End of the KOBALT Brand

dragoneggs · Jun 23, 2018

Dftodd said:
That's exactly the same reason I quit shopping at Sears or buying craftsman tools. Was a huge fan till I got brow beat by a salesman for "abusing" a ratchet that had turned into a knuckle buster from tons of use. Ratchet would pop and switch directions on its own at about 150 ft/lbs of torque.

The only abuse the ratchet saw was when it switched directions and I broke a knuckle. It learned how to fly

I wore out (abused) two 3/8in ratchets with the small toggle switch. The first time they game me a brand new tool, the second time they gave me the 'guts' kit to fix it myself.

radios1 · Jun 23, 2018

Dftodd said:
That's exactly the same reason I quit shopping at Sears or buying craftsman tools. Was a huge fan till I got brow beat by a salesman for "abusing" a ratchet that had turned into a knuckle buster from tons of use. Ratchet would pop and switch directions on its own at about 150 ft/lbs of torque.

The only abuse the ratchet saw was when it switched directions and I broke a knuckle. It learned how to fly

Craftsman hand tools have an unconditional lifetime guarantee.. they don't have any right at all to question you about how it got damaged!, they are required to replace it!.. what some people have encountered may have been certain local stores, or possibly Statewide, where the Management is NOT properly trained!.. I've had sears stores try to "bait and switch" me on prices in one store, they mark some items REALLY low, then claim it was a mistake, and even though it violated State law, they didn't care!!..

downsizingnow48 · Jun 23, 2018

Haven't been in a big box store for months so decided to stop by Lowes today to see what is happening on the Craftsman front. They had dozens of tool chests of every size imaginable. They looked and felt about like the Kobalt and HF tool chests. They all had a sticker, "made in USA with global materials". I dunno what that actually means. Maybe there is a rigorous standard published by some trade association, or maybe it is just whatever the marketing folks decide to say.

No other Craftsman tools though.

One thing I noticed is that there were 4 employees just in the tool section. The usual population used to be zero, or maybe one person.

smstonypoint · Jun 23, 2018

downsizingnow48 said:
H They all had a sticker, "made in USA with global materials". I dunno what that actually means. Maybe there is a rigorous standard published by some trade association, or maybe it is just whatever the marketing folks decide to say.

Country of origin labeling is regulated by the FTC , FDA, and USDA (and perhaps other federal agencies?).

Steve

Ford850 · Jun 23, 2018

Stanley has been cited and fined at least twice due to deceptive labeling regarding “made in the USA” so now all their tools have the “...with global materials” labels. They make nothing in the USA from everything I could find. It appears they are doing the same with Craftsman now too (not unlike Sears recently).

RickB · Jun 23, 2018

I saw Crapsman tools and boxes at an Ace hardware store today.

drizler · Jun 23, 2018

Ford850 said:
Stanley has been cited and fined at least twice due to deceptive labeling regarding “made in the USA” so now all their tools have the “...with global materials” labels. They make nothing in the USA from everything I could find. It appears they are doing the same with Craftsman now too (not unlike Sears recently).

The last time one of my 80’s USA Craftsmen wrenches locked up I took it in for a new one I took it and never looked . When I got home the first thing was how ugly it was. They must have yanked it right out of the sand cast and plated it. Then the action, as rough and ugly as I have ever seen. Made in USA and the absolute worst garbage that I have ever seen. I don’t even use it. That was 2 years ago. Strangely my HF ratchets are of far better quality. My half drive is of all things one of those MIT Chinese specials that dates back to the 80’s and is still going.....

goeduck · Jun 23, 2018

Lots of Sears and Craftsman haters out there complaining about their return policy and things not being made in the USA while on their way to HF. I would much rather buy something at Sears while they last than HF. But that is me.

DIYjunkie · Jun 23, 2018

I've been using Craftsman tools for all my life, and as far as I know all Chinese. I will say though that the actual quality of a lot of the stuff seemed to get progressively worse over the years. For example, we had a large breaker bar from them, we ended up losing it somehow (loaned it out and the guy never returned it) and it was the 1/2" drive with the small ball bearing type lock on it. We bought a new one after we lost the other one and the new ones do not have the locking ball bearing in it, which makes it a huge pain when you need it to stay locked at 90* to slide it into the square hole of a belt tensioner on a vehicle, it would just move and be quite aggravating.

I'm mostly disappointed that no matter what brand of store tools you buy socket wise, majority of the time its 12 point in shallow sockets. I hate 12 point, unless I absolutely need it (12 point bolt heads). 12s just round the heck out of nuts and bolts and its infuriating that those are common now. 6 point is way better.