What to do with cheap sockets

[UncleJoe]

I was recently given a box full of random sockets. There were a few craftsman sockets in good shape the remaining are cheap Taiwan, Chinese or no name but look like cheap sockets. In all I have maybe 60 of these. I do not have any use for them. I mean exactly how many 10 mm sockets does a guy need, there must be 10 in this box.

I was thinking of just tossing them. Anyone have any suggestions. I already have multiple good socket sets and I can never see myself using these.

 

[Davefr]

I was thinking of just tossing them. Anyone have any suggestions. I already have multiple good socket sets and I can never see myself using these.

Give them to Goodwill and take the tax deduction or give them to someone just starting out. It also doesn't hurt to make an emergency tool kit for your car/truck with surplus/cheap tools.

 

[Teken]

1. Advertise them for cheap on GJ

2. Do a garage sale and mark them for a fire sale.

3. Donate them to charity to one of the schools for trades. The students who come from poor family's just starting out and can not afford any tools, this could help them.

4. Go to a metal recycler maybe they might give you something.

 

[Fubar]

I give them to people that need tools, but can't afford to buy whole sets.

 

[woody 73]

Give them to Goodwill and take the tax deduction or give them to someone just starting out. It also doesn't hurt to make an emergency tool kit for your car/truck with surplus/cheap tools.

My thoughts exactly!!!

 

[Titus]

Fishing weights.

 

[TheGrooveking]

Can't beat the good suggestions listed before but I will add maybe use a slingshot and pelt some of those crooks in Washington and show them what Chinese tools are really good for....

TheGrooveking

 

[Teken]

Omfg . . .

 

[arkangel06]

Replacement for golf balls?

 

[paramedic]

i have a set of cheep china 12pts that i saved to pound over top of rounded nuts and bolts. i have yet to find something that works as well and is as affordable. and yes i i have tried the tools designed for that job and they just dont work as well for me. otherwise i have donated stuff that i wont use but is still in working order to our school, then use it for taxes.

 

[justinmc]

I have sold (and actually am getting ready to list a couple boxes full) a bit of MIT or MIC tools (Made in Taiwan/China) on ebay in flat rate USPS boxes. People buy them every time. I'm assuming its people who own flea market stalls, etc. They buy a box for $15-20 with shipping and sell the tools for $0.25-1 each or something.

 

[petty4243]

post them here, some one will snag them

 

[alamerang]

I'm with the emergency tool kit or donate them to a poor kid idea. Growing up with just my mom, I never had much of anything in the tool dept and anything I could get was a major help. It was my responsibility to keep the car running and make home repairs. So I have a soft spot for poor kids that work on their cars and such. I'd donate them to a school or church and ask them to give them to a kid or family really in need that could use them. Sometimes what you would throw away can be a real blessing to someone in need. Ultimately, a cheap tool is better than no tool at all.

 

[regguy1]

Use them for sinkers when you go fishing.

 

[iamhomeless]

I have a small box full of cheap sockets, wrenches, etc. they sit in the corner of the shop until I need to make a custom tool then they get cut and welded on. They have saved my *** more times than I can count now. Some of them even get moved to my big box after they are modified.

 

[Gareth68]

I have twice had my tools stolen and had to start over in life.

When you have nothing, a complete set of Chinese tools beats the hell out of one or two good wrenches.

I would try to arrange them into sets, or as close as you can get, and offer them up for sale or trade.

I will be doing this soon with some "great neck" wrenches and sockets. Even if someone doesn't need them for their own usage, they likely know someone young who could use such a set.

 

[Packard V8]

I save them up until they fill a USPS Small Flat Rate Box and then I sell it to someone on here for cheap.

By the time I get through sorting out the truckload I bought, I'll have probably two more flat rate boxes full. As mentioned above, when someone has no tools, even offshore is good.

thnx, jack vines

 

[Scout Driver]

Buy an inexpensive ratchet and give the entire set-up to a little kid that's interested in tools.

Scott

 

[06wt]

get some brazing rod and create some modern art and sell it to some yuppe

 

[rsanter]

string them into a necklace
give it to your girlfriend or wife and tell them its all the latest rage

bob

 

[tonydanzah]

I use them for welding projects.

 

[Griff93]

The local tech center would probably be glad to have them.

 

[DanCo]

I keep them in my storage roll away for a FNG, or to that guy who never has any tools and needs to borrow something. You know that guy, everyone here has atleast 1 in the shop.

 

[69supercj]

I like the idea of putting them with an old ratchet and some cheap extensions and then giving them as a Christmas gift to someone in need. Sure we're nearly 3 months past Christmas but my address is 9098 E. FR.2, Fair Grove, MO. LOL!! Seriously, give them to someone who really needs 'em.

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Throw them at people that piss you off.

 

[arkangel06]

sling shot ammo......

 

[landon1]

i've used a socket cut down and ground smooth to replace an alternator bracket spacer on my 440 = worked great

 

[Underdog]

Use them for loaners only tell the person no need to bring them back!

 

[Homoudont]

I give all my china made tools to my brother. All his tools were lost in a fire, and he's slowly rebuilding his tool chest. Sadly, I had given him a two craftsman toolboxes chock full of china tools right before the house fire. He didn't even get a chance to go through and see what I gave him before they were all destroyed. Now I buy lots of tools off of craigslist or ebay and sort out all the china taiwan tools for him. I just drop them off at my mother's house when I visit and tell him to stop by and pick them up.

 

[Keep]

Make a box for the Mother in Laws house so you can stop dragging your tools over there every time there is a "Can you come fix this" call.

 

[Mickey O]

 

[Skin]

i have a set of cheep china 12pts that i saved to pound over top of rounded nuts and bolts. i have yet to find something that works as well and is as affordable.

Crappy impacts work a lot better for that. They dont chip and make a mess when you pound on them like crummy chrome ones.

 

[Ray-CA]

Use some of them for door pulls on your garage cabinets.

Ray

 

[byrd]

+1 on the custom tools. i keep a good stash of garbage tools that are modified for a specific purpose, and once they are custom they dont seem as cheap.

 

[mkdive]

Fishing weights.

I was thinking the same.

 

[mkdive]

Use some of them for door pulls on your garage cabinets.

Ray

not a bad idea....use the sockets as spacers and tack on a combo wrench as the handle. That would look pretty cool actually.

 

[crewchief888]

Buy an inexpensive ratchet and give the entire set-up to a little kid that's interested in tools.

Scott

or like my parents did one year at x-mas, they bought me a small meta; toolbox and put a couple of screwdrivers, a hammer, a set of box wrenches, and a socket set in it.
mostly so i'd leave dads tools alone when i was working on my bike.
i found a couple of the wrenches last week, just made me remember

thanks dad

those "junk" tools may be the start of a good memory for your kids, or grandkids

 

[tool22]

They make good extensions for pressing.

 

[Pho20]

Give em to my kids that way they don't get into dads nice stuff

 

[Oregon rock crusher]

I have a small box full of cheap sockets, wrenches, etc. they sit in the corner of the shop until I need to make a custom tool then they get cut and welded on. They have saved my *** more times than I can count now. Some of them even get moved to my big box after they are modified.

I am with you on this one homeless. All kinds of things they are useful for as sacrificial tools available to modify without guilt. Ed.