Mike is going to need to add a bunch more as soon as people start writing in with brands I have forgot or never heard of.....

Just curious.

Personally, I prefer Craftsman, but I have been buying quit a bit of Husky (from Home Depot). Lifetime warranty.....I beat the living sh*t out of a breaker bar with a sledgehammer, managed to snap it and they exchanged it no questions asked!

steve77

Guess my toolbox is about 60% Snap-On/Blue Point and the rest is Craftsman, plus a few odd pieces from Mac.... Tool box is Snap-On, but it's over 20 years old and I would never pay the price they are asking for their new stuff. Any new tools that I have bought in the last 10 years have all been Craftsman and will probably continue that way unless it's a specialized tool I can't get from Sears.

My tools are about 75% Craftsman, 15% Mac Tools, and 10% Snap-On. Never had any problems with any of them either. A few odds and ends of other brands, and my toolbox is a Craftsman as well.

90% of my stuff is all craftsman and the rest is snap on. I really have stood behind all of craftsman;s stuff. there is nothing like their exchange policy and the price is just right for my budget.

American tools have a really good reputation over here too. Most serious mechanics try to build up as much Snap-On equipment as they can. Its very expensive here though.

However, sometimes you can see an individual's choice of car influencing his choice of tool brand. When I used to drive Italian cars ( still do, actually ) I noticed a lot of the more serious mechanics and collectors made a point of using BETA UTENSILI tools. When I had Porsches and VW's a lot of people were fussy about using HAZET. The French car nuts often went for FACOM. Some of the vintage car drivers over here make a big point of going for old British brands like BRITOOL and KING d*** ( no jokes please! ).

I found a lot of good tools in Japan that I've never seen anywhere else, but they are very enthusiastic about Snap-On over there too.

My own toolboxes are a real hotch-potch of HAZET, STAHLWILLE, BETA UTENSILI, FACOM, TENG, KOKEN, SYKES PICKAVANT, SNAP-ON and a few cheap-and-cheerful old faithfuls too.

The more the merrier.

Alan T.

Originally posted by HS30-H

....KING d*** .........

"God Save the Queen!"

I have found some of the local brands acceptable, I am not doing enough spannering to justify snap on or the likes, but repco etc make spanners which are the right size, and seem to stay that way for a reasonable price, unlike the taiwanese specials, which seem to only stay the right size for one or two uses, then they graduate to the next size up.

Alan, now you are out of that English rubbish, don't suppose you have access to some King d*** tools out of the E type tool roll? You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find King d*** stuff over here, and even asking for it at swap meets usually gets at least one snide remark. It still amazes me that any company called themselves King d***. It ranks right up there with the local mechanics shop which now does "Quality Head Jobs" and that sign is in the median strip, pointing to a bush, each to their own.

Originally posted by Z Kid

Alan, now you are out of that English rubbish, don't suppose you have access to some King d*** tools out of the E type tool roll?

Hi Z Kid,

None of my KING d*** stuff would have originally come from the E-Type's tool roll ( more like the back of the gas fitter's van! ) but I can certainly have a sniff around for you at the autojumbles. ( note to self: must try not to imagine that anyone's thinking I'm going to be sniffing out any King d***............ ).

I'll need some leads as to roughly what sizes / combinations the E-Type ones were. I think they should be fairly easy to locate once I know which ones you are after. They made E-Types for a long time, and I doubt if anyone scrapped the tools when the cars went west. This would be the kind of thing that was liberated.

"English rubbish"!!??

Some of it was actually not all that bad!

Alan T.

( God save King d*** ).:classic:

MAC and KOBALT. i found kobalt tools to be of equal if not better quality then mac in most instances.

that is till this year when they changed there line and now you couldnt pay me to buy a set.

its a shame to see a quality tool go to crap like this set did.

I use Pawn shop special. 0.25 a pound. Here they only have Snap-On and Craftsman. I usually buy the whole bin of Snap-On (it's usually small) then I sort N' pick Craftsman.

I usually ask for tools on Birthday's and X-mass. Get Brand new set of Craftsman every year.

Snap-On is the best but takes many years to build yourself up a real good set. Buy good tools and they'll treat you right.

I've always liked Craftsman due to the fact that sears is always close buy and you can replace a tool fast. Snap-On is dealer only. Here you have to catch The Snap-On truck, No store.

-Brandon

I use Craftsman. However, most of the tools are made by the same companies they just slap different brands on them. Some good reading http://www.bricklin.org/TechCentral/TCArticleWhotools.htm

Just like all electric Craftsman tools are made by Black & Decker, same with DeWalt...

I bought some nice wrenches from Ace Hardware recently. They may be cheapo Taiwan products for all I know but they work very well. I'm sure other vendors have the same product but the ratcheting action makes these better than a non-ratcheting combination wrench. I bought 10mm, 12mm, 14mm, and 17mm figuring that those size would cover much of a Z.

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1286811

Craftsman here also. Has anyone been buying their "professional" series? They remind me of Snap-on, lighter weight and smoother over-all finish.