Hand tool Quality??

Jiles · Feb 2, 2011

I remember, not long ago, when Makita, Milwaukee, Bosh, and a few other tools were Made in U.S.A., Japan, or Germany. They were quality and nearly all industry and contractors used them.
Jump forward a few years and nearly all are made in China. The price has been dropped a little but the quality is s***t!
I need a rotary hammerdrill for a big job I plan to do and I have decided to buy used. I figure a wore out, quality tool, is better then supporting a Communist country and purchasing junk!

Dick2 · Feb 2, 2011

Story on TV a couple days ago said that the USA is still the world leader in manufacturing. Between the 2 giants, the USA manufactures 60% and China manufactures 40% of the goods that these two countries produce. Maybe they didn't count tools?????

Some of the tools coming out of China are pretty good now, some as just as poor quality as they started with. Hard to tell the difference on some until you put a good force on the handle.

Gun guru · Feb 2, 2011

You are likely correct.
But......The Bosch hammer drill is made in Germany still and it is $250 Home Depot.

I bought a new Milwaukee Hammer drill last year made in the former Cheoslavkia republic. $170 HD. Runs like a raped ape. 9 amps. I have only used it 3 times so far. But the one main thing I used it for was to put in over 50 lag screws with a 1/2" socket bit. I installed a gun cabinet in a wall. The only way a crook is getting it out is to use a chainsaw and cut the wall out. And use a jack of some sort to pry it off the floor.

Gun guru · Feb 2, 2011

I look at tool quality in several ways.

1. Hand tools, are they made from cheap steel or a hard alloy and will they break if used with excessive torque/use.

2. Cutting tools. The USA still commands this market. Cheap steel from China isnt worth schitt. I have all USA made drill bits. Chinese drill bits are 1/2 the price but dont hold an edge very long.

3. Power tools from China, Junk. (from my experience)
I have a Porter Cable circular saw that is 14 years old and way better then any garbage out of China.

As far as hand tools, Dont go cheap. Say you buy a Cresent wrench. Do you want it to break a year after you bought it? But you saved 1/2 the price of a good quality one. But a Good quality one will last 30 years. Not looking into the future.

Jiles · Feb 2, 2011

China Made products, as far as I am concerned, have reasonable design quality---because it is another country's design!
The quality of their material is their main problem. There may be a quality product from this country, but I have not seen or purchased it.

A friend of mine works at chinamart, and got me a large number of empty boxes for packing items to move. I always cut "handholds" in the end of the boxes for easy transport. Even "double" cardboard from China was so inferior that the ends would rip! I told her to only get American made cardboard boxes because I didn't have a single one to tear.
Thing is---American made cardboard is hard to find in a store with 95% China products.

Spook · Feb 2, 2011

Manufacturing is coming to mean assembling parts here. The parts are made elsewhere, usually china. But the label will say "made in the USA".

Anonymous-0 · Feb 2, 2011

You are pre-judging.

You appear to hate everything.

You are growing old and grumpy.

Tough titty said the kitty when the milk ran dry.

Deal with the task at hand and and produce. Whining and being miserable in not productive.

You probably still cry NAFTA. Guess what even NAFTA shut down and moved to China.

MarkB_MI · Feb 2, 2011

Production of tools, and just about everything else, has moved offshore because manufacturers learned we place price above quality when we purchase products.

That said, the Chinese are capable of producing goods of just as high of quality as the US or Germany. But if we accept their crap, why would they bother to do it right?

RodinNS · Feb 2, 2011

I'm sorry... but the quality of most hand tools and small power tools has gone WAY down over the last 10 years. Most, but not all is made in China. Hand tools in particular are just not up to snuff. Wrenches that bend, poor fit, etc. Used to be you could break a wrench clean off or split the box end. Now they just round off or bend... Just poor process in making them. Much like most other things they make and send here.

Rod

S.Crum · Feb 2, 2011

People buying IR air tools are under the dillusion they are buying an American made tool. Foolish assumption! They are buying American "assembled" (some of them anyway) tools made up of China parts, IR did for some time "assemble" MAC impact wrenches also. IR tools aren't any better than the cheap crap you can buy at Walmart. They just charge American made prices, and will continue to do so at least until the fools buying IR junk wise up. I won't buy any more IR tools.

Fawteen · Feb 2, 2011

Well, you're entitled to your opinion (generous of me, no?) but I have to agree with the original post. Unless you shop [i:654c4848f0]very carefully[/i:654c4848f0] and are willing to pay dearly, you WILL get crap for power tools.

You can still do pretty well at the Big Box stores for hand tools.

stronics · Feb 2, 2011

Everything you purchase today is from companys that are owned by investment groups. If they don"t make tons of money they move on. They couldn"t care less that you get a good tool or not. Used to be companys needed return customers, satisfied with their product.
They simply don"t care now, it"s the money thing. Not many things you need to live are not controlled by big business. Even your News!
David

graygander · Feb 2, 2011

Over the last 10 years or so I have purchased many tools made in china , for the most part they have done whatever I have needed them to do.. I would much rather buy US made tools but as in the case of air and power tools the few available US made ones are so expensive there was no way I could afford to buy them. And I'm afraid the same thing is happening now with hand tools.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 3, 2011

I think if you actually looked into it, Walmart sells lots of everything, including products made in the US. Dave

VaTom · Feb 3, 2011

Jiles, as I mentioned last time you asked, Hilti is the answer for me. My Hiltis are from Lichtenstein, all used. I have no idea what a Chinese Hilti might be, but I'd take it over anybody else's. You say you'll have to settle for a worn out quality tool. Not necessary if you look around.

Hiltis were always expensive, but not always heavily used. Pay attention to the used tool and you can get a good idea as to how hard a life it's had. I sold a fully-functioning Bosch hammerdrill when I bought my first used Hilti. Felt a little guilty, but the buyer was thrilled. I only deal with concrete houses, still haven't needed a repair for the Hilti SDS drill, thousands of holes later.

Well worth the money. Buy one.

Jason the Red · Feb 3, 2011

I second the Hilti products. Metabo is also a quality product. I have an SDS Metabo hammer drill that I would never part with.

oleclint · Feb 4, 2011

12 yrs ago I bought a Milwaukee 7" heavy duty industral rite angel grinder that was U S A made , even checked with the Co. on that . After the second disk was about gone , it burned the armature out . A few mo. out of warenty. Called the Co. was told is was on my own. Took $ 70.00 for repairs . No more milwaukee tools for me .

Hand tool Quality??

Jiles

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Dick2

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Gun guru

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Gun guru

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Jiles

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Spook

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Anonymous-0

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MarkB_MI

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RodinNS

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S.Crum

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Fawteen

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stronics

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graygander

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Anonymous-0

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VaTom

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Jason the Red

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oleclint

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