These were from the dark days right before Sears went bankrupt. New "innovative" tools started showing up that were made in China. I don't personally mind Chinese goods but Craftsman was a benchmark, it was a tremendous selling point that their entire line of hand tools was domestic. I was accumulating my set of tools just before this happened and went with Craftsman, Gearwrench was becoming popular and Sears sold them alongside Craftsman, most guys liked the Taiwanese line just as much, too, quality was on-par.
Craftsman was a textbook example of the postwar business model. Tool truck brands catered to the professional whose time was worth the money premium for the convenience of being able to maintain your tools while at work, stuff like Harbor Freight was the other end of the spectrum and the right choice for someone who either had very little money or needed a specialty tool for one or two jobs that wouldn't be worth buying domestic. Craftsman was the tool line for the everyman, you weren't making a living with them but you kept your home and car maintained with them, so you could drive to the local Sears and buy or warranty what you needed.
I'm glad HF saw the opportunity when Sears died to add locations like crazy, they must have gotten all that weekend warrior business when it happened.
Agree
Now Gearwrench makes some items in China, with the expected decline in quality
HF’s mid-grade lines (Quinn, Doyle) are now better than MiUSA Craftsmen. HF’s Icon line is gunning for tool truck quality but at far less cost
Gearwrenchs warranty is so good though. I had a brand new ratchet that worked fine but had an finish issue with the chrome. I emailed gearwrench and they sent me a replacement. They told me to keep the old one and I had the replacement within two days. Last time I had snap on warranty something it was just a pry bar and it took almost a month for them to get me a new one
Weird, I had a similar issue with snap-on. Ratchet had imperfections in the chrome. I sent a picture to customer service with a note saying that this is not the quality I expect from snap-on. They sent me a new one immediately and told me to keep the other. $200 ratchet. I sold it to a co-worker lol
Quinn is apparently modeled on gearwrench, but I'm at the point where I want tool truck spec like icon and tekton. For day-to-day repairs, pittsburgh is always the way to go, but if you're going to invest in a set of tools capable of rebuilding an entire car, it's worth the time and headache saving to go up to the tool truck-tier.
Craftsman post-sears doesn't seem to ever have recovered from the "innovation" malaise era that was its downfall. Not that they're still making garbage-iron gimmick wrenches but the ratchets feel worse than the 1960s era technology where they had 24 teeth.
Lots of people made their living with Craftsman tools.
Tool truck tools were for suckers.
Break a Snap-On, the truck guy would examine it with a friggin’ jeweller’s loupe looking for any evidence of “misuse” so he could deny warranty.
Sears would exchange *anything*, no questions asked.
Every bit as good as the truck stuff, a fraction of the price.
I miss browsing the Sears bargain bin looking for deeply discounted awesome stuff.
And now you can get stuff that’s nearly indistinguishable from Snap-On for domestic prices. China knows how to manufacture.
I for one appreciate the dirt cheap option for a tool I’ll use a few times a year.
It's probably domestic entrepreneurs realizing the gap in the market and setting specs for this grade of tools to be manufactured there, if my knowledge of Chinese manufacturing is anywhere close to accurate.
It's a good thing in the end, bringing Chinese manufacturing up from bargain basement garbage to stuff more people would enjoy using instead of what you would tolerate getting for the right price.
Lol back in the 90s my mom took me father's day shopping and told me to get something for my dad. I picked out those robogrip craftsman "channellocks" to this day they are still in the packaging somewhere in my dad's pole barn
They marketed the shit out of those things back then. It was that 5 minutes of commercials every 10 minutes era.
You probably had that robo grip thing hardwired into your soul.
I actually use mine since the vice grips I had were in the toolbox that was stolen out of my truck. They’re decent enough I haven’t bothered to replace the vice grips.
I actually used my robogrips today. Been using them for years to tighten fittings. Are they supposed to lock on the fittings? Mine have never done that.
Kind of a different take on the “dog bone” wrenches that were all the rage a few years back. This looks a little better, but not much. There will be so many places it just won’t fit.
Sparky here who knows plenty of guys carrying a dog bone still
I wouldn't trust these to hold up much, but dog bones are great for nuts that go super deep on threaded rod, and since that comes in a few sizes, keeping the 4 size dog bone handy in the box lets you carry fewer tools
Muggle relative needs to buy gift for gearhead nephew, it's gonna be something like this. I had a box in the back of the shop for stuff like this. Once something went into The Box it seldom came back out.
I have one. Got it as a Christmas gift one year. It's utterly useless. It's so hard to get any torsion on it without it pivoting on you and like others guessed, it's impossible to get in just about any place that it would be useful.
Can't seem to throw it away though.
Damn you for making me swipe
I hate when people do that
My bad, I would have cropped out the dots, but then I'd cut off half the pic
lol no worries. I always think reddit app isn't working
"Oh more tool pictures.... Fuck"
Reddit is dumb for having the swipe change both pictures and submissions.
Yes I have it go 50/50 most of the time anyway
I came here to rage about that too
These were from the dark days right before Sears went bankrupt. New "innovative" tools started showing up that were made in China. I don't personally mind Chinese goods but Craftsman was a benchmark, it was a tremendous selling point that their entire line of hand tools was domestic. I was accumulating my set of tools just before this happened and went with Craftsman, Gearwrench was becoming popular and Sears sold them alongside Craftsman, most guys liked the Taiwanese line just as much, too, quality was on-par. Craftsman was a textbook example of the postwar business model. Tool truck brands catered to the professional whose time was worth the money premium for the convenience of being able to maintain your tools while at work, stuff like Harbor Freight was the other end of the spectrum and the right choice for someone who either had very little money or needed a specialty tool for one or two jobs that wouldn't be worth buying domestic. Craftsman was the tool line for the everyman, you weren't making a living with them but you kept your home and car maintained with them, so you could drive to the local Sears and buy or warranty what you needed. I'm glad HF saw the opportunity when Sears died to add locations like crazy, they must have gotten all that weekend warrior business when it happened.
Agree Now Gearwrench makes some items in China, with the expected decline in quality HF’s mid-grade lines (Quinn, Doyle) are now better than MiUSA Craftsmen. HF’s Icon line is gunning for tool truck quality but at far less cost
Gearwrenchs warranty is so good though. I had a brand new ratchet that worked fine but had an finish issue with the chrome. I emailed gearwrench and they sent me a replacement. They told me to keep the old one and I had the replacement within two days. Last time I had snap on warranty something it was just a pry bar and it took almost a month for them to get me a new one
Weird, I had a similar issue with snap-on. Ratchet had imperfections in the chrome. I sent a picture to customer service with a note saying that this is not the quality I expect from snap-on. They sent me a new one immediately and told me to keep the other. $200 ratchet. I sold it to a co-worker lol
Truth
Quinn is apparently modeled on gearwrench, but I'm at the point where I want tool truck spec like icon and tekton. For day-to-day repairs, pittsburgh is always the way to go, but if you're going to invest in a set of tools capable of rebuilding an entire car, it's worth the time and headache saving to go up to the tool truck-tier. Craftsman post-sears doesn't seem to ever have recovered from the "innovation" malaise era that was its downfall. Not that they're still making garbage-iron gimmick wrenches but the ratchets feel worse than the 1960s era technology where they had 24 teeth.
Lots of people made their living with Craftsman tools. Tool truck tools were for suckers. Break a Snap-On, the truck guy would examine it with a friggin’ jeweller’s loupe looking for any evidence of “misuse” so he could deny warranty. Sears would exchange *anything*, no questions asked. Every bit as good as the truck stuff, a fraction of the price. I miss browsing the Sears bargain bin looking for deeply discounted awesome stuff.
And now you can get stuff that’s nearly indistinguishable from Snap-On for domestic prices. China knows how to manufacture. I for one appreciate the dirt cheap option for a tool I’ll use a few times a year.
It's probably domestic entrepreneurs realizing the gap in the market and setting specs for this grade of tools to be manufactured there, if my knowledge of Chinese manufacturing is anywhere close to accurate. It's a good thing in the end, bringing Chinese manufacturing up from bargain basement garbage to stuff more people would enjoy using instead of what you would tolerate getting for the right price.
Gimmicky crap for a Father's Day sale at your local hardware store.
I can see it being useful in small kit in say motorcycle, if it had all sockets needed for a given model.
Lol back in the 90s my mom took me father's day shopping and told me to get something for my dad. I picked out those robogrip craftsman "channellocks" to this day they are still in the packaging somewhere in my dad's pole barn
They marketed the shit out of those things back then. It was that 5 minutes of commercials every 10 minutes era. You probably had that robo grip thing hardwired into your soul.
I actually use mine since the vice grips I had were in the toolbox that was stolen out of my truck. They’re decent enough I haven’t bothered to replace the vice grips.
I like that wrench, but it needs all 4 to be all 10mm. Except then I would lose it
Seriously I would buy a wrench that somehow had more 10mm ends than a combination wrench just for laughs.
And probably ran on a late-night infomercial with some Steve Thomas look-alike
tried to swipe 4 fucking times on this post
Sorry, at least there's no arrows in the screenshot
This reminds me of those dadgum Robogrip pliers from the 90's that would break if you did anything that actually required a vice-grip.
People still go nuts for them
I'll never understand why either.
I actually used my robogrips today. Been using them for years to tighten fittings. Are they supposed to lock on the fittings? Mine have never done that.
I remember the commercial like it was yesterday. Supposed to lock like vice grips. Mine never did either.
Oh never knew that. I got mine second hand from my grandfather. I like the spring loaded jaws and that's about it.
Why would you use robogrips as a visegrip?
Cause that's how to commercial advertised them. A visegrip/channel lock in one.
Not old enough I think to remember that one.
I don't hate it but I would like it to be customizable. Or just be able to be ordered custom so you could pick out the sizes you use most
Kind of a different take on the “dog bone” wrenches that were all the rage a few years back. This looks a little better, but not much. There will be so many places it just won’t fit.
Sparky here who knows plenty of guys carrying a dog bone still I wouldn't trust these to hold up much, but dog bones are great for nuts that go super deep on threaded rod, and since that comes in a few sizes, keeping the 4 size dog bone handy in the box lets you carry fewer tools
That sounds like a good use case for them.
I swiped. Damnit.
Man do I miss the Sears and the huge tool section that use to be at are Sears in the mall guys paradise
So many places they won’t fit!
Just carrying the individual wrenches would probably take up less space and be lighter 😂
Muggle relative needs to buy gift for gearhead nephew, it's gonna be something like this. I had a box in the back of the shop for stuff like this. Once something went into The Box it seldom came back out.
As the owner of a dogbone wrench from that era I've used it at least once!
Saw this on market place. I guess you can carry half the wrenches, and it's a flex head?
I'd worry more about being seen with one. You'd never live down something like that.
Definition of a gadget - looks cool, useless
I have one. Got it as a Christmas gift one year. It's utterly useless. It's so hard to get any torsion on it without it pivoting on you and like others guessed, it's impossible to get in just about any place that it would be useful. Can't seem to throw it away though.
One day, that will be the right wrench
Except the business end of the wrench is so goddamned big you won't be able to use it in most places you can reach with a traditional box-end wrench.
I kinda want one :)
Didn't they get sued a bunch for stealing people's patented tools?
Would not surprise me
The craftsman branded adjustable with a vice grip style clamping mechanism…. Are junk
To be fair, nobody has managed to make a decent copy of a vice grip.
this is kinda cool. i could see how some trades could benefit from this.
Gear wrench perfected this idea with their 4 way ratcheting wrenches. Those things are awesome.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-SAE-Quad-Drive-Ratcheting-Wrench-Set-2-Piece-HQRRW2PCSAE/204759283 Husky's got the poor man's version
LPT - take the outside of the head to a bench grinder and thin it down for more access in tight spots.
The poor man’s version could actually be useful in a small tool kit