What brand hand tools?

[matt018]

Well I am going to start buying my own tools i know im ging to be a mechanic an need tools but i also need some sockets and ratchets and wrenches for taking apart scrap too. So my dad being an ex mechanic has Snap on and SK and then some craftsman wrenchs and 1/2 in drive. He Thinks i should get snap on used from someone but I can get new craftsman set for half of used snapon. so what tools do you all use for taking apart your scrap?

[parrothead]

Well, I lose more tools than break on me, so that is just me. For every day use, I have always been a Craftsman guy as far as hand tools go. They have always had a full replacement gaurantee. Hopefully that is still true.

Hit garage sales and you can get 2 full sets of tools cheap. 2 sets is for when you lose stuff like I do. I used to pick up broken craftsman tools at garage sales and then drive straight to Sears and get them replaced for free.

Just my 2 cents.

[parrothead]

Oh yeeah, I forgot to mention that. I had a couple of snap-on socket wrenches and never was able to get them replaced or repaired. I found a snap on dealer and he told me that if he did not sell it to me he was not going to fix it, so basically the snap-on gaurantee is worthless.

[vamped400]

i love my craftsman tools. for the price and warranty, you cant beat them.

[parrothead]

I just did some reading, and apparently their warranty on hand tools is still good. I will have to keep an eye out at the garage sales again.

[Patton]

When I started out doing shadetree work, I went and bought the cheapest tools that would actually fit right on the nuts and bolts. 20 years later they are still hanging around. Misplaced a few and broke a couple. For the price you can't beat em.

Now that I am doing "professional" mechanic work or at least being paid line rate, and have a shop I am slowly replacing with Snap-on.

I agree with Parrothead and Kris Kringle on the garage sale stuff. They usually have decent tools and most times you know they will last, since they lasted with the other guy that is selling them.

I also like Proto tools. Just can not seem to find a dealer, and they are about the same price as Snap-on.

The shop I am working in has a Craftsman tool set for shop use. The tools are good, I have just not been able to get Sears to warranty the ones that have broke. No receipt is the excuse that was given to me.

Parrothead,

The way I got hooked up with my Snap-on dealer was that my father handed down his tools and some of the Snap-on stuff was broke, I e-mailed the Snap-on customer service off the web sight and the dealer was up within a week and replaced 40 year old tools with no problem.

He might have been seeing repeat business with me though?

[chrisblackcat]

Oh yeeah, I forgot to mention that. I had a couple of snap-on socket wrenches and never was able to get them replaced or repaired. I found a snap on dealer and he told me that if he did not sell it to me he was not going to fix it, so basically the snap-on gaurantee is worthless.

Sounds very worthless in that case.

[c4f5]

Most of my tools come to me used (garage sales, auctions, inside of junk cars, etc.), making brand irrelevant. However when I must buy new ones, I try to stick with Craftsman. Half the price of Mac or Snap On with twice the warranty.

Craftsman...no questions asked, unless they are merely curious as to how I broke it. The only replacements I have been refused are hammer handles and drill bits.

S-K and Mac. I have had a can of broken tools for several years and can never find a rep to take care of it.

Snap-on....bad experience. Firstly, way over priced and over-rated. Secondly, when trying to return a broken hand tool to the same rep that sold it to me, I was informed by him that the lifetime warrany implied refers to the lifetime of the tool...what a joke.

My Craftsman rep says..."forever...period!" He has even replaced obsolete tools from before I was born (1973) with the closest thing available. When I was mechaniching and using the Craftsman Industrial rep, he even replaced the tools that the Snap On rep refused to replace with new Craftsman tools, just so he could put them on his display, proving superior warranty.

parrothead............I returned a handful of broken Craftsman tools at the nearest Sears just a couple months ago...no problem.

[Patton]

He has even replaced obsolete tools from before I was born (1973) with the closest thing available. When I was mechaniching and using the Craftsman Industrial rep, he even replaced the tools that the Snap On rep refused to replace with new Craftsman tools, just so he could put them on his display, proving superior warranty.

That is cool!

[matt018]

Yea i think that thats the way to go. I know that snap on has upped the price and lowered the quality. I couldt stomach buying a 1500 dollar bottom box with out even any tools. I know the harbor freight industrial box is supposedly amazing and that crafts man professianal and full polish sets are allot better quality. One 3/8 snap on ratchet is 80 bucks and a 1/4 3/8 and 1/2 in craftsman full polish ratchet set is 60 bucks... so id rather have a full set of tools than rub others face in the fact im in debt to my eyeballs.

[Victor]

I have a mix of all kinds of brands. I can not stand to pay new prices and sales tax on my tools so garage sales, auctions, and flea markets get alot of my business anymore. Unless it is real specialized or got to have it yesterday.....that is where I shop. Some of my opinions:

Screwdrivers - I really like Stanley screw drivers. Hold up well for me and are nice in the hand for the money
Hand sockets and drivers - Craftsman as I can find them everywhere and they are cheap. Older the better.
Impact sockets - You won't believe it but the Harbor Freight ones have never let me down.
Wrenches and nut drivers - Craftsman, old school SK, Snap-on. I got a mix and like them all....Snap-on are nice but $$ and the warrenty is ???
Side cutters, pliers, etc.... - Crescent without question.
Air tools - Craftsman for the air wrenches, HF for the cutoff tools.
Electric tools - Dewalt or Milwaukee. Had bad luck with Carftsman electric anything....no more for me.
Torx head and speciality fasteners - I have Craftsman but I don't like them. Searching for replacement brand.
Boxes - Kennedy are nice but $$. HF for chests. Great for the money.

Just some of my opinions.....

[matt018]

I have a black and decker bit driver kit with torx and it has worked great.

[Dumpster-Dee]

took Craftsman ratchets back to Sears after my housefire and they replaced no guestion...even after I told them what had happened to them......didn't feel right about asking for replacement of anything else...the wrenches look bad but still work fine...sockets too with a little PB blaster......screwdrivers gone of course. Did ya'll know that the co. that makes power tools for sears also makes DeWalt !! I wonder if the padding on the outside is the only difference ?

[rca987]

I don't even know what brand half of my tools are. Most are pre-owned, worn out and old, that I've found somewhere, somehow. But I do tend to buy Craftsman when I do buy hand tools.

[parrothead]

Good info. This sounds like the topic of the week to me.

[parrothead]

If you see any Klein tools out there, grab those as well. My years as a lineman were packed with Klein tools. Pretty good for the most part, but I do remember a 1/2 inch Klein nutdriver explode on me when undoing the seized nut for an amplifier housing that had been over torqued. It was near 20 below however and I had some channel locks on them as well, but the metal shattered from the tip up to the handle. Unbelievably, there was a Klein store two blocks away and they gave me a new one.

I have one Klein tool that is irreplacable in my tool bag. It is simply called a cable cutter. If you cut just copper and aluminum with it, you will go basically forever with them working top notch. One hunk of steel and you just farked them up. It makes rather quick work of the windings in a motor.

Here is a picture of the tool I am refferring to. http://www.all-spec.com/products/Kle...-06/63050.html

[zito]

Snap-on....bad experience. Firstly, way over priced and over-rated. Secondly, when trying to return a broken hand tool to the same rep that sold it to me, I was informed by him that the lifetime warrany implied refers to the lifetime of the tool...what a joke.


parrothead............I returned a handful of broken Craftsman tools at the nearest Sears just a couple months ago...no problem.

I'm quite surprised to read this. Incredibly surprised actually. Around here, any Snap-On dealer will warranty any Snap-On tool, no questions about if you bought it from him, etc. The only, and I do mean -only- problem I've ever had getting warranty was when I couldn't get a cracked screwdriver handle replaced, but that was because the hammer marks on the handle from using it as a chisel were pretty bad. The end of the handle was actually mushroomed. When the autowrecking yard I worked at closed and I still needed some tools warranteed, the dealer who handled the area where my house was located drove to my house one evening to help me out. Even though I had never dealt with him before. If you're unhappy with your Snap-On dealer, contact their head office and they'll get you set up, I'm sure.

If a Snap-On dealer says the tools are only warranteed for the life of the too, and not actual life-time warranty, he's referring to Blue-Point tools, and not Snap-On. If he refuses to actually warranty Snap-On, contact the head office or your regional office, and he won't be a dealer for long.

If you're in Canada, I really like the Mastercraft Maximum series from Canadian Tire. Really reasonably priced, and a decent quality tool. I don't mind craftsman tools (although the wrenches are waaaay too scrap metalscrap metalscrap metalscrap metal fat and the open ends flex way too much), but up here, getting them warranteed at Sears is a joke. They have no problem with the warranty, but they never have any replacement stuff in stock. Having a nice cheap Craftsman ratchet is useless if you can't get the gearset warranted for 4 months while your store waits for a replacement set.

I know I'm coming across as a huge Snap-On fanboy, and to be honest, I am. After working in a wrecking yard for a lot of years, and restoring old (rusty) cars, I'm a true believer in them. Rusty nuts/bolts won't strip as quick with precision wrenches that fit the bolt snugly and don't flex when you torque down on it. In my area, other than younger apprentices just starting out, you really don't see anyone who makes their living with tools using much other than Snap-On or Mac (distant 2nd place, due mainly to not enough dealers imo) If you do end up losing a lot of tools, then yeah you're definitely going to be a lot better off using and losing cheaper stuff. But if you manage to hang on to your tools, get Snap-On, even if you buy a couple used pieces from a pawn shop here and there. You definitely get what you pay for.

[dherik]

For hand tools I switched to Kobalt a few years ago. Wasn't even a matter of the quality, the local snap-on and matco dealers rarely came by when I needed something, and sears is just a pita anymore. The majority of our specialty tools come from digikey, or some other electronics catalog. When I break those I know it's going to be a painful phone call.

Now when my Ryobi drill dies I'm not replacing it with another Ryobi, I hate the chuck on that thing. Probably going back to Dewalt.

[c4f5]

zito......most of my tools anymore come to me used, so i do have many Snap On tools, and there is no denying that their quality is superior to most. Unfortunately, multiple experiences with different reps have been pretty much the same story as the one example that I gave, even the corporate call that I did make after my first bad experience. Maybe I have just been unlucky with finding sheet head reps, but every time I have tried to deal with them, I have gotten the attitude that says, I need them more than they need me. That just does not work for me. I would not treat my clients that way, and I should be able to expect any business to treat me as though I am their only customer and that their success depends on me.

That your experience with them has been good is GREAT, and I hope you continue getting it. Back to the warranty thing...with my Craftsman, I have also busted screw diver handles with a hammers....no problem. Back in the day, before I had good pry bars, I busted the tip off of the same large flat head screwdriver several times. One of those times, the Sears rep said, "I'm just curious, how do you keep breaking such a huge screwdriver?" I said, "It's my favorite prybar!" No problem. The combination wrench that I heated & bent into a "special" wrench....I later broke the open end with a cheater....no problem.

Again, I'm glad you found a good Snap On rep. As I would tell anyone about a tool rep, or an auto parts store....regaurdless of the label, if one find one with good service and a competent staff...stick with it! It will eventually be worth the extra money you spend there.