Sears sells Craftsman tool brand to Stanley tools

[Rickey]

Caution!!

Justifiable rant and venting ahead:

No tears to shed for Sears here.

I've been eagerly awaiting their downfall since they wrecked the exhaust system on my beloved low mileage '96 Caprice during a new tire installation.

Their tech apparently used the exhaust system on my car as a lift point for the tire installation procedure.

The proof was the fresh shiny abrasions and dent on the exhaust tubing that matched their floor lift hardware.

Upon discovering the damage and immediately returning to the store, they unanimously denied any responsibility.

I then escalated this to no avail.

I haven't darkened their door since this occurred in the late 90's.

Costly repairs were paid for out of pocket by me.

I plan to go to their bankruptcy liquidation when it occurs to pick their bones.

Maybe I will remind them that cheated customers have a long memory and tell scores of others.

Rant off.

 

[AirgunSavant]

lol

Originally Posted By: 4WD
Don't need you to teach me tools - I own thousands $ of them - and buy them for fortune 100 industrial company. These were for people who had next to nothing for tools. Anybody who uses $20/17 for commercial use is not grounded in reality ...

Good luck finding USA made tools the average American would pay for. In fact, when I have mentioned USA made in the past you get "what difference does that make" ? This is not a site where that means jack to all but about 10%

 

[AirgunSavant]

Our local Kmart has all of the charm of a crack house. Well, maybe less.

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Sears Holdings (including Sears and Kmart) are in the final stages of failure in what has been called the longest going out of business event in business history. Once a business begins a fire sale of it's iconic brands such as Craftsman (Kenmore and Diehard are soon to follow) then it's pretty much over, especially when those brands are the only recognizable brands left of the business.

Sears had every opportunity to be a major player in the retail industry, but for the last decade has been so poorly managed that any recovery at this point is impossible. No business can be in a perpetual state of decline for a decade and survive. Walk into any Sears or Kmart and they have all of the charm of a dollar store without the low prices-most are reminiscent of department stores in the old Soviet Union.

As long as it continues to stay open, Sears (and Kmart) do nothing for the communities that once made this one of America’s most successful companies. The sooner they fade into oblivion the better off everyone will be.

 

[Chris B.]

Originally Posted By: Doublehaul
Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
Originally Posted By: 4WD


Good luck finding USA made tools the average American would pay for.


Good luck finding anything made USA that actually holds up. The best tools I've owned have been the older stuff I got from my grandpa. All the newer stuff is cheap junk. Even Snap-On is not worth the hype. I've broken many snap-on sockets. Sure they have a lifetime warranty, but so does the stuff from Home Depot, which is easier to get and cheaper initially.


Snap on is worth the hype...if you know anything about tools. If your breaking Snap-on tools its not the tools fault. They are the best money can buy PERIOD...any nothing you can buy at home depot, sears, walmart or Harbor Freight is in the same league. This is not opinion. The only way they break with any regularity is by using chrome sockets on impact guns...which happens all the time. You can kill ANY ratchet with a cheater bar long enough too.

Im not saying you can't get good tools elsewhere...you can. But Snap-on tools are not just simply "good"


That is not completely factual across the board. Garage journal has done many tests of many different brands and snap on has lost many of these tests. There are definitely better tools then snap on in many cases. Probably the most famous test was the torque wrench test where the $15 harbor freight torque wrench beat every other torque wrench on the market including a $300 snap on torque wrench. This test was done with multiple examples of each over 10,000 repetitions and the harbor freight held its calibration longer and more accurately than the snap on across all examples.
I'll agree overall snap on is the best made brand out there. But there are other tools made by many other companies that are better than a lot of what snap on has to offer. That is not an opinion and it is fact.

 

[4WD]

Do you know the HF wrench model ? would like to get that one ...

 

[AZjeff]

Oh good, another Sears/Craftsman bash thread. Sears sucks, glad I bought my Craftsman tools years ago, get over it and move on.

Edit: some good may come of this, we can only hope.

 

[Trav]

Its a little sad to see this, not that I am a fan of Craftsman but they were good tools back in the day. I got my first set in 75, a 200 and change piece set for $199 and a red top box for $150. Funny thing is you can still get it for that price but they are not even close to the same tools.
They lasted me many years, in fact I still have a few left.

They were a real alternative to the big names for guys just starting out, albeit not as well finished but they were durable and they worked and you didn't have to go into debt to own them. I must say the tools were stellar, never broke one.
For anyone interested these are the codes for Craftsman tools.

Early Craftsman Series (generally pre-1947, with some exceptions):

BC = unknown U.S. manufacturer, ca. ? - ?

BE = New Britain, ca. 1931 - 1947

BM = S-K, ca. 1939 - 1951

BT = unknown U.S. manufacturer, ca. 1936 - 1938

Cxx = Probably New Britain or Hinsdale, ca. 1930 - 1936

CI = unknown U.S manu., ca. 1930 - 1945

CF or C-F = Herbrand, ca. 1934 - 1939

Craftsman Vanadium = unknown U.S. Manu, ca. 1931 - 1941

C8 = JP Danielson, ca. 1930 -1936

F-circle = Miller Falls, ca. 1949 - 1964

G-circle = possibly Lectrolite, ca. 1949 - 1964

H-circle = New Britain, ca. 1931 - 1947

K-circle = SK, ca. 1939 - 1951 perhaps later

N-square = unknown U.S. manu., ca ? - ?

P-circle = Wilde, ca. 1945 - 1960

S-circle = Kastar, ca. 1960 - 2008, perhaps earlier

V-circle = unknown U.S. manu., ca. ? - 1985

U-circle = Plomb, ca. 1944 - 1948

Z-circle = Mayhew, ca. 1957 - 1969


Modern Craftsman Series (generally 1947 and later, with some exceptions):

BF = probably Daido, possibly Hozan, Japanese made, ca 1969 - 1987

C = unknown U.S. manu., ca. 1991

C = Stanley Works, Taiwanese made, ca. ? - ?
(note--this is a Canadian Craftsman series code)

CG = unknown U.S. manu., ca. 2001 - 2005

D = Kington, Chinese made, ca. 1992 - 2008

DJ = Mitutoyo, Japanese made, ca. 1968 perhaps earlier & later

E/EE = National Hand Tools/later Stanley Works-NHT division, some USA made, most Taiwanese made, ca. 1982 - 1991

EEE/EEC/EE7 = Stanley Works, Taiwanese made, ca. 1988 - 2009
(note--these are Canadian Craftsman series codes)

F = Danaher/possibly K-D division, ca. ? - 2008

G = Easco, ca. 1980 - 1989 perhaps as early as 1979 when Easco acquired the Gastonia plant

G continued = Danaher, ca. 1990 - 2009

G1 = Danaher, ca. 2000

G2 = Danaher, ca. ? - 2008

G2D = Danaher, ca. 2008 - 2009

GD = Danaher, ca. 2008 - 2009

GK = Danaher/Kingsley Tools Division, ca. 2003 - 2008

GK-A = Danaher/Kingsley Tools Division, ca. 1999 - 2003

GK-F = Danaher/Kinsley Tools Division, ca. 2007 - 2008

GK-G = Danaher/Kingsley Tools Division, ca. 2007 - 2008

GK-X = Danaher/Kinsley Tools Division, ca. ? - 2008

H = Danaher/Holo-Krome, ca. 1994 - 2009

HZ = Danaher/Holo-Krome, ca. ? - 2008

HZ O = Danaher/Holo-Krome, ca. 2009-2009

HZ OO = Danaher/Holo-Krome, ca. 2008 - 2009

I-circle = Parker Mfg Co, ca. 1965 - 1986

JW = J.H. Williams & Co, ca. 1954 - 1972

K = SK division of Facom, ca. 1985 - 2004, could still be NOS

K1W = Danaher, ca. 2007

K3V = Danaher, ca. ? - 2008

K3X = Danaher, ca. 2007 -2008

K9W = Danaher, ca. 2008 - 2009

KR = Danaher, ca. 2005 - 2008

KU = Danaher, ca. ? - 2008

KV = Danaher, ca. ? - 2008

KW = Danaher, ca. 2002 - 2008, probably earlier

KX = Danaher, ca. 2002 - 2008, probably earlier

L1X = Danaher, ca. 2008 - ?

L SI = Simmonds International, ca. 2008 - 2009

M6W = Dahaher, ca. 2007 - 2008

N = Pratt Read, ca. 2007 - 2009

OA = Unknown U.S. manu., ca. ? - ?

P = Wilde, ca. 2008 - 2009, perhaps earlier

Q = Pratt Read, ca. 2002 - 2006

R = Pratt Read, ca. 2002 - 2006

PR = Pratt Read, ca. 2002 - 2009

Q PR = Pratt Read, ca. ? - ?

S PR = Pratt Read, ca. 2007 - 2008

T PR = Pratt Read, ca. 2007 - 2008

U PR1-3 = Pratt Read, ca. 2008

V PR = Pratt Read, ca. 2007 - 2008

W PR = Pratt Read, ca 2007 - 2009

X PR = Pratt Reed, ca. 2009 - 2009

ST = Stanley Works, likely Taiwanese made, ca. 2007 - 2009
(note- this is a Canadian Craftsman series code)

T1V = Danaher, ca. 2006 - 2007

T2W = Danaher, ca. 2008

T3W = Danaher, ca. 2008

T5V = Danaher, ca. 2008

T5W = Danaher, ca. 2008

T5X = Danaher, ca. 2008

V = Moore Drop Forge, ca. 1938 - 1967

V (continued) = Easco, ca. 1968 - 1986 perhaps as late as 1991 as NOS

VF = Danaher, ca. likely early 1990's

VG = Danaher, ca. 1994 - 1995

VH = Danaher, ca. 1994 - 1997

VJ = Danaher, ca. 1994 - 2008

VK = Danaher, ca. 1996 - ?

VL = Danaher, ca. ? - ?

VM = Danaher, ca. ? - ?

VN = Danaher, ca. 1999 - 2001

VP = Danaher, ca. ? - ?

VQ = Danaher, ca. 2001 - 2004

VR = Danaher, ca. 2002

VS = Danaher, ca. 1995 - 2003

VT = Danaher, ca. 2002 - 2006

VU = Danaher, ca. 2005

VV = Easco, ca. 1978 - 1989

VV continued = Danaher, ca. 1990 - 2009

VW = Danaher, ca. 2002 - 2008

VVY = Danaher, ca. 2009 - ?

V^(2nd V inverted) = Danaher, Armstrong Division, ca. 1992 - 2008

VVL = Danaher, ca. 2000 - ?

VVN = Danaher, ca. 2005

VVS = Danaher, ca. 2003

VVT = Danaher, ca. 2004 - 2005

VVV = Danaher, ca. 2008

VVW = Danaher, ca. 2008

VVX = Danaher, ca. 2002 - 2008, possibly earlier

W = SK Hand tools, post-Facom , ca. 2005 - 2008

WF = Western Forge, ca. 1965 - 2008

WF ll = Western Forge, ca. 1969

WF D = Western Forge, ca. ?

WF J = Western Forge, ca. 1991 - ?

WF K = Western Forge, ca. ?

WF L = Western Forge, ca. ? - 2009

WF R = Western Forge, ca. ?

WF U = Western Forge, ca. 2008

WF V = Western Forge, ca. 2008 - 2009

WF W = Western Forge, ca. 2002 - 2009

WF X = Western Forge, ca. 2008 - 2009

WF Y = Western Forge, ca. 2009 - 2009

A WF = Western Forge, ca. ?

B WF = Western Forge, ca. ?

C WF = Western Forge, ca. ?

D WF = Western Forge, ca. 1993 - 2000

E WF = Western Forge, ca. ?

F WF = Western Forge, ca. 2003

G WF = Western Forge, ca. ?

H WF = Western Forge, ca. ?

J WF = Western Forge, ca. 1995

K WF = Western Forge, ca. 1995

L WF = Western Forge, ca. ?

M WF = Western Forge, ca. ?

N WF = Western Forge, ca. ?

O WF = Western Forge, ca. ?

P WF = Western Forge, ca. ?

Q WF = Western Forge, ca. 1990 - 1995

S WF = Western Forge, ca. 2009

T WF = Western Forge, ca. 2002 - 2009

U WF = Western Forge, ca. ?

V WF = Western Forge, ca. 2002 - 2009

W WF = Western Forge, ca. 2002 - 2009

X WF = Western Forge, ca. 1965 - 2009

Y WF = Western Forge, ca. 2009 - 2009

+ WF = Western Forge, ca. 1965 - ?

* WF = Western Forge, ca. 1965 - ?

> WF = Western Forge, ca. ?

|| WF = Western Forge, ca. ?

∆ WF = Western Forge, ca. 1966 - ?

□ WF = Western Forge, ca. 1965 - ?

7 WF = Western Forge, ca. ?

X = SK Hand tools, post-Facom , ca. 2008 - 2009

Z = Mayhew, ca. 1957 - 2008

3 = Kastar, ca. 1991

4 = Kastar, ca. 1992

[ = Kastar, ca. 2002 - 2009 possibly earlier

.(Dot) = SK, ca. 2008 - 2009

 

[Doublehaul]

Originally Posted By: Chris B.
Originally Posted By: Doublehaul
Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
Originally Posted By: 4WD


Good luck finding USA made tools the average American would pay for.


Good luck finding anything made USA that actually holds up. The best tools I've owned have been the older stuff I got from my grandpa. All the newer stuff is cheap junk. Even Snap-On is not worth the hype. I've broken many snap-on sockets. Sure they have a lifetime warranty, but so does the stuff from Home Depot, which is easier to get and cheaper initially.


Snap on is worth the hype...if you know anything about tools. If your breaking Snap-on tools its not the tools fault. They are the best money can buy PERIOD...any nothing you can buy at home depot, sears, walmart or Harbor Freight is in the same league. This is not opinion. The only way they break with any regularity is by using chrome sockets on impact guns...which happens all the time. You can kill ANY ratchet with a cheater bar long enough too.

Im not saying you can't get good tools elsewhere...you can. But Snap-on tools are not just simply "good"


That is not completely factual across the board. Garage journal has done many tests of many different brands and snap on has lost many of these tests. There are definitely better tools then snap on in many cases. Probably the most famous test was the torque wrench test where the $15 harbor freight torque wrench beat every other torque wrench on the market including a $300 snap on torque wrench. This test was done with multiple examples of each over 10,000 repetitions and the harbor freight held its calibration longer and more accurately than the snap on across all examples.
I'll agree overall snap on is the best made brand out there. But there are other tools made by many other companies that are better than a lot of what snap on has to offer. That is not an opinion and it is fact.


Snap-on doesn't manufacture their torque wrenches...they are re-brands and can be had under other names for the most part. I wasn't referencing anything other than hand tools...you want to talk precision devices, pneumatics etc...thats a horse of a different color

 

[jeepman3071]

Originally Posted By: Doublehaul
Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
Originally Posted By: 4WD


Good luck finding USA made tools the average American would pay for.


Good luck finding anything made USA that actually holds up. The best tools I've owned have been the older stuff I got from my grandpa. All the newer stuff is cheap junk. Even Snap-On is not worth the hype. I've broken many snap-on sockets. Sure they have a lifetime warranty, but so does the stuff from Home Depot, which is easier to get and cheaper initially.


Snap on is worth the hype...if you know anything about tools. If your breaking Snap-on tools its not the tools fault. They are the best money can buy PERIOD...any nothing you can buy at home depot, sears, walmart or Harbor Freight is in the same league. This is not opinion. The only way they break with any regularity is by using chrome sockets on impact guns...which happens all the time. You can kill ANY ratchet with a cheater bar long enough too.

Im not saying you can't get good tools elsewhere...you can. But Snap-on tools are not just simply "good"



Snap-on makes good tools, there is no denying that. Is a $400 Snap-on torque wrench worth it over the Craftsman $200 torque wrench? Not at all. I don't have a bachelor's degree in tools, but I'm smart enough to know when I'm over paying for a name badge.

For the record I never use regular sockets on impact guns. A guy did that in my mechanics class and went to the ER because of it.

 

[zzyzzx]

Is it too late to short Sears stock?

 

[Bud]

I have the same set of Craftsman tools I have had for 40 years. Served me well. Have no idea what the stuff they sell now is like. Don't use mine much anymore, but nice to have them if needed. My son in law has a thousand dollar tool box filled with mostly junk tools.

 

[djb]

There was a bit of an oddity in the statement about the warranty still being honored:

" unlimited lifetime warranty on Craftsman hand tools made in the U.S."

I suspect that means unless the tool is stamped "Made in U.S.A." the warranty won't be honored.

Stanley would be foolish to immediately destroy the value of the brand by stating that the old warranty won't be honored, but they may be hedging in case they later change the policy.

 

[BigD1]

Originally Posted By: AirgunSavant

But now they are junk. I used those sets for years on a commercial level and they used to be great.
The ones they offer today twist and break with supreme ease. And yes I used to be a big fan of them.
Not good...

Originally Posted By: 4WD
I gave out 5 sets of Craftsman screw drivers for Christmas - 17 tools for $20 and free shipping. Made in USA.


You guys talking about the standard Craftsman screw drivers?

The industrial screw drivers use to be dang good. Made by Proto or Williams can't remember.

 

[Sayjac]

Gordon Gekko Lampert just selling off the parts and pieces that have some value left before the final liquidation. No surprise here.

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted By: AirgunSavant
I used to like Craftsman tools but they went down hill decades ago.


I still think their tools are good, it's just their power tools and stuff like that that isn't so great...I always liked the fact that I could take any Craftsman tool into a Sears store and have it replaced on the spot free with no questions asked...

 

[BigD1]

Originally Posted By: Chris B.
That is not completely factual across the board. Garage journal has done many tests of many different brands and snap on has lost many of these tests. There are definitely better tools then snap on in many cases. Probably the most famous test was the torque wrench test where the $15 harbor freight torque wrench beat every other torque wrench on the market including a $300 snap on torque wrench. This test was done with multiple examples of each over 10,000 repetitions and the harbor freight held its calibration longer and more accurately than the snap on across all examples.
I'll agree overall snap on is the best made brand out there. But there are other tools made by many other companies that are better than a lot of what snap on has to offer. That is not an opinion and it is fact.


Calling B.S on the Harbor Freight torque wrench. That wrench was cherry picked, and I bet it did not come from one of their tent sales. When a person has to buy three or more to get one that actually works from Harbor Freight, and on top of it still wonder whether or not it is accurate.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: AZjeff
Oh good, another Sears/Craftsman bash thread. Sears sucks, glad I bought my Craftsman tools years ago, get over it and move on.


It's a discussion forum. I invite you to take your own advice, get over it and move on. Sears deserves to be "bashed" at every opportunity for their utter failure and incompetence.

 

[Doublehaul]

Ill say this about HF torque wrenches...NO torque wrench is any good what so ever without an up to date calibration sticker...I don't care who makes it. Try to get a HF torque wrench calibrated sometime

No calibration firm will touch it...and any shop worth its name wont let a non-calibrated torque wrench near a fastener.

 

[Vern_in_IL]

Originally Posted By: Brybo86
I see this as a positive. Obviously Sears and Kmart are dying.
This move allows the Craftsman name to live on.
Hopefully they do the same with Kenmore and Diehard


Agreed, spin off the companies and let the retail stores die!

There may be a day that JCPenny sells Kenmore washers!!!

But my question is what will happen to the Sears Hometown / Sears Outlet stores? These companies were spun off of Sears Holdings back in 2012, yet they have access to the inventory of Sears Holdings?

 

[daves87rs]

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Sears Holdings (including Sears and Kmart) are in the final stages of failure in what has been called the longest going out of business event in business history. Once a business begins a fire sale of it's iconic brands such as Craftsman (Kenmore and Diehard are soon to follow) then it's pretty much over, especially when those brands are the only recognizable brands left of the business.

Sears had every opportunity to be a major player in the retail industry, but for the last decade has been so poorly managed that any recovery at this point is impossible. No business can be in a perpetual state of decline for a decade and survive. Walk into any Sears or Kmart and they have all of the charm of a dollar store without the low prices-most are reminiscent of department stores in the old Soviet Union.

As long as it continues to stay open, Sears (and Kmart) do nothing for the communities that once made this one of America’s most successful companies. The sooner they fade into oblivion the better off everyone will be.



Well said.