I had my main toolbox 'grow legs' a few years back and had to rebuild
My strategy was to start out with a small set of semi-ok hand tools, anything a step up from 'chinese wonder' quality ought to be fine to start, and hit flea markets for fill-ins. You can find some real treasures digging through buckets in a parking lot here in the rust belt
As an FYI, old time industrial grade hand tools from Williams and Armstrong were made to a standard of quality you just don't get anymore, I worked in a factory that had some Williams end wrenches in the 'floor' toolboxes that had been abused for 50+ years and were still almost perfect except for some worn plating
Williams was gobbled by Snap-On a few years back, I assume quality of their new stuff is still pretty good. Armstrong got bought by Danaher in the '90s so the new stuff is made by the same parent company as Matco. New Britain is also an old professional-grade brand that's worth grabbing. I've been impressed with a couple of Champion Tools wrenches I picked up, that was the original name of Channel-Lock. Diamond Tool & Horseshoe made first-rate pliers and sidecutters and decent hammers and 'crescent wrenches'. Klien Tools stuff is well made, KD tools stuff is decent, the older stuff is first-rate.
Damn good stuff is still out there cheap, if you don't get fixated on Snap-On and plan on 'building up' you can do pretty well

 

I wonder if that ol' hag-bag Martha Stewart is behind it all see how her line of products is sold at K-mart.

 

I doubt that Martha is behind anything at Sears or Kmart. And Kmart bought Sears stores, the financial end of things are/were still separate. The stores weren't making any money, so the shareholders sold the stores and kept the financials. I don't know if they eventually sold them. Chase or BofAm. wanted the financial arm of Sears.

Kmart has become more of a holding company, sort of like Cerubus is to Chrysler, than they are a store. Buy when they are down, sell off the poor performer parts. Same way with the May Company, now called Macy's...better name recognition.

 

I'm in roughly the same situation. I have a 16 yr old stepson who's decided he's going to turn wrenches for a living, so I'm going to give him all my old stuff (since he hasn't yet learned lesson #1 - put @#$%! back where you found it!). But I'm not a pro, so I'm going to re-start from zero, probably mostly with Craftsman.

 

Craftsman is nowhere near what it used to be. I remember my dad using his 1/2" drive as a hammer from time to time and it didn't hurt it one bit. I did the same to mine a few months ago and it doesn't work at all. About a year ago I bought a new set of craftsman 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2" ratches and not a single one of them works anymore. I will buy from snapon from now on.

 

Yeah I don't blame you, I'd buy snapon too, if I did this for a living, or even a whole lot. Heck I'd buy snapon if I could afford it just to have snapon tools. But I can't, and as long as my local Sears still honors the warranty Craftsman will be ok.

 

I had a 1/2" ratchet for 20 + years. It broke. I took it back. They replaced it. I used it twice. That one broke. I took it back. It broke. I took it back. I haven't used it. I use one from True Value. It doesn't break.

 

I hear that a lot about Craftsman ratchets. Anybody know who makes them?

 

Danaher tool corp. made most of the sockets and hand wrenches the last time I knew. Danaher also makes tools for MATCO and others.



http://www.danaher.com/business/stra...ail.asp?key=12