Cheap tools and cheaply made tools

[Rex in OTZ]

Ive been harping my kids "Put Dads tools back" when there done!
Even cheap tools cost money to replace!
Ive earned a living maintaining aircraft for over 14 years, and own several name brands of premium & industrial grade tools, Ive never turned into a tool collecter, I buy just the sizes Id ever use, instead of buying a set with all the sizes in that set ends up a onetime investment you have 4 -6 wrenches a fellay never uses so I'd buy the 2-3 wrenches I did use.
Ive found if you invest in good quality tools they hold up when needed, especially hand ratchets if they are used every day (Snap-on & Mac,etc)
if its one them once in a blue moon tools I'll go the cheap route, I find it hard to chunk down allot of money for a tool thats not going to see much use.
I invest in cheap tools were I can get away with it, but steer clear of cheaply made tools as they are a bigger libality than there worth, they end up costing you more in down time and may damage what your working on.
Im a family man if I was single ide have expensive tools across the board, I will alway's trade up when I can!
yard and moving sales are prime oppertunities to do this!

[GRIMJIM]

I stay with decent brands for all my shop hand tools. Usually craftsman for wrenches and screwdrivers and such. Not the best but a decent brand.

I have a traveling tool kit and for that I buy cheap stuff. If it gets lost or stolen it doesn't hurt so bad.

[Rex in OTZ]

I once had a neat wobble extension I'd purchased through Harbor Tool, a very soft and somewhat uneuqe extension bar, it was just right length and cross section to remove Teledine Continental IO-520 exhaust nuts with a little squirt of LPS #1, them exhaust nuts would back right off, useing that nice little tool had lasted for 4 years till one day our shop had to change an engine on a Cessna 402C, a friend to the owners wqas helping and wanted to remove the exhaust manifold  and asked for a 1/4" breaker bar and extension and socket which I loaned to him, at the time I thought what did he need a 1/4" breaker bar for?? we useally used a rachet, not more than 4 minuets later he comes back with that wobble extension twisted off on the female end, he had attempted to remove the exhaust nuts dry and gust horsed it over ruineing my cheap tool  tool that fit without any modifications, if I had lent him a Snap-on wobble extension he would have broken that to.

I later on bought a snap-on wobble extension bar it works better than the straight extensions but not close to that made in Tawian tool.

[BBF]

So the lesson of this example was"don't lend out tools" or at least not without a hefty damage deposit.

[SHOOTALL]

Cheap junk tools can get you hurt . They can cost you money also. Even Craftsman are weak on some jobs I remember one time i was using a 15in Craftsman 1/2 ratchet with a 15/16 deep well socket to tighten up flange bolts on a chilled water system . It was sat. night The bolts were offshore grade 2 . Just pulling on the ratchet no extra pipe extension i broke the ratchet trying to stop a drip. Well long story short , could not get a wrench on to the nut , no sears near. so a 180 mile round trip had to be made to finish job mon. Picked up a williams ratchet ( no longer made ) and broke the cheap bolts . Then shop sent grade US made 5 and all was well. e work up in the air , often use a pipe wrench to put a foot on , or in ditches etc. we only use good tools in good shape .

[Rex in OTZ]

The craftsman rachets arnt what they used to be, Ive seen busted 1/2" craftsman tools scatterd in work areas of many different shops.
I think its a science or art the ability to tighnten or loosen a bolt or nut without messing somthing up.
I have a few wrenches in my tool box that have specialized uses for especially unieque installations where a standard crows foot or standard contour socket wouldent fit, if I had to cut or grind a special clrarance tool I'd use the cheap & plentiful tools, why would somebody want to use a cutoff tool on a $30 Snap-on Wrench??
The cheap tools have ther place and arnt for everyone.
I once worked with a entry level mechanic that no matter what he touched he was gaurenteed to bend, break, crack or strip something it dident matter what brand tool he used everything was assembled useing Blue Torque............... Blue Torque is the process of laying on the tool with so much force that blue veines stood out on your neck & arms, not all jobs require brute strength but finess and skill to accomplish a job.
I once mistakenly lent Blue torque Boy my 7/16" proto combo wrench to remove a drain plug out a aircraft engine, He'd mentioned his wrench's jaws were spread, shortly he brought back my wrench with the jaw's spread and the handle bent 2 degrees in a looseining direction, I looked at what he was doing with that drain plug noteing it was located  underneath the acessory sectection, since he wasent paying attention that he was tightening the plug not loosening it!

One the wildest thing's Ive encounterd was a cracked and rounded off nut on a propane bottle, it had pipe wrench tracks on the packing nut because they tried to force the nut!  they dident realize the 100# propane bottles have a left hand thread and all the cheater bars and spread jaw's on end wrenches and scuffed knuckles could have been avoided with a little observation.

[Rex in OTZ]

Had a day I was trying to drain off and cut up some old 55gallon drums, I was useing a big pair of waterpump pliars to open up the large bungs the pliars (channel locks) they slipped off and pinched ole Rex's palm a good one, after doing the pain dance shuffle and small amount of cussing I bought a new drum wrench from our local fuel vender, sealed in a clear plastic bag was the shiney new aluminum $22 'National Spencer' drum wrench "a small clear sticker on the bag stated the wrench was Mfg in India".
The wrench dident even last the second try to open the drum two bumps of my right hand palm on the handle.
The handle looks a little warped in the picture but isant, its the camera phone.
This new wrench broke on its first drum.

My neighbor made his drum wrench from a old wonderbar flat nail bar that hasnt given him any problems.
 

[mechanic]

I have or have had every name of tool known to man that I'm aware of.  There was a time when I would not use anything but Snap On, but in recent years they have refused to replace the broken ones unless I'm running a tab with them.  All my work is on the road, so I carry at least two of everything.

My main line is Craftsman, still have some Matco and use it, but I also have some cheaper stuff.  On occasion I need to bend or cut a wrench for a specific task, and I use the cheap stuff.

I tried the Husky brand from Home Depot, but so far everything I have managed to break was no longer made and  there was no direct replacement for it.  The store employees just looked confused and told me there was nothing they could do.

The only 100% for me has been Craftsman.  I've never had anything with the brand on it that didn't get replaced by something, even if it was obsolete.

I cleaned out my tool box a week or so ago, and threw away two stripped Snap On ratchets and three screwdrivers that were taking up room.


Ben

[Rex in OTZ]

I did aviation maintenance for a living, every day use just plain wears stuff out, a fella had to have double coverage on everything in common use, I didnt have much room for extra tools that dident work for me.
Why spend good money on tool's you'll never use.
Starting out I had bought a student set of craftsman hand tools through my avaiation school, also bought a second set, I ended up tradeing off and selling some the stuff I couldent use, it shure lightened my rollaround box a bunch.
Old tools that the teeth wore off and hand wrenches that the jaws were spreading extension bars with wear  were duct tapeded in bundle's for $5 at the yard sale.

[Rex in OTZ]

I bought one them home owner Wagner paint sprayer's for $65 FOB Kotzebue Alaska this would most likely of cost $25 in America at home depot. this was a good sprayer if you keep your volume down, I found mine wore out after 20gallons of oil base paint.
You buy a commercial unit if your laying down that much paint, the repaire kit ($35) for the paintgun cost more than a refurbished gun ($15) from the company on-line Go figure??

I messed up my lawn mower engine the replacement parts/shipping cost close to $300, I bought a new mower for $119+ shipping this one with a bigger engine..........go figure??

I bought a knee kicker carpet strecher from harbor freight for $11, It was good for small jobs but soon fell appart when doing a couple hallways and a small bed room, I now have a $300 lever action strecher thats the cats meow.

[torpedoman]

Unless it was a specialty tool it was craftsman in my tool box when i was a line mechanic , I always wondered how those guy who owed mac and snap-on half their check fed their kids. tool cost 50 buck makes you 75 , or tool cost 5 bucks makes you 75 i think craftsman made me a lot of money.

[Rex in OTZ]

Harbor tool online was offering $79 115volt stick welder last summer so I bought it and it works good provided you use 1/16" rod, which my 2000watt portable gen handled just fine, the 3/32 rod was too heavy and was barely able to use that in some instances. the only fault I found with it was the rod holder was ill fitted and prone to comming appart at times, so I went to the auto parts store(NAPA) and bought a new handpiece.

[gypsyman]

I look at reloading equipment as tools. Buy cheap, get cheap. You'll get a bargain once in awhile. I buy cheap beer 'cause you don't really buy it, you rent it for a couple hours.  Most of the time it gets ya in the long run. gypsyman