Cheap Tools from China....

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tornitore45
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Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:24 am
Location: USA Texas, Austin

Re: Cheap Tools from China....

Post by tornitore45 »

That wrench would have been OK in a child's first tool set.
Ron I understand you quote is made in a light spirit but I object, in principle. Children should be exposed to to experiences leading to the development of appreciation for truth, precision, success, integrity, pride and justice. Anything promoting shoddiness should be presented as failure to be avoided.
Mauro Gaetano
in Austin TX
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liveaboard
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Re: Cheap Tools from China....

Post by liveaboard »

I've found some great stuff in the bargain bins...
A set of thin picks were so good, I went back to look for more but there were none left.

When we go to flea markets, my OH scans antiques and clothes; she can spot good stuff from a distance. I do the same with tools. It's funny how you can look through a pile of old junk, and pluck out the one decent item.

Lately I've found that middle - low priced tools that used to be terrible, are now often quite usable. Manufacturing costs have come down a lot, and it's just not much more expensive to make things well.
I needed a square drive for something, and I bought the cheapest Korean flea market 3/8 socket extension I could find, figuring it would be nice and soft. It isn't; the damn thing is hard tool steel.
How much do you think carbon costs? Not a lot.
I just bought a new $35 impact wrench. It works well. OK, I'm sure it wouldn't survive long in a full time repair garage, but why should I care about that?

At a garage in the Netherlands, I noticed he had all snapon tools [rare in Europe, and even more expensive than in the US].
He had a simple explanation; he paid a fortune in income tax, but he could write off his tool expenditure. He told me the pleasure of denying the tax man some of his earnings was a big part of his decision.
When I was professional, I bought professional stuff.
As an amateur now, who can't write off a single screwdriver, my choice has to be more moderate.
SteveM
Posts: 7763
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 6:18 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Re: Cheap Tools from China....

Post by SteveM »

My criteria for quality vs price is:

If it's an important tool, and one that I will use a lot, I will get the best one I can (although the cheapskate in me is still going to look for a bargain).

My micrometers and most of my commonly used measuring tools are Starrett. My digital dial calipers are Mitutoyo (many claim they are better than Starrett). All of these were bought used, but in excellent shape. I have gauge blocks and other calibration tools that have confirmed that they are accurate and repeatable.

If precision is not important and it's something I'm going to use once a year (e.g. my sledgehammer), then HF is an option.

I once bought a digital caliper from HF - last time I buy anything precision from them. It won't repeat, so I can't trust it.

Some of their stuff is excellent. They have ratings on their website, although there is the potential for monkey business there.

You can always refer to the Harbor Freight Pass/Fail thread on garage journal:
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/sho ... hp?t=27192

Steve
John Hasler
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Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 4:05 pm
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Re: Cheap Tools from China....

Post by John Hasler »

Usually the cheap Chinese junk such as the wrench described by Mr Ron was made to specifications provided by a US marketing outfit. I think that many of these marketing outfits figure that since they don't make anything they have no need for engineers. Contract manufacturers, Chinese or otherwise, make what their customer tells them to make. When purchasing writes the specifications...
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