Tool quality question
 

As always, needed the one tool I didn't have at a late hour. I went to Home Depot (open until 12:00am) and found the wrench that I was looking for. It is Husky brand, polished, feels pretty good, and at a good price. Does anyone have an opinion on Husky brand tools? I think they are made by Stanley, but am not certain.

I personally don't care for their ratchets, but I like their wrenches and sockets. I believe the quality is equal to Craftsman.

They are not to bad. Been around for quite some time. I think it is more important to know where the tool is made.

Jeff,
You have a problem buying tools out of mainland China?

I got approached at a quickie mart by a guy selling a set of 1/2" drive sockets with a universal and a rachet. He was asking $20.. Best $5 I have ever spent.

Interesting stuff:
 

(...the internet is a wonderful thing, isn't it?)

Got curious about this... here is some info off of (guess what...) a Tool Forum:

"Lowes now (as of earlier this year) is selling a line of Mechanics Tools called Kobalt which is made by Snap-On. They are good tools.

Home Depot's Husky brand is made by Stanley Mechanics Tools, a division of the Stanley Works. Husky are also good tools and have a good lifetime warranty (they'll even replace your broken Craftsman with an equivalent Husky).

Until 1994 or so, Stanley also made Sears Craftsman tools. Sears Craftsman is now made by Danaher Tools. They beat out Stanley on the contract over price. Danaher also manufactures MatCo Tools, the third largest player in the Mobile Automotive industry (behind MAC and Snap-On). Odds are, if you own any Craftsman tools that are older than about five years ago, they were made by Stanley in plants in Dallas, Texas, Witchita Falls, Texas, and Sabina, Ohio.

Stanley also owns MAC Tools and manufactures MAC tools in the same plants. Now here's the kicker: MAC Tools, Proto Tools (a very expensive industrial brand), Husky Tools, and, (prior to five or so years ago) Craftsman Tools are all made from the same forgings in the same plants. Proto is unique because it goes through addtional testing and certification because it is used by NASA, the military, and industrial customers (including General Motors).

There are three MAJOR players in the USA mechanics tool business: Stanley, Danaher, and Snap-On. Stanley and Danaher (almost identical in sales revenue at about $28 billion each) are the biggest followed by Snap-On. Each of these three manufacture and sell tools under a variety of brands (there are many other brands that Stanley makes that I haven't even named). The quality between these three manufacturers is roughly the same. I know its a bit of a let-down to hear that, but its a simple fact."

... I won't bore you with the rest of that thread, because they got into a big discussion of REAL vs. REPLICA Snap-on tools. :D
...some things never change.

Ron ...

What about us S-K guys used to be considered "equal to any."

S-K?
 

They say this about S-K:

"FACOM ( Franco-Americaine de Construction d'Outillage Mecanique). French for "French-American Mechanical Tool Manufacturing".
FACOM owns S-K outright. You'll notice (if you look through the catalogs from preceeding years) that the tools are becoming more and more alike. The S-K "pro" screwdrivers are now FACOM ergotwist screwdrivers. The "tuff1" ratchets are S-K pro ratchet handles avec FACOM innards. FACOM's ratcheting flare wrench now has S-K stamped on the side of it. I don't like it because we could get FACOM tools from S-K dealers for over 10 years, but now they're getting more and more reluctant to give us FACOM stuff, they'd rather sell S-K stuff. Which is why you get S-K catalogs instead of FACOM. If you specifically request (demand) a FACOM catalog, you get their _american_ catalog, which is abbreviated."

The French Stink!

Roscoe

SCOBRAC, you reminded of the time I was building this house, a fella drove up and tried to sell me a bobcat with trailer for $500.
A picture came to mind of me holding on to cold rolled.
Thanks anyway.

craftsman from Japan
 

A fellow mechanic I used to work with had a set of craftsman combo wrenches that were stamped "made in japan" I had never seen that before or after. They were niceer than my "made in usa" craftsman wrenches.

My new favorite screwdrivers and allen wrenches are swiss made by PB Baumann. They put my snap-on's to shame.

Craftsman won't stand behind Made in Jappppp