Conductor562
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Posts posted by Conductor562
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I really liked the innovation that went into the copper tubing cutter. I wish I needed on, lol.
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"holding his drill aloft giving it "THE POWER OF GREY SKULL" thinking he's He Man"
Guess you guys had Masters of the universe in the UK too. He-Man was awesome, but not as awesome as G.I. Joe.
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The Stiletto hammers are awesome if your willing to take out a loan to acquire one. I'll keep an eye out for the new Stanley. Hope it isn't $250 like the Stiletto's are.
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Ouch, having your tools criticized for their shittiness is the equivalent of your high school girlfriend telling your buddies you were lacking in the man area. There are several top notch tool brands to be had, the real question is how much coin are you willing to drop to obtain them. My personal preference is Proto. They are top of the mark in terms of quality. The downside is that they are not as widely available as some of the other brands and the best selection is through the supply houses that charge 25% over the actual value of the tools. I buy most of mine on ebay or have my dad....borrow them from his employer. Snap-On, Matco, and Mac are all great tools but again they come at a price. Cornwell, Williams, there's a bunch. Look, tools are something that if you buy the right ones your grandkids will be using them. Unless you have an immediate need for a lot of them in a hurry just pick out a good brand, buy them little by little over time as your finances permit, and you'll never be sorry. I don't know much about what's available up your way but anything with a lifetime warranty will suit you well. Make sure it's a real lifetime warranty and not one of those Harbor Freight, gotta have the receipt for the ratchet you got in a set your grandmother got you for Christmas 9 years ago or your shit out of luck, lifetime warranties. I want my repairman to walk away feeling ashamed that he works on shit for a living and my tools are far superior to his.
My favorite tools are as follows:
Power tools: Milwaukee
Mechanics tools: Proto (Snap-On is just as good)
Pliers: Channellock (Knipex also makes awesome pliers if your into german stuff)
Screwdrivers: Klein or Proto
Hammers: Estwing (Proto makes some awesome ball peen hammers)
Punches & Chisels: Dasco (Truthfully, if I had it to do over I'd just buy cheap ass P&C's)
To be fair, all of my sockets under 1" are Kobalt while my ratchets and 1"+ sockets are Proto. I bought the Kobalt sockets in a different time and while they have a true lifetime warranty and would probably be more than sufficient, I have a moral objection to recommending them. Just suck it up, go with Proto, Snap-On, or Matco, and you'll never be sorry other than when you balance your checkbook.
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There is quite a difference in using coal in the manner that we do and the manner in which China does. The EPA serves a purpose, I'll not dispute that, but the last 3 years that purpose has been to police an agenda under the false pretense that it is for the environment. I've seen mine permits that 1,000 people were depending on to support their families revoked on paperwork errors, bullshit technicalities, and any number of ridiculous reasons. Coal is perfectly environmentally sound when used properly, the EPA's job is to make sure it's being used properly, not to ensure that it's not used at all. Where in America is this utopia of microchip producing factories full of highly skilled people who carry the American dream upon their capable shoulders? Is it in California? The worst State in America in terms of finances, choking to death on the consequence of it's own policies. I'm not sure where it is, but I can sure as hell tell you where it isn't. It isn't in Detroit, MI where entire middle class sub-divisions have been bulldozed to the ground. It isn't in Weirton, WV where the the furnaces that fueled the livelihood of a few thousand blue collar families have long ago went cold. Same with Youngstown, OH and the list goes on an on. You can attribute it to whatever reason or excuse you like, it doesn't make a damn to me, I'm not here for politics, but the undeniable truth is that America is losing ground and nobody's doing shit to fix it. What do our kids have to look forward to? A nice clean rock to live under? They'll have plenty of clean air to thank the EPA for while they're standing in line to collect their food stamps. There's a happy medium to be found but nobody seems to be looking for it. The industry that we're squashing in the name of the environment is the very industry that cuts the paychecks that separates America from the list of 3rd world countries. There's nothing wrong with the environment being A priority, but it cannot be THE priority.
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It's sad that China is such a thriving economy while ours just withers and dies. Take the railroad coal business for example. Domestic coal for power plants and such is down to record level lows. Now, there are multiple reasons for this such as the very mild winter we had causing less demand for electric heat, the cheap natural gas prices, the loss of most of the United States steel industry, and an all out assault by the EPA on the permits needed to produce the coal. Mines are shutting down almost weekly and with them go most of the top paying jobs in our state. However, China is buying coal, especially metallurgical coal used in steel making, like it's going out of style. They recentley spent $50,000,000 in Newport News, VA to double their capacity to load the ships lined up and down the coast with coal bound for China. We shipped record tonnage to China last year and we're looking to nearly double that this year. The moral of this unnessecarly long story is that the demand for cheap ass China steel and the junk they make with it is the only thing keeping us here in coal country working. China doesn't care about all this global warming crap, they care about prospering from the manufacturing base we've regulated away all while we're drowning in our own stupidity. These idiots in D.C. concern themselves with shit like student loans, gay marriage, and wether or not Barry Bonds took steroids, while the manufacturing base that made America what it is has ran away to China. It's not political, it's not theological, it's about common damn sense! If World War III were to start tomorrow what would we do? We don't have the ability to produce anything or the people with the skills nessecary to produce it. I'm afraid we're at the point of no return. Hope I'm wrong. Guess I should use my cheap ass ratchet with a smile on my face and joy in my heart.
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If China is such a fine producer of high quality tools, who can we turn to for shitty ones? Vietnam?
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I know it man, it's depressing. Couple months back I bought a Klein Stubby multi-bit screwdriver because it was a tad shorter than the regular stubbies and I had lost the phillips anyway. Brought it home, opened it up, and as I was tossing the package in the trash I was absolutely horrified at what I saw. MADE IN CHINA! That's right, Klein tools and Made in China in the same sentence. Counting nut drivers I have 33 Klein cushion grip series products and I could now give a shit less if they all got lost. I emailed Klein to express my extreme displeasure and their response was something to the effect of "Great advancements in the manufacturing processes and capabilities of the Chinese allow us to now offer our customers the professional quality products they demand, at a lower price point than ever before. Klein tools has never closed a US manufacturing facility and has no immediate plans to do so." Oh, well then, to hell with us Americans with all our bellyaching about benefits, cost of living, and working conditions. I should piss my pants with joy for Klein to be so gracious to afford me the incredible bargain of paying $12.00 for a 2 1/2 long Chinese screwdriver. The extra $1-2 for one forged in Illinois, USA would have been a total deal breaker. I'd have probably sworn off Klein forever and replaced them all with Harbor Freight junk. People who buy Klein buy them for their quality and reputation, they don't buy them for their "price point". If other tool guys are like me, I get suspicious when I see a traditionally quality tool at Task Force prices. If I wanted a shitty screwdriver I'd have got one of those "Pittsburgh" pieces of shit for $2 or less at Harbor Freight or somewhere, not one that had to unlocked by someone so I could get it off the shelf. I'm a really a minority on this? Do people really not die a little inside over this stuff? I'm genuinely curious. I'm ok with electronics and cheap disposable things being made over there, that's always been their thing, but hand tools? When I was growing up Chinese tools were marketed to the guy who needed instruction on changing the battery in his car or installing a new door knob, not professional tradesmen. I'll shut up and go away now, I've stated enough of my displeasures.
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I had to accept the power tool reality though. There's no such thing as American anymore. Milwaukee and Dewalt both majority Chinese. Sad...
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Jesus, I have a problem. I need professional help.
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They are 72 tooth gears and have a nice feel. I invested pretty heavily in the Kobalt line in the mid/late 90's (back when I first got addicted to tools) at the suggestion of my neighbor who was a professional mechanic and had started buying some of it himself to get the Snap-On monkey off his back. He was right, it was great stuff and felt alot better in your hand than the Craftsman stuff. However, by the early 2000's I started noticing some Chino stuff. At first it was just scrapers, tape measures, and stuff like that, while their core tools like ratchets, screwdrivers, combo wrenches, and stuff were still made stateside. I could live with that, besides, I wasn't a professional mechanic, just a snotty nosed teenager trying to keep my old 5.0 Mustang on the road, I still wasn't crazy about it, but I was willing to chalk it up to the times we live in. Over the last couple of years it has become a different story entirely. I walked around Lowe's for an hour and was unable to find a single Kobalt tool stamped USA. I was already pissed at Lowe's for dropping Milwaukee and this was the last straw. As I stand in my garage and look around at all the great Kobalt stuff I've got like the old screwdrivers, man, you couldn't kill those things, identical to a Snap-On only blue. You could....anyway, back to my point, it makes me sick! Maybe I'm making too big a deal out of this or maybe it's my grandpa's old war prejudices speaking to my subconscious mind, but either way I'm pissed. I'm a Railroad man, the only tools I use for work are a lantern and a leatherman, but It kills my soul to pick up a cheap ass tool. If I'm not at work I'm in the garage tinkering with something. The projects we do are the tightest bond my Son and I have and surrounding myself with the best AMERICAN tools I can afford makes me happy. If that's wrong than I guess I'll just have to be wrong. I'm still stuck on the idea that the American worker is something worth supporting. I make a nice living and if I have shell out twice as much of it for Proto, Klein, or another brand because it cost more to make it here then so be it. It might take me a couple years, but if I take the notion I'll replace every Kobalt tool I have. You can tell a lot about a guy by the tools in his garage, and I sure as hell don't want anyone getting the wrong idea about me.
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The M18 will suit you well. They make alot more stuff in M18 as opposed to M28. With the vastly improved quality and performance of the M18 stuff I wouldn't be surprised if they don't start phasing the M28 stuff out eventually. The new Fuel Hammer Drill is a beast! Haven't got to play with the driver yet.
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Went to swap out an old set of Kobalt ratchets I bought when they first came out and were made by Snap-On. They were the best kept secret in tools for a good while. I abused them and finally busted them working on a rear suspension. They held up for I guess about 15 years so I can't complain. I took them back for a warranty exchange and I'm now the proud owner of ratchets stamped TAIWAN on the shaft. Lowe's and Kobalt can stick their outsourced junk up their ass. I sulked all the way home, got online and dropped about $200 on 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2, Proto Pear head ratchets. I'm not concerned with Price, I'll just save a little longer. I'll not buy anything but Proto, Channellock, or Klein from now on. I'm tired of the multi-national guessing game.
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Just wondering everyone's thoughts on Milwaukee since the TTI buyout. I was really convinced Milwaukee was headed the way of Porter Cable but I've got several post TTI tools and they still seem to be top notch. Nobody makes anything like they used to, but it APPEARS they've maintained a very high level of quality. Any thoughts?
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I'm looking for some insight on Milwaukee Airless paint systems. I'm leaning toward the larger model but I don't know much about them. Will be doing residential and renovation work. Does anyone have any experience with them? What are the pros and cons? I'm an occasional painter so I think the refurb model available at CPO Milwaukee might be right for me. I can get the larger refurb model for about the price of the smaller model new. Any thoughts?
Plomb tools history
in Hand Tools
Posted
Being something of a history buff and a big fan of Proto tools, I felt compelled to share this article. The gentleman spent several years researching the history of his favorite brand of tools. He is now terminally ill and I felt I owed it to him to share this. Not sure if the link works so you may have to copy and paste the address. Enjoy.
http://www.vannattabros.com/plomb/plombtool.html