northern tool is a bit better then harbor freight on most hand tools
we have both close by

I mostly buy at swap meets or yard sales old craftman S&K snap ect

I rank tools by country
german
USA
english
jap
tiawan

I never buy india or red china junk

Once you get serious, you get tired of cman ratchets and raised panels (****ing short and useless)-

No way I would want to go past building a swing set using that stuff. just a headache.

Go out there and find these if you need Cman wrenches- they are on Ebay now and then:
http://img0102.popscreencdn.com/1579...t-usa-12pt.jpg

Craftsman "Industrial" made in USA and fully polished.

almost as good as snappy- no flank drive tho.

I have a huge cman set from USA- almost 20 years old- anything that needs replacement gets USA stuff off ebay. Cman is cheap there, and you get the odd stuff like "Industrial" line too.

For heavy use and abuse, I now own SNAP ON - and building that up currently.

I can't make myself get rid of my Cman stuff, too much time and money invested in it all. WHo knows, maybe someday I'll give it to a nephew or other family member.

rjp

PS I think the new stuff besides being Chinese, gimmicky, is flimsy and garish looking- Most of it looks like props from "Buck Rogers"

rjp

I actually find Harbor Freight to be pretty decent stuff, easily on par with most big box stores. I have a fine tooth 3/8 HF ratchet that I've easily used for 10 years.

All of my Craftsman handtools and tool chests are vintage 1976 or so and are very good quality tools. However, for the past 15 years or so, depending on the tool, I have bought either H-F, Husky or Kobalt. I find both Husky and Kobalt to be decent quality at reasonable prices and really have no complaints about the H-F tools I have bought. Admittedly, one of the main reasons I quit buying Craftsman back then was the 40 minute drive to the nearest Sears versus a 5 minute drive to a Lowes.

While we are on this topic - in case it has not been mentioned Black and Decker power tools went south a few years ago. South as in POS.

Black & Decker made a decision a decade or so ago that B&D was their "consumer" (cheap) brand and DeWalt was their "premium" brand.

what's everyone's idea of Dewalt's stuff??

Nothing wrong with building a "consumer brand". When I was in construction I bought Makita - great stuff. As a homeowner that does not use his tools that heavily anymore I would not pay contractor grade prices for my tools. But Black and Decker and Ryobi are junk in my experience.

I'm surprised no one mentioned Lowe's as an alternative. I've broken a few sockets and screwdrivers and they were replaced no questions asked. My snap-on guy said that many of the Kobolt socket wrenches are made by Snap-On. He confirmed that several of mine are.

I've had way too many failed tools from Sears and their customer service is so terrible, it's not worth the gamble.

Did roughly the same thing but in a different order: Craftsman mower (B&S motor was still good but deck cracked) to Honda powered Lawn Boy (POS) to Toro. Craftsman mower lasted around 10 years in harsh service. Deck finally cracked. Lawn Boy was a mistake from the start. Wheels (self propelled) would constantly fall off. Honda engine spent more time in the shop than cutting grass. Finally switched to Toro and it has been my go to for the last few years. Easy to adjust height (one lever) and starts with old or new gas (good way to get rid of stale gas at the start of the season.)

As far as wrenches go, old Craftsman tools litter the toolbox combined with newer Kobalt and Husky.

Been thinking of getting a set of the colored ratchet wrenches from Harbor Freight just because they seem like they might be quicker to find and useful.

I got my first Craftsman stuff back in 1990, I still use it today. I have added stuff from them since then and only had to return one socket wrench and the experience was just fine. I have bought HF stuff if it is a specialty item that I am not going to use much, or a press, but typically do not go there that often.

I have Dewalt and Makita power tools, oh and a Milwaukee Sawzall (I love that dang thing).

Bought a Honda mower in 2001 and other than changing the plug/oil and air filter and sharpening the blades when I left it with the ex wife in 2012 it was still running perfect. It was such a good mower I bought the same one just a new version for my new house. Haven't had a single issue with it since then.

I have some STHL tools and a Husky chainsaw.

I guess just like cars some folks get a bad one.

I will say this: my Craftsman C3 set is awesome. I have no idea who really made it, but they are going on 10 years old and still work like new. I've used them on hundreds of projects with no issues. I've replaced the original Ni-Cad batteries with the newer lithium ones and am VERY happy. I have the drill, driver, reciprocating saw, and mouse sander.

We used to exclusively use Black & Decker drills, nut runners and grinders for years, now we use a mix of Dewalt and Milwaukee...no complaints on the Dewalt. and these get abused. 80% of our powered hand tool inventory is Dewalt.

Life is too short to risk a permanent injury from a HF or Northern Tool. Cheap junk, nothing more.

I have a set of those. They look great but I bent one of the wrenches using it with a short cheater pipe.

My FIL is a contractor, all of his stuff is DeWalt. His take is that the only reason he sticks with DeWalt is the lack of desire to buy a whole bunch of new batteries, he probably has 20. I always thought they felt flimsy and cheap.

This.

I really don't understand why anyone buys cheap tools. To me it's like cheaping out on safety gear.

Go old school and there's nothing wrong with second hand tools. Snapon if you can find them but any older Euro made tools are a safe bet.

25 years ago, Black and Decker had a professional or industrial tool line of construction tools. I bought a used worm drive and a corded drill motor. Those two items were used and beaten to death and they are still around today for the real dirty work like cutting concrete. The drill motor is in a box somewhere. Sadly this is no longer the case. I think Dewalt was part of the B and D group that became their industrial line.

Some time right out of college, I was yapping with the Bosch rep about tools. He offered me a saturday morning job making simple things using their tool with the public at large home centers where there tools were sold. This was a time when mfgs were trying to sell their stuff through home centers. 400 bucks a day wasn't bad and Idid it for about 2 months. They had a B-line tools that was sold specifically through large stores like Hone Depot. The casing looked the same as the professional tools bought through tool shops but it has an extra "B" number on the tool. Its was not the real deal, not steel gears and such.

I buy my wrenches from Lowe's. I did mention that a few post back. My workman came back with a big 1/1/2" wrench from them because we really needed it to finish the job, and it looked like a good and solid tool. We been buying them ever since. I like our lowe's because they are organized with their products unlike Homw Depot. Most of their stuff is junk, IMO of course.

Ryobi used to make only professional grade tools. I wish they still make the gas motor rotohammer and sawsall. Now that battery powered tools are getting just as good, so there's no need.

They are good, but not our first chioce because I have a few bad experiences with their stuff. I rather buy Bosch or Milwaukee, or Makita.

I have had problems with Dewalt cordless products. The battery life seemed to be quite suspect.
I have one of their old school circ saws that will not die.

I have stopped going into the tool section at Sears a number of years ago. They just don't seem to have anything that I am interested in.
Many of the hand tools that I had bought when starting in my trade were Craftsman and have served me well for almost 30 years.

I have moved to Milwaukee battery powered tools at home and in my shops at work. My last home drill was an M-18 that is now two years old and hasn't missed a beat with some pretty heavy renos and projects around the house.