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Is Craftsman comming back?


Flatie46

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Talk of Craftsman tools comming back and being made in the USA. I hope so but will believe it when I see it. They're saying Lowe's may be carrying Craftsman in the future. In my opinion, Craftsman has been going down hill since the mid 80's. At one time the name meant something.

http://toolguyd.com/stanley-black-decker-pledges-to-bring-craftsman-tool-production-back-to-usa/

 

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Craftsmans is under new ownership and will continues to be warrantied.  As for US made....very few tools are these days.  We had a enty few months back that listed the maker of all the hand tools.  Kinda surprising to see is competing on the marker but have the same momma

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One thing that really makes me mad is that just because it says it's made in the USA doesn't mean it is. I think like if you buy like for instance a socket set. As long as 30% of what you bought was made in the USA they can say it was. But this counts the box, packaging, and odd crap. So the actual tools or most of them wouldn't have to be.

Or you have the secnerio where it's put together here with parts from other countries. Its all very frustrating to me.

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the market is global..cost drives the end product coupled with the greed of corporate America, the tax and operating cost and labor based cost of doing business here has made off shore the answer to keeping the doors open.  The thinking the products will return to these shores...not likely and the fix to even come close to entertaining this idea is extreme cost..runaway train..looking for a place to crash.

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Just because something is made "offshore" does not mean it is necessarily poor.  The U.S. companies that have stuff made for them offshore are getting exactly for what they are paying.  If they wanted a better quality of tool, it would cost them more and then it would cost you more.

The Chinese are as technically advanced as are we but they are making what is ordered.  Want to buy a socket set that is of high quality?  You probably wouldn't want to pay for it.

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15 minutes ago, lonejacklarry said:

Just because something is made "offshore" does not mean it is necessarily poor.  The U.S. companies that have stuff made for them offshore are getting exactly for what they are paying.  If they wanted a better quality of tool, it would cost them more and then it would cost you more.

The Chinese are as technically advanced as are we but they are making what is ordered.  Want to buy a socket set that is of high quality?  You probably wouldn't want to pay for it.

I am old enough to remember when "made in Japan" was synonymous with "junk". And there was lots of it, wind up toys, transistor radios, etc. Later, when things like when well built cars, cameras with good lenses, etc. started arriving from Japan that changed. Around the time the impression of Japanese quality was changing I heard that the Japanese had been building quality stuff for themselves for quite a while but was building poor quality stuff for export to the US because that seemed to be what the US market wanted. Don't know if that was true or not, but it certainly seems to be true that a lot of stuff is sold in this country is sold on price alone and, as a whole, we seem to be willing to go with lower quality if we can save a penny on the initial outlay. It may be more expensive in the long run as good quality generally outlasts poor quality, but we seem to be suckers for a low initial price.

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I bought most of my tools a long time ago, mostly S-K, Blue Point, or Snap-On and I like my old Proto and Cornwell ratchets better than any others I've used. The toolbag I carry on the road is mostly offshore stuff. Some of them aren't too bad and losing a good wrench would keep me up nights!! :)  I don't like the "ergonomic" grips they put on tools today, either.

 

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What's the brand of tools Lowes sells?  I don't have any of them, but they look pretty decent.  I keep looking at their tool boxes, and on that you can tell it's good stuff, at least I think so, judging from the way the drawers feel when you open & close them.  I have mostly old Craftsman tools - bought a pretty decent starter set back in the 70's, before they started putting plastic parts in the ratchets.  Have also picked up a few in flea markets, but that was also some years ago already now.

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5 hours ago, lonejacklarry said:

Just because something is made "offshore" does not mean it is necessarily poor.  The U.S. companies that have stuff made for them offshore are getting exactly for what they are paying.  If they wanted a better quality of tool, it would cost them more and then it would cost you more.

The Chinese are as technically advanced as are we but they are making what is ordered.  Want to buy a socket set that is of high quality?  You probably wouldn't want to pay for it.

You are right they aren't cheap but if you take care of them you shouldn't have to ever rebuy.

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1 hour ago, Eneto-55 said:

What's the brand of tools Lowes sells?  I don't have any of them, but they look pretty decent.  I keep looking at their tool boxes, and on that you can tell it's good stuff, at least I think so, judging from the way the drawers feel when you open & close them.  I have mostly old Craftsman tools - bought a pretty decent starter set back in the 70's, before they started putting plastic parts in the ratchets.  Have also picked up a few in flea markets, but that was also some years ago already now.

Lowes house brand is Kobalt. I have a set of their combination wrenches in my tool bag. They seem okay but I haven't used them much.

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1 hour ago, Young Ed said:

Another thing. I have primarily snap on tools. I buy them used off craigslist ebay etc and get them for 50% or less than new. 

  You can't beat that, 1/2 off and same warranty. I'm always on the hunt at the flea markets, yard and estate sales.

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3 hours ago, Young Ed said:

Another thing. I have primarily snap on tools. I buy them used off craigslist ebay etc and get them for 50% or less than new. 

Back in my youth I worked for a while on the factory floor of an aerospace firm. I remember there was an assembly where the design engineer had not left enough room for a socket to get on a bolt head in a recess of a casting. And being in a recess, only a socket could be used. The manufacturing "fix" was to take a normal socket and grind the outside down enough to fit into the recess. It turned out that the only brand socket they could do that with was Snap On. It was the only one with good enough steel that you could grind away most of the material and still be strong enough to get the nut properly torqued. All the other brand sockets would break on first use after being abused like that. Fortunately there was a Snap On warehouse not too far away too.

Not sure what the relative quality is of the high end tools are today, but back then Snap On was definitely top of the heap.

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8 hours ago, TodFitch said:

Not sure what the relative quality is of the high end tools are today, but back then Snap On was definitely top of the heap.

My Snap On tools range from the '50s through the '80s and are all top quality tools. My favorite 1/2" ratchet is a fine tooth Proto Challenger I bought in the early '70s. I've really abused it and it's never given me any problems. I have some various Snap On 71 series ratchets that are really good. Cornwell makes nice ratchets, too. I've broken several Craftsman ratchets. I guess they're okay if you aren't a gorilla. ;)

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8 minutes ago, MackTheFinger said:

My Snap On tools range from the '50s through the '80s and are all top quality tools. My favorite 1/2" ratchet is a fine tooth Proto Challenger I bought in the early '70s. I've really abused it and it's never given me any problems. I have some various Snap On 71 series ratchets that are really good. Cornwell makes nice ratchets, too. I've broken several Craftsman ratchets. I guess they're okay if you aren't a gorilla. ;)

and if you are a gorilla, I have had less trouble with any Craftsman return than that of any jobber sold tool system bar none.....at least the Craftsman store had it in stock and swapped on the spot compared to maybe a week or more for the other guys....oh, they come through, but on their schedule unfortunately.  Like Young Ed, I get my tools on the 'proven side' of life, mainly at the pawn shops for pennies on the dollar and buying Craftsman, I still get that exchange warranty.  There are no jobbers 40 miles out in the country for warranty exchange and 95% of the time, no store front for them either.  Got to weight all in the buying/use process

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My first real set of tools is Craftsman.  Bought them over 30 years ago, still have all of them.  Of course, there have been many additions from various sources and brands since then.  I've found that "name brand" always does well for what I need them for, I do a lot with them, but I don't make a living off them.  I have one Craftsman 1/4" ratchet that gives me trouble, but it's not from my original set, I think I found it alongside the highway somewhere.  Otherwise, the only tools I've broken where not the right ones for the job.  I've since figured that I may as well get the right tool in the first place.

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3 hours ago, Plymouthy Adams said:

and if you are a gorilla, I have had less trouble with any Craftsman return than that of any jobber sold tool system bar none.....at least the Craftsman store had it in stock and swapped on the spot compared to maybe a week or more for the other guys....oh, they come through, but on their schedule unfortunately.  Like Young Ed, I get my tools on the 'proven side' of life, mainly at the pawn shops for pennies on the dollar and buying Craftsman, I still get that exchange warranty.  There are no jobbers 40 miles out in the country for warranty exchange and 95% of the time, no store front for them either.  Got to weight all in the buying/use process

So there are pawn shops and Sears stores nearby but no tool trucks or Safety Kleen buzzards circling your shop? You're living the life, ol' buddy..;)

I have multiples of most of the tools I need. I'm sure you do, too. Break one and there's another few in the drawer. At this moment the only tool I have that I know is broken is a Craftsman ratchet.. I stripped it out 8-10 years ago and I wasn't doing my ape man imitation. It was an exchange, too. I keep it to remind me to never use Craftsman ratchets. I broke a couple of Craftsman breaker bars years ago and gave up on them, too. Their other tools are okay. Not great but okay. That's kinda subjective, though.. 

My problem with exchanging broken tools is two-fold. First is that the tool shouldn't have broken in the first place. If it broke through abuse or misuse I wouldn't ask for an exchange. That's on me.. If it breaks just because why would I want another one just like it? Been through that with Craftsman ratchets and breaker bars already. Second is my dislike of retail establishments. Watching a cash register jockey try to figure out how to do an exchange on a $15 ratchet while people line up behind me ain't gonna happen.

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2 hours ago, MackTheFinger said:

So there are pawn shops and Sears stores nearby but no tool trucks or Safety Kleen buzzards circling your shop? You're living the life, ol' buddy..;)

 

I am living the life, lucky if a UPS trucks finds me.  Matter of fact hopin g for parts deliverly this evening.  As for broken tooks, hand wrenching busted a MAC wrench on a bicycle pedal, broke a Snap-On right behind it...used them so not to break one of my Craftmans set, used the Craftsman and off it came.....you gonna have a broken tool sooner or later regardless of the system you buy into.  The Snap on showed a fault in forging on the broken piece.  My son knows the Snap-On jobber but it has not been replaced yet by him.  It is not how close or how far away, it is a GEORGIA thang...!!!

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On 11/14/2017 at 8:21 AM, Plymouthy Adams said:

the market is global..cost drives the end product coupled with the greed of corporate America, the tax and operating cost and labor based cost of doing business here has made off shore the answer to keeping the doors open.  The thinking the products will return to these shores...not likely and the fix to even come close to entertaining this idea is extreme cost..runaway train..looking for a place to crash.

I’m not so sure it’s greed of corporate America or the union scale that drives the cost of everything and send it overseas.  My opinion union had its place years ago But GREED took over and now the end user pays for it.  I just ordered a new dodge dually, $65,000.  Ridiculously overpriced, 

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