I like the rough grip on the Cman tools. the polished ones of the "name brands" slip when you get a little oil on them. Asfor the warranty, I'd rather drive the 1/2 mile to sears than wait til the next day or next week to see the truck, because when it broke i was using it and i want to use it agin ASAP. The older Snap-on ratchets had a recessed direction changer, the newer ones are much higher and often change direction while in use.Had the Snap-on guy change the guts on my 3/8 ratchet, now it was hard to turn, he gave me a new one, still sticky. Bought a Mac set fine tooth with push button release=no problem. The snap-on sits in the back of the drawer and I reach for the Craftsman first. Just my personal preference.

 

The newer Craftsman ratchets are made by Matco. My opinion is they're not quite as good as old Craftsman ratchets. I'm personally a Snap-On fan.I have used Snap-On since 1974 and my toolbox has almost nothing else in it. I can't say how my 25+ year old tools are working now as someone else needed them worse than I did ( I got robbed about 3 years ago) but thank goodness my Snap-On dealer kept a complete inventory of my tools. He smiled all the way to the bank with just over $35,000 of the insurance money.

 

i have a shop full of craftsman tools and i love them all.Craftsman tools are made where I live and believe it or not snap on and matco are made in the exact same factory.

 

Not trying to highjack, but what does everyone think of the new Craftsman low-profile, short degree ratchets? You know, the ones that are twice as expensive as the standard ones? I see that they move with a 5 degree arc just like Snap-on.

 

FYI
Just talked to my Snap-On salesman and he said ALL Snap-on ratchets are made in Millwauke Wisc. Some Bluepoint tools( sold by Snap-on)are made by contract outsiders but not in Alabama to his knowledge. They had a company in Tennesse make a line of Bluepoint screwdrivers some time ago but not anymore. He also said many of the Craftsman tools to his knowledge are made by K-D Eastco. Hope this helps.

 

I see that Harbor Freight is selling s-k tools. Are they really better than Craftsman?

 

I'm on the Alabama Georgia border,The company i am refering to is actually in columbus georgia.The name of it is williams manufacturing.

 

dude craftsman ratchets have always been junk.
Get the Crescent snap-on tool set.
My Dad got a Crescent snap-on tool set

 

My son and I have picked up some Great Neck sockets lately since there's an Advanced Auto store two blocks away. We've had no problems with them, so far. We also bought a couple of open ended wrenches by Ampro, IIRC, and while trying to remove a stubborn header collector bolt, I banged my hand on the underbody and immediately thought that I had stripped the nut. To my surprise, I had snapped one of the wrench's tynes instead.
Now, I'm not a weak guy, but I've never snapped a wrench bare-handed before.

 

i curently have a Cresent ratchet set and love it, i plan on buying S-K from now on.

 

Where are s-k tools available?

 

s-k is owned by Facom I believe, they do share the same website. www.skhandtool.com

Ebay is a good place to get them! I have several sets of SK sockets, a facom ratchet and screwdriver set. Pretty nice stuff actually. I have no problem letting them sit next to my mac and matco tools

 

I dont have much good to say about snap on. I would never by a power tool thru them. Guys that I used to work with swore by there 18 volt cordless drills, But when my 14.4 porter cable out lasted and out powered the snap on they got kinda ticked. The other side of it is that, ya sure the guys bring a truck right to you, and sure you may like the guy that you gave now, but what happens if ya get another job? Is the guy gonna be a losser or is he gonna help ya with what ya need. I hear that its a bad idea to deal with the mac and macto guys that visit my shop but yet at my old shop it was snap on that was bad.

I like my husky tools, they've been around as long as snap on and have a lifetime warrenty. And the warrenty work is done thru a company, not a single person. I have yet to have a problem with my husky tools. I just got a couple craftsman tools for christmas so we shall see how they hold out.

 

i can get them at an independant store called Idaho Tool, but otherwise, i am not sure. you should try Ebay like beeboy said.

 

Check out http://www.skhandtool.com/ and they have a dealer locator. There should be some online vendors too if you do some searching - or ebay. There is a store in town that sells s-k tools and I think they're pretty even with craftsman. I like their sockets better but the chrome seems to flake off the wrenches on the tips and could cut you (this was in the store that many had corners just barely flakeing, rough edges at the tip of the wrench, otherwise they're pretty nice. I don't have any work expirience with them, just handling them in the store as I have mostly craftsman professional stuff (full polish) I'd deffinitly spring for a few S-K screwdrivers though as the sears ones are crap. S-K tools are a little more bulky than craftsman and snap-on though, its a preference thing I guess though. Still need to get some deep well socket sets and might go S-K. The ratchets are the round head type that seem pretty basic and not very sealed, but very functional - they do have a knurled rough grip which may or may not be nice for some but they seem to be pretty durable. They do have some pear head types with the reversing lever but thats plastic same as the sears ones, in fact I think the reversing lever on s-k is even flimsier than the craftsman ones and I HATE that about the new craftsman ratchets.. Think I'm going to replace the ratchets with snapon in a while... anyhow those are my impressions. Good luck tool hunting!

-Aaron