Luke

[quote]Originally posted by jim968:
<strong>"Wow 1970? I was 1 year old...."

Wow! I was half-way thru my 4-year hitch in the Navy....

Jim, "It's not just an adventure, it's a f*&#in' job!"</strong><hr></blockquote>

and I was negative 13

IceShark

Guess you kept the subject alive, Luke. not much else.

Doesn't really matter as this topic will be back God knows how many pages by the time I get to it. Got to have those "Best Looking Wife", Best Looking Girlfriend, Best Looking ***** threads. <img src="graemlins/roflmao.gif" border="0" alt="[hiha]" />

Thanks Pelican for shedding all these fleas on us. <img src="graemlins/cussing.gif" border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" />

Luke

It's a great break, coming in from working on the car and checking out everybodies wife

IceShark

LOL! Sears sucks for tools! I tried to get my money, real cash, back for the last pair of needle nose and all they would do is exchange. While I have a nice SnapOn pair now I thought I would try out the new exchanged CrapsMan.

Snapped them in about 5 minutes. I give up and will just throw in the towel. <img src="graemlins/cussing.gif" border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" />

Think I will enter some world-wide hand squeezing contest because I must be much stronger than I thought.

Deepice

I think I might gather up what Crapsman I can from around the house and return them for new. and then save them for Xmass gifts this year.

I will send the new sears pliers in Xmass paper with the check for the lights Iceshark.

I might even be able to get away with out spending any money this year if I can find a tool my wife and mother would use.

IceShark

Keep those CrapsMan tools to yourself, Jim. <img src="graemlins/roflmao.gif" border="0" alt="[hiha]" /> Maybe you can trade in on some knives or other kitchen utensils for wife and mom that they can figure out some use for. Or garden tools. I have a sneeking suspicion they are as particular about their tools as we are and Sears product will not quite cut the mustard.

Funny thing, I found a pair of my great-grandfather's needle nose and used them as a stop gap. Who knows what abuse these guys have gone through as they were probably made in the late 1800s and I remember what I did to them as a kid. But they work perfect and I don't think one could break them without some serious mechanical advantage.

Thank You Sears and China for pushing tool quality well back over a century! <img src="graemlins/cussing.gif" border="0" alt="[grrrrrrr]" />

A Quiet Boom

I grew up using Craftsman when they where good quality but over the last 15 or so years the quality has really slipped. About 6-7 years ago I started building a Snap-On/MAC collection and have yet to need a repalcement of anything. Nowadays I have reverted my Craftsman hand tools to household and woodworking, the good stuff stays locked in the rollaway in the garage. For power tools though I only trust Dewalt or Porter Cable. It's sorta sad what's happened to quality in general, whenever I go to my grandfather's house (he's 84) I still see him working with 50-60 year old Craftsmen tools of very high quality, I even managed to buy his old Delta-Rockwell woodlathe from him, made entirely of toolsteel and cast iron, I can't buy anything like it new anymore. Let's face it nowadays we live in a through-away society, nothing's designed to last.

pete944

Craftsman...The Official Tool of NASCAR

Need I say more? <img src="graemlins/c.gif" border="0" alt="[ouch]" />

Deepice

my dad spends a ton of time in Europe on business and he always brings tools back with him and I have to tell you the stuff he gets in Switzerland is incredible. the quality of tool will amaze you. I have had some clutch problems with my Dewalt stuff so I traded it in on a Hilti 24 volt

I have no real need for a 24 volt drill but I do love that drill.

Mark Parker

Ice Shark. I've got to tell you my favorite Craftsman tool tale. When I built my garage out back, I was looking for a good bench vise, and Wilton was a little on the pricey side, and not easy to find, so I got a 5" Craftsman. Hadn't had it but @ 6 months when little brother came over to put ball joints and control arm bushings in his Cutlass. Well up into the night I could hear him out there working out with his fav tool,,a 3# hammer. Now I've worn the serrations off some vise jaw faces, but I've never broken one, much less two,,,in the same night (he does sheet metal work now thank goodness). "No sweat" I told him, "just go by Sears and buy me a couple of jaw faces." Of course, they have no idea what he's talking about. I took all the numbers from the paperwork that came with it to the Sears "service" center, and was told that "those ain't the right numbers". Went back the next day with every number or marking of any kind I could get off the vise. "Nope,,those ain't right either,,,it's a real old vice ain't it?" I told the pinhead that it wasn't a year old yet. "Nope,,ain't the right numbers,,can't help ya". After ranting for a minute about how poor a f%^$#@g boat anchor this would be I finally resigned myself to go higher in the chain of command to find someone who knew something,,or at least gave a damn that I had a problem with their product. I contacted the store where I had bought it ,who gave me the number of someone in Chicago who would allegedly find out who had actually made the vise for Sears, so that I could buy replacement parts from the manufacturer. 3 days later, after hearing NOTHING back from this dude, I called his office again, and was told that he was "unable to determine the source". By now, I'm ready to shove this vise up somebodys corporate ***, and as a last resort, I once again called the store where I bought it. I talked to the tool dept. manager, a very sweet young lady who could only offer me this option. "Why don't you just bring it back, and we'll give you another one". It was a marvelously simple plan,,well,,other than that part about having to unbolt and pack 30 odd pounds of steel across town,,and I was touched by her concern. So much so that I gave her this heartfelt advice. "you're by far the nicest person I've talked to throughout this ordeal, but sugar, if I were you, I'd find another outfit to work for, cause these idiots are gonna give away the store" So to this day I know that if I wear out, or break the jaw faces on my vise, I have simply to unbolt it and pack it back to Sears for a brand new one. Honest to God, I don't know how they're still in business.

Roy LaZelle

A number of years ago I had a Craftsman electric hand drill. After a few years and not much use the chuck developed a serious wobble. I took it apart and the chuck shaft was spinning in a hole in the plastic case…..no bushing let alone a bearing, just designed to fail. That was my last Sears power tool. The final blow was trying to get a replacement drawer (broken slider) for a rollaway Craftsman tool cabinet. It turns out that the lifetime warranty is for hand tools only and didn’t apply to a tool box. The hand tool quality is the same as the discount bin at a chain auto parts store….the steel in wrenches and sockets must be poor since they are so bulky, to say nothing of surface rust from my damp garage. Craftsman only if no other choice. --Roy--

IceShark

I learned my lesson on Craftsman power tools years ago when I built a 10 ton sail boat. Lots of woodwork with a router. On teak, oak and such hard woods. I was saving the chuck keys for the routers I burned out and exchanged under their 1 year warranty. Think I collected about 12 of them before I was done. <img src="graemlins/roflmao.gif" border="0" alt="[hiha]" />

A Milwaukee drill I used as a screw gun to drive home probably well over 20,000 screws still works like the day I got it. Though I did manage to cut the power cord in half when a 3,000 lb steel drum fell on it. That type of failure I can live with.

abduln

Water944t:

Actually, most of the Craftsman hand tools are made in the USA by Easco, who also sell directly through NAPA stores (at least used to). Yeah, a few of the hand tools are imported, but that is a small portion of the selection.

To all:

I personally like S&K and Snap-On over Craftsman, but since I am not on a truck route and don't want to go chasing one down, I'll pick hoping on over to Sears any day. S&K's and Snap-On's do break by the way. My neighbor who is former Pan-Am flight mechanic has tens of thousands of $$$ worth of S&K's and Snap-On's loves em' but he has to replace them once in a while... though not as often as his son has had to do with Craftsman. I wrench alot, and really abuse my tools and I have only had to replace about 4 Craftsman tools in 18 years of home wrenching.

Just one more thing... my friend works for a well known Aerospace company that builds satellites, and parts for the space station... their hand tools are a mix of Snap-on, and mostly Craftsman.

Regards
Abdul

Deepice

What we are forgetting about is when friends want to borrow tools that's why I am going to keep the crapsman and hord my snap-on for myself.

I can't remember when I loaned out a tool and it came back in the same condition.

Bones944

I have switched to Kobalt tools, available from Lowe's stores. I can't afford snap-on or mac tools either. Seem to be very well made and have a "forever" warranty, and aren't too horribly expensive. I just received as a b-day gift from my fiancee (of 5 years) a new toolbox manufactured by Kobalt also. Ball bearing drawer sliders on the 26" top chest (8 drawer) and the 28" rollaway cabinet (7 drawers) made from very durable steel and I-beam construction. I couldn't be more pleased and she paid less than $600 for both pieces. I am Mr.Organization now!