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/diy/ - Do It Yourself

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654472 No.654472 [Reply] [Original]

Is it even possible to get decent tools at Lowe's or home depot anymore? All I see is garbage Chinese tools

>> No.654488

Go to Sears.

>> No.654494

>>654488
Why there?

>> No.654495
File: 193 KB, 1024x768, Craftsman-150-Piece-Mechanics-Tool-Set-Costco-3.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
654495

>>654494

>> No.654496

Lowes, no.

Home Depot, depends. They've started upping their quality, and you can find some screwdrivers, wrenches and other stuff made in USA.

Your best bet for quality is Sears. Almost everything with the craftsman name on it (minus the evolv line) is rock solid. Even their china shit is pretty good quality.

>> No.654497

+1 for Harbor Freight. Best price and quality better than Home Depot and Lowes.

>> No.654498
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654498

>>654472
>indirectly asking where to get American made tools

>>654488
>directly answers the question

>> No.654500

>>654495
Their hammers and screw drivers such dix

>> No.654501

>>654500
How? Just the gimmicky bit drivers suck. Their basic drivers are solid.

And how does any hammer suck? It's steel on a stick, maybe you're confused about how to use it.

>> No.654503

>>654501
So...Im not supposed to shove it up my ass?

>> No.654504

>>654503
I actually thought I would have to go to the ER to get a ballpeen hammer taken out of my ass. It went in pretty easily with the round side first and then the flat end just popped in. I thrusted on it for maybe fifteen minutes before I tried to remove it and couldn't. Took about another half an hour and a lot of pulling and crapping movements before it came out. I was spotting blood for three days but since it was a new hammer I wasn't too worried about that.

>> No.654505
File: 216 KB, 393x391, cheetah lion lizard hhhehehe computer laughing blue background.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
654505

>>654504

>> No.654510

>>654500
agree on the drivers
dunno about hammers, those seem to last okay

>>654501
those dollar-ish manual #2 phillips drivers don't last long. tip strips after so much use

flat head drivers are okay, hard to mess those up

>> No.654518

>>654472
Really helps to know your tool companies on what they make decent or what they don't make decent. But there are some tools you simply are not going to find "made in America" anywhere save scouring the internet.

>>654496

Would quite say rock solid since Craftsman tools are, for the most part, just rebranded tools. The manufactures do occasionally change, and an ever increasing amount of the mainline tools are being sent overseas.

>> No.654524

>>654472
uh wut?
Home Depot carries all the top tier brands

>> No.654582

http://store.snapon.com/

>> No.654588

>>654582
So much this. I hate to sound shilly but I've never had a snap-on tool fail. Had a bunch stolen though, that was a shame.

>> No.654599 [DELETED] 
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654599

>>654518
>Would quite say rock solid since Craftsman tools are, for the most part, just rebranded tools.

Craftsman has never made a tool in the entire history of its existence. This goes for Sears in general. Every single product they carry is either an existing product re-branded for Sears or its a special order from Sears but still made by someone else. The latter is often the case these days. For many decades this was not a bad thing at all. Sears' purchasing power was so huge they could buy top quality stuff and turn around and sell it for a normal price. Often times the changes were just cosmetic in nature. Different coloring, knobs, labels along with the required changes in logo and branding. Sometimes there were more significant differences, but you can could still see what the item was based on.

These days many of Craftsman's power tools are made by Techtronic Industries. Techtronic owns the Ryobi, Milwaukee and AEG (Europe) brands of power tools. It also makes all Ridgid brand power tools for Emerson Electric, who own that brand. So, in general, when you buy a Craftsman drill these days its either a re-branded Ryobi or Milwaukee. Another company that makes a lot of tools for Sears is Bosch. They also own the Skil, Dremel, RotoZip, Freud, and Vermont American brands. So if you get a router its probably a Bosch. A circular saw its a Skil. A rotary tool its a Dremel, etc. So, if you are eyeing a tool from one of those companies. check out Sears and see if you can get the same tool for less. Sears tool says are also pretty awesome.

As for their vintage tools, anything made before 1970 is rock solid and made in America. While I wouldn't want to use a Craftsman drill from 1960, 'cause it would probably weight 40 pounds, their shop tools are still excellent after all these years.

Pic related.
Left: Atlas drill press. Right: Craftsman drill press.
Coleman lantern. Sears lantern.
Kenmore mixer. Hamilton Beach mixer.
Kenmore sewing machine
Pfaff sewing machine.

>> No.654603
File: 468 KB, 800x2760, Untitled.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
654603

>>654518
>Would quite say rock solid since Craftsman tools are, for the most part, just rebranded tools.

Craftsman has never made a tool in the entire history of its existence. This goes for Sears in general. Every single product they carry is either an existing product re-branded for Sears or its a special order from Sears but still made by someone else. The latter is often the case these days. For many decades this was not a bad thing at all. Sears' purchasing power was so huge they could buy top quality stuff and turn around and sell it for a normal price. Often times the changes were just cosmetic in nature. Different coloring, knobs, labels along with the required changes in logo and branding. Sometimes there were more significant differences, but you can could still see what the item was based on.

These days many of Craftsman's power tools are made by Techtronic Industries. Techtronic owns the Ryobi, Milwaukee and AEG (Europe) brands of power tools. It also makes all Ridgid brand power tools for Emerson Electric, who own that brand. So, in general, when you buy a Craftsman drill these days its either a re-branded Ryobi or Milwaukee. Another company that makes a lot of tools for Sears is Bosch. They also own the Skil, Dremel, RotoZip, Freud, and Vermont American brands. So if you get a router its probably a Bosch. A circular saw its a Skil. A rotary tool its a Dremel, etc. So, if you are eyeing a tool from one of those companies, check out Sears and see if you can get the same tool for less. Sears tool sales are also pretty awesome.

As for their vintage tools, anything made before 1970 is rock solid and made in America. While I wouldn't want to use a Craftsman drill from 1960, 'cause it would probably weight 40 pounds, their shop tools are still excellent after all these years.

Pic related.
Left: Atlas drill press. Right: Craftsman drill press.
Coleman lantern. Sears lantern.
Kenmore mixer. Hamilton Beach mixer.
Kenmore sewing machine
Pfaff sewing machine.

>> No.654642

>>654495
shit-tear chinese made crap. Mmm.

I was actually in home depot today. There was some quality stuff there.

>> No.654644

>>654524
>>654642
Samefag home depot shill?

>> No.654655

>>654642
Dude clearly didn't read >>654603

>> No.654681

>>654472
>Is it even possible to get decent tools at Lowe's or home depot anymore? All I see is garbage Chinese tools
everything is made in china now, even some snap-on tools

what specifically about Lowes or home depot tools is not sufficient?

as for me: if I want some new kind of tool and see it at Harbor Freight or Northern Tool I will buy it.
IF I end up using it a lot and IF it doesn't work well, then I go looking for a better/more-expensive brand.

a lot of the cheap china-made stuff works fine, and if there is an obvious defect most tool places will let you exchange it anyway

>> No.654758
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654758

When I started the job I'm at now, the guy who trained me took me to Lowe's for a starter set of tools. Once I got my expense card, I went to Home Depot and replaced all that Kobalt garbage with Milwaukee tools. After breaking the tips of the bits off of three Kobalt drivers (at least they offer free replacements), it's nice to have solid steel bits. And the wire tool is sturdy as fuck and doubles at a decent pair of needle nose.

>> No.654773

>>654472
Tools are tools. If a knife is sharp, use it.

Tool elitists are the last ones to actually need tools, because those of us who use them know what the gems are, but dont have time to bitch about the shitty tools.

>> No.654799

>>654472
Home depot still sells good brands of hand tools like Klein, Channelock, Greenlee and Ideal.
For basic mechanics shit, both have a decent selection.
For power tools, both have a good selection.
For pneumatic tools, stay away.