Who do you think makes the finest hand tools?

[M.D. Holloway]

Here is one of those polls that have a bunch of underfined variables so lets just try to make it simple. The majority of us own p-cars for all sorts of reasons. The majority of us will admit there may be better cars on the road but overall we love our cars. A deep, irrational love that combines raw, yet refined force with an elegence and respect for finer things.

With that in mind, what hand tools do you feel are the best in terms of reliability (lasts the longest, ramain in tolerence) and craftsmanship (smart design, great alloys, durable plastic or wood used)?

[equality72521]

I think each has great and poor tools. I personally love Snap-On screwdrivers and prybars. I like there wrenches because they are longer and narrower than others. However, I use Craftsman sockets because I've never had one fail (except one that should have failed from my misuse of it). I also have other brands for different reasons. If price was no option and I was forced to one brand I guess I would choose Snap-On beacuse they have a lot of tools I like better than others and I've never had a single Snap-On tool fail.

[masraum]

Hasn't it also come up here before that many of them are made by the same manufacturer?

[TerryH]

Without price consideration, Snap-On is a clear winner IMHO. They definitely don't make the best of everything, but as a whole, they are best overall.

[rammstein]

I chose other, because I will essentially buy whatever I need at the very moment I need it, and this means I have such a mishmash of nonsense that I don't even know what brands they are. Actully, they aren't brands most of the time. Which means they probably have lead in them. And GHB.

For what its worth, my craftsman stuff has always worked. I have a few husky tools that have always worked. You know, the only tool I've had fail was a $100 aluminum floorjack from JEGS. Never buy anything from them again, thats for sure.

Oh- the best tool I have ever used was PB Blaster. God, that stuff was like magic.

[M.D. Holloway]

Originally Posted by masraum

Hasn't it also come up here before that many of them are made by the same manufacturer?

Steve,
Good point. I would think that many companies do use toll manufacturers. That is very common but the formula, design and QA/QC may be different for each even if the tools are made side by side.

I have spent many a day in Chicken processing facilities and will say that the McDonald McNuggets actually do have to be made different than the Walmart brand even though they are made just one line over - the meat is different, the spices and even the quality control. I wouldn't have believed it unless I saw it first hand. I don't eat McNuggets regularly but will do so if I had a choice between them and another brand.

I would hope and imagine that tools are done the same why - I haven't been to many tool factories. Allen wrenches, staples, nails, screws, paint, glue but not drop forged c-wrenches or screwdrivers.

edit - Mac tools are made by Stanely Tools - Mac is their answer to Snap-On. Mac has about 17% of the mkt share, Snap-On, about 70%.

edit edit - Did anyone relize that the founder of Snap-On - Mr Johnson actually invented the rachet wrench?

[Hetmann]

I voted Craftsman because I actually have some of those. Others might be better, but I don't have any compelling first hand knowledge. I did actually break a socket once and Sears gave me a new one. The guy at the store was amazed that I was able to break one.

[Dottore]

I was once in a factory in Taiwan that made 6 or 7 different brands of televisions depending on the orders they received: Panasonic, Hitachi, Pioneer etc and several European brands. Just a different box. Everything else was identical.

That is Globalization for you. All the same crap.

Bought a KitchenAid blender the other day. The salesman made a big point of telling me it was the best one in the store because it was the only one still "proudly assembled" in America - in Michigan. All the parts come from Mexico, China and India - but they're slapped together in Michigan. That made the thing better.

It's enough to make a grown man weep.

[M.D. Holloway]

"During the Depression, for example, Snap-on salesmen, sensing the angst of these struggling mechanics, began compiling "wish lists," asking customers what they would buy if they had the money -- and then extended them the credit to make at least some of the purchases. In so doing, Snap-on not only sold more tools than the company could have anticipated, but created route lists, purchase records and data for territorial sales statistics. By supporting its customer base so directly, Snap-on actually exited the Depression with a modest profit. It also created a foundation of relationship-selling that remains its strength today. "

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Most of my stuff is Craftsman although the one time I've had the pleasure of using Snap-On, I thought it was good quality although I have no idea where to buy their stuff (it's not like I can go drive down to the hardware store & buy it), plus it's expensive.

[ZAMIRZ]

I use Husky myself, but when I have the money I'm probably going to lay down $30K on a full setup from Snap-On / Blue-point with a paint-to-sample box with ball-bearing drawers with all the bells and whistles.

[equality72521]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Most of my stuff is Craftsman although the one time I've had the pleasure of using Snap-On, I thought it was good quality although I have no idea where to buy their stuff (it's not like I can go drive down to the hardware store & buy it), plus it's expensive.

You can buy Snap-On online now. Sometimes it's worth it to pay more, sometimes not. I won't buy screwdrivers from anyone else.

[Seric]

Craftsman for their warranty. Husky and Snap-On are great as well.

[Jays72T]

Originally Posted by LubeMaster77

"During the Depression, for example, Snap-on salesmen, sensing the angst of these struggling mechanics, began compiling "wish lists," asking customers what they would buy if they had the money -- and then extended them the credit to make at least some of the purchases. In so doing, Snap-on not only sold more tools than the company could have anticipated, but created route lists, purchase records and data for territorial sales statistics. By supporting its customer base so directly, Snap-on actually exited the Depression with a modest profit. It also created a foundation of relationship-selling that remains its strength today. "

Where did you get this? My wife works for Snap-On and said she's never seen this.
I voted Snap-On.

[id10t]

I'm calling a vote for Stanley or whatever brand is on sale at Walmart.

I'm bad about putting things away, and I can never find the last socket, wrench, etc. that I used... so I end up buying a set of metric tools every year or year and a half... having a almost 4 year old son that likes to play in the tool box and take stuff helps too...

[M.D. Holloway]

Originally Posted by Jays72T

Where did you get this? My wife works for Snap-On and said she's never seen this.
I voted Snap-On.

from Strategy & Business site reprint by Glenn Rifkin 'who has covered technology for the New York Times and has written for the Harvard Business Review and Fast Company. He is coauthor of Radical Marketing (HarperBusiness, 1999) and The CEO Chronicles (Knowledge Exchange, 1999).'

I have the whole article, interesting stuff - should I post it?

[osidak]

I have mostly craftsman as they are good quality and I can afford them

Have some snap-on and think the quality of their flarenut crows feet are not so great - wrenches are nice and actually have a 4mm through 27mm set of them

Also have Hazet, Faucom, S&K, some Husky and Cobalt

[Turboo934]

Hazet tools

[Jays72T]

Originally Posted by LubeMaster77

from Strategy & Business site reprint by Glenn Rifkin 'who has covered technology for the New York Times and has written for the Harvard Business Review and Fast Company. He is coauthor of Radical Marketing (HarperBusiness, 1999) and The CEO Chronicles (Knowledge Exchange, 1999).'

I have the whole article, interesting stuff - should I post it?

If you can, sounds like a good read.

[M.D. Holloway]

first of a couple pages - a good read

How Snap-on Tools Ratchets Its Brand
By Glenn Rifkin

The way to create a world-class brand is to give customers what they need, when they need it, and never let them out of your sight.
Radical marketers have a lot to teach their more traditional big-business cousins.
The Snap-on Tools Corporation, for example, has created a business model that combines the top-drawer cachet of a Louis Vuitton, the credit philosophy of a Wells Fargo and the convenience of the Good Humor Man, an odd but compelling amalgam that has put the company at the pinnacle of its market, significantly distancing it from the competition.
And though Snap-on's legendary brand status in the $20 billion automotive tool and equipment business is the result of a decidedly offbeat marketing approach, the company's experience offers lessons about quality, distribution and customer loyalty that apply as much to selling watches, shirts and computers as they do to selling tools.
From its base in Kenosha, Wis., Snap-on has ridden America's love affair with the automobile to solid sales and profits since getting its start 78 years ago, racking up record earnings of $131 million in 1996 on revenues of $1.49 billion.
Its history of success is replete with the usual mix of serendipity, good management, savvy financial decisions and a dedicated and motivated work force. But Snap-on traces its good fortune to three other key ingredients: an unwavering commitment to high-quality, premium-priced products for a large but clearly defined marketplace; an unusual credit system that gives its customers access to those products; and a well-oiled delivery system, employing an army of franchise dealers, that takes the product right to the customer's door.
Though Robert A. Cornog, Snap-on's chief executive, insists that the company is a conservative Midwestern operation, it has thrived while many of its rust-belt brethren have struggled. The difference, many say, is its highly unusual marketing. To sell their wares, Snap-on's 5,700 franchise dealers and sales representatives steer their ubiquitous white vans -- actually rolling retail stores stocked with more than $100,000 worth of inventory -- to 335,000 automobile dealerships, service stations and independent garages around the United States and abroad. Another 325 vans are driven by Snap-on technical representatives, who back up the dealers and their increasingly complex product line with training and expertise.
Each franchise dealer owns his own truck, combs his territory and vis-its his 200 to 300 customers every week, on a rotation as regular as clockwork.
"The whole corporation is based on one thing: all the dealers getting up in the morning, getting behind the steering wheel and seeing that first customer," said Joseph Holmes Van Mater Jr., a veteran Snap-on dealer in Atlantic Highlands, N.J. "It's all face to face, one on one."
Like many of his peers, Mr. Van Mater is the son of a Snap-on dealer. Even third-generation Snap-on dealers are not uncommon, a testament to the company's strong commitment to its sales channel.
With this time-tested formula, Snap-on embodies the coveted tenets of customer intimacy and consistency, building a strategic web of individual relationships over nearly eight decades that is as complex as a global computer network but as simple as its core selling proposition: providing products that help customers make money.
Well before its competition realized it, Snap-on understood that its main customer, the successful independent garage owner, was an astute businessman. To him, time literally was money and if he could get reliable tools without having to leave work to buy them, he would gladly pay a higher price and become a repeat customer.
In consistently placing a premium on quality and keeping nearly all of its production in United States factories and under tight controls, Snap-on has built up valuable equity and fashioned a case study in successful brand management.
To tool lovers, Snap-on is the gold standard, not unlike Rolex, Rolls-Royce or Chivas Regal in their respective markets. Snap-on offers cachet, credibility and a mark of unspoken excellence that draws mechanics to spend thousands of dollars on its tools and another small fortune on the storage cases, carts, chests and wall units that it also makes.
The average auto mechanic will accumulate $20,000 to $30,000 worth of tools in a career, and many spend far more. Most covet and care for their tools in the same way as gunslingers in the Old West treated their pearl-handled pistols. It isn't unusual to find mechanics who quietly wax and shine their tool cases and etch their initials into the tools themselves.
Snap-on makes "the best stuff," said Ray Magliozzi, an auto repair shop owner in Cambridge, Mass., and co-host with his brother, Tom, of "Car Talk," the popular auto repair call-in show on National Public Radio. "They charge the heck out of you, but it really does work better." Mr. Magliozzi said that he has purchased more than $100,000 worth of Snap-on tools in his 25-year career and still uses the ones from his first toolbox.
Like the more highly visible Federal Express or United Parcel Service, Snap-on is essentially a composite of routes and drivers and deliveries, put together with the goal of bringing products and services directly to the customer on a regular basis. In its bare-bones essentials, the company is a throwback to the era of the neighborhood ice cream truck, milkmen who delivered before dawn and physicians who made house calls.
But it would be a mistake to conclude that Snap-on has a throwback mentality. Like other thriving marketers, Snap-on has built on its platform of success, making a series of acquisitions over the past decade to extend its reach into such businesses as software-based diagnostic systems and management information systems. Mr. Cornog points out that more than 40 percent of Snap-on's products now have a software component imbedded in them.