The new SK tools

[crazyal]

I have a few of the older American SK tools (the ones that haven't walked off) and was a bit disappointed when the brand closed down. When they came back after Ideal sold them to a Chinese company I was a bit worried that it would just be another case of a Chinese company buying an American name and then pushing low quality stuff turning the name into junk. But not everything made in China is low quality. That being said I was looking for a replacement for my Gearwrench ratcheting wrenches (also made in China). I've had a couple that the forward reverse lever jams making it difficult to switch.

Amazon is giving me a set to try out and review. The price is not cheap so I'll get to test them out. But I wanted to know if anyone else has bought any of the new SK tools? If so what do you think? Are they still a premium product? I find that I'm at that age now where I can afford higher quality, not likely to lose tools, and want tools that will just work. Returning tools to a store is a bit of a pain as nothing is that close. At the same time as my toys are much bigger now they tend to require stronger tools in more sizes to work on. Finally I wouldn't mind something nicer than Harbor Freight brands (they have some good tools) to leave to a nephew who is starting to get to the point where he actually values quality.

 

[tacticalturnip]

I didn't realize they were gone, I'm disappointed. When I was a mechanic in the Army our issued tool box was SK.

 

[BlueKnife]

Didn't realize SK had been bought out. I've generally found that, when looking at Asian made tools, Taiwanese stuff is pretty good, Chinese is junk. There are probably exceptions that I'm not aware of though. Country of manufacture isn't always the best indication of what the quality will be. Craftsman started making garbage tools in the US before they moved to making garbage tools in China.

 

[ruffdog]

I only have a couple SK tools that I picked up years ago.

 

[Langanobob]

Like BlueKnife says, Taiwan tool as a general rule are good. I avoid all Chinese made tools, regardless of brand, partly due to quality issues and partly due to politics.

Harbor Freight's house brand Icon hand tools are made in Taiwan and just about as good as it gets and for a reasonable price. I have been buying Wright made in USA wrenches but as much as I care about buying American, the price can be hard to take.

 

[toot77]

I have a fair amount of old S-K (mid 70's) which I really like for my hobby type use. Through the years I broke very few sockets and never had any trouble getting them replaced. I also have some older Craftsman sockets and I broke quite a few of those. Sears always replaced them also, but based upon the number of each i broke through the years, the old S-K were tougher imho. After S-K initially shut down, I broke my 13mm & 15mm sockets (3/8). I hung on to them and after Ideal started S-K back up and was honoring the warranty, I got them replaced with the new Ideal S-K sockets. I broke the new 15mm almost immediately and had that one replaced again. I felt that the Ideal S-K 15mm socket broke rather easily and I was disappointed. I had expected better. Since then I have been a little more careful with those two sockets than my other older ones. I have no experience with S-K after Ideal.

 

[chim]

Back in the 70's I bought a nice 1/4"-3/8"-1/2" socket set from Penney's that wasn't one of those with hundreds of pieces of junk tools tossed in to drive the count up. It looked a lot like SK, but info points towards New Britain as the manufacturer. Many of the sockets went missing over the years, and about 10 years ago TruValue or Ace had inch/metric sets for around $100 on sale so I bought one. Never broke any of the sockets and the ratchets still work fine.

I still have SK screwdrivers from the 70's that are marked "SK" and have the translucent green handles.

 

[mrmikey]

Here's a link to Project Farm testing ratchets, SK's one of them:

 

[5030]

It's SK Wayne btw. I do Icon now. Lifetime guarantee and easy to return to get replaced.

 

[5030]

Not to be political but if DJT imposes his proposed tariff's, HF tools will increase in price substantially and so will all the other import tools.

 

[stevem5215]

And maybe Craftsman will be made again in the USA instead of somewhere else. Is that a bad thing ?

 

[square1]

Some S-K nostalgia...
Throughout high school I worked at a mom & pop hardware. The owners' graduation gift to me, since he knew I was leaving the store to work full time in a vehicle dealership, was all the tools I wanted to buy at cost. I picked out a medium size Kennedy tool box (not tool chest or cabinet, toolbox) and as many S-K tools as would fit in it. The owners' even let me make payments on the tools selected.

The 1st week at the dealership I was given a very nice Dealership Logo placard, which was proudly fastened to the lid of that Kennedy tool box.

Fast forward 46 years, last month I had a chance running with the long retired dealership owner. I showed him the toolbox, with his dealer placard, and all those (albeit many have come up missing through the years. A full set of SAE wrenches, 3/8" & 1/2" socket sets still are intact) S-K tools inside. His smile went to 11, mine too).

 

[Sportsman762]

In 2021 Hangzhou GreatStar Industrial who owns Shopvac bought SK tools. They shut down the Sycamore IL plant down late 2021. They moved some production to the underutilized Shopvac plant in Williamsport PA. The move did not go well and SK was essentially defunct until mid 2023. Some tools are USA made, but others are Chinese. There is no easy way to determine what is USA vs CN. I know the LP ratchets are USA and the X frame wrenches are now CN. The quality appears to be good so far for the CN tools. However SK thinks that they are worth the price of the USA made tools.

I have always been a fan of Wright Tools, They are made in Barberton, OH. Proto and Williams make some good USA tools as well but you need to check country of origin first as they offer some overseas products.

 

[crazyal]

A couple of days ago I got the SAE flex head ratcheting wrench set to test. They feel well made. I put one to the test by trying to loosen a bolt that I knew was too tight to budge without using a cheater bar. I put all of my weight on the wrench (3/4") and it handled it just fine. In extremely small lettering it said the wrenches were made in Taiwan, not China. I didn't try a cheater. But I still have to wonder if these wrenches are any better than the ones they sell under their Duratech brand name. The SK line could be machined to tighter specs and out of better quality steel. Hopefully they aren't the same wrench for close to 3x the price.

Here's a picture of the SK wrenches:

And the Duratech wrenchs:

 

[UOFan]

I bought a set of SK snap ring pliers from Amazon this year - about half the price of the Knipex that I actually wanted. But, I figured I would try to save some money, while not going completely to the bottom shelf.

Anyways, I'm pleasantly surprised by the quality. Recently taking apart a 3-ton floor jack I was putting significant strain on the tips, with zero issues. I was convinced that I was going to snap off or at least bend the tips...but it never happened.

So far, I am very pleased with the "new" SK tools.

 

[WM75Guy]

And maybe Craftsman will be made again in the USA instead of somewhere else. Is that a bad thing ?

I doubt that will happen anytime soon, they tried it and failed.

Craftsman factory in Texas shows challenges of reshoring manufacturing