I got the Stanley brand from Walmart. It is the Taiwan stuff.

Recently, at a flea market I got a Craftsman set of combination wrenches just in case. I don't need the best, just something which works for shade tree mechanic work.

 

Sears puts on a sale on tools they are such a good deal (usally 1/2 price) and it is often. Unless I get lucky to find the right garage sale it is too much of a bother.

 

I like Crafties, everything except their ratchets. I only use S-K ratchets. I've never broken one, and I pound on them with a 22 ounce ballpeen hammer to loosen stuck nuts. Kind of a poor mans impact wrench.

 

I have a small SK ratchet set 1/4" drive. The ratchet is about 4-5" long. Well, i've had no less than a 3' pipe on that tiny ratchet, and with all my weight didn't move the nut. I finally broke the ratchet with a 4' pipe, just to see if i could snap the damn thing. One of the internal pieces broke, i took it back where i got it and got a new one free of charge.

I'm all for SK due to this little set.

 

well i dont really have a lot of years under my belt but i do know that my first tool set (hehe i was 5, so about 12 years ago) was a craftsmam, so far they still get the work done , my father (who is a tech) as always used craftsman for most of his life . he told me that most craftsman tool are great and some do have some left to be desired (like the cheaper torque wrenches) but he has 2 models and one did break but the other is still great, so my verdict is there great basic handtools and most of thier other tools are great to just make shure you get the ones with the guarantee.

 

Yea the Craftsman ratchets are not the same as the old days but I can tell you 0ne thing they still replce them on demand. I still have a set from the old days & I only use them when I restore a old truck.

 

It really sounds like most of us are perfectly happy with our Craftsman tools, we've had guys that use them every day for work down to shade tree mechanics on the weekends respond to this and they all have all been perfectly happy with the performance of their Craftsman tools. I've owned some of my Craftsman for 30 years and they still are in fine shape. If you stay away from their known problem tools, namely the ratchets and torque wrenches you'll be fine. Craftsman full polish wrenches are very nice, they seem to hold up just fine too. If your buying your Snap-on, Mac and Matco for the full polish you might want to try the Craftsman and take the extra 100's of $$ you save over Snap-on and buy that sweet stainless steel tool box at Costco!

 

Also, there is a sale on the "Next-Generation" Ratchet at Sears right now. It's a 3/8 ratchet, 3" extension, and 20 piece laser-etched socket set, for 39.99. Normally the ratchet itself costs that much.

As they said before, it's half-price. I like the feel of this ratched better than the other ones they sell. I am not crazy about fully-polished (shows more dirt and fingerprints), but the weight and feel of it is leaps and bounds better than the others I have tried.

Not trying to sound like a salesman, but just informing of a good deal going on.

 

my expiernce with craftsman has been bad. there a fine line of tools but there tool quilty has been steadily decrasing, decrasing to the point where my harbor frieght tools are lasting longer than craftsman. my whole tool box is now filled up with harbor freight tools, crazy? thats what i thought but almost all my tools have been perfect, including my harbor freight torque wrench which ive had for about 7 months now with no problems. im not saying the harbor freight tools are the best in anyway, but dont just dismiss them as chinese crap. there good tools.

 

I have just upgraded from my original Craftsman set of tools I got 15 years ago. I ended up buying some new and used Snap-On, Mac, Matco & S&K tools on E-bay. I ended up paying about the same or a little more than buying new Craftsman stuff. These tools are way better in my opinion. After using my Snap On ratchets one time you know why they cost so much. I think S&K is probably the best for the money.

 

How about this one for a switch? The local industrial supply house is now selling Craftsman...along with Allen, Armstrong (VERY expensive), Facom, Stanley, and a few others I've forgotten.

I've got a set of Allen 3/8" sockets & ratchet, SAE Sizes, std & deep sockets, very nice. (Yep, that's the Allen of Allen wrench fame.)

 

my opinion(everybodys got one)old craftsman bulletproof,love old lever style rachets,had new style ratchets with turned snapon looking handles,everyone broke,1/4,3/8,1/2,brought them back to sears ,and they tried to exchange for some cheapo looking ratchets that i wouldn't use for a fishing weight! so i exchange them for different tools(got plenty of ratchets anyway)prefer CHANNEL LOCK pliers and VISE GRIP vise grips,screwdrivers ,prefer a mix of good and cheapos (use them for prybars and chisels alot) also getting older now and have a hard time seeing the sizes on sockets,not a problem with fractional, but tuff with metric,wish they could permenently color them red or something!!!every snapon socket i have has the chrome peeling off,and have been replaced without a problem ,but just peel again.made some nice slices in my fingers!i think they are a little over rated.have not tried the new stanley pro yet ,but they look good and have a nice fine ratchet action.think i'll buy one and put a pipe on it and break a lug nut loose!

 

Never had a problem with Craftsman stuff and they are always coming out with some new invention before anyone else. I can afford snap On but just because I've got the money, doesn't mean I'm going to waste it on the snap on mark up.

 

I've had the majority of my craftsman tools for almost 25 yrs. I have a few other brands mixed in here and there. My only complaint with craftsman, seems to be the same as evryone else, The newer ratchets suck! My original ones still work as good as the day that i got them , and I beat the crap out of my tools. But as far as ratchets, I personaly prefer to use my Snap On or my Protos, I like the flex heads on the snap ons, They are the only Snap On tools i have. I just prefer the feel of them over the Craftsmans. They are definately made way better. I always liked Mac combo wrenches too. nice finish on them but not as thin as snap ons.
But if i had to make a choice and only have one brand it would be Craftsman( just with the old ratchets)

 

Since I do this on the side, I decided that Craftsman was a good comprimise, not too expensive but OK quality. If I was making my living with them though, I would never buy them. I'd say Craftsman is fine for anyone but a professional mechanic.

If you pick up a Snap-On or Mac tool you can tell why they cost more. It's little things like the socket walls being a little thinner to fit into tight places better and the weight of certain tools. Too expensive for me though unless I was making money off of them.. I started my set back in 1998 and bought the nicer full polish ratchets. I had one of the swivel head ones and the pin kept coming out of the swivel. I traded that for other tools. Never had a problem with any of the tools other than that, and I use them a lot for a shade tree guy (other, non-Ford cars, plenty of friends' cars), but I don't beat them up, if I have something too big to take off with the chrome stuff I just grab the impact wrench or a breaker bar with the black impact sockets.

I do have to say that I haven't been impressed with whoever they're outsourcing many of their air tools from, I quit buying them after a couple just felt and ran cheap and started buying either IR or cheap cheap Wal-Mart brand (doesn't hurt as much to replace when they go down the toilet)..