Conductor562

Kinda puzzles me why Stanley didn't just revamp STANLEY! They made quality stuff for years and years, then went the China route.

Nothing like performing an air brake inspection and stepping in a pile of human shit.

My experience in the trades is on large scale union jobs like power plant and bridge rebuilds. Most often the company would furnish power tools while the workers were required to furnish hand tools. You'd have to go "check out" your power tools from a tool room and take them back when you were done. I had a job in the tool room for awhile. Best job I ever had. Got paid $28 an hour to fiddle with tools. The last job I had before I started railroading was rebuilding a boiler unit at a power plant for Babcock & Wilcox which is a giant nationwide contractor.

LOL. Believe it or not, many Locomotives weren't equipped with a toilet until just a few years ago. If we got one of these engines off the pit track for use outside the yard we got an extra 2 hour payment. The railroad got shitty about it as the railroad tends to do and started denying the payments. As a union representative I had to actually start including the definition of toilet to get the claims paid because the railroad took the position that a hole in the floor qualified as a toilet.

Your right. That's especially true with pocket knives. Most people my age don't know the first thing about knives. They don't know a $2 knife from a $100 knife. I've carried the same German Eye since my wife (then girlfriend) got it for me our first christmas together. When people ask what kind of knife I've got and I tell them they just look at me all confused. Most knives never get sharpened anymore. Used to be knowing a little about knives was a right of passage to becoming a man.

You can usually tell who bought their own tools and who had them furnished.

Sounds pretty sweet. I'd like to give that a try. I've never used a drill that offered that.

What exactly is the "impulse function'?

At least three time a year I remove any rust that forms with either a wire brush or a wire wheel on a rotary tool. After they're all rust free, I scrub any rubber handle coatings good to get any grease or dirt off, then I wipe them down with WD-40 or silicone lubricant. I also use the blow gun on my air compressor to blow any shop dust off everything on my peg board about once a month.

Each time a complete a project I blow all the dirt and dust off them and out of them as much as I possibly can with my air compressor. I wipe them down with a damp cloth to get any grease, residue, or additional dirt off. If any rust spots form I take it off with a wire brush and hit them with a little 3 in 1 oil. Now, as I've said before, I don't make a living with them so I understand that not everyone can do this level of maintenance. My father in law makes fun of me for cleaning my tools but I just can't help it. I keep them as clean as I possibly can. The rubber over mold is especially aggravating because if you don't wipe it down it starts to look grey. Do other people do this shit or am I just overly obsessive about this?

LOL, we also make the throne reference on occasion. Sounds like prime material for a political cartoon. Elvis Presley died on his throne. Never heard the thunder box reference though. Shitter, crapper, john, but never thunder box. It was my understanding that the toilet was invented by a man named John Crapper.

Dewalt never really did it for me. As I was talking about in previous post, my dad always liked them and I've had several Dewalt products over the years, but I never really cared for the feel of them compared to some of the others. I've got a Dewalt 4 1/2 grinder that has been a real tough nut. It was used when I got it 10 years ago and it's still a workhorse. I've still got the 11 amp recip saw dad bought me years ago but I don't use it much and always find myself reaching for the Milwaukee instead. If it wasn't for the fact that it was a gift I'd have probably given it away a long time ago.

From what I've read it looks like B&D purchased ELU in the early 1990's and used a lot of their technology in designing the original Dewalt cordless systems. This caught my attention because I remembered you mentioning ELU in an earlier post.

Dewalt was bought by Black & Decker in the very early 1960's. A lot of people will tell you it was in the 1990's but that's just not true. Most people weren't familiar with Dewalt until B&D launched the Dewalt line of power tools, so that may be why. A couple years ago Stanley and B&D merged and is now called Stanley Black & Decker though technically B&D is listed as a wholly owned subsidy. So I guess the answer would be that Dewalt is owned by Black & Decker which is owned by Stanley. Porter Cable is also owned by them and it appears they've chosen to market it at a DIY type price point. I don't know about all of their stuff, but from what I'm gathering the quality is suffering a bit. Delta was a B&D brand as well, but I believe they sold it off recently.

Anything from Harbor Freight is awful. I've heard people say they've managed to get something there that turned out to be descent, but I've never had such luck.

I've always bought good quality hand tools so I can't speak from experience, but I know the type. The quality of cheaper hands tools is a little better than it used to be. They're still shitty enough, just not as shitty as they once were. With hand tools it seems like the quality tools have gotten a little shittier while the shitty tools have gotten a little better, like everything is gravitating toward the middle. For me the real trick has been finding descent hardware. You can't hardly find a descent nut, bolt, or screw anymore. HD and Lowe's offer Chinese junk so any of the few local hardware stores that remain have to offer the same shitty stuff and still sell it for more to try and stay alive. You can go get industrial grade stuff from Smith Fastner, Fastenall, or any of the other industrial suppliers, but if your like me it's an hours drive which is pretty far fetched if you need a hand full of assorted stuff. You can still get pretty descent wood and drywall screws, but machine or sheet metal screws, anything like that, you might as well forget it.

How much longer does she have to go to be the longest reining monarch? I bet Prince Charles is chomping at the bit.

It's very apparent that the Milwaukee line of hand tools is geared toward Plumbing/HVAC and Electrical workers where as the Dewalt line is geared more toward framers and general contractors. That kinda seems to be the marketing direction the companies are going as well without actually coming out and saying it. The Dewalt 30' tape measure with the 13' standout is awesome.

Is anyone using any of these Milwaukee hand tools? They look nice and appear to be good quality, but then again, so did the Titanic. I bought the folding knife that uses a Sawzall blade and the fastback utility knife and they're both great tools. Is anyone using these tools to make a living? If so, how do they measure up?

My brother visited the UK on a school trip. He really enjoyed himself. I was pissed when I found out there is such a thing as Johnny Walker Yellow and he didn't bring me back a bottle. I seldom drink, but when the occasion arises there's nothing better than JW Blue label. Unfortunately $250 a bottle is a bit pricey so I usually settle for Black label. He did bring me some packets of Brown sauce though. Never knew there was such a thing.

I followed up on this. Looks like they are up and running in the Fredrickburg, MD area. Personally, I wouldn't pimp out my tools but I understand not everyone is as particular about their tools as I am. Prices vary a bit. I saw 18V NiCd Dewalt hammer drills as cheap as $9 a day and as much as $21 a day. I'm interested to see if it takes off.

While we're on the subject of Channellock's, has anyone used any of their Nutbuster models? I haven't got to try any of them yet.

I found the 13 piece Milwaukee hole saw kit at HD on Black Friday for 1/2 price. It seems to be good quality but I very rarely use them. Couldn't pass them up for that price though. The quick change arbours are a hell of a lot better than the old school ones. I'm like you Wayne, I'd like to see some in depth testing and reviews on bits, blades, etc.

Different how Wayne?

I dunno who makes the best, but I know the Bosch jig saw blades are great. The redesigned Milwaukee Sawzall blades are the best ones I've used. It's hard to Freud circular, table, or Miter saw blade though.