Favorite Tool Brand

[kennythewelder]

No single manufacturer makes tools for every job, or every career. Electrical hand tools, you can beat Kline. Auto mechanic, Mac, Matco, snap on, are all good, hell even harbor freight makes decent wrenches and ratchets. Some phnumatic tool at harbor freight are ok. Can't beat an Erwin vice grip, chanel lock are grate lock jaw pliers. I have several big tool cabinets with a lot of different tool brands in them. Proto make a good crescent wrench. Then there are specialty tools. Mechinest have there own brands that are top notch, and some that are decent at a lower price. There are just so many tools and tool manufactures out there. IMO, just don't go to Walmart to get a set of cheap tools. That's just what you'll get. Some useless garbage. In 2015, when my oldest son passed away, He didn't own much, but the one thing I made sure to keep was all of his tools. He was a mechinest. At that time, I didn't work in that industry, but I do now, and I use his tools often. One of them is that same Kline spud crescent wrench that you have @PlayingWithTBI. I also have His guitar, practice amp, and gig bag with cords, Ect.

 

[alpinecrick]

I have more Craftsman USA hand tools than any other brand but I did vote for S-K. Have a few of the S-K stuff since they moved production back to the good 'ol USA. Most of the tool steel is made in a foundry in Pueblo, CO.

For impact sockets, I have almost all Sunex, made in Taiwan (any enemy of China is a friend of mine), because I when I bought my impacts I needed a number of socket sets and they were recommended as the best tool for the buck.

 

[alpinecrick]

No single manufacturer makes tools for every job, or every career. Electrical hand tools, you can beat Kline. Auto mechanic, Mac, Matco, snap on, are all good, hell even harbor freight makes decent wrenches and ratchets. Some phnumatic tool at harbor freight are ok. Can't beat an Erwin vice grip, chanel lock are grate lock jaw pliers. I have several big tool cabinets with a lot of different tool brands in them. Proto make a good crescent wrench. Then there are specialty tools. Mechinest have there own brands that are top notch, and some that are decent at a lower price. There are just so many tools and tool manufactures out there. IMO, just don't go to Walmart to get a set of cheap tools. That's just what you'll get. Some useless garbage. In 2015, when my oldest son passed away, He didn't own much, but the one thing I made sure to keep was all of his tools. He was a mechinest. At that time, I didn't work in that industry, but I do now, and I use his tools often. One of them is that same Kline spud crescent wrench that you have @PlayingWithTBI. I also have His guitar, practice amp, and gig bag with cords, Ect.

True.......

 

[Erik the Awful]

The special tools I end up making in my garage are the ones I'm most proud of.

 

[Schurkey]

Can't beat an Erwin vice grip,

Irwin bought Petersen, Petersen made Vice-Grip the name it is today, in Nebraska. Irwin of course closed the factory and moved production to China.

Malco bought the former Petersen factory, and is now making locking pliers there. Not inexpensive.
www.eaglegripusa.com/

Eagle Grip | USA Made Locking Pliers and Clamps | Malco Products

Malco's Eagle Grip Locking Pliers are forged from American steel to deliver durability & longevity you won't find in other tools. 100% USA Made!

www.eaglegripusa.com

In 2015, when my oldest son passed away, He didn't own much, but the one thing I made sure to keep was all of his tools. He was a mechinest. At that time, I didn't work in that industry, but I do now, and I use his tools often. One of them is that same Kline spud crescent wrench that you have @PlayingWithTBI. I also have His guitar, practice amp, and gig bag with cords, Ect.

Stuff is supposed to pass from father to son...or daughter. It's hard when it goes the other way.

Sunex, made in Taiwan (any enemy of China is a friend of mine)

Thanks for that.

I have a million different brands of tools. Started-out with "mostly" Craftsman; found out they weren't all that was advertised--but they had a wonderful warranty. Now Crapsman is mostly Chinese; I've got broken Craftsman USA tools I refuse to warranty (yet) in the hope that someday they'll return production to the USA.

I like Snap-On, and I like my local Snap-On rep...I got to where I was buying only Snappy when I was working, and for a while after that. I've bought mostly SK for the last five-ish years. I can't justify Snap-On prices any more for most purchases, and Williams is tougher to find than SK.

I do splurge for Snap-On ratchets, even if they're sometimes connected to SK extensions and SK, Wright, Mac, Matco, Craftsman, or off-brand sockets.

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

Funny you should mention guitars and amps .... My friend Denny Freeman played a lot of instruments, but considered himself primarily a guitarist as that's what he started out on at 14. He owned many different guitars and amps through his life, and I have pictures of several of them. He was primarily a Fender player, but had some Epiphone and Gibson instruments too; played all of them. I got acquainted with one of his best friends from high school, who sent me some pics Denny had sent him of his"babies". One of his main amps was a very beat up Fender Bassman, which is sorta the GMT 400 of guitar amps. They'll do just about anything, and sounds great even if it doesn't look good. And just about bulletproof.
Presumably all his "tools" are in storage at his girlfriend's house,or with one of his friends for safekeeping. I haven't heard anything about anything being sold or dispersed.
Point of this is, many companies make good"tools" for other trades....and the cheaper ones, there's a reason why. One of my favorite stories from him was about his Epiphone Les Paul that he got while he was touring with Dylan. He'd done his research on them, wanted a Paul for a while, and found this one in the northwest," in one of those square states"(said as only a Texan could). He said after he'd had it a little while, he replaced all the tuners and hardware, told me and a mutual guitarist friend," you need to replace this stuff, before you HAVE to replace it, cause that's where they make em cheaper".

 

[454cid]

I've got a mixture of stuff. Some Craftsman which I don't really care for all that much. Some old Lowes Kobalt that was supposedly made by Snap-ON/Williams. Old Williams, a few Proto pieces, a an Armstrong wrench that I like, but only 1.... the 13/16, I think. I've also got a 13/16 Snap On wrench that I like.... it's an industrial finish. Recently, I've gotten some 1/4" drive Tekton sockets that I like except the size markings are hard for me to see. I've got a few Harbor Freight pieces..... I like their composite ratchets. They're 72 tooth, so finer than my older stuff, although not as fine as some newer stuff, either..... but I like the handles becasue they don't get cold, even in the winter, and I don't have to worry about them denting/scratching anything either. They also didn't cost much. Those are the ratchets I grab first.

My favorite "Crescent" wrench is a little War-era Williams.

My favorite 1/2" drive extension is an Apex which isn't a brand usually talked about. I think they typically made tools used on the line in factories. Unfortunetly, it rusts a bit. I don't know if I "cleaned" the finish off or maybe it was never finished. It's rusted a bit, just sitting on the seat of my truck.

 

[kennythewelder]

Funny you should mention guitars and amps .... My friend Denny Freeman played a lot of instruments, but considered himself primarily a guitarist as that's what he started out on at 14. He owned many different guitars and amps through his life, and I have pictures of several of them. He was primarily a Fender player, but had some Epiphone and Gibson instruments too; played all of them. I got acquainted with one of his best friends from high school, who sent me some pics Denny had sent him of his"babies". One of his main amps was a very beat up Fender Bassman, which is sorta the GMT 400 of guitar amps. They'll do just about anything, and sounds great even if it doesn't look good. And just about bulletproof.
Presumably all his "tools" are in storage at his girlfriend's house,or with one of his friends for safekeeping. I haven't heard anything about anything being sold or dispersed.
Point of this is, many companies make good"tools" for other trades....and the cheaper ones, there's a reason why. One of my favorite stories from him was about his Epiphone Les Paul that he got while he was touring with Dylan. He'd done his research on them, wanted a Paul for a while, and found this one in the northwest," in one of those square states"(said as only a Texan could). He said after he'd had it a little while, he replaced all the tuners and hardware, told me and a mutual guitarist friend," you need to replace this stuff, before you HAVE to replace it, cause that's where they make em cheaper".

Here is the rest of my collection of guitars. The acustic Fender, I used to bring offshore, and I used to work with Frank Foster. He used to play it when I was sleeping. We worked different hours. So when Frank started playing for a living, I had Him sign the acustic before He quit working out there. Here are a couple of videos of Frank. You can see in the first one, he is playing my guitar on the oil rig.

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[HotWheelsBurban]

Very cool! Thanks!

 

[351FUN]

Craftsman was good, but the import stuff now is garbage. Proto is what I like nowadays at work since I'm not the one buying it lol. At home it's a mistmatch of whatever I got on sale, along with Milwaukee M18 tools.