Not to rain on any parades, I've been watching black sets on eBay. There are a couple, in different generations right now. You can buy quite a few sets, missing a few critical components, for around $100. No one seems to want the black ones. I think they are kinda cool, but you do need to keep after them or they'll rust. And I "refinish" them with cold bluing, which is technically not the same as the original finish. In my experience, not as durable. But if you keep after them, oil or wax regularly, the finish will hold up indefinitely.
Some pics in case anyone is interested in what a really cheap set of Snap On wrenches CAN look like:
This picture was taken immediately after cold bluing. I still see a bit of rust in the 17. You can't put these in Evaporust. Evaporust attacks all oxide corrosions(?) black oxide included. So I clean and degrease, then warm the tool (seems to help the reaction that creates the dark finish), then
soak in cold bluing.
Same set much later after picture above with my characteristic crayon trick, which coincidentally, was one of my first posts to GJ. I did this initially to Allen keys and later impact sockets so I could read them. Note that these are flank drive plus wrenches (GSOEXM not GOEXM)
This is my machine shop tool box with earlier pattern wrenches (GOEX) where I just did crayon on just on the sizes. When you take a photo like this, the crayon looks unnecessary. The logos are easy to read, but in use, this isn't my experience. The crayon really helps me.
I've posted this picture before and got comments about how rough these wrenches look, questioning if they are possibly counterfeits.
Here's another picture of the same set:
The black oxide tools will always be rougher looking than chrome. The resolution of the camera, the oil applied to the surface just before the previous picture makes them look rougher than they are. Still, the 11/16", 5/8" wrenches above,.... I don't think that's pitting, I think that's old black oxide. Either way, these are nice to use.
Anyway, wanted to give a fuller picture/analysis of one possible alternative to buying an old set of chrome for nearly $200, vs newer models with the "industrial finish".
Last: Note wrenches aren't the only Snap On industrial finish or "G" code tools I have in my machine shop. I have full sets of SAE sockets in industrial finish. These are not impacts. They are all 12pts. I have since seen industrial finish 6pts in 3/8" drive on eBay. I'm tempted, but these have never let me down in the machine shop where I personally use wrenches more than sockets (inverse of automotive). I think it has something to do with lower torque, fewer stuck fasteners and adjusting things back and forth.
