Tool rip offs

[G6Tanuki]

Originally Posted by Philips210

I have some BA and metric nut spinners from RS back in the 1980s. They're great and well worth paying the extra for quality. The handles are a wine red colour and have a Spiralux look to them.

I've got a bunch of them - in the larger sizes generally used for winding-in the screws to 19/23-inch rack-mount gear. The Philips and flat-blade screwdrivers have a strange brown-grey finish to their metal parts.

Spiralux was another of my go-to brands: a couple of decades back when the "Texas" D-i-Y chain was quietly imploding I visited any branch I was passing and bought a slew of Spiralux 'stubby' screwdrivers for pennies on the pound.

[Bazz4CQJ]

My worst experience has been with tools made in Taiwan. Tools can be really quite dangerous when they fail and I am choosier than ever about what I will buy now.

B

If I can I get dayglo pink tools, no one nicks them.

[Boulevardier]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

I've got a bunch of them - in the larger sizes generally used for winding-in the screws to 19/23-inch rack-mount gear. The Philips and flat-blade screwdrivers have a strange brown-grey finish to their metal parts.

Spiralux was another of my go-to brands: a couple of decades back when the "Texas" D-i-Y chain was quietly imploding I visited any branch I was passing and bought a slew of Spiralux 'stubby' screwdrivers for pennies on the pound.

Indeed. I've still got some Spiralux nut-spinners and screwdrivers bought over 50 years ago. Still as good as when new!

Mike

[Joe_Lorenz]

Thanks to almost 40 years being employed now in underground mining I have gained much experience of "heavy duty" hand tools of various brands. In the end all glorious oriental names failed sooner or later.
All-time survivors are pipe wrenches of RIDGE tool company, Elyria, Ohio and spanners and sockets of HAZET, Remscheidt, Germany.

Regards, Joe

[Wendymott]

As with some of my contemparies in this group, I / we are of an age where great tools were available in the 60's. Guyloyd BA nut runners, Lyndstrom pliers and cutters, Stanley screw drivers. My Avo 8 Mk3 cost me £25 from Farnells in 65. Still have all of them.... except the Picstone Soldering iron gun, which was basically a transformer on an aluminium handle. that Weller thing was useless.

[GrimJosef]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

... I also have seriously-expensive Lindstrom side-cutters and pliers: nobody seems to be able to make box-joints like Lindstrom!

I have two pairs of small Lindstrom/Bahco flush cutters (are these actually different brand names for the same tools ?). They are absolutely excellent.

A very strange feature of Amazon is that occasionally they will release a small number of these - 10-20 pairs, perhaps - at a laughably low price, perhaps 20% of normal. As individual pairs sell the price for the remaining ones rises, but still relatively slowly, so the last pair might go for half price, say. I have an acquaintance who must keep a much closer eye on things than I do (or maybe he gets alerts ?) and who lets me know when he spots an offer like this. I think both my pairs were under £20 each.

Cheers,

GJ

[philthespark]

Well that certainly got people talking, I have a set of those nut runners marketed by RS in a red wallet,very good they are,and the BA spanners are in my box too. I've had some good stuff pinched over the years, major pita. I always buy dear tools, even one's I don't use for work.Last year I went to a site and the guys were amazed at what I had, the previous electrician had a few odds and sods of tools apparently, all cheap stuff, I think one of my pairs of cutters cost more than his whole toolkit!
My only worry is what will happen to it all when I pop my clogs, my son isn't interested and neither it appears is my grandson, so who knows? one thing is sure, after a lifetime of collecting a decent set of very expensive kit I would hate it to just end up in a skip.

[AC/HL]

Not necessarily Sons and Grandsons. My Daughter in Law is quite handy in that direction, you'll be none the wiser anyway. Or you could always will them to a self help charity. When we moved I gave an engine hoist I had no room for to one that helps miscreants back onto the straight and level.

[rontech]

I still have a "YANKEE" No 10; ratchet screwdriver inscribed "NORTHBROSMFG CO PHILADELPHIA USA"

It still works perfectly and is in regular use.

It was my father's who had a policy of only buying good tools. I can recall it being around from my earliest memories. I imagine it was bought in the late 1930's or early 40's.

The sort of thing they don't make 'em like anymore.

[CambridgeWorks]

I have a fair assortment of ex bt tools. Knipex long nose pliers and sidecutters are particularly good. The No. * series of screwdrivers are excellent as well. But, BT could afford decent tools.
I find that the cheapo large screwdtiver can't be found when needed to prise the lid off a paint tin and then use it to stir the paint. Just a decent one that is far above such abuse.
Rob

[Jon_G4MDC]

Lindstrom stuff is no longer made in Sweden. Production has been moved to Spain.
Whether there has been any effect on the tools I have yet to decide.

[barrymagrec]

Warmer handles.

[stacman]

Here’s a cheap screwdriver, kept in my rammel drawer, handy for removing battery covers on toys, remote control etc, it is ‘steel’ though, not the aluminium or monkey metal some are made from, had it years, complete with teeth marks on the handle like a school biro, anyone else like me, going round a market or car boot is drawn to where anywhere selling tools, it’s my late dads fault......
Regards, Alan.

[stevehertz]

So long as we keep buying cheap, rip off tools that are poorly made, the countries that make them will continue to supply them. I have old Stanley screwdrivers from my days working in Thorn EMI's test department in the 70s that have been hit with a hammer, used as a prising tool, etc, and they are still functionally perfect. In contrast with most stuff from the far east where the metal is soft (use once on a stiff screw/nut) and the plastic splits even before you abuse it. We really do need to be more proactive in sourcing our tools and hopefully make it financially viable for UK manufacturers to retake the tools market at all levels.

[AC/HL]

Forlorn hope. Engineers will seek out, and pay for, good tools as we say repeatedly in this and all the many similar preceding threads. The other 90%+ of the population will continue to want cheap and cheerful, often adequate for their infrequent use. Merchants will therefore instruct their manufacturers to produce this.

[defender]

I was at a local second hand market and as I approached a s/h tool stall a guy picked up a bunch of screwdrivers cable tied together, His mate said don't bother they will chew up the first time you use them.

He put them down and I picked them up, they were Vessel screwdrivers 5 of them made in Japan for £3 so I happily bought them they were JIS.

Months later I saw a yellow case with some screwdrivers and they were Draper
but made in Japan and exactly the same as the Vessel screwdrivers so I bought them too (£4).

Quality screwdrivers for my Japanese bikes and electronic equipment with JIS screws

PS, I didn't even know about JIS screws till I read a topic on here

[ex 2 Base]

I have a pair of pliers I was issued with in Egypt when in the army in 1953 and they are in daily use. a lots of our tool were US lease lend. Socket sets were sought after and when the Brits vacated the Canal Zone tons were just left. Bedford Stanley and Britool were good reliable tools.

[stevehertz]

Originally Posted by AC/HL

Forlorn hope. Engineers will seek out, and pay for, good tools as we say repeatedly in this and all the many similar preceding threads. The other 90%+ of the population will continue to want cheap and cheerful, often adequate for their infrequent use. Merchants will therefore instruct their manufacturers to produce this.

It's not as cut and dry as that, not 90%. It's not just engineers who want good quality tools, lots of others do too. I know lots of people who you wouldn't class as engineers but want good quality tools. The point is, we are being swamped with low quality tools, and it's often the poor quality stuff that you're faced with on the high street. No, rather than take a 'Ce qui sera sera' attitude we need to act, do something about it both by how we ourselves as hobbyists act and buy, and the influence we have on friends. If we don't, the day will come when every tool you pick up bends in your hands Uri Geller style.

[greg_simons]

Originally Posted by defender

I was at a local second hand market and as I approached a s/h tool stall a guy picked up a bunch of screwdrivers cable tied together, His mate said don't bother they will chew up the first time you use them.

He put them down and I picked them up, they were Vessel screwdrivers 5 of them made in Japan for £3 so I happily bought them they were JIS.

Months later I saw a yellow case with some screwdrivers and they were Draper
but made in Japan and exactly the same as the Vessel screwdrivers so I bought them too (£4).

Quality screwdrivers for my Japanese bikes and electronic equipment with JIS screws

PS, I didn't even know about JIS screws till I read a topic on here

Agree, Japanese tools are first rate, even current production stuff, a member here sold me a lovely pair of tsunoda precision micro cutters, they are a real quality item, unlike stuff from you know where.
Still have the Elliott lucas stuff bought with almost my first pay packet, despite much use they're still undamaged.
Greg.