Larry Jaques writes:

In the early 80's, nearly every tool I bought from
Crapsman was faulty and I ended up at the Searz tool counter
DAILY, with bandaged hands, with one broken tool or another.

Slow learner, are you? ;-)

Do you get the Japanese brand "Kamasa" in the US? Over here, it's
about the best buy one can get for home use: Kamasa tools are very
good, and inexpensive. (Not cheap; there are no good cheap tools.)

Of course, there are times when "very good" isn't enough. I once bent
a Kamasa socket wrench shaft (and bled some in the process) trying to
loosen a recalcitrant nut in a difficult place. Got so angry, I
walked straight to the nearest real tool merchant, slammed the damn
thing down on the counter, and said "I want something that doesn't do
that". He sold me a German (West German, back then) shaft made by
Stahlwille, and explained that if I ever (no time limit) managed to
damage it, I could take it to any Stahlwille retailer, anywhere, with
no receipt, and I'd get it replaced, absolutely no questions asked.

I still have it, of course. Good as new, 20 years later. :-)

-tih
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Tom Ivar Helbekkmo, Senior System Administrator, EUnet Norway Hosting
www.eunet.no T +47-22092958 M +47-93013940 F +47-22092901 FWD 484145