The quality of tools has declined. It used to be that Sears Roebuck "Craftsman" hand tools were among the best and were sold with an unconditional warranty. Not so any more.
On Sun, 2 Jul 2017, Guy Sotomayor Jr via cctalk wrote:
Snap-on brand tools are the best that I’ve come across though they are shockingly expensive. I did have first hand experience in the difference between my “good” Sears Craftsman (30 years ago) tools and Snap-on and it showed me how much better the Snap-on tools were.
My experience is that Craftsman was truly excellent half a century ago. They reached a low point 40 years ago, when they were HORRIBLE. worse than Harbor Freight - crudely made, broached off-center!, . . .
Sears once balked at replacing my 3/4" breaker bar, on the grounds that "it must have been abused". When I offered to "let Tiny come in and discuss how he bent it", they replaced it. But instead of using the replacement, I immediately bought a Snap-On 1" bar with 36mm and 46mm impact sockets. But, it was true that I did use a long extension on the bar. (VW flywheel and rear axle, especially the bus - on the right rear sometimes the front of the buses would come off of the ground before it broke loose). I also have a Snap-On 3/4" ratchet (flea market) that I used (NO EXTENSION) on the ones that were NOT over 250 foot pounds. Went through two wheel pullers, without abusing them, on a 58 Volvo rear drum. Had to appeal to machismo by offering a six of beer to whoever could get it off (half a dozen big guys took it as an all day personal challenge contest)
Snap-on remained excellent through those days. Sears tools survived on their replacement reputation. They used to sell at the flea markets for twice the price of Snap-On "because they're guaranteed for life!" (which Snap-On and a surprisingly large number of others also are!) Broken Snap-On tools were a great bargain, and immediately replaced with new ones.
But Sears got SO bad for a while that in my Honda book I said, "better to have a few good tools . . . than a lifetime supply of scrap metal tools, ready and waiting to hurt you." (p 236)
-- Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
