I know the big debate over Craftsman being junk and Snap-on being too high. However, I was curious as to who makes the reversible ratchet wrenches for Craftsman. Gearwrench LOOKS the same but looks are certainly not the be all end all... When I used to work at a True Value, I was curious as to who made the Master Mechanic tools......in my search, I found a lot of interesting information about Stanley, MAC, Vermont American.....etc. etc...I know this changes over time... So, what do you know about who makes what tools? No speculation here, please, there's plenty of rumors or "Craftsman ****s" comments.... just curious on the facts.. I know we have a lot of members that are in various fields....I'm sure we have some from the hand-tool industry.. here's the article..... http://www.team.net/www/morgan/tech/whotools.html
...don't know how much is fact and even the people that work for SK, Snap-on seem to differ in their facts... http://www.team.net/www/morgan/tech/morewhotools.html EDIT: that's it...Cooper tools used to make the Master Mechanic tools we sold....whenever we had warranty issues, this is who we contacted....at the time, I HEARD (no basis on fact) that Cooper made Craftsman and Stanley....this was probably around 1994......again, I only know for sure that Cooper made the Master Mechanic tools...
One of my customers was a project manager for MAC tools. He say's KOBALT is made by MAC. ...and who gives a **** if craftsman tools break? You get a free one when it does!
When I was a "Car magazine Guy" working for Primedia, right about Christmas time, the folks from Craftsman would always have an "Editor's Conference" and a hotel, usually in Fullerton or Anaheim, CA, where they would show us their newest, latest, greatest offerings, most likely so we would promote them in the magazine. At that time (probably 4-5 years ago) I asked the Head Cheese @ the Editor's Conference "who actually makes Craftsman ratchets, sockets, combo wrenches, open end wrenches, etc.?" and the reply I got was Danneher Tools (sp?). Don't know anything other than what I was told by the Craftsman dude. I remember complaining that when they brought out their ratcheting box end wrenches, they had every metric size from 10mm to 19mm, but left out the most important one to me at the time, a 17mm. I told them, and they asked why I thought it was so important, and I repsonded with "you ever try to get the p***enger side, top engine bolt out of a VW Bus with dual carbs?" I had one about 4 months later. Made life a LOT easier. 8)
looks like this is a debate waiting to happen...i may have opened a can of worms... hmmm, those links i posted claim to have emails form people at kobalt and snap-on claiming that kobat is made in the same factory but not to the same specs.......interesting.....
I know a vendor here who is making ratchet parts right now for Mac,Snap-on and Craftsman they are all the same wrench only the imprinting of the names are different !I worked for Superwinch for 5 years 3 as either ***istant painter or painter the difference between a Sears winch or Grainger etc. was only the color and the decals .we supplied 15 different vendors back then there were NO mechanical differences what so ever.Those ratchets are made from the same materials.cut from the same bar stock I watched handles being produced for about an hour while the shop owner showed me around.I don't know if they were ***embled there or if the guts are indeed made from different materials .if you look in any tool catalog they all say" made to our exacting standards "Well I'm telling you just what those exacting standards were from first hand expierience.Sears winches got white paint and their lables ,Grainger got red paint ,Black and Decker got orange etc.right through the entire run.I painted 300 winches a day and got a paint list daily 60 orange ,35 red etc.
here is some info that is about 4 years old so some may have changed allegences again for profitability reasons. But if ya get a free replacement...... http://www.bricklin.org/TechCentral/TCArticleWhotools.htm
when it comes to those gear wrenches, the patent is up so many individual companies are making their own, our snap on guy came around about a month ago explaining this to me and how of course the snap on ones are so much better, i've had the gearwrench brand for years with rarely any trouble
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