Probably everybody has seen this by now. Sears is selling Craftsman to Stanley tools.

Sears will continue to sell craftsman, but now Stanley will be using some of their sales channels as well.

Promises everywhere that the brand will keep going and the guarantee will stay the same -- I'm pretty skeptical.

hj

ps
The whole Sears sinking has not been fun to watch. At one time Sears had a variety of Sears brand products that were at or near the top choices. Sears paints ( long gone) were just one example. I can't believe that this latest move will do anything more but delay the inevitable.

 

Heard that then I thought it was the garden and lawn tools and equipment. Not sure what craftsman division it is.

 

It's the tools - screwdrivers to socket wrenches and everything else.

Probably the only valuable asset that Sears has anymore. They say that they will keep selling the tools, but they will be buying them from Stanley.

I think the days of bringing a tool in and walking out with a new one are pretty much over. They claim that the lifetime guarantee will still be good, but I just can't see it.

hj

 

Sears used to sell complete houses, in kit form. Pretty nice houses too. They were a really good outlet, and always seemed to represent very good value in the products they sold under their brand name. Not a bad place to work either. For things like tire changes and things like that they were great. Washers and Dryers were rebranded Maytag and the like. Lots of sales. Probably sucked to be the mailman, remember those huge catalogs??

A lot of guys would go to Sears just to look at tools. It definitely was part of what got people in the door. In the 90s noticed they started selling a lot of offshore tools. It's depressing. Can't say that's the only reason but fwiw I haven't set foot inside a Sears since that time.

 

I think thats who ended up with Blackhawk tools, proto then stanley and they went from top of the line to bottom dweller junk under the two brands and I don't know as the brand even exists anymore. If stanley has it, don't bother buying any unless you only need them once a year or so. Harbor freight is about the same and cheaper and I do not like HF for tools unless I half expect to lose them or something.. Which is the best thing to happen actually..

 

The reality is that it's all about money. You simply can't make a high quality tool and sell it profitably to the average do-it-yourselfer. He can't justify the cost and the professional, who can, will buy tools that last him a lifetime. The only repeat business you can expect from him is for something he doesn't already have.
So, you make it cheap and you make it "just good enough" and count on repeat business from that DIYer when it fails.
I am far from a professional, but I do try to buy quality tools when I can afford them. But it's difficult - the Snap-on truck doesn't come by my house every month.

 

Sears has been going downhill on quality for years. I have had examples of their outdoor equipment made since the 50s, starting with the David Bradley two wheeled tractors. Still functional 60years later. The old Sears garden tractors were absolute beasts, I had a couple of them. Those tractors were made by a division of Roper, but nearly exclusively for Sears. When they switched to the Craftsman tractors made by AYP (reorganization of Roper outdoor products), they cheapened up severely. Even the garden tractors were as light duty as the older lawn tractors, and accessories were junk. I have a Craftsman box blade and snowblower adapted onto my Yanmar tractor, and they are light duty garbage compared to the pieces for my old Sears SS18. The welds all broke on one side of the snowblower, and the box blade was a terrible design that put all the stress through two welds to 1/16" wall square tube. I've fixed those issues now but it goes to show the difference between lifetime products and building to a price point.

 

I have a ton of old Craftsman hand-tools that I love and i'm sad to say that Stanley might actually bring up the quality of the junk they're selling now. I personally don't even mess with the warranty anymore, if it breaks it goes in the trash and replaced with something else. A 6.1' 150# guy shouldn't be able to twist off three new half-inch breaker bars and split out multiple big (15/16ths"-1") sockets without using a cheater bar...... The old stuff was/is good!

 

I've been moving away from craftsman hand tools. I had one 1/2" drive socket fail after ten years. I was doing brakes on a pickup.

Any suggestions for a decent brand of hand tools? I've been reluctant about it, but I've been trying some harbor freight tools.

 

Probably not the best but for everyday use Kobalt wrenches and sockets from Lowes aren't too bad. Their screwdrivers do suck, however.

 

I bought kolbalt tool set from Lowes two years ago. Seems to be nice set. I kind of went overboard with the organization. Tow tool chests one SAE the other metric. A drawer for each drive 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 inch. Socket holder and wrench holders. It has been working really well.

 

I love Craftsman Made in USA tools. Never had any issues with any if them. I had 2 3" made in China craftsman extensions break in less than 5 minutes the first time I used either, and will not buy another China craftsman tool again, unless it's going to be an emergency.
Apparently, their line Industrial is Made in USA. Probably pretty pricy but it says made in USA on them. It also says they are online. I have been buying all my craftsman tools on eBay. There are a lot of new but never used tools for sale on there, as well as used but still good. There are also made in USA rebuild kits for their ratchets that I'm thinking of stocking up on.

I am now going with Armstrong for impact tools. They are one of the last Made in USA brands ans their tools are solid. Not too expensive like Snap-On is. Craftsman doesn't really make everything for impact anyways. Almost all my tools are made in USA craftsman.

I do own Kobalt ratchet wrenches and I think they are nicer than anybody else's. They are made in Taiwan, which is far superior to China made tools.

Harbor Freight sells Pittsburgh tools which are made in Taiwan and China. Their professional line is supposedly awesome. I don't own any, but see many people in the tool forums swesr by them. Some people have tools that are more than 5 years old while used in a mechanic shop daily and abused. So if you are looking for a cheap but good tool line, from what I have researched, I would trust Kobalt or Pitsburghs professional line over anything else unless it's made in USA tools. Husky is straight garbage now so I wouldnt waste my money.

 

I actually run almost all Kobalt hand tools, the only problem I have had is the 10mm deep socket stripping, it's a 12point.

 

:
I'm surprised anyone remembers a Sears house. I worked on one years ago in NY . They were a pretty decent house.
I've still got a tool box and set that I got as a HS graduation present.
Must be dating myself

 

I lived in a Sears house in Idaho for three years. They concept was good, and they were rather popular in the inland west (there are still five of the exact same house in the town I am in now), but a lot of them were built by the buyer. In the Idaho one, the foundation wasn't really done, as it was on the Snake River Plain and there is a layer of hardpan 10-20" below the topsoil. Rather than excavating that, they used the foundation blocks to build a rather creepy shed out back.