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I buy all my 'basics' at Sears... combo wrenches, sockets and so forth. Some specialty stuff and goofy impulse buys usually happen at Harbor Freight.

I had to pick up a vise grip the other day. Went to Sears and got a Craftsman believing I was getting a quality, American made tool for a reasonable 'made in America' price. Got home and happened to read the back of the package... MADE IN CHINA.

That ticked me off. I don't mind paying for American made quality... but it grills my nuts to pay the U.S. price but get the same chinese cheepie I could have gotten at harbor freight for a buck thirty five!

I've made a bunch of purchases at closing machine shop auctions lately. You can get some top quality (but sometimes heavily used) tools for a song if you're willing to take some chances on Misc Lot items.
 
I heard that about made in China. Some of the China/HF stuff should be considered one time use or disposable.

You have to be careful and keep in mind are you a professional everyday user or is this a tool you might use on an annual basis. Some tools are better rented if you are a one time user for a special project say a heavy duty hammer drill.

I have enjoyed looking at flea markets, pawn shops and garage sales to pick up tools when the price is right. Make you a list and keep it with you as to what you need as far as sizes etc.
 
Compare prices on the web, and place order for what I need unless I need it quickly.
 
I have a problem buying tools online, unless I am familiar with it already. I'm more of a touch, feel and purchase type.
 
havasu said:
Harbor Freight = Disposable tools = Use once, break tool, throw away!
Click to expand...
Havasu, I beg to differ, Harbor Freight is now offering a lifetime warranty on hand tools, I think it's their "Pittsburgh' line (check before you buy them); Sears has 2 different versions of 'CRAFTSMAN' hand tools, only one is lifetime guaranteed, the other one isn't (again, check before you buy them, I almost got arrested when they wouldn't replace a screwdriver) I had never heard the word 'No' from a Sears salesman in over 50 years of buying tools, until that time.
I'm not pushing Harbor Freight, and they do have a bad rep, but most of the stuff they are selling is of a better quality than when they first opened a retail store here.
 
Deckape, I'm aware of Harbor Freight 100% guarantee on many of their products, but will they pay for the bandages and/or hospital bill when you bust your knuckles after one of their Chinese pot metal ratchets fail on you?
 
In my line of work I use and abuse tools to the fullest, that said I like quality tools but when a tools is worth good money they tend to find legs and run off the job site or get buried (Happens more often then not working in the mud). I have been using Harbor Freight box wrenches and a few other hand tools with no problems what so ever, I have never broken one. Now there screwdrivers and ratchets suck. I will use the socket but not ratchet. It is one of those store where you need to pick and choose what you buy.
 
Rarely do I buy hand tools from Harbor Freight, but I will if it's something I am going to use once and I'm fairly certain it's not going to break during that one use. I've also bought them as sacrificial tools in the event I have to make a custom tool for a particular job.

That being said most of my tools are Craftsman (the quality line) and some of them are Snap-On and SK. I recently bought a set of Snap on Screw Drivers and they are really nice. These won't be the ones I use as pry bars on oil pans and diff. covers to peel them back. lol, those are those sacrificial tools I spoke about above.
 
I tend to use Craftsman on the stupid stuff because of their warranty. If I break it they give me a new one. I have been slowly swapping out all of my tools to Craftsman and alike. I have some Snap On and Proto but not full sets of anything and for a guy like me they are hard to get a hold of.
 
I like snap on and craftsman hand tools but whatever i buy i make sure it has a lifetime warranty. power tools and airtools are a differant story. i have all differant brands of power tools they are all on the higher end but i have found that there is no single company that makes all of there power tools to my liking. i just make sure that i buy quality on these purchases and i usually try and use one before i buy it. one example is my dewalt 12" compound miter saw i love it but dewalt does not make the model i have anymore.with my older model i can cut over 12 inches no problem i used one of the new model dewalts to cut step treads and had to cut and flip it to cut all the way across i have never had to do that with mine. i have had my saw rebuilt one time and will do it again before i buy the new model because that. point is do your research and know what your buying before you make big tool purchases.
 
I've got three tool boxes in my shop. One, a large Snap-On that I used when I worked on the floor, is filled with ONLY truck tools (Snap-On, Mac, Matco, Cornwell) I keep that one covered up in the back of my shop still today. The other two are filled with everything from HF to Northern Tool to Craftsman to "tool truck" tools. (mostly air tools) I've heard many people say, "I would never buy those over priced tools from the tool truck".

As most of you guys know, when you use your tools for a pay check, they had better perform. At one time, I owed my tool "men" more that I owed on my mortgage. I never borrowed or loaned tolls. Most professional mechanics, regardless of how well you think you know them, DO NOT want to lend you their tools. Hell, I sometimes balked at lending them to my brother:)

Now, where I worked, everybody had a "road" box. That was the box you worked out of when you had to leave the shop. Sometimes running road calls and everybody, at sometime during the year, had to "serve time" at the landfill (boy do I have horror stories about that!) I NEVER tool my good tools out of the shop! At that time, there were no Horror Freight stores. A couple of times a year, someone would put a tool order together and everybody would order at the same time.

The thing is, if I'm working on a piece of crap, rubber tire loader at the nasty-*** landfill and drop a wrench down in the muck---I just go to my box and get another. NOW if that was a $22.00 Snap-On flair wrench, I'm getting my bio-hazard suit on and going digging for a half hour. HF tools were so cheap it wasn't worth digging for them!

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