Craftsman not as good now?

[severach]

Kobalt may have originally been made by the Williams division of Snapon but now most packages say Danaher Tool Group, the same maker for KD, Allen, Craftsman, and many other store brands. Many Kobalt packages say made in China where the equivalent Craftsman product still says made in USA. Looks to me that Danaher is more willing to run down the Kobalt name than the Craftsman name.

Branded tools often come from many sources. Craftsman and Husky Screwdrivers are sourced from Western Forge (WF) and the Stanley Proto division of Snapon (PR). Both may be on the shelf at the same time. Craftsman sockets and wrenches come from Danaher. People claim that Husky sockets and wrenches come from Stanley Proto. When the contracts change the quality changes and everyones' claims become wrong.

Buy whatever brand. If the tools break too fast buy something different. Giving all your money to the Snapon dealer right away works but it's a cop out.

 

[RoGuE]

I work at Lowe's and I rarely see Kobalt tools come back. On the rare occasion someone does come with a broken tool we swap them out and you're out in a few minutes (time may vary depending on how fast the hardware department can get up to the return desk)

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Originally Posted By: severach
Craftsman and Husky Screwdrivers are sourced from Western Forge (WF) and the Stanley Proto division of Snapon (PR).


Danaher owns Matco and supplies a lot of the Craftsman tools. Stanley owns the Matco brand (among others). Snap-on owns Williams, Bahco and a few others but is NOT owned by anyone. There are a few other stand alone tool makers with Wright, Cornwell and SK probably being the largest.

 

[Pook]

Craftsman quality has been slipping on their regular line dramatically. I recently bought a set of impact sockets from harbor freight. Laser etched, mild flank drive, great finish.. made in taiwan. They were of a better tolerance than my craftsman.

FACOM and Proto makes some excellent drivers, and they are loads better than even the "professional" craftsman that I have.

Just take a look at gearwrenches. Made in taiwan. Loads better than the Craftman stuff.(though it now appears they are the one and the same)

 

[GMBoy]

Originally Posted By: Pook


FACOM and Proto makes some excellent drivers, and they are loads better than even the "professional" craftsman that I have.




Yes! We use Proto rachets in our assembly plants and they hold up well. We also use Snap On, but I've been ordering less Snap On's and going with Proto for costs savings. I figure I'm doing my part to save GM money and the functionality of the Proto tools are more than acceptable. We use Apex for our sockets and they last 3-4 months on our operations. For example, one socket tightens 3 nuts that secure the Y-pipe exhaust to the manifold. Figure 3 nuts tightened per job x 1200 vehicles per day = 3600 run downs a day. This works out to be about 72,000 rundowns that socket does in a month! That 15mm socket costs me $23, WAY less than Snap On and we only get a month max out of those.

I do not think a Craftsman would make one week in my plant.

 

[lipadj46]

Proto and Matco tools are nice as are the williams ratchets that are made in the USA. I have recently bought a couple new craftsman ratchets (1/2" 60 tooth thin profile and the long flex head 1/2 inch ratchet). The action is a bit rough but after you lube them they smooth out. The convenience of the craftsman warranty is hard to beat, but who knows how long that will last. Mac tools are imported now and imported Snap-on tools are showing up more and more so it's just not craftsman.

 

[Ike_Clanton]

Witte for scredrivers and Torx drivers! Love 'em.

 

[Nick R]

I find this interesting because for christmas I got a 204pc craftsman tool set, and I bought a bunch of craftsman tools with gift cards to fill out the set, and they were all Made in USA, and of good quality.

 

[demarpaint]

Lately I've been adding a lot of tools to my set as well, mostly Craftsman. What I bought was made in the US and of good quality as well. All in all I'm quite pleased with the tools.

I'm eyeing their elbow wrench set, and I will probably be buying the SAE and Metric sets shortly.

 

[lipadj46]

Most of the "baseline" crafstman tools (ratchets wrenches, sockets) are still made in the USA. You just need to look when you buy. With Harbor Freight quality creeping up (talking the made in Taiwan Pittsburgh and Pitts Pro hand tools) Sears (and the rest) has no choice but to source offshore.

I remember a guy posting a while back on another forum some pics of squished craftsman sockets that came in a set, they were chromed and everything.

 

[38sho]

Originally Posted By: Troy_Built
Originally Posted By: Liquid_Turbo
Everything's slipped in quality it seems.

I agree with you. Its unfortunate we live in a society that strives to please shareholders rather than consumers. The old Craftsman stuff was built like tanks!


+1


Snap-on hasn't slipped in quality

but the price goes up to make up for it.........

 

[lipadj46]

Originally Posted By: 38sho


Snap-on hasn't slipped in quality

but the price goes up to make up for it.........


Some snap on stuff is made in Taiwan now (granted most is labelled Blue Point), expect to see more and more like what happened to mac.

 

[defektes]

Blue point is mostly overseas now, some is american still and good quality for the price. Mac tools has a set of less price tools that are made overseas too, i forget the name they are orange handled.

Sears screwdrivers, hammers, wrenches (except the black ones,) sockets, ratchets, pliers (minus vice grips,) car repair specific tools, and a lot of misc. stuff is still US made. But they are now starting to pair up Craftsman with the Evolv name, so be carefull, I saw a set of full chrome finish long small combination wrenches for 10 bucks on line. Upon further looks they were evolv tools. Garbage, listed as craftsman on the site be careful.

 

[TooManyWheels]

Originally Posted By: lipadj46


I remember a guy posting a while back on another forum some pics of squished craftsman sockets that came in a set, they were chromed and everything.


I remember a 3/8 Craftsman wrench that measured 11/32. And that was back when they were still "good".

 

[GMBoy]

Originally Posted By: lipadj46
Most of the "baseline" crafstman tools (ratchets wrenches, sockets) are still made in the USA. You just need to look when you buy. With Harbor Freight quality creeping up (talking the made in Taiwan Pittsburgh and Pitts Pro hand tools) Sears (and the rest) has no choice but to source offshore.

I remember a guy posting a while back on another forum some pics of squished craftsman sockets that came in a set, they were chromed and everything.



Those Pittsburg screwdrivers are GREAT! I've got two sets....better or equal to my 'pro" Craftsmen screwdrivers.

 

[lipadj46]

I just bought the 260 piece mechanics set for $175. I bought it mainly because I wanted a (near) complete set of 1/4, 3/8, 1/2" in both 6 and 12 sided, SAE and Metric deep and shallow. Somewhere around 150 sockets. The sockets I must say are still top notch when compared to my older Cman sockets.

Ratchet:
The ratchets have too much plastic on them IMO but I did not buy the kit for them. I am selling the ratchets

Wrences:
The mini wrenches are a joke and the regular size wrenches feel good when compared to my older CMan combos.

Bit Driver/Bits:
Made in the USA and a decent backup if my snap on driver breaks

Allen Wrenches:
Good to have SAE and Metric sets

Extensions:
These feel great especiall the 1/2"

The reason I went with the Cman sockets are mainly price and ease of warranty.

 

[defektes]

The ratchets that come with the set are garbage IMO. Nonethe less get yourself a flex head craftsman ratchet, better than its snap on counterpart IMO.

 

[lipadj46]

I have williams flex head ratchets which are pretty much the old style snap on ratchets (ie made in the USA awesomeness):

I also have the long craftsman flex head 1/2" (nicer but still has the plastic), and old all metal versions of the Cman 1/2, 3/8, 1/4" ratchets that came in this set and also the 1/2" CMan 60 tooth thin profile ratchet (no plastic). Like I mentioned above I have tools but I wanted an "instant" socket collection and this provided it for a good deal and came with some stuff that I needed and some that I will sell.

Also if anyone is interested in the combination wrenches and 1/2" socket that came in the set I am selling them for $35 shipped. That is for 18 wrenches SAE and Metric and the 1/2" ratcet

Here is some more recent purchases:

Williams, Wright, Facom and SK combo wrenches, Williams screwdrivers and torx drivers, Snap On ratcheting screwdriver in pink for my daughter, Mayhew hose spring clamp pliers (awesome) and the williams flexhead ratchets

 

[Vikas]

I had one of my 10mm 6pt socket replaced by Sears. This was at least 20 year old socket. The replacement has laser etch (good!) and says "Crafsman USA" on it but eyeballing it tells me that it is not as good quality as the one it replaced.

However, the whole experience was very pleasant. He took out the new one from the locked tool case. I was happy, so I ended up spending money to buy a locking extension

- Vikas