On 10/29/2017 3:50 PM, Leon wrote:
On 10/29/2017 2:37 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 10/29/2017 2:48 PM, wrote:

As long as the quality and lifetime warranty is preserved, it's a
win-win.

I used my FIL's Craftman electric weed-eater.Â* It was "designed to
break" (my quotes!), so it did.Â* I replaced it under Craftsman's
"lifetime warranty" and it promply broke --again!-- within 1 min.
Izzat what you would qualify as "quality"?Â*

Craftman has NEVER had "quality".Â* Broke my 10mm Craftman combo wrench
not too long after learning about Snap-On quality.Â* The closest Sears
store was 100 mi away.Â* The Snap-On (Bonney?) jes never bothered to
break.Â* That's "quality".Â*


When I started my apprenticeship as a mechanic I bought my Craftsman
starter set and a classmate bought "snap-off" at over twice the price.
He had replaced over half of his before he finished his
apprenticeship, while I had almost all of my original set over 20
years later.
nb


I have Craftsman that I bought 53 years ago.Â* I don't use them like
you did, but they were great for a backyard mechanic and homeowner.
I'd not buy the new ones though, they were cheapened years ago.

Of course years ago you could take apart virtually everything on the
car with just a 1/2" and 9/16" open end and box wrench.Â* Then then
furriners started that metric stuff.

It was Jimmy Carter that started the metric stuff in the USA.Â* BUT FWIW
foreign products were metric long before the US went that route, so
metric was here long ago.

Back in the '60s the corner garage would not work on your Fiat because
they did not have the tools. I cannot imaginr getting your Borgward
repaired easily.

On 29 Oct 2017 22:18:18 GMT, notbob wrote:

On 2017-10-29, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote:

The warranty was probably worst than Craftsman, you had to wait up to a
week or more to have a tool replaced.

True. OTOH, early Snap-On never needed to replace tools! That was my point.

Not my experience, nor my classmates. That's why we started calling
them "snap-off" tools.

Granted, their line became worse and worse, as time went by, but whose
didn't!? I wouldn't pay 5¢ fer anything from Snap-On, now.

This was way back in the late '60s and early 70s and they were not as
good as they would have had you believe.

They sure were PRETTY though!!!! Better chrome than the competition,
except possibly SK.

nb

On 2017-10-29, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

Back in the '60s the corner garage would not work on your Fiat because
they did not have the tools.

Define "corner garage". In the 60s, my brother worked in a local filling
station (with a 2-bay working garage) and they specialized in European
cars. Metric combo wrenches or British Whitworth spanners were the
weapons they wielded.

I cannot imaginr getting your Borgward repaired easily.

Imagine passing the first Borgward I'd seen in 30 yrs, then seeing
that same car at a CA Borgward Owner's Assoc., meet some 50 miles
away! True story.

nb

On 2017-10-29, wrote:

except possibly SK.

.....or Proto or Bonney-Utica or Williams, etc.

Lotta good tools in the 60's. My 60's Milwaukee 1/2" drill is all
metal. I hadda pair o' Wizard-brand channel lock pliers. Cheapo
casting, sold by Grand Auto fer $3.95USD, way better than anything by
ChannelLock, at four times the price. I can still clamp down on a
roach (I live in CO) with my key-chain-sized J.H.Williams adj wrench which I've
carried --and used heavily!-- fer 40 yrs. I used my reg S-K sockets on a 3/8"
butterfly torque wrench. They never even lost their chrome!

Craftsman? The very first tool line I ever dumped ....in the 60's!

Let's face it, China is now making most of our tools. BUT, they are
wise enough to include the universal stamp-of-acceptance, the
"lifetime warranty". Craftsman did that for us.

nb

On 10/29/2017 5:56 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 29 Oct 2017 17:03:41 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 10/29/2017 4:50 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 29 Oct 2017 15:27:41 +0000, Spalted Walt
wrote:

Bill wrote:

It takes a good bit of floor space to represent the Craftsman brand very
well. It will be interesting to see how well Lowes does it. It may give
me a reason to visit Lowes more often. At Sears, there must be 5 or 6
Craftsman lawnmowers on display. I doubt that will happen at Lowes. My
next lawnmower will probably be a Honda anyway. ; )

Bill

As a disgruntled former owner of a Lowe's self-propelled 21" rear
drive Husqvarna, I'd be happy to see Lowes carry Craftsman mowers
instead.

I replaced the Husqvarna with a self-propelled Honda from HD 4 yrs
ago and have been quite pleased with its performance. (Except that
it's hard to pull backward)

I have a Honda that I no longer use. It was a great mower when I had
a smaller lot. I now have a Craftsman tractor that's the pits. It
does a lousy job cutting but even a walk behind would kill me with
this lot (did it for a few months but that's all I did during that
time).


Still using my Honda HR194. I purchased it in the Spring of 1987.
I just pulled a 1984 vintage Toro mulcher out of mothballs to mulch
and bag my leaves this fall. Not sure how long the OP had it in
"storage" but it started first pull when I gassed it up .

Tecumseh engine, 164CC


Sounds like he set it up right for the storage.

On 10/29/2017 5:18 PM, notbob wrote:
On 2017-10-29, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote:

The warranty was probably worst than Craftsman, you had to wait up to a
week or more to have a tool replaced.

True. OTOH, early Snap-On never needed to replace tools! That was my point.

Understood buy an alternatively problematic situation was when you left
a wrench under the hood or misplaced one, you had that long wait again
if you wanted to stay with Snap-On. IMHO the Snap-On truck was simply
an unscheduled break for the technicians.