Best bargain in hand tools?

Yes, you've overlooked the Sandvik group's products. Their Bahco Ergo screwdrivers can be difficult to find, but I think they are easily the best on the market. In fact, all the Sandvik tools I've seen are of the highest quality and I buy their products when they make a particular tool I want before considering other manufacturers.

I just re-read your subject line and am not sure if what I posted is what you are looking for. I consider the best "bargain" in hand tools to be the one that will always work for you and that you'll never want to replace. To that end, after Sandvik Group tools, my next choice of superior tools are those made by the Cooper Group.

I don't know where you're at, but I've been buying my tools at Canadian Tire. I keep an eye on their weekly fliers and it seems like every week they have a couple of hand tools/sets on for half price. The Mastercraft stuff seems ok, and they have a really good warranty (I've heard from lots of people that they have a no-questions-asked exchange policy if you have a broken Mastercraft tool and you take it back to the store. I have yet to break anything, so I don't know first-hand).

Like you mentioned, I'd love to be able to just give the Snap-On guy a call and tell him to hook me up with all the tools I need, but that's not going to happen. Not anytime soon anyway. :) (I went through a

600 page Snap-On catalog last night and man, do they have some nice stuff. Especially the tool boxes).

Anyway, the prices on Canadian Tire stuff seem like good "bang for the buck". I guess that's what you were really asking, huh? :) This is just MVHO and YMMV.

And congrats on the toolbox. 19 drawers! No wonder you're in the market for some tools to fill it up!

chem

The Hurdy Gurdy Man wrote:

The Hurdy Gurdy Man wrote in article ...

It is my belief that the best bargain in any sort of tool is to buy the absolute highest quality you can afford - whether it be Yagasaki, Craftsman, or Snap-On.

Even if you only use it a few times, the value will be there should you decide to sell it.

I would much rather buy a used Snap-On tool, machine, or diagnostic instrument than a near-new Kamimoto one, because I know that the Snap-On version will still have a long life to go.

Bob Paulin - R.A.C.E. Chassis Analysis Services

I've been very pleased with S-K tools, now owned by Facom.

They carry the same replacement guarantee as many other quality brands, hold up very well in my experience, and are very close to Snap On in attractiveness.

I have usually bought them when discounted at local tool dealers.

You might also look at Proto, Williams, and Armstrong. All are great tools.

Best of luck, Dave

Some of the Costco tool sets are really nice deals. They had a Crescent tool set for about $55 that was so nice I wanted to get it "just because." :-)

Also, check out the Great Neck line of tools. I see them at AutoZone stores and I think they are good tools at great prices. The 24" 1/2" drive breaker bar has come in handy from time to time. :-) I haven't priced it recently but it is around $15. If I ever need a "onesy" wrench, I get Great Neck.

The Home Depot Husky line has pretty much taken the place of Craftsman for me. I did recently wander a Sears and it looks like it is becoming a good deal again. I saw a set of Porter Cable impact sockets for $20 at Lowes that seemed like a good deal.

I own and appreciate top quality tools but I also have tools to loan out and where theft or abuse are likely. Oh yeah, and for places where they may go "splash" and then deep. :-)

Jay

Be careful of the Craftsman sets. Typically they'll contains lots of allen wrenches and 1/4" and 3/8" sockets. They'll contain very few of the more useful 1/2" sockets, and of the few they do contain, they'll have 12 points instead of 6 points--a recipe for rounding off fasteners.

If you really must have Craftsman, you'll be better served, in my opinion, buying individual tools rather than their giant sets.

Some of my most used tools were old stuff picked up cheap at garage sales and bent/modified to what I really need. I can take a dozen 1/2" wrenches to a job and none of them will fit and I wind up using a 13mm obstruction wrench.

BTW, anyone know where to get a 1/2 x 1/2 obstruction box wrench? Thats i/2 b ox at each end, at different angles. Some nuts are a real pain to get to.

13mm is close enough to 1/2" for most purposes, you said you had one of those. I've found a set of flarenut crowfoot wrenchs are really handy for other stuff than flarenuts. Or you can get some orphan box ends and an O/A rosebud and bend your own custom wrenches. The crowfoots have pretty much eliminated the need for that for the stuff I work on.

Stan

While a number of the companies aquired by the Cooper Group once made fine tools, not many seem to still do so after being gobbled up by the conglomerate. The majority of their profits seem to have been used by the conglomerate for further acquisitions rather than being plowed back into the enterprises to maintain quality standards.

Gary

Same experience here. I bought a pair of Diamond needle nose pliers and the tips did not line up. I sent them back to the manufacturer and they replaced them with a pair with exactly the same problem. By looking at the new pair, it was obvious the two halves were finish ground before assembly. Probably fine for a pair of heavier pliers, but no good with such a fine tip.

A hand picked $5 Chinese pair out of the bin at Sears are much nicer. The worst pair in the bin of Chinese pliers was better than the Diamond pliers. Ned Simmons

On pliers and cutters (at least smaller ones), if you want high quality it is Sandvik #1 and Exact #2. These products may be smaller than what you have in mind and are very popular for electronics work...also, jewelers like them. If you want to cut #4 copper wire, don't even bother looking at the Sandvik catalog.

Not my experience, George, I'm sorry to say. I bought a pair of Sandvik-Linstrom (? spelling) angle side-cutters for my 'travelling' tool kit. They are junk. The jaws don't meet because they're further apart at the front than at the rear, and furthermore the cutting edges are ground on two slightly different planes. I put some time in to correct all of this and found that they are made out of something one step up from Chinese steel - it's terrible. My old Bahco pair (fiercely protected, and only used for cutting small electronic component leads) are over ten years old and are still like new - and I use them every day of the year. If I could find another pair I'd snap them up instantly.

Roger

George wrote:

I hope that is an isolated incident and/or a counterfeit tool. I got my Sandvik/Lindstrom/Bahco tools within the last five years and they are all great. (Of course, one never knows how long the distributor may have had them.)

How's the quality on that Crescent tool set? They've to a nearly 300 piece "automotive mechanics" set for around $200 that is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for, but with no demo model out I can't actually hold the tools in my hand and determine the quality on them... there's a smaller set in a plastic case also being sold, and the wrenches it includes look a little skimpy to me... looks can be deceiving, though. If it's all quality stuff, though, I might just go that route. I don't tend to break tools, even the really crappy ones in the $1 bin from Pep Boys, so even without the "break 'em all you want" sort of Craftsman guarantee behind them I'd be good with this set assuming it's a quality product.

Bryan

Their old tools were very good! I have my fathers old Crescent adjustable wrench. It was made in the 1930s, and is still in good shape. It has been used a lot!

Steve R.

I didn't buy it so I can't say for sure. I was mostly eyeballing it for work - some of the work groups need a set of handtools and it looked like a clean way of doing it. The problem with sets nowadays for me is I usually just need to replace a couple of tools or am looking for a specialized one. So if I buy a set, most of it just stacks up in the redundant/backup section on a shelf or in a bin

I wonder what would happen if you asked a Costco employee you'd like to open one up? IMHO Costco is pretty accomodating and has an excellent return policy.

I've also been very happy with the quality of things at Costco. If you are going to use the tools hard everyday, hey maybe you won't be happy a couple of years from now.

I picked up a set of pliers/cutters for $17 at Costco - it had 6 or 7 different tools - "regular," lineman, channel lock, long nose, cutters, etc. Less than $3 a tool - and the quality was very good - nice finish/jaw alignment and spring loaded so the jaws move apart. Un-effing believable. I really just needed a lineman plier/cutter.

includes look a little

Not sure what you mean by "skimpy" that the tools looked weak or that there weren't that many of them? This one could be the $55 set I mentioned above.

Jay