Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Hand Tools). This thread is read-only.
It’s not news that much of the Craftsman line has moved to Chinese production, which is certainly not a good thing.
But I was a little surprised when my brother got me a set of Craftsman files for Christmas last year that said “Made in India” on them. India is the new China and poised to become the origin of all things rediculously shitty.
By now your expecting me to tell you these things are so awful that they aren’t worth stealing, but surprisingly that isn’t the case. I’ve been using them since Christmas (albeit not every day) and they’ve held up pretty well. For someone who uses files intermittently like me, I have to recommend them. There aren’t many USA files left that can be justified on a DIY budget and most used files I find are desperately in need of sharpening, so these aren’t a bad option really.
I didn’t know India exported tools. I though they just exported crappy tech support 🙂
Some Indian made crap pops up at HF here and there too
Fast Cap has some really cool folding files and other tools. I really like the concept the price not so much 🙂http://www.fastcap.com/estore/pc/Pocket-Tool-Series-c280.htm
I always thought that Indian made tools were the absolute worst.
Did Craftsman ever make tools in the US? I loved the Craftsman tape measure back in the day, if it ever broke just bring it in and get a new one for free.
Plenty of Craftsman hand tools were made in the USA back in the day. They were one of the later brands to off shore the manufacturing. I want to say it was the mid 2000’s when they really pushed their manufacturing over seas.
Thanks, didn’t remember if they were
Yup, my Dads radial,arm saw which is in my shed and his 7-1/4″ circular are American made and I just can’t get rid of them. Funny stuff DR, I like that they try to train Indians with American accents. Hysterical. I’ve got a friend who is here from India and is a freakin’ genius with computer programs. Undeniably the nicest guy I know,
DR99 wrote:
Fast Cap has some really cool folding files and other tools. I really like the concept the price not so much 🙂http://www.fastcap.com/estore/pc/Pocket-Tool-Series-c280.htm
DR, I’ve got the best fence for my Kapex. I hope to have it up,tomorrow. It’s made by Fastcap. Also, by far, my favorite tape measures are my Fastcaps. My Bostich FatMax is the bomb and o feel is better than my Milwaukee but this Fastcaps are awesome. Perfect woodworking tools and super cheap price wise.
Made In USA was Craftsman’s big selling point up until the end of 2013. They were great tools back in the days when Plomb, New Britain, and Moore Drop Forge made them. Then Easco bought MDF, and eventually Danaher bought Easco, and the quality steadily declined until it came to the point that the brand had been surpassed by many Taiwan made tools available for less money.
That worked though. They were still made in the USA and had a great warranty, which many believe was part of their undoing. Sears conducted a focus group that concluded that the average consumer care very little about COO, and a whole lot about price. Sears decided to make the switch because you can supply someone with crappy Chinese tools for life a lot cheaper than you can provide them with mediocre American tools.
Existing USA stock was sold off throughout 2014. During Father’s Day you could still find a lot of USA stuff by digging through the piles, but by the holiday season there wasn’t anything left aside from a few single sockets.
I was never a big Craftsman guy, but it was a nice option to have.
Maybe Sears should have kept a made in the USA line and offered a few kits made in China for a cut rate price. I still find it weird that Sears sells the Dewalt mechanics tools.
Sears always had a budget line. It’s been different things over the years, Dunlap, Sears, Evolv, and others, but they never had the popularity the Craftsman did for some reason