Tools from the old world
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I just received my Hazet screwdrivers today, no COO anywhere on the tools or box. KCTool has them listed as being made in Slovenia.
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Thanks for info guys, let us know how the Hazet screwdrivers are, I’m in the market for some new drivers
I just got mine a couple days ago. They feel comfortable in the hand, but they don't seem as nice as e Weras. I'd say they seem worth the $16 I paid for the set from Amazon.de, but I think I'm going to stick with the Weras and end up selling or gifting the Hazets.
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A week or two ago I got my PB Swiss hammers from amazon.jp. Oooh la la! This was a purely indulgent purchase, even importing them myself these things are quite expensive and hard to justify... took me months of dithering to finally decide to get them. I don't have any PB Swiss and my screwdriver collection is pretty good, so I thought the hammers were good opportunity to try out the brand. I went a bit OTT buying 3 but well...
They are: 304.3RED (Japan special colour, steel one side and nylon the other), 300.5 (larger nylon/nylon), and 306.40CU (copper faces).
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Well yes, they are very nice indeed. I'm a bit dubious about whacking anything with them they're so nice - particularly in comparison to the mangled chinese soft hammer I replaced! They are all 'dead blow' using a series of disks in the head as I understand it, rather than lead shot or similar. The 304.3RED is particularly nice:
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The 30x is the model series, the .x is the size, going from .2 to .7. I got the .3 in the combo hammer and the .5 in the soft/soft, I'm quite happy with that range, has worked well for me. In their al/cu faced hammers the size is from .25 to .40 which is the diameter, I got the .40 which is the biggest - it is a serious piece of kit!
So far I've only used them a little but the first impressions are very good, the 304.3 is a nice handy small size but still packs a great punch, you can flip it over between steel face and soft face. The 300.5 is a pretty serious soft hammer, it has some power. I haven't used the copper one in anger properly yet, but it is a very heavy hammer and this one I might prefer to opt for the 308.x model with a fibreglass shaft and rubber handle if I were to do it again. The 308 was even more expensive again and I choked at that, but just swinging it around and bashing some inanimate objects with it, I think the more grippy rubber handle would be better.
Anyhow, thought you guys might like those...
They are: 304.3RED (Japan special colour, steel one side and nylon the other), 300.5 (larger nylon/nylon), and 306.40CU (copper faces).
View media item 84172
Well yes, they are very nice indeed. I'm a bit dubious about whacking anything with them they're so nice - particularly in comparison to the mangled chinese soft hammer I replaced! They are all 'dead blow' using a series of disks in the head as I understand it, rather than lead shot or similar. The 304.3RED is particularly nice:
View media item 84173
The 30x is the model series, the .x is the size, going from .2 to .7. I got the .3 in the combo hammer and the .5 in the soft/soft, I'm quite happy with that range, has worked well for me. In their al/cu faced hammers the size is from .25 to .40 which is the diameter, I got the .40 which is the biggest - it is a serious piece of kit!
So far I've only used them a little but the first impressions are very good, the 304.3 is a nice handy small size but still packs a great punch, you can flip it over between steel face and soft face. The 300.5 is a pretty serious soft hammer, it has some power. I haven't used the copper one in anger properly yet, but it is a very heavy hammer and this one I might prefer to opt for the 308.x model with a fibreglass shaft and rubber handle if I were to do it again. The 308 was even more expensive again and I choked at that, but just swinging it around and bashing some inanimate objects with it, I think the more grippy rubber handle would be better.
Anyhow, thought you guys might like those...
^^^^^^^^^ Nice looking hammers.
Bought some used Record bolt cutters. They come up very cheap on Ebay. May be old and worn but take considerably less effort to cut a padlock compared to cheap Forge Steel bolt cutters.
Bought some used Record bolt cutters. They come up very cheap on Ebay. May be old and worn but take considerably less effort to cut a padlock compared to cheap Forge Steel bolt cutters.
hautpot
Well-known member
those look beefy
upgrading
Well-known member
Do you know in what town or city in England they made those Record Bolt Cutters in ?
I think Record was based in Sheffield England. Some of their bolt cutters and vices are marked 'Sheffield.' Mine just say England.
Reed Prince
Well-known member
I don't recall Padre ever being discussed during my time here.
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Dingleburry
Well-known member
Dave455
Well-known member
Depends on the vintage of the tool.
Pre 63 they were made in the Bernard Road factory, Sheffield.
Post 63 they came from Parkway Works, Sheffield.
In 98 Record were bought by an American firm. I realise that the majority of this sites users are American, and generally support American companies. I totally understand this as I love American made tools myself, but note that’s ‘American Made’, not ‘Made by an American Company’ which is totally different!
Unfortunately, to most of the world’s manufacturers, an American buyout equates to a death sentence. It was no different for Record. The factory was closed, the shittiest products from China were marked with the Record name, and huge numbers of skilled and loyal workers were made redundant!
Many of the product lines were dropped completely. The only surprise is that the British government allowed, and continues to allow, this sort of thing to take place!
Most tool minded Brit’s wouldn’t piss on an Irwin tool if it was on fire, but I doubt Irwin care! Most of their tools don’t work properly anyway!
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Dave455
Well-known member
Good find!
They clean up nicely should you want to, and you can still find new Sheffield Made jaws if you hunt around!
Dave455
Well-known member
Been waiting for a price drop on these for ages.
These have near identical spec and are more affordable. Has anyone tried the Gedore?
Cheapest deal I’ve found is TBS Aachen, direct from Germany.
Still money, but well worth it in my opinion.
Havn’t tried the Gedore but I have the Knipex. They’re so versatile I’ve taken to keeping them in my car. I’ve cut control cable, fencing, and more, and they’re still sharp enough to cut single strand copper wire! Love ‘em!
Fretters
Well-known member
Especially seeing as we'd probably be the ones who had set them alight in the first place.
Maybe get some Vessel, especially for Philips and Pozi.
Wite, Wiha, Felo I think are also very good.
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I have a Clarke ratchet with the same handle. Think the Clarke is made in China or Taiwan. Suspect the Padre ratchet may not be German made but not 100% sure.
Edit. Could the Padre ratchet be 'made' in Germany from Taiwanese parts?
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I got a set of Felo 'Ergonic' a couple of years back. The handle is quite soft, it's comfortable and grippy but perhaps softer than necessary. Other than the printing wearing off they have held up ok to my fairly light duty work. The tips though have not been overly impressive, great grip when new, but the #2 phillips is looking quite scrappy after a comparatively short time, and I have put a slight bend in the tip of one of the flat blades when abusing it some time. Not bad but not spectacularly impressive would be my assessment.
I more recently bought some Vessels and I'm interested to see how they hold up. I love Wera handles, not sure how tough their tips are. The Vessel +2 is spectacular in its grip on both JIS and normal Phillips screws. Given the modest cost of Vessels, they are a great choice. The only addition to your list above would be PB Swiss, I do not have any of their screwdrivers but have heard nothing but glowing reports. Not cheap though.
Dave455
Well-known member
Thanks for info guys, let us know how the Hazet screwdrivers are, I’m in the market for some new drivers
Hazet offer at least three different types of driver.
The Trinamic and Hexanamic are their ‘top of the range’. I have the ‘Trinamic’ in my road box and find them really good. The blades seem to be durable, as are the hard black handles, and the matte finish chrome is very durable.
The Hexanamic seem to be the same blades in a soft finish handle.
Both patterns are made by Oplast in Slovenia, but don’t be put off by that, they are very decent tools!
The drivers you see for £14 a set on special are generic Oplast drivers in Hazet blue. They’re o.k. but nothing special quality wise.
Alava
Well-known member
I have a Clarke ratchet with the same handle. Think the Clarke is made in China or Taiwan. Suspect the Padre ratchet may not be German made but not 100% sure.
Edit. Could the Padre ratchet be 'made' in Germany from Taiwanese parts?
Padre only makes wrenches and sockets, and as I said on the youtube video, the padre ratchets since 2011 are made in Taiwan by Frejoth, a big conglomerate that makes also air tools and machines
Padre only makes wrenches and sockets, and as I said on the youtube video, the padre ratchets since 2011 are made in Taiwan by Frejoth, a big conglomerate that makes also air tools and machines
Ah yes. Just had another read through the comments. Shame people are buying the ratchet based on that vid and double shame on Padre for writing Germany on the ratchet.
TBH I’m going through something of a German tool fetish so will probably go for the Felo-ergonic set, although whilst doing my research I’ve also liked the look of the PB-Swiss Swiss grip drivers, the only thing putting me of the PB drivers is they only seem to offer sets of either slotted or pozi drive separately
Dave455
Well-known member
They offer combined sets too. 8250 is 5 slotted and 2 Phillips, 8250P substitutes Pozidriv. There are others.
I’ve bought all mine individually though. You don’t get a huge saving on the sets.
Be aware that the Swissgrip is the least durable handle, and the hardest to keep clean. Most of mine are the Classic acetate handles, or the Multicraft, which are the same shape as the Swissgrip but much more durable.
Classic handle it is
how do the PB Swiss drivers fare compared to other quality brands?Dave455
Well-known member
I think they are probably the absolute best out there.
Snap On are probably equal in quality, and perhaps more suitable for some applications, but the PB win overall.
The tips of the PB drivers are hollow ground in accordance with the Swiss VSM spec. This is absolutely the best way to grind screwdriver tips, but it does mean that each tip is pretty much dedicated to one size of screw, and they are all metric sizes.
If you’re using an imperial sized screw, you’re better off with imperial sized drivers.
I have some Snap On slotted drivers that I use predominantly when working on classic cars, but I use PB Pozidriv!
Only time I don’t use the PB is when I’m driving crappy woodscrews! Don’t want ‘em damaging the finish on the tips!
Prowagen
Well-known member
So being a German car loving Brit, living in America, I have a bit of a fetish for German tools. I have Stahlwille ratchets that are my favorite and hands down kick Snap On’s ***.
So recently I was looking around online and saw the Heyco Varicat ratchet, it looked great and had a high $ price tag on KC, Amazon etc. Then I found a killer deal on amazon.de for $13 I got the 72 tooth 1/2” version delivered to the USA for $20 total.
To be honest I am glad I only paid that for it, as it seems a little poor on the ratchet mechanism and the reverse selector switch, it feels like you could easily pull the switch off, although I counted and there are 72 tooth it almost sounds like a 40 tooth very harsh probably needs some lube.
Pro’s are the handle is super comfortable and it feels like a hammer the weight it has to it!!
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So recently I was looking around online and saw the Heyco Varicat ratchet, it looked great and had a high $ price tag on KC, Amazon etc. Then I found a killer deal on amazon.de for $13 I got the 72 tooth 1/2” version delivered to the USA for $20 total.
To be honest I am glad I only paid that for it, as it seems a little poor on the ratchet mechanism and the reverse selector switch, it feels like you could easily pull the switch off, although I counted and there are 72 tooth it almost sounds like a 40 tooth very harsh probably needs some lube.
Pro’s are the handle is super comfortable and it feels like a hammer the weight it has to it!!
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snowblindb
Well-known member
Any recommendations for a german made toque wrenches? Is 3/8 or 1/2" and 50-150Nm Ok to car and motorcycle wrenching?
Wera would be nice but they are no longer made in Germany...
Wera would be nice but they are no longer made in Germany...
Wera never were made in Germany, they were rebranded Norbar, made in the UK.
Maybe try Hazet if you insist on German made, they have some very good specials on now:
https://www.jensputzier.com/hazet/torque-tools/
Not sure about other brands, I have a 10-yr old Gedore with no COO identified and apparently also a Norbar lookalike, it was probably also made by Norbar (who make great wrenches!).
As for the range, I had only a 20-100Nm for a long time, working mainly on motorcycles and also some car stuff. I found it a little too big for the small stuff and often ran out of range working on cars. I would instead recommend a 3/8 drive ~60Nm and a 1/2 drive ~200Nm. Those two wrenches from hazet are about us$320 right now, which I think is a great deal.
Today's flea market catch: Irega adjustable wrench, probably the best manufacturer of adjustables;
Agreed, although the South African made Gedore 62p adjustables I bought recently aren’t far behindLand Rover 109
Well-known member
That is a bold statement- not unrealistic- but bold.
I will admit there are a set of Irega adjustable's hanging on my workshop wall from 6"to 12" and I like them alot, but I keep Bahco reversible jaw adjustables in my work vehicles.
Well, because of all this different things, like preferences, steel quality, chroming or other ways of protection, precision and final touch - I typed probably... Here is the thing: Bahco was the best manufacturer of adjustable wrenches, when they were manufactured in Sweden. When they stopped production in Sweden, they bought off production of Irega; so, modern Bahco pretty much equals Irega.
Dirty Diesels
Well-known member
That is a bold statement- not unrealistic- but bold.
I will admit there are a set of Irega adjustable's hanging on my workshop wall from 6"to 12" and I like them alot, but I keep Bahco reversible jaw adjustables in my work vehicles.
I prefer the Bahco adjustables, they just feel better at gripping the flats of boltheads and steering rack ends.
Bahco adjustables are made by SNA in the same factory as Snap-On, Irimo and palmera
Irimo and Palmera aren't manufacturing any more in SNA's factory in Spain - as far as I know, Palmera doesn't exist no more, and Irimo is manufacturing in China and Taiwan; this is information provided from the member native to industrial heart of Spain, Basque country. Again, I believe that Snap-on's, in terms of own company in Spain, under Bahco has a number of pliers in production and for Snap-on itself is manufacturing vise-grips. Irega stands for itself and is manufacturing for others, rebranding that is, and amongst them is Bahco-SNA Europe-Snap-on. If I made mistake, or mistakes, not to be taken that I made it intentionaly.
Alava
Well-known member
PALMERA-IRIMO-ACESA-IRAZOLA were the four largest and most important tool makers here. My personal favourite was ACESA, when I go to work every day I still hear their forging hammer working, but now they only make adjustables there. PALMERA was shut down and the factory demolished almost completely, the same with Irimo, but you can still see the empty and abandoned factory from the road. IRAZOLA is currently manufacturing bahco screwdrivers.
Irega here is a sucess story, because they only produce one thing, with all the risks that decision comes with, but they suceed becoming the spanish most recognised tool manufacturer as an independent company. We love them and every friend and shop I know haves at least one. I'm very proud.
Irega makes Irega adjustable wrenches and OEM, but bahco makes its owns in the old ACESA factory (both bahco and Snap-on)
Irega here is a sucess story, because they only produce one thing, with all the risks that decision comes with, but they suceed becoming the spanish most recognised tool manufacturer as an independent company. We love them and every friend and shop I know haves at least one. I'm very proud.
Irega makes Irega adjustable wrenches and OEM, but bahco makes its owns in the old ACESA factory (both bahco and Snap-on)
Well, thanks! I've sort of anounced mistake; as I recollect now, I remember that Acesa was the one that makes adjustables for SNA, altough I was pretty convinced that Irega got its share... I made a mistake. Either way, for couple of us things got more informative now. That doesn't put out Irega off throne �� Again, thanks Alava