointed.

 

[blarf]

Interesting. No love for the Tuff 1 ratchets? Sure they went away with the rest of the Facom stuff, but they had 72 teeth, a nice smooth action, and are even easier to rebuild. Come to think of it, I'd love to trade my 3/8" "Pro" ratchet for a "Tuff 1" version.

I'm not a very big fan of SK's combo wrenches though, the finish and tolerance on the smaller sizes is downright atrocious, while Wright's are so close to Snap-on they might as well be equal.

You mean, the Wright wrenches that didn't make it into the "my chrome is peeling" threads?

 

[slipjointed]

You mean, the Wright wrenches that didn't make it into the "my chrome is peeling" threads?

You mean, the ONE bad stretch of plating, out of 80 years of otherwise flawless quality, as far as anyone can tell?

Wright's chrome has historically been superb, which is a lot more than I can say for the peeling, rusty **** that SK was sending out for the few years before it was BK'ed.

Please, don't make me post pictures of the full polish Wright combos I got in... they put the SK's to shame. The SK combos look like someone made them with a hammer and a chisel... or maybe just a rock and another rock.



You can take jabs at plating, but when it comes down to it, it's just cosmetic. Some of SK's smaller combos are so bad that they don't even relate to any standard fastener size.


edit: In all fairness, in case I sounded excessively harsh, SK's earlier production combo wrenches were superb quality. I'm referring to the most recent 5 years or so of production. Some of the ones I've seen were downright embarassing. Every tool company has had its ups and downs in quality, even Snap-on.