Im Being Tasked With Building a Tool Kit For The New Crew

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Dec 12, 2006
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Location
LI, NY
So the building I have worked in since 2003 has changed hands. The old owner left and it is currently under construction for the new people.
All of the old tools and equipment are long gone. As the project is nearing completion, we are starting to build a new crew. The chief asked me to choose tools for kits each man will be assigned.
I feel I have done a good job of picking good bang for the buck stuff like Knipex water pump pliers and Milwaukee screwdrivers and such. Im a little on the fence with adjustable wrenches. I think maybe give each guy a 6 inch and a 10 inch. What does everyone think is a good wrench? Irwin? Crescent? Milwaukee?
My tools at home are mostly Snap On and Mostly 20+ years old so I know the quality will not be the same today. I have not bought an adjustable wrench in many years. We will be doing day to day maintenance in a commercial building. There will also be a shop with 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch socket sets and all the other required stuff... Drill press, benches, vise, compressor, you know the rest.
What I am really looking for here is the best adjustable wrench to give everyone.
 
Astro, Wright looks nice. Forgot about those.

Hangfire, I have some of those in my big box. Forgot about them too... Great. Now I have more stuff on the list instead of less.
 
I have bought stuff from Home Depot (Tekton) or Lowe's (Kobalt) or in old days from Sears and all have life-time warranty with relatively reasonable prices but I may use the tools 4 or 5 times a year ...

Do these tools have the same lifetime warranty for professionals or would they even know or care?
If yes, they would be a good deal. No?
 
The Cresent adjustable wrenches I have are all older made in usa models they are great but the new ones not so much.

Based on the quality of my Wright end wrenches, I'd go Wright. 12 inch wright wrench at home depot is $39.
 
Is there an unlimited budget?
In so many words, yes but we,re not going to give them Snap On. We want the tools to stay at work. Our old powers that be bought mostly junk. We want to do a little better this time around. We will be going all Milwaukee 12 and 18 volt for power tools. A couple of Fluke meters, a few Milwaukee non contact thermometers...
Im actually specing HF Hercules 17 inch tool bags. I have a few at home and I think they are great.

Oiluzer, I would guess if anyone breaks something that's waranteeable, I will probably take it in and just say it is mine. Most of the guys we have so far are pretty talented so I am not really expecting a lot of breakage.
 
In so many words, yes but we,re not going to give them Snap On. We want the tools to stay at work. Our old powers that be bought mostly junk. We want to do a little better this time around. We will be going all Milwaukee 12 and 18 volt for power tools. A couple of Fluke meters, a few Milwaukee non contact thermometers...
Im actually specing HF Hercules 17 inch tool bags. I have a few at home and I think they are great.

Oiluzer, I would guess if anyone breaks something that's waranteeable, I will probably take it in and just say it is mine. Most of the guys we have so far are pretty talented so I am not really expecting a lot of breakage.

Blue Point or Gearwrench would be my choice for mostly everything since they technically took truck brands but cheaper. Tekton is another good choice.

Channellock for pliers.
 
Most of my adjustable wrenches are vintage ones from the pawn shop like Thorsen and J.H Williams and Proto and USA Craftsman. The Williams is by far the best I have some of the new Crescent ones and ehh they’re ok but the jaw that adjust gets very loose over time so in the rare times I do need an adjustable one I just usually grab my other ones unless I need a really big one. I know at school we had Blue Point and Snap-on which were really nice. I personally haven’t looked at the Wright in person but they make great tools so I am sure those would be good.
 
We got rid of the one guy that took every tool he got his hands on home with him. Most of the guys we have coming back are from the old crew and we know we can trust them.
I am going to check out Wright and Williams tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
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