In article ,
Del Rawlins wrote:

On 08 Nov 2003 08:04 PM, C. E. White posted the following:


Neil Nelson wrote:


The most obvious trait to me is how easily the chrome plating
chips/peels from the cheap brand tools (Craftsman, Matco, Mac),
not what I'd want floating around inside the engine of the next
airliner I get on. :-(

I was told by a former Coast Guard plane chief that chrome plated
tools were not allowed - Is this true? He also said all the tools were
kept by a crib and checked out. If they weren't all checked in, the
plane didn't fly till they accounted for it.

A buddy of mine was a parachute rigger in the air national guard and he
mentioned the tool inventory thing to me once. Never heard the one
about chrome plated tools.

Seems like I've heard of most tool manufactures going through plating,
brittle and/or whatever spells from time to time. Even the great Snap On
had a bad plating problem for a while...

Snap On makes most of their line in black oxide finish too... pretty
much the same thing, but cheaper, and slightly less apt to 'walk off'
from various shops that supply tools. I've heard a Snap On industrial
rep tell buyers to shut up technicians moaning over not getting chrome
tools by using the plating contamination 'line'.

You have to be careful to keep a coat of oil on the black oxides... and
they're a little easier to misplace because of the dark color... but are
otherwise the same.

Erik