The nice feeling of not buy Chinese tools.

[TMGT]

When I was looking for a 7in grinder I found a made in Germany model of Bosch, haven't used it a lot but seems really well built. I also have an older Bosch 4.5in that's made in China, so far its held up well.

I do prefer to buy things made outside of China when possible.

Sent from my SM-G715U1 using TractorByNet mobile app

 

[BravoXray]

I have a 9 inch Makita angle grinder we bought for use at the family construction company in the 70s. It's a real beast, must weigh 20 lbs, and you want to have a firm grasp on it when you pull the trigger. I had to finally replace the rubber power cord a few years ago as it had deteriorated to the point that it had exposed conductors. I also checked the replaceable brushed, which looked almost new, and replaced the grease in the gearbox with some new grease. The pinion and bevel gears looked like new, too. It's my go-to grinder for sharpening mower blades, makes short work of of them.

 

[Jstpssng]

My Dewalt impact wrench is made in USA, router was made in Mexico. I’m not sure about the circular saw but am quite sure that the drill is made in China.
I have a 5 hp Honda engine which was made in Taiwan for about $259, and a Predator engine made in China which was just a bit over $100 at HF. Most of the parts seem interchangeable.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Living rural, Amazon makes rural living civilized as buying tools any other way would be both time and cost-prohibitive. While my oldest tools are generally Mac and Snap-On, I've really grown to appreciate how many other tool makers are close if not the same quality over the last 30 years of tool buying. The tool jobbers are still worth the warranty (especially Snap-On). Nevertheless, these days, since I already have most hand tools (except regular-sized 12-point sockets which stopped my tearing apart a Mercruiser outdrive this week I have big 12-point impacts, but nothing in 3/8" drive), I'm getting most of my new tools for free through Amazon's Vine program, as well as vendors approaching me for shout-outs. Even so, I'm still buying weird, specialty tools mostly for tearing apart I/O boats (mostly pullers) and still wishing I had a shop so I could work in the winter.

I will say this about the Taiwanese-made tools. Over the past year, the good ones have gone up in price dramatically.

 

[Agvg]

One of the ironies of your wish is that many Western Industrial leaders have no loyalty to Western workers. If they can make an extra buck by moving some production to the third world, they will abandon the Western worker in a heartbeat. It is a situation driven by corporate shareholders demanding a return on investment, our own desire for items to be as affordable as possible, and third world workers willing to do more work for less reward. We can complain about it about it all we want, but there ain't no short term solutions on the horizon to bringing past levels of manufacturing back to the West.

What may eventually happen (may take a century or so) is that the third world will raise their standard of living to ours (or ours might lower to theirs) and we will all be back on equal footing. Not saying that is necessarily good or bad, I'm just saying.

Well, it's a political choice, allowing everything to go down the drain or make systems that ensures local production.

 

[Hay Dude]

One of the biggest winners in all of this is the international shipping companies.
They have increased their container rates by large amounts. Other than the consumer getting mostly throw away items from Asia, I see little other benefit.

I will continue to check for older used stuff over anything new that’s overly complicated because of regulations (tractors, farming equipment) or cheaply made from Asia.

 

[Hay Dude]

We still manufacture aircraft, automobiles, caterpillar equipment, steel panels, computer chips, and many other high value products.

Umm you need to read a little more.
Aircraft Companies like Boeing are making components offshore now. Boeings newest factory is in Asia.

Boeing to build its first foreign assembly plant | CNN Business

Boeing, the largest US exporter, announced plans Wednesday for its first foreign production plant to perform final assembly work.

www.cnn.com

”Caterpillar Equipment”? They are a multinational company with their most recent factory expansions in China: https://www.caterpillar.com/en/company/global-footprint/apd/china/china-facilities.html

Automobiles? Look at how many plants are being built by GM, Ford in Mexico.
Ford is pretty much moving all manufacturing to Mexico. So is GM & Chrysler

Ford expands in Mexico with a new plant

Ford recently confirmed it will open a new plant in Mexico, upping its bet on Mexico as one of the most sophisticated and fastest developing automobile manufacturing hubs in the world. As Ford expands in Mexico, it is most likely that other automakers will be confident to do the same...

www.tecma.com

Steel? We’re like 5th now in the world. Pathetic. we produce less than 1/10th the steel that China makes!

Steel Technology

www.steel-technology.com

Computer chips? Again, we are like 5th behind China, Taiwan, Singapore.

NAFTA destroyed American manufacturing.
American manufacturing has been gone for over 25 years now. What’s left are a few token factories.
In the northeast US rust belt, there’s almost nothing left. Factories plowed under & replaced by bark parks. Railroad tracks torn up and paved over with bike paths.

Real progress

 

[Jstpssng]

NAFTA destroyed American manufacturing.
American manufacturing has been gone for over 25 years now. What’s left are a few token factories.
In the northeast US rust belt, there’s almost nothing left. Factories plowed under & replaced by bark parks. Railroad tracks torn up and paved over with bike paths.

That's one reason for higher lumber prices... When Trump was president he put tariffs in place so that US sawmills could compete with lumber coming from Canada. Several mills here have since undergone major expansions, I've seen more investing toward the future in the last 6 years than I have in a long time before that.

 

[jyoutz]

That's one reason for higher lumber prices... When Trump was president he put tariffs in place so that US sawmills could compete with lumber coming from Canada. Several mills here have since undergone major expansions, I've seen more investing toward the future in the last 6 years than I have in a long time before that.

True. And another reason is the western Canada timber situation. Canada had a huge mature forest resource in the western provinces and they were dumping timber on the US market. That region went through extensive bug kill in the last 20 years, and now there’s a lot of immature forests, so they don’t have excess supplies to dump on the US market.

 

[jyoutz]

Umm you need to read a little more.
Aircraft Companies like Boeing are making components offshore now. Boeings newest factory is in Asia.

Boeing to build its first foreign assembly plant | CNN Business

Boeing, the largest US exporter, announced plans Wednesday for its first foreign production plant to perform final assembly work.

www.cnn.com

”Caterpillar Equipment”? They are a multinational company with their most recent factory expansions in China: https://www.caterpillar.com/en/company/global-footprint/apd/china/china-facilities.html

Automobiles? Look at how many plants are being built by GM, Ford in Mexico.
Ford is pretty much moving all manufacturing to Mexico. So is GM & Chrysler

Ford expands in Mexico with a new plant

Ford recently confirmed it will open a new plant in Mexico, upping its bet on Mexico as one of the most sophisticated and fastest developing automobile manufacturing hubs in the world. As Ford expands in Mexico, it is most likely that other automakers will be confident to do the same...

www.tecma.com

Steel? We’re like 5th now in the world. Pathetic. we produce less than 1/10th the steel that China makes!

Steel Technology

www.steel-technology.com

Computer chips? Again, we are like 5th behind China, Taiwan, Singapore.
View attachment 753166

NAFTA destroyed American manufacturing.
American manufacturing has been gone for over 25 years now. What’s left are a few token factories.
In the northeast US rust belt, there’s almost nothing left. Factories plowed under & replaced by bark parks. Railroad tracks torn up and paved over with bike paths.

Real progress

The US has a lot of automobile factories, especially Asian brands; and even Volkswagen has a new facility in the US. Not so much in the rust belt, but other areas. And yes Mexico produces a lot of vehicles and other products for the US market. Newer facilities are highly automated and don’t employ as many people as in the old days.