Using my son's tools, no more

[Aimlesssoul]

Finally moved my son's tool box to his house. Bought a 41" Masterforce (Menards brand) tool box top and bottom. Now I get to fill it with bright and shiny tools. Should I go with Craftsman or ???? I definitely can't afford Matco or Snapon. Who else makes wide range of combo wrenches, sockets and the like for moderate money? Your help is appreciated.

[jking]

I have been happy with my Craftsman wrenches & sockets. Lowes carries the Kobalt brand, HD has Husky. They both appear to be good quality, although I've never used them, so, I can't give an opinion based on usage.

[aggrex]

Craftsman still makes good wrenches, sockets and ratchets. Catch them on sale for best values. Things have changed a lot over the past 10+ years for good hand tools.....its getting a bit harder to find affordable US-made hand tools. Kobalt and Husky hand tools are now mostly imported while many US-Craftsman sets are still available. They all offer "life-time" warranties and all do a decent job for the DIY or semi-pro.

[Pappy]

Since the K Mart-Sears merger/buyout there has been a lot of speculation about the future of Craftsman tools. Still no one knows what the future holds for the brrand.

I have a Husky socket set that has proved to be excellent quality. at one point the Kobalt line was made by SK Wayne, a very reputable company. Don't know if that is still the case.

[LCHIEN]

if you are buying tools for their lifetime warranty,
I would go with Craftsman rather than Husky or Kobalt.
Sears has been around for a long time and even if Sears reorgs probably Craftsman will still be around and honoring lifetime warranties because someone will pick up the name.
Kobalt and Husky have much shorter histories and if their parent companies go under I doubt the brands will survive. What happened to Handy Dan?

[vaking]

Sears near me (Jersey City, NJ) runs clearance on several sets of Craftsman wrenches. Don't know if it is local, you may want to check.

[LinuxRandal]

Husky was around LONG before Home Depot, but Home Depot bought the rights to it. I have my grandfathers ratchet and some other bits, from the late 20's.

Kobalt was started by JH Williams tool group (a division of Snap on), who then sold the name rights and produced stuff for Lowe's. Lowe's then changed manufacturers (I was told by a rep, that JH Williams couldn't produce fast enough), to Danaher tool group (owners and makers of Matco, Gearwrench, Armstrong, KD, Allen, and makers of Craftsman tools for quite a few years now). About a year or two ago, they switched from Danaher, to another company (don't remember, but I think it is Great Neck tools, would have to search).
SK Wayne was SK in the 50's and 60's up to sometime I think in the early 70's. They never make Kobalt tools. SK separated from Facom when Stanley tools group, bought out Facom. SK went bankrupt and was bought by Ideal tool group, which has already started producing some, but not the full range they used to have.

Craftsman, started dropping some of their highest warranty tools from the lines a few years ago. Some of the other tools they went to an older style warranty (new hammer handle, new guts for your tape measure, and now they don't sell the tape measures, etc).
Recently and I don't know if this is Sears, or due to Danaher and the Cooper industries venture, they moved most of their tool production to China. Go look in the store as a lot of the USA tools have or are being cleared out for ones that just say Craftsman. They also have been pushing the Craftsman Evolv tools, which have a MUCH different warranty. To warranty them you must bring back the WHOLE THING. Lose one and you have lost the warranty.
Sears still carries some good stuff, but they sure look to be all going Foreign, and not dropping prices accordingly. (think Pittsburgh tools as Craftsman prices) There is a lot of negative feedback on this on several garage boards I belong to.

It will depend on what you need, and what you have, or have time to wait for. Scrounging around garage sales and such, could easily get you some good old ratchets, and SAE stuff. Metric I don't find at sales as easily.

May I also recommend Cripes distributing (closeout stuff) as well as Harry Epstein's (closeouts and new, multiple brands). I really like the Wright wrenches and ratchets, and have them mixed in with older Craftsman RHFT (no longer sold), Thorsen, Snap on, Williams, etc.

[jdon]

+1 on Craftsman, for best value. I've used Craftsman wrenches, etc. for 4 decades (is it really that long), and quality over the years has been consistent, IMHO. I have a small Kobalt set that seems okay, but doesn't seem to have quite the fit and finish of the C'man (it may be that I'm so used to C'man that I'm biased, however).

Sears always seems to have some sale of socket/wrench sets going on- keep an eye on the web sites such as Dealnews, etc.

[LinuxRandal]

Screwdrivers, are personal preference for feel. Those I like due to price/feel and quality, are Williams (Snap on Hard handle clones, MUCH cheaper), Wera, Witte and Felo. (have used them all)
Toolguyd site has reviewed quite a few brands.

Wrenches, my preferences are OLD Craftsman Pro's (USA made, open end is different on the import, wider), Wrightgrips (similar to Snap on Flank PLUS wrenches but a more comfortable handle to me), Williams Supercombo's, Proto's, old Bonney's. The raised panel Craftsman are fine for homeowner/assembly type of stuff, but working in a garage, I did more then that, and these others held up better.
I do NOT like Snap on COMBO wrenches, as they feel to thin and like a knife blade in my hand. Now their flare nut wrenches are pretty much all I will use, for flare nut wrenches. My Kobalt that was made by JH William's, pretty much match the Snap on ones. My other ones that are not in the sell pile (POJ Craftsman ones, that don't work well on rusty stuff), are my Bonney's (specialized, 12 point flare).

Sockets, I pretty much use USA made Craftsman chrome ones. My impacts are a mix, mostly Craftsman USA made.

Hammers, mostly garage sale ones, a lot I have rehandled.
running out of steam but trying to give some basic opinions.

[eccentrictinkerer]

I started buying my Craftsman sockets and wrenches 52 years ago when I was 14 years old. I started with a 3/8" starter set and bought one socket a week with part of my allowance/lawn mowing money.

Birthday money allowed me splurges for rachet handles, allan wrenches and breaker bars. I resisted buying metric tools until just five years ago.

I've exchanged 3 sockets, one ratchet handle and two screwdrivers (due to my over-wrenching) which works out to about 99% success rate.

Chrome is still shiny and everything works perfectly.

One thing is important, I never loan out my Craftsman tools. I have sets of expendable import tools for loaning.

[cabinetman]

I can remember growing up that Sears was one store that catered to the whole family. My first tools as a kid were Craftsman, and generally I have no complaints. I have pushed wrenches to the point of breaking, and have received a "no question exchange" without a receipt.

Tools are a specialty item. I now have tools of different brands added to my Craftsman. It may have been a need at the time of purchase, or a shopping convenience. I think you'll find that a majority of the tools acquired will likely be comprised of different brands. It's nice to have the choice.

.

[JimD]

I have a few old Craftsman sockets and a whole newer set. Big difference. One of the 3/8 ratchets won't hardly work anymore and the sockets have MUCH thicker walls so they are hard to get into the available space sometimes. The warranty and the sales are nice but the tools are nothing special IMHO.

I've used very few Kobalt or Husky tools but my son has both and believes the Husky are much better than the Kobalt. He and his buddy are working on one of their cars most weekends so they use them a lot (for example, they will put a new clutch into his buddys very fast trans am soon, maybe this weekend).

Last time I need some tools, for a tool roll in my BMW convertible, I bought them from Harbor Freight. Definitely not something special but they have six point 3/8 sockets which I prefer unless I am getting really good tools because they don't round over the nuts. Their composite ratchets are actually pretty nice and the 3/8 one is holding up better than the last Craftsman I bought. I use these tools mainly at oil change days at church. So not real often but fairly intensely for half a day every quarter. Harbor Freight also warrants their hand tools, I think maybe forever, but at their prices it hardly matters. I don't think Craftsman or Husky or Kobalt are noticably better than Harbor Freight, at least for basic hand tools.

Jim

[toolguy1000]

for hand tools, it was ALWAYS craftsman. lately, given my myriad unpleasant experiences with sears, i've been moving to husky. i've a son who's a plumber and he goes through a couple of tape measures a year. he tells me that his orlando sears no longer replaces tape measures if there is a problem with the tape. heck, what else is there in a tape measure but a simple spring, the tape and a frame! husky warrants the entire tape measure for life with no questions replacement @ HD. sadly, i'm following his lead and i'd suggest you do the same.

[charliex]

I'm no pro wrencher but I've had good luck with my Husky set. The only failure was a 12 year old 3/8" ratchet that lost the ball that holds the socket on. HD replaced no questions asked. I have 12 point and 6 point sockets your best bet would be 6 point. There are even sockets that grip the flats instead of the points. Not sure how good they are, just sounds good.

[Cochese]

A year ago I would have said Craftsman.

I bought a Kobalt socket set on clearance after Christmas, and I was blown away with the fit and finish and feel.