Who Makes What Tools. (Interesting Read)

suprarx7nut

YotaMD.com author
Nov 10, 2006
3,811
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Arizona
www.supramania.com
Having taken a manufacturing engineering course and spending weeks if not months on research involving forging and heat treatments, I would venture a guess and say that not everyone working in the plant would realize what tools are being treated in what fashion.

The material of each specimen would not be something the average line worker would necessarily know...

Only way to find out would be to run hardness tests, three point bending tests, max torque tests, etc. on dozens of samples from each maker.

IMO, any name brand will do the trick for most all home mechanics.
 

wiseco7mgt

dirty mechanic
Aug 12, 2007
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queensland
DooM-;1368979 said:
Snap-on tools are made here in Wisconsin :). At least some are. So are Milwaukee power tools ( no surprise ).

Just bought a milwaukee 18v (3.0ah) Li-ion hammer drill and holy shit hang on tight if your drilling steel up a ladder one handed and your 12mm drill bit grabs against the hole....My forearm feels like i've torn a ligament. But damn i still love it. I love it more than my makita ! As for the stanley brand im very impressed with the quality and most of the spanners i've recently purchased put my sidchrome to shame.
 

MDCmotorsports

Offical SM Expert: Turbochargers
SM Expert
Mar 31, 2005
4,194
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Indy 500
www.MDCmotorsports.com
http://www.danaher.com/

This is the company that makes the following tools:

Allen
Armstrong Tools
DTG Government
DTG International
DTG OEM
GearWrench
Holo-Krome
Iseli
K-D Tools
Matco Tools
Sata
Spline Gauges

Any questions? (Yes that means if you go to Menards and buy the Allen socket or wrench, you'll pay 1/2 of what you would for the same tool from Matco)
 

IJ.

Grumpy Old Man
Mar 30, 2005
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I come from a land down under
wiseco7mgt;1369073 said:
Just bought a milwaukee 18v (3.0ah) Li-ion hammer drill and holy shit hang on tight if your drilling steel up a ladder one handed and your 12mm drill bit grabs against the hole....My forearm feels like i've torn a ligament. But damn i still love it. I love it more than my makita ! As for the stanley brand im very impressed with the quality and most of the spanners i've recently purchased put my sidchrome to shame.

I looked at a milwaukee when I was shopping for a new cordless, ended up getting a 36v Bosch as it was a bit lighter, talk about grunt it has more torque than my 240v drill.

Sidchrome were good when they were made 2 burbs from me they had a brief period of being total garbage when they went offshore but seem to have recovered (a bud worked there as a tool setter so I have had LOTS of sidchrome over the years)
 

Tire Shredder

New Member
Sep 15, 2005
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Oshawa
wiseco7mgt;1369073 said:
Just bought a milwaukee 18v (3.0ah) Li-ion hammer drill and holy shit hang on tight if your drilling steel up a ladder one handed and your 12mm drill bit grabs against the hole....My forearm feels like i've torn a ligament. But damn i still love it. I love it more than my makita ! As for the stanley brand im very impressed with the quality and most of the spanners i've recently purchased put my sidchrome to shame.

the milwaukee 18vs are badass. I work construction in the summer and use a drill every day. The old dewalt XRP's my company had lasted a year before they died/ stripped teeth or just sounded like crap.

the milwaukees are expensive but man are they nice! balanced in your hand, smooth and accurate trigger movement and the motor is super smooth and quiet. Torque like crazy and the li-ion batteries last forever. so far they have outlived the dewalts.


I wonder who makes mastercraft tools from canadian tire? I really like their maximum line of tools. Nice and polished, good finish, reliable ratchets. I have never had a problem with them either.

in regards to husky, I am not impressed with them. their ratchets and pliers just feel like garbage to me...
 

mkiiSupraMan18

Needs a new username...
Apr 1, 2005
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United States
I've been considering the Kobalt tools from Lowe's since I have a store 2 minutes from my house now... I'm just a fan of 'lifetime warranties' as brand is less important to me than quality. Having said that, I've always gone to sears and just bought Craftsman in the past, cuz it's reasonably priced and it's what my dad uses. But, 30 minute drive to replace one of those, or 10 minute round trip for the Kobalt...

My power tool expeiences...? Cheap. I ussually drop/break/misplace anything WELL before it will burn up/screw up. But I atleast get a B&D and refuse to get one from Harbor Freight. lol
 

adampecush

Regular Supramaniac
May 11, 2006
2,118
3
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Edmonton
Tire Shredder;1369125 said:
I wonder who makes mastercraft tools from canadian tire? I really like their maximum line of tools. Nice and polished, good finish, reliable ratchets. I have never had a problem with them either.

exactly what i was thinking...I'm pretty impressed with the ratchet set I bought - it is nice to have 8 different 12mm sockets...
 

TobyCat

Member
Jul 14, 2006
470
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Vancouver BC
I enjoy my Mastercraft stuff, especially considering the limited amount of wrenching I actually need to do. Their 'Maximum' series has a lifetime warranty as well. I just watch flyers and wait for deals. For the price the quality is much better (imo) than craftsman and often much cheaper.
 

Tire Shredder

New Member
Sep 15, 2005
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Oshawa
mkiiSupraMan18;1369195 said:
^ Seriously... there are 8?

my specific set is 205 pieces and got it for $75 at a "door crasher" sale...regular price was $249.00. the set came with 1/4" 3/8" and 1/2" drive rachets and each has shallow and deep sockets.

I'd imagine adam has something similar!
 

radiod

Supramania Contributor
Dec 13, 2007
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Abbotsford, BC
Having worked at a GM dealership I've come to the conclusion on these two things:

1.) THE TOOL DOES NOT MAKE THE MECHANIC. Most everyone in the shop has their arsenal of Mac and Snap-on in their shiny tool boxes that cost more than I paid for my Supra. BUT! The highest paid and most successful mechanic in the shop has a dingy looking Mastercraft toolbox that's filled with Craftsman and Mastercraft tools (minus a few specialty tools they don't make). He's spent less than 25% of what most of the other mechanics have on tools and he gets the job done faster and cleaner than anyone else in the shop...one of the few guys I'd actually trust working on my own car without me looking over their back.

2.) If you can buy 2 tools with a lifetime warranty for the price of 1 that is exactly the same...why? If you're paranoid about a certain thing breaking (a ratchet, wrench, etc), get a second one so you can just continue working when it does break. I paid $70 CAN for my 36 piece set of extended Mastercraft Maximum wrenches (SAE & Metric), and they've stood up just fine. The guy who worked directly beside me bought his $350 10 piece Snap On (metric) wrench set and bent one the first time he was using it cracking a bolt on the exhaust side of a turbo (which you could ONLY get at with a wrench). I can tell you I'm not sold on the stupid expensive tools, that's for sure.
 

wiseco7mgt

dirty mechanic
Aug 12, 2007
811
0
0
queensland
IJ.;1369123 said:
I looked at a milwaukee when I was shopping for a new cordless, ended up getting a 36v Bosch as it was a bit lighter, talk about grunt it has more torque than my 240v drill.

Sidchrome were good when they were made 2 burbs from me they had a brief period of being total garbage when they went offshore but seem to have recovered (a bud worked there as a tool setter so I have had LOTS of sidchrome over the years)

Yes the downside to Milwaukee 18v hammer is the weight but i go all day using it non stop on two batteries drilling steel so it's very effective for saving time, i used to use a generator and three different drills on my house build and now i just use the one for everything.

I have some old sidchrome spanners which haven't broken but the finish is poor and i have managed to crack a few sockets of theres as well over the years although they were my fault for using them on a rattle gun.:naughty:

So any info on starwillie( hope i spelt that right)