I used to buy nothing but Armstrong and S-K. Then I saw the
professional series wrenches from Harbor Freight. Hey, man, I got
other things to do with my money. Those wrenches (made in Taiwan,
not China) are *nice*. The finish is perfect, better than my
Armstrong ones. I have to say, though, I go to my local store where
I can look at them before I buy.

For sockets, dunno. Haven't bought any in a long time. - GWE

Jeff Wisnia wrote:

George wrote:


Home Depot has rolled out a ton of Ridgid brand hand tools. What's
the word on the quality? Also, who is OEMing all this stuff. Is it
Black and Decker?


Yesterday I was browsing through a local railroad salvage/overstock
store and noticed some pretty hefty 7/8" and 1" imported combo box/end
wrenches priced to sell at 89 cents each. They had the typical
chromed(?) finish seen on those kind of tools.

I no longer make my living using hand tools, and I've been tempted to
ask the group this one for quite a while, so here goes...

Patriotic issues and potential long term effects on parts of our economy
aside, is there anything usefully inferior about low cost imported box
and end wrenches and various styles of pliers other than the quality of
their finish and overall appearance? Or, is much of the derision heaped
upon them only the result of "toolbox status" and xenophobic feelings?

Is strength an issue? Has anyone ever bent or busted a full sized
imported wrench and believed that a comparably sized US made product
wouldn't have similarly failed under the same circumstances?

Just wondering....I've split more than a few US made thin wall sockets
in my day by pushing them too hard, and I'd expect that cheap sockets
might be more prone to that kind of failure. They may also have less
accurately formed interiors, so I excluded sockets from my question
above.

Even so, I couldn't resist buying a few of the little HF combination
english/metric socket sets when they went on sale for $1.98 each. I've
got one in my office desk and one in the glove box of each of our cars,
and I was glad I did that the very few times they've been handy for me
or a passer by.

Comments?

Jeff

--
Jeff Wisnia (W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"If you can keep smiling when things go wrong, you've thought of someone
to place the blame on."