Who sells large sockets made in America?

[SPYDERLK]

SK sockets in my experience have poor broach depth. Their ratchets are the best tho.
Larry

 

[dieselsmoke1]

My old Protos, Challenger by Proto, Blackhawks and S-K's all proudly bear the USA mark.

Proto was sold to Ingersol Rand and later to Stanley. Their website states they are still manufactured in the USA.

Blackhawk is also park of the Stanley Proto group, no reference found to origin.

S-K / Facom states 'Made in the USA" on their website.

 

[Theowegian]

I believe that Husky tools are made by Stanley and are made in the usa and could be a good starter set. Craftsman or Sears are made by Danaher (USA), or at least they were in the past.

SK are very good mechanic tools, but SnapOn, Mac and a few others like Cornwell are probably premium brands, but are not typically readily available to store shoppers. I use some SK because my local store carries them and my dad started me with an SK set. My best tools are Snap On and I use them since I used to be an aircraft mechanic, years ago. All USA tools.

The only sockets I really did not like were made by Harbor Freight. But some folks I know find them acceptable, tho. So go with your instincts. But of course, the HF tools are non-usa.
dwight

 

[MadReferee]

I am not sure that Danaher still makes Craftsman tools. I read somewhere that they lost that contract several years ago. Not sure to whom.

Danaher is a rather large conglomerate that is the parent company for several other companies including Jacobs (of drill chuck fame), Matco, K-D tools, Fluke (meters), and about 87 different companies/divisions altogether.

You can read al about them right here: http://www.danaher.com/business/index.asp

The corporate offices are in Washington, DC but the individual divisions are scattered all over the USA and several foreign countries.

 

[Solo]

Solo, according to their website, Wright has been around a long time, the specs on their tools look OK, and they aren't cheap, but I don't recall every seeing one of their tools, or ever even hearing of them, so I simply know nothing at all about them.

Bird, they have been around for a long time. You are correct they are not cheap. If you can afford them buy them, you won't be disappointed. I have actually seen there 3/4" drive sockets in the Craftsman catalog. I started buying and using these tools about six years ago. I haven't had anything break yet.

Solo

 

[Dargo]

I am not sure that Danaher still makes Craftsman tools. I read somewhere that they lost that contract several years ago. Not sure to whom.

I"d be curious as to who makes them. I've always been pleased with Craftsman tools in the past. They have been affordable and their warranty is great. In the last year I've been disappointed though. I bought a set of 1/2" impact sockets that have been, well, bad. I have a good IR impact and I've managed to shatter 4 or 5 of the impact sockets either taking off lug nuts or working on tractors or implements. Sears still replaces them without question, but they keep shattering. I've not had that happen before with the Craftsman tools. I know better than to put the junk Pittsburgh impact sockets from Harbor Fright on my IR. They always shatter. They seem to be made from cheap pot metal. Hopefully Craftsman hasn't gone that way.

I did buy a set of IR impact sockets and so far they have been fine. I honestly don't know where they were made. I'd say that they were in the medium price range; slightly more expensive than Craftsman.

 

[MadReferee]

After doing a little research here is what I have found.

Danaher still makes Craftsman tools. However, during 2005 they moved production from Springfield, Mass to plants in Texas and Arkansas. This explains the drop in quality. Expect quality to be back where it was if it already isn't.

Danaher also currently makes Kobalt for Lowes. Stanley made Craftsman until 1994 when Danaher got the contract.

Since 2000, Danaher has been gobbling up contracts to make branded tools for several companies. MatCo, Kobalt, and Craftsman are just a few of their well known brands. They also own several import tool companies (Chinese and Taiwanese) that produce lesser brands for the el-cheapo places like Wal-Mart. The biggest competition for Danaher in the tool business is Stanley. As of a few years ago, both were about the same size, hand tool sales revenue wise.

 

[froggy]

Bird,

Do you have the web site for Solo? I've searched Google and cannot find it.

Thanks,

froggy

 

[Bird]

Froggy, Solo is just one of our members, to whom I was responding, so I don't know whether he has a website or not, but if you're talking about Wright tools that were being discussed, you'll find their website here.

 

[froggy]

Bird,

Thanks for the info.

froggy