▼EXPAND THIS SECTION FOR IMPORTANT INFO▼ Let Audible help you discover new ways to laugh, be inspired, or be entertained. New members can try it free for 30 days. Visit audible.com/stumpynubs or text stumpynubs to 500-500. *Some other useful links:* -More videos on our website: stumpynubs.com/ -Subscribe to our e-Magazine: stumpynubs.com/browse-and-subscribe/ -Check out our project plans: stumpynubs.com/product-category/plans/ -Instagram: instagram.com/stumpynubs/ -Twitter: twitter.com/StumpyNubs ★SOME OF MY FAVORITE CHEAP TOOLS★ -123 Blocks: lddy.no/vpij -Mechanical Pencils: amzn.to/2PA7bwK -Lumber pencil: amzn.to/2QtwZjv -Pocket Measuring Tape: amzn.to/2kNTlI9 -Irwin Drill Bit Gauge: amzn.to/2AwTkQg -Nut/Bolt/Screw Gauge: amzn.to/2CuvxSK -Self-Centering Punch: amzn.to/2QvbcrC -Self-Centering Bits: amzn.to/2xs71UW -Angle Cube: lddy.no/10nam -Steel Ruler: lddy.no/10mv7 -Utility knife: amzn.to/3nfhIiv -Center-Finding Ruler: lddy.no/10nak -Bit & Blade Cleaner: amzn.to/2TfvEOI -Digital depth gauge: amzn.to/3mwRf2x -Wood Glue: amzn.to/3mqek6M -Spade Bits: amzn.to/3j8XPtD
Not a fan of the commercial in the middle of the vid. It screws up the continuity of the subject matter. Some sites that do this lost my viewership and others never got my subscription. I think I understand the reasoning behind this, but I don't agree with it. Please put them back at the end of the show. I do watch them there.
@@slowguy56 Did you enjoy the video itself? If you had any idea what goes into making that video for you to enjoy, free of charge, you wouldn't begrudge me a minute or so (which you can easily skip) to pay for it. :)
@@StumpyNubs Well said. Something has to pay the bills. Most of us get it. Commercial in the middle is not a big deal. UA-cam is going to jarringly cut in with a commercial anyway, for something I would never buy. At least with your commercials, it’s something I might be interested in.
Just to fill in a few blanks.... My maternal grandfather, Bernard Fuller (1907-2003), was the founder and president of 'The Fuller Tool Co." He started making screwdrivers after WW1, and quickly expanded to other hand tools. He was the major supplier of hand tools (screwdrivers, hammers, wrenches, pliers, etc.) to the Craftsman brand. Of course, he also marketed under the Fuller Tool name. Unverified family lore has it that he was selling his tools with a 'Guaranteed Forever' label, and that Sears picked up on it. I still have his $100,000,000 sales award from Sears (it's a small shop apron). Check your old Sears hand tools - if it has a BF stamped on it - That's Bernie Fuller - my Poppa!
I was just thinking of the Fuller name a few days back. I've seen it a thousand times but never paid much attention. As I shop yard sales I've been collecting pieces here and there....Fuller keeps popping up. tHanks for posting your story!
@@breth8159 isn't it a shame that a newer generation of suits comes in and ruins these companies one after another? You would think that they would recognize what they are doing.
I gathered up my PC router and belt sander, Delta drill press and scroll saw, and a few hundred pounds of Craftsman mechanic tools and we watched this together. They shed little metallic tears in knowing their families have not been forgotten.
Some quick stories about Craftsman tools. When I was in the AF, I worked part time at Sears, primarily in the tool department. I had a gentleman come in one day with a long Phillips screwdriver. About a 1/3 of the end of the screwdriver was melted off. Apparently, he used it as a welding rod. Yep, we replaced it. Sears sold repair kits for ratchets, and I would often replace the ratcheting gear from our part that we sold. My manager loved me as I saved him a bunch of money. If we replaced the entire ratchet, the manager was charged the cost of the new ratchet against his operating cost. The cost of the repair kit was also charged against him, but it was only a fraction of a ratchet's cost. One day a very old gentleman came in with a ratchet that was completely worn out. He wanted it repaired, but after spending quite a bit of time trying to find the parts an after talking with the old man, we determined that it originally belong to his father and was one of first or second-generation ratchets that Sears sold. Parts were no longer available. We would replace it with one from our current inventory, but he would have to surrender the old ratchet (standard policy). The poor old fellow was in tears. That old ratchet meant the world to him. I talked to the manager and he agreed to let the customer keep his old ratchet and we would give him a new one. Think one could get customer service like that today?
Great story! Sadly, those days of respect for the customer have evaporated and have been replaced by money-grabbing heartlessness. You and your manager definitely did the right thing.
If he wanted to keep it so bad he should have just bought a new one. After all they are guaranteed against defects not wear and tear. They already got their money’s worth. This guy was just exploiting store policy
James, I'm 64, and as a young boy in the 60s and 70s, nothing was more fun than going to Sears with my dad and walking through the Craftsman section. It was amazing! All those beautiful tools precisely placed throughout, shelves brimming, helpful employees. But, a few years ago walking through that Sears I was overwhelmed with sadness, the shelves were a mess, mostly empty, and the employees were mostly fools just passing time, totally disinterested. Finally the local Sears closed. However, I still have many of those Craftsman tools and every time I use one, I think of my dad. Great memories. And a great video, thumbs up!
We get that with B&Q in UK. Some time back, I went into one of their stores in another town (much wealthier town with many retired middle class staff working their for something to do). Everything in order, shelves and labels all correct, staff able to advise with knowledge and experience - even the youngsters were very capable (taking job before going to university). I wonder if you get such variety between different branches of same big box store in US?
I second that story. Same deal here. We lived in a town too small to have a Sears so it was a treat to make the 100 mile trip to the nearest town with a Sears, etc. All those tools! Many of my Christmas and birthday presents were tools, and always Craftsman. I still have them all, except for the bandsaw. That got sold at my parent's farm auction. It shouldn't have been but by the time I noticed it was already auctioned off and it would have been more trouble than it was worth to get it back. But that wasn't their best power tool so no big loss except for the memories.
I went to sears a few years ago and same thing and the workers was tattooed all up with piercings all over and playing on their phone like zombies and it didn't stay open long after, computers and phones has wrecked this world.
I’m 63. Can relate to everything you said. We used to love going to Sears. When I went with my mom to get clothes I enjoyed the popcorn and nuts. When dad went there it was the tool section. Even as a young adult I loved browsing Sears tools. Our whole house had Craftsman tools and Kenmore appliances.
The smell, as a kid of the 60's I wasn't into the tools, but I was always hungry and immediately in front of the store was the nut and candy island...with the wonderful smell of hot roasted nuts. I had completely forgotten about this until he mentioned the smell. We traveled a lot as my dad was a career military man, so I don't know if all stores had them but the one we frequented did. Much later as a late teenager I remember going to a different store/city and missing the smell...seems all good things come to an end.
Had my small craftman tool set as a kid back in the early 70's...fast forward I inherited all my dad's craftman tools... I treasure all them tools...⚒️🔨🛠️
Same here. My dad had a “real” set of craftsman tools when I was growing up. Outside of the antique tools that I collect, I still keep a lookout for tools of the same vintage. The modern ones are junk and just like everything else now.
@@andrewschrotenboer9445 Avoid any craftsman tools with A in the model number (Asia=China) Any Craftsman tool with the “Industrial” designation is USA made. Also simply look for USA on the tool. Otherwise don’t buy it.
Great video. My Dad was in construction and swore by Craftsman. After using a Craftsman’s wooden handle hammer for over 30 years one day a “claw” of the hammer broke while pulling a nail. He took it back to Sears (this was in the late 60’s) and they replaced the hammer on the spot (even though the salesman thought Dad should have been happy with the life he got out of the hammer). I am still using a Craftsman hammer that my Dad gave me in my early twenties, over 50 years ago. I don’t use it on a daily basis as my Dad did, but it’s the only hammer I prefer to use. Thanks for sharing the history of these brands. Very interesting.
Last weekend I met a fellow who has been making signs for around 30 years. I noticed he had a Porter Cable router mounted in his CNC machine. Before I could ask, he says "I have two. I run one until I hear the bearings start to go, send it out to have them repaired, and put the other one in." That's the kind of quality they used to have, right there.
A guy I know has a custom designed machine which uses three industrial routers. He has to replace them each year since the work he does wears them out so fast. He does custom spiral cutouts for posts or other things. Many of the posts are two feet in diameter and eight to ten feet tall. One of his designs, has outer spirals and inner spirals all from the same piece of wood.
This is an intensively emotional video for me. I am a Baby Boomer and grew up at a time when "Made in America" was the standard of the industry: Craftsman, Kodak, Kenmore, RCA Victor, Philco, GE, Electrohome, to name a few... the original Mustang, the Trans-Am races, the hot-rods, the sound barrier, the man on the moon, the wholesome shows on TV... even clothe lines (textiles) being created in the US. We were not perfect but a company name (Porter-Cable for example) meant something, stood for quality, ... How about the IBM PC from 1984 who (along with Apple) created the "Personal Computer Revolution" that shook the world only to be sold to Levono (China) in 2004!!! How times have changed - Sadly enough, when I go to other countries, American brand-names (now Made in China) are now synonymous with cheaply made - they (the foreigners) call us (you and me) the "Wall-Mart people" and it is not a compliment - it is about quantity over quality, keeping up with the Jones, suing one another, self-destroying our own country, loss of what it means/meant to "be an American" and of course being "awooken"! May God help us all! Thank you for this great presentation which is a glimpse of a more wide-spread national disease, Ciao, L (Veteran)
Me too, born in 51. It's hard. So sad to just give it away. All for something cheaper. I still believe people will pay more for quality, especially if it's a tool.
Not only the consumers the companies are the ones to blame they decided that making products in overseas countries is good for them it's cheaper they sell at the same price or higher but the product ain't worth shit and the guys in the stores are just there for the money with as much brains as 6in nail that's the problem as a teenager an older guy once told me a cheap whore is no good and a good whore is not cheap he wasn't lying
I was born in 1952. I’ve noticed though in the 80s when “proudly made in USA “ and “buy American “ became big that the truly great American stuff never said made in USA it said made in some town in some state and often had the factory owners name on the product. Like ford for the models t and and proto Los Angeles cal . Vice grip elurthyra Ohio (sp?) kinda like old school capitalism where individual proud of his product and thinking his grandkids are gonna inherit and continue ue his legacy doesn’t cut corners. And the workers from some Ohio town want people elsewhere. Not to curse their town when the f”ing product breaks on them. Detroit used to make better cars than Germany or Japan. Not since late 60s. Admit it. Japan and Germany make better cars. I think Korea might even match or beat Detroit now !! I blame the business schools and arrogance and stock market ownership of everything. Managers are short sighted or have conflict of interests. Workers see screwed and know it and have little loyalty or pride. We can learn from others. Our creativity is still great . And not just for movies and video games.
I'm getting old! I've got a whole woodworking shop full of Delta, Porter Cable and Craftsman tools... I still use them all the time, because they work so well. Times, they are a changing. Thanks for the trip down memory lane Stumpy!
I have a couple of sets of Craftsman tools from the 70's and 80's when they were made in the USA. Absolutely bullet proof. Porter Cable was THE router company - I had their venerable 690 router from the 80's until recently until I upgraded to a Bosch earlier this year. I remember going to Sears with my grandpa to replace a wrench that broke - the person took care of it on the spot. Just told him to get another one from the rack and he was good to go. I really wish we could bring back the good manufacturing we used to have - I'll be happy to pay for higher quality.
There are still a lot of small companies doing high end quality tools, but their prices are insane. Are you willing to pay $200 for a circular saw blade? I can't justify that even if it is ten times better than the ones they sell at Home Depot.
@@jimthesoundman8641 Yep, was thinking the same thing. I do my best to buy US Made products, but I most often cannot justify the additional expense. And how often does the label read, 'Made in USA with global products'?, like the DeWalt pressure washer I just bought.
My Dad was a field mechanic for Caterpillar in the 60's and 70's. It was a regular event for us to swing by Sears to get a replacement Craftsman tool for one that was broken. Not because they were bad, but because they were well worn and usually many years old. Sears replaced them on the spot every time!
@@jimthesoundman8641 Me too. I've been happy with the Diablo/Freud blades. Bang for the buck they just work. I can't justify $150+ for a saw blade especially when it's a hobby and not a job.
When I was in college in the early 70’s at USF one of my professors Dr Wimmert had worked at Delta that made drill presses. He told this story one day. Sears came and wanted Delta to make Craftsman drill presses. They had higher specifications than the current Delta units like better motors, bearings, and most tolerances. Delta agreed to made the better drill presses for Sears because of the volume that Sears contracted for. So the Delta and Craftsman drill presses looked the same, the quality of the Craftsman was better and sold for less than the Delta brand. He said that Sears did this with all the brands they sold like Craftsman, Lady Kenmore and others. Sears did not just relabel but required better specifications.
I worked in the engineering department of a company that made paint spray guns. Sears decided to add the product to their line. First, they did there own product testing and analysis are required several design upgrades before acceptance.
In my experience, Sears took existing products, made changes then labeled them Craftsman, the parts that broke were always the "Upgraded" parts which you could only get at Sears.
Years ago I bought a Sears utility knife with blades, so when I kneaded more blades I went to the local hardware store, but found out they didn’t fit. Through it away and bought a Stanley!
I've had the same set of Craftsman screwdrivers in my toolbox since I was in Boy Scouts over 30 years ago. They are showing their age, but that's also a sign of the great quality they had. It's a shame what has happened to all these once-great brands.
About 30 years ago (about the time everybody were getting their MBA's) companies run by investment bankers, decided that America doesn't have to produce anything and shipped our manufacturing overseas. Worse yet they shipped our tooling capacity overseas too. So you had a hard time even building a prototype. A good example is Cooper Tools, which bought a bunch of great American tool companies, like Vise-Grip, Crescent and many others and then sold them off, where most are made in China or Taiwan. If you want to know why, wrenches don't seem to fit the bolts anymore, they are rough metric conversions to SAE standards and are smaller than the original patterns. They are not tempered to the same standards and usually have inferior materials.
Many of the cheap foreign-made wrenches had such loose tolerances was because they sneakily reused the same dies for forging two different wrench sizes if the size was close enough. Some are exactly the same, like 3/4" and 19mm. But many were off by 0.3--0.5 mm and passed them off as a particular size. A way to cut cost, as they made such little margins on each. So corners are cut, ie. thin chrome-plating skipping the nickel layer and the chrome just flakes off. Improper or skipped tempering. Minimal standards of alloying specifications. etc.
Recently I needed a specific sized long bit, fully fluted, to drill pilot holes in some timbers. The jig I purchased from the hardware supplier for the fittings was exact. First bit was only fluted on the end. It broke almost immediately. Too thin, soft material, bound up as it coun’t eject the material where it wasn’t fluted. (Relatively green oak.) Purchased a more expensive fully fluted bit. Holes too big. Turns out the fudging on sizes put the bit slightly larger diameter than the jig. Hand drilled a couple of holes just fine but now the fastener does not hold as it should. Third try, found a properly sized bit, fully fluted. I’m going to be smart this time, bought two in case/when the first one failed. Well, it fit properly, fully ejected the residue when drilling AND it never broke. So, I have an “extra” bit which I’ll likely never use. However, it was a hard lesson in discovering just how far off these things can be today. I never really thought a precision tool, bit, fastener, etc. would be so poorly designed and manufactured. Today I am again rebuilding my shop, (long story), with a variety of tools. I wanted, (for my OCD), them all to be the same brand. However, I realize that won’t happen today. And yes, like many commenting here, I miss the old Sears Craftsman automotive and other tools……….
I inherited some of my dad's Craftsman power and hand tools that he bought back in the early 60's. I still have the power planer and belt sander, along with several hand tools that just won't die. Craftsman used to be synonymous with quality. Sadly, that's not the case anymore.
By today's actual messing with standards and safety by that don't use tools by gopher standards. The sad part is those Craftsman tools were not construction / commercial grade tools made to work 8-12 hours a day for years. Disston. Utica. Stanley push drill. Channelock. Swingline. My favorite. I inherited from from my dad. A Cummins A 1/2 inch drill. You had to be careful with it. It would break your arm. The thing I remember the most was the $200 3/8s inch Milwaukee I bought in 1970. Outlasted the Craftsman my partner bought. He thought I was stupid for paying that much. A Craftsman pro was $75. He bought two of them. Every week he would got to the nearest Sears and exchange the dead one for a new one. Five years later when I no longer built swimming pools and permanent covers for them. I gave them to my tin smith brother in law for his toolbox. When I could no longer buy the variable speed trigger. It also was reversible, and only had one speed.
My dad has a Craftsman drill press and table saw from that same era. Still running strong and accurate. He's had them for longer than I have memory. I'm 56.
@@warrenpuckett4203 I don't like "modern" battery tools. Like the cars, they are flimsy and have too much to go wrong---Then there is the new battery tech, that makes them obsolete, but Grampa's 1950 aluminum plug-in tools still work fine. I met a carpet installer who loved Bosch drills---when they were German. His Bosch outlasted three Skil drills. Now Bosch says "Hecho en Mexico," so I'm dubious of their quality.
Walking into Sears and browsing the tool aisle was always a treat. I inherited a lot of Craftsman hand tools from my grandfather in the 80s including the infamous puke smelling screwdrivers. These still hang in my workshop with some bearing his engraved initials.
Now that sears is gone, I have nowhere to go when the old lady goes to the mall 😢. If someone would put one tool store in every mall, then all the guys would have something to do, and who knows, we might even buy a few things!
This felt like the telling of my life story. First hand tools, Craftsman (still have most of them working great). First router Porter Cable (still working). First table saw 10" Delta (Stupidly sold). Stumpy, I can tell we grew up in the woodworking craft about the same time period. Great video. Maybe do a video informing us who the new leaders in those fields are,
Back in the 80's I worked with an air freight forwarder. The owner and I made a sales call on a small tool manufacturer in Gastonia, NC that made sockets and socket drivers. We were given a tour of the plant, particularly the stamping and cutting operations. They pointed out a machine in the corner that stamped the brand name on the sockets. While we were there they changed of the stamping die die from Craftsman to SK Tools. They actually had 3 brands they manufactured there. All were the same except for the name on the tool and the retail price point. It was an eye opening experience for sure!
@@noscwoh1 I think it was SK Tools but it's been a long time. I do recall that it was in one of the business parks off 321 north of 85. This was in the early 1980's, probably 1983.
@@noscwoh1 I’m from Gtown and the company, before it was bought by Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital and shuddered, was Danaher Tool Group. Prior to being Danaher it was Easco Hand Tools. Their location was off of Isley Dr in Gastonia. I saw craftsman wrenches by the thousands being produced there right along other brands.
Still have my dad's tools from the 1930's and 40's. A Black & Decker 1/4" drill, SK Wayne sockets, Diamond Calk among others. In the early 70's we took the drill in for brushes and a new chuck and the person at the counter asked my dad if he knew the drill was discontinued around 1931. He said no but can it be repaired and they said yes. I still use it on occasion.
When I started working in construction as a carpenter over 40 years ago when you saw a guy with Porter Cable tools you were in awe. As for Craftsman I was a firm believer in their product as was my dad. Unfortunately after multiple thefts over the years my Craftsman collection is all but gone.
It's tragic, really, the way my tool collection is turning out. I have one part antique, incredibly made tools that will outlast me, and one part cheap trash that I know might not even make it through the next project. At the moment, I have more faith in buying a harbor freight tool that I KNOW I'll have to repair, than spending real money on a tool that I can't be sure will actually be better.
My current hand belt sander is from Harbor Freight because I can't get ahold of an old PC sander. At least that one is under a no questions asked warranty
@@3kainos I definitely agree, certain tools at HF are shockingly high quality, and many tools at HF are much better than the average tat at Lowes or Depot that command higher prices due to a brand name. But I still expect to be repairing them. However, another thing I like about HF is their tools tend to use very common parts and because of that are relatively easy to repair.
I just bought a floor jack from Harbor freight for $250.00 that is exactly like Napa ones for $800.00. Welcome to the consumer based economy of capitalism. It will only get worse and never get better.
There are a lot of HF junkies posting on this thread. ProjectFarm (2.49 M subscribers) tests all kinds of toola and HF comes out on or near the bottom of every test.
Loved this video. It certainly explains the tool options today compared to the tool options of my youth. How about a follow-up video in which you introduce us to the brands actually worth buying today (if there are any)??
This is a tale as old as business. Every time company A buys company B, calls it a merger, a "combining of synergies" or some bogus corporate double-talk, the products they make suffer, and consequently the customer. Again and again and again. Thank you for the history lesson, the reminder, and the warning that the Crafstman brand, one I grew up with as a kid, is not to be intrinsically trusted these days.
Yep... I think the icing on the cake is that the high level people involved in the mergers are usually able to cash their fat checks and deploy the golden parachutes before the businesses actually suffer the consequences. It seems like our economic model just rewards people who leave a trail of destruction behind them.
@@jimyep9971 ...and StanleyBlack& Decker thinks the Craftsman name is worth a mint...very high prices on both their hand tools and power tools that I have seen...better priced options on many competitors of similar quality out there, and just as good of warranty...yes, the Craftsman name was built on a combination of good quality(and USA made), good prices(often VERY good prices), and an unbeatable warranty policy...SBD has missed the mark on most of those if you ask me..especially the price/value part....
@@Utuber-x44 Yes, I was saddened when I discovered Porter Cable was in their fold...I always considered Porter Cable to be a top-tier power tool, above most of their competitors, certainly including B&D, Craftsman, Skil, even stuff like DeWalt..yet, SBD placed Porter Cable as a mid-tier, upper lower-tier brand..makes no sense...it should certainly be placed above Craftsman...I would have made Porter-Cable my top-shelf professional brand if I had acquired them...but then, that is what SBD made DeWalt into when they acquired them..heck, even the quality of the DeWalt stuff has slipped....
I love hearing about history like this - I just think it is fascinating! Some years ago (2003 at the earliest, I know), I got a 10" Craftsman miter saw. Eventually, when I would turn the table to adjust the miter, it would have a grinding sound, like something was caught underneath. So I took it in to a (relatively) nearby Sears service center. They had to send it off for repair, which was OK with me - pretty much what I'd expected. It came back, with that problem fixed, but had some fatal flaw (I forget exactly what) that the repair guy(s) (or gals - not to be sexist) had introduced. It rendered it basically unusable for accurate cutting. Back to the service center. This time, I attached what my dad would have called a "nasty letter," which I addressed to the repair department. It wasn't really nasty, of course, just sharing my ire with their sloppy "repair" work. This time they replaced the saw entirely with a new model. I took it home & used it for a time, but eventually it developed a problem - maybe the same grinding noise under the table, though I forget for sure. I gave up at that point & bought a 12" Ridgid miter saw from Home Depot. Top of the line? Probably not, but I could afford it & it still works fine for me. I vowed at that time never to buy another Craftsman power tool, though their hand tools seemed just fine. In fact, we got my brother several when he started studying airplane repair. I also got a set of cushioned mats from Sears/Craftsman that I still use in my garage woodshop. These days, without forking over $$$$$$$, which I usually do not have, it is so hard to find good, reliable power tools. Whenever I have needed a new tool in recent years, I have scoured reviews - both professional and consumer - and it is so hard to find quality that is consistently rated, either good or bad. Kind of a mixed bag in pretty much all cases. Anyway, thank you for sharing the information. As I said, it was fascinating!
Right again SN. Being 75 now, I was around to see the good stuff as my family was mechanics and carpenters and these 3 brands were industry standard. Back in 2000 I was a high school carpentry teacher in Texas and got the ok to buy a 15" planer. I went back and forth between Delta and Powermatic and decided on Delta based on past experience. Oops, it was foreign made and not very good at all. I regretted it from the day I got it and it was expensive. Thanks for this great video.
Interesting story behind some of the tool makers. I still own a few of the US-made Porter Cable, Craftsman, and Delta tools from the 60ties. This is pretty much the story of most of the great American manufacturing industries. I am a 40+ year retired R&D engineer who has worked across many US industrial products from the late 60s to the year 2012 and have seen this phenomenon repeat in every segment of our industrial enterprise. Globalization is a double-edged sword and it depends on who is wielding it for what purpose😩😩🤣🤣
My 25 year old Craftsman tape measure broke a month ago. I took it back to Lowes, expecting it to be replaced on the spot. They looked at me dumbfounded. They found a much older manager, that new what I was talking about, and he said it is possible by sending it to craftsman with the the original receipt. The experience was a sad reality trip for me. It was like a six year old being told there wasn't a Santa Claus
Ya know how you feel, I my local sears store would not replace 💩 for me in the 80s so I got rid of everything that said Crapsman took it back to sears and told them to stick it were the sun dont shine and told them and the entire store that they dont honor there warrenty here and lost a former loyal customer. I replaced everything with Mac,snapon,Matco. To bad all the company's are going down hill even Mac sold out to stanley there not the same quality any more 😔😕
@@bobthebuilder6315 metabo FKA Hitachi still are very good quality when the rebrand happened a few years ago it was good to know that's all that happened was the name I have a roof nailer that's done 100's of roofs still going strong 🔨🔨
My very first job out of high school was at a small, but very successful, company that dealt in power tools, (Stationary and hand-tool), and repairs of same. When your job is tearing into power tools and finding what caused them to fail, (my job), you learn a lot. My favorites were Milwaukee, PC, Delta, and the industrial lines of Skil, Bosch, and Black and Decker. B&D screwed themselves by eventually focusing on their terrible consumer products. I never returned so many tools to customers as "Not Worth Repairing" as with B&D. Skil, at that time, had an awesome line of professional tools, including my favorite: The Hull Scraper / Barnicle remover, that they made for the USN. Thanks for the post.
My grandfather swore by Craftsman and so did I. I 'd enjoy hearing about the downfall of other brands, but I really like hearing about the quality companies you like. I always add those tools to my ever growing wish list.
Interesting to hear that Porter Cable doesn't even make routers anymore. I remember when my employer required D handle routers and there was only one other D handle router and that one was made by Makita. We did a lot of edge routing and being able to route safely with one hand was a great advantage, a time saver as we didn't have to clamp anything down. We could just hold it with the other hand. We also did a lot of fluting, so the D handle was the sensible option.
My 1991 Porter Cable recip-saw still works better than anything. In fact I watched my buddy's newly purchased saw come apart cutting half-inch mild steel rod. Ridiculous!
Lowes still sales porter cable routers but not the same quality as before. I bought a Port Cable table saw about three years ago and was using it and the motor caught on fire. Took it back to Lowes to replace it and again the motor caught on fire with in 10 minutes of cutting down trim. To find out Porter Cable then recalled all their table saw but Lowes was still trying to sale the ones they had to make money from them. I found out by calling Porter Cable and complained about the motor on two units that I had catching on fire and they told me they have all been recalled and that Lowes wasn’t allowed to sale them to people. Never seen a replacement table saw yet only 20v tools now.
Like millions of others. I have a Delta contractor table saw, a Porter-Cable router, and many pounds of Craftsman tools. I could tell the table saw, bought in 2001, was not exactly top quality, but it has worked for me for 21 years and counting. It does sadden me that these brands, and SO MANY others, have gone the way of outsourcing and loss of quality. Great video as always, Stumpy Nubs!
I miss the Sears Christmas catalogs, I remember dog earing all the things I wanted for Christmas, used to get clothes but never the toys I wanted... Mom and Dad just didn't make enough money back then for such toys... Dad however had a full tool chest of Craftsman tools that I never witnessed him use... I remember pulling out a ⅝ wrench to take my bike tire off to repair the inner tube. I made the fix, got the tire back on my bike and went for a test ride... when I came back my Dad grounded me for 30 days because of 2 reasons, 1 I didn't ask to use his tools 2 I left the tool on the garage floor where I had made the repairs. (I was 9 and forgot) I'm 51 now and I still remember that day every time I'm using a tool I need to put it back. Anyways, maybe you can talk about Hatachi (Metabo) next time? Great Video
You never saw him USE the TOOLS??? I have fond memories of my Dad doing tons of engine/car mechanics with his, and he did not have much, I inherited his few Craftsman wretches. Me as I did more and more auto mechanics I bought as I went, and got more than double the tools he had, and those are mainly Craftsman. I still am in awe to think of some of the stuff he did with the meager tools he had. he even did an engine rebuild but I do not know he might have borrowed some stuff to do it. Or had a friends help who had the particular tool to do it. I do not even remember how he got the engine out and in, he must have rented some stuff, and I was not paying attention to it.
This was fantastic. My grandmother (on my moms side) worked for Sears and was a die hard Sears patron. I'm pretty sure every gift was from Sears. The best gift I received from her and my grandfather (God rest both their wonderful souls) was a Craftsman 1/4 horse drill. It lasted many many years until it smoked itself to death about 15 years ago while I mixed mortar with it. My first and only belt/disc sander is Delta and I use it to this day. I purchased that with my allowance over 30 years ago. I wanted one ever since seeing my stepdads Shopsmith with the sanding belt attachment. I didn't know the history of these brands before watching this episode. Thank you for another spectacular video.
I remember returning a craftsman 1/2” ratchet to my local store because it was slipping. The guy there took it to the back room, rebuilt the mechanism, and handed it back to me 15 minutes later.
I went through my dads , retired mechanic toolbox and brought every single craftsman wrench and or tool and exchanged them. It was crazy . The cashier said go pick out the replacement and we’ll swap them at register.
I still have (good) tools from all three manufacturers. It's now difficult to determine which brand to trust for anything I want. Most of the "good" stuff is EXPENSIVE. I appreciate you pointing out quality tools.
@@judithkatz1918 Not always; sometimes you buy an expensive brand name product, and find out it's not as good as you expected. Project Farm channel does a terrific job of testing products, and weeding out the ultra expensive ones that are resting on their laurels. One interesting thing I learned? All impact tools have to pass certain standards, so a Snap on impact socket isn't going to be better than one from Harbor Freight. I'm sure there are more secrets out there, to be had about tools.
The "good stuff" is not expensive. With tools, computers, bicycles, the cost of "good" stuff is pretty much unchanged in relation to average incomes. What has changed is the vast amount of cheap stuff which can range from junk to good enough to pretty good. I remember tool shops in East End of London closing down in 1990s as big box stores like B&Q opened up on brown field sites. Tradespeople as well as DiYers went big box for most tools even to extent of buying junk that lasted for one job then into skip with rest of the trash. Result was specialist tool shops only sold spares or specialist gear so not enough turnover. Eg computers: people whine about a £5 difference between 500GB SSDs so buy the cheaper, less reliable one. But in 1990s, it was £600 for a 2GB HDD, if I remember correctly and I paid about £125 for a floppy disk drive in mid 1980s while still a student. So - the world changes, conglomerates buy up up smaller companies vecause the founders want to retire and cas in and it's tax efficient to buy up companies out of surplus cash. And consumers, whether DiYers or tradespeople, mostly buy cheap with only a few of us wanting high quality which, often, even we can't justify by our usage. Often amusing to see rabidly passionate comments about unnecessary cost of Festool and Mafell by some tradespeople, use of them by rich DiYers, and connoisseur comments about Makita made in Japan products. For balance of affordable and quality, back in 1980s through early 2000s, Bosch green range was usually excellent if sometimes underpowered
@@d.e.b.b5788 Very good point. Even the top brands have range fillers which is why sticking with same battery platform for cordless tools can lead to compromise that you just put up with
Best thing you can do is decide on your price point. Figure out which tools are the same but with different labels. Buy the one with the best warranty thats on sale at the cheapest price. Or you can buy 2 going down a peg or 2 . Depends on end use these days
In a garage packed with tools, the only Porter-Cable tools in the lot are my 100 Router, 505 Sander, and the 4" belt sander. However these aren't at the bottom of the drawer collecting dust but are the tools I reach for when needed. Forty years plus of regular use. There are makers today making great reliable well designed tools, cordless are a favorite. Nevertheless it's reassuring or joyful in some way to reach for tools that have performed so well for decades.
Craftsman is the one that gets me. I'm 45 and my dad and grandpa always swore by Craftsman tools. I lost my dad about 18 months ago and inherited all his tools. I don't know if a company could take a hit to their rep like this and come back. I really hope so!
..but Craftsman is not a company..it never was..it was a house-brand created by, and for, Sears, just like Kenmore...Craftsman is now just another "brand" in StanleyBlack&Decker's massive portfolio... :(
My Delta Unisaw is the centerpiece of my workshop. I bought it towards the end of the Pentair era. It has been a workhorse and I've never had an issue with it in over 20 years.
Great video. I've got a lot of Porter Cable portable power tools I bought in the 80's and 90's when they were made in TN and they still are going strong. These 3 brands were so iconic in their day. It's a shame that they have all fallen into the tool dumpster of life through neglect, mismanagement and corporate greed. On the flip-side, it's nice to see a resurgence in quality tools for woodworkers from hand tools to power tools. I feel like we are in a true renaissance in woodworking tools that is truly incredible. It's just sad that it isn't the iconic brands that are leading the charge.
Ben: Same here. I talked with local tradesmen in the late 80s and they were buying Porter Cabler or Milwaukee. The local hardware chain had a yearly sale featuring Porter Cable products so I stocked up. They are still going strong. I managed to pick up a NOS PC 690 router set (Tennessee production) about 2 years ago from an older gentlemen who had bought it and never used the kit. The wrenches were still in their plastic wrap.
I started my tool collection in the early 2000's. I managed to grab some great deals on used tools, closeouts, and discounted tools. I bought a Delta tablesaw, drill press, jointer, planer, and bandsaw. I bought Porter cable routers and Craftsman hand tools. I used these tools to build cabinets and other furniture for my home. It's sad to see what's become of these once great brands. I'd love to see info on Festool and Snap-on tools. I now am buying Makita cordless tools, would love to see a video on them as well as other cordless brands like Dewalt.
When I started in the masonry business in the early 90s Craftsman was the go to for tape measures,brick hammers,and horsehair dusters.The most used tools outside of the trowel were covered with the best warranty in the world.Beautiful
I used to work for Sears Canada in the late 90s early 00s, and finally remember working in the hardware section, proudly telling customers that the hand tools had a lifetime warranty. I exchanged many screwdrivers, sockets and ratchet parts.
In the 1970s I was helping a girlfriend fix the brakes on her 1968 VW Beetle. The axle nuts were awful to get off. I used a 8 foot cheater bar on the Craftsman breaker bar. The axle nut came loose at the very moment the breaker bar broke. I sent her into the Sears store. The clerk looked at it, then stared at her. "*You* broke this!!??" She stared him down in return. "Heck yeah I broke it!" He shrugged, picked up a new one from the tool bin, and handed it to her.
Milwaukee. Our shop had the old milling machines, presses and lathes from the late 40's that were great machines. Eventually the bean counters replaced them with cheaper Chinese made ones that break down all the time. The old machines are in a surplus warehouse but I can't convince the management to resurrect them. Too bad ...
I used to work at Sears when I was highschool. That was just before they started with their shenanigans. Luckily I was able to buy a huge tool set, a drill, and my first guitar (using my employee discount) that were still made in the USA and backed by their "no questions asked" warranty - except the guitar, of course. I still have all three of them! I have over 20 guitars, many very expensive ones, but that Sears guitar is still my go-to! I love the neck and the pickups are crazy strong and powerful.
Back in the '80s, my Dad found a Craftsman 1/2" ratchet half buried in the parking lot of a truck stop. He dug it out with a screwdriver (probably also a Craftsman) and took it to a Sears store. They gave him a brand new 1/2" with all the then current bells and whistles. No questions asked. In thirty years of repairing printing equipment, I never broke a single Craftsman tool. Thank you for the history lesson. It really bugs me that the US doesn't have any of the previously high quality brands still representing what we once could be proud of.
The USA has them but they are expensive. Not the price the average guy wants to pay. A set of Snap-On wrenches will cost you.. A 10 piece wrench set costs $454 at the moment. When I was still working they stopped putting the prices in their catalog as the prices went way up all the time. Several times a year a new price sheet was published. Snap-On power tools were usually just chrome plated Black and Decker, (their pro models, not k-mart stuff).
@@DannyB-cs9vx Absolutely true. The average mechanic that uses Snap-On tools has anywhere from $10,000 upward to $25,000 invested in those tools. However, I was told the price can be written off on taxes as a business expense.
I've owned all of the brands you have mentioned. Thank you for the background stories on each brand. I used to love going to the Sears tool department. Now, I wouldn't even consider it. I use the internet and UA-cam reviews before I buy a tool. Then I end up making my purchase online or at a local store if I can find it. I've had bad luck with Craftsman, Porter Cable and Delta. My woodshop has a Jet 10" arbor saw, a Jet 12" band saw, a DeWalt bench top planer and a Grizzley 8" jointer. I would love to hear about these brands. Your channel is my favorite on the subject of wood working. Thank you.
Stumpy, I have always been fascinated with tools, and loved hearing the history of these iconic brands. As a future video, could you discuss the history of Shop Smith. I remember as a boy seeing Shop Smith's being demonstrated and would dream of someday owning one.
I loved this one. I have a Delta contractor saw that's the same age as my youngest son, 32 years. I'm just about ready to take the plunge and buy a SawStop Professional, for safety reasons. I'm sad that I can't buy a new Delta with the same safety features. I also lived through the decline of Craftsman. I was an auto mechanic in 19979-80. Remember the Chevrolet Citation? I was proud of my Craftsman tools and toolbox. Now, I have other brands and don't consider Craftsman as my 2nd or even 3rd choice unless I can't find the tool I need in any other brand I trust. The variety of tools in the Craftsman brand is way down and many of the new ones advertised in the Craftsman emails I get are just gimmicks, tools that serve a single purpose or are just tweaks of an existing tool. Thank you for doing this research into my tool past. I had no idea about Porter Cable's history.
We had a citation, went through two floors and couldn’t scrape the rust enough to change the spark plugs before it got to 50 000 miles. But i had a lot of teenager fun with it.
I have a delta contractor saw that I inherited from my dad. It's older than I can remember (I'm 36). I still use it. No safety features at all. And the blade guard is wobbly so I don't use it. Scares the crap out of me everytime I use it. I treat it with more respect than any other power tool. I'd like a new one with more safety and a proper dust collection system. But hurts me to think about downgrading in quality or forking over a fortune for a sawstop
These 3 brands cover 90% or better of all the tools I own. While I miss what Craftsman and Delta used to be, Porter Cable is the one that truly breaks my heart. My father had a pile of their portable tools he bought in the 50's and used into the 2000's. I still have a bunch of them from a former business that are now pushing 30 years old and are used almost every day. Not sure what I'm going to do if I manage to outlast them.
I once loved going to Sears and buying tools. I considered it a treat. I sure miss those days, but I still have and enjoy my tool. All good things must come to an end, and now we sit back and think of all the good things that we've lost.
I LOVE the history videos you sometimes do here. As for the next brands, I suppose Stanley and Black & Decker would be good to cover. Some of the higher-end woodworking ones like Powermatic and Jet as well.
Back in the early '70s, my brother broke an 18" long 1/2" breaker Craftsman breaker bar. He took it back to the local Sears store and took to the tool manager. The manager went to the appropriate shelf, pickout a new one and reached to my brother, but held on to his end and said: "I' will give you this, but you have to tell me how you broke one." My brother had to admit that had put a 4 foot long pipe on the breaker bar in order to loosen a VW flywheel nut. He got the replacement and a smile. Unfortunately, those days are long gone.
Heck I found in the junkyard in some junk car a small 1/4 drive rachet the fine tooth one, it was all rusted up, took it back to Sears they exchanged it for a new one, but at that time they no longer made the fine tooth ones anymore. I got a fine tooth 1/2 inch one years earlier they were nicer. but still have that almost new 1/4 inch one. If you broke a open wrench they would exchange those too. I used to do what your brother did, but never broke one.
My parents had a similar experience in the mid 1950's. They built their house using wood from tenements being torn down in NYC. The lumber would be brought in by the truck load but then it needed to have any nails pulled. My father bought an "unbreakable" Craftsman hammer from Sears. My mother would pull nails using the hammer with a 4 foot "cheater" pipe to get some of the bigger nails out. He tool it back once, no question asked. The second time the salesman gave him a suspicious look but handed him a new one. On the third one the salesman exchanged it for him then asked "Can I ask you what you are doing with the hammers?" My father first asked if it will effect things if he needed another. The salesman said no. So he told him. The salesman laughed but was just impressed the hammers were standing up as well as they did. The third one didn't receive the punishment the others did but did break some 20 or 30 years later.
Sears would give you replacement on Craftsman tools for yrs., lifetime warranty doesn't exist now. We had a Craftsman sander from the 50s that lasted for 30 plus yrs. solid steel body, best sander we ever had, never found one better
Thanks for a great video. I bought almost exclusively Porter-cable in the 90s when watching Norm's New Yankee Workshop. I can still here the Porter-Cable and Delta commercials from his show in my head. Later I moved onto DeWalt for my wood working hand tools, including their awesome 13" planer. My 10" table saw and 16" drill press are by Jet. My 6" inch jointer is a Grizzly. All my 20v cordless tools are by DeWalt. I might move to Milwaukee for heavy duty automotive cordless tools moving forward. "The Den of Tools" bear's UA-cam channel has a great summary of all the tool brands out there and the few companys that own them. My Craftsman tools are now being replaced by Tekton tools, marketed out of Grand Rapids, MI.
Great content as always, James. Thanks for continuing to put out the diversity of content. I'd be interested in hearing about some of the common brands I see in home centers today like DeWalt, Bosch, Makita, Milwaukee, SawStop, Bostich, and Grizzly.
Great bit of history, James. I remember K-Mart’s blue light specials from 50+ years ago, but not the balogna subs. I have a couple Porter Cable sanders that I need to move away from before i have more tendon problems. I’ve had a few of their 690 routers over the years, as well. And my toolbox has a pretty wide variety of Craftsman tools that I bought in the 80’s. Oddly enough, nothing from Delta, but a few DeWalt and Grizzly and a nice Onefinity CNC that is doing its thing while I listen to podcasts and UA-cams tonight. Thanks again and I’d enjoy the story behind the story on anything from DeWalt to Felder and particularly any of the companies that are no longer available.
You nailed what I've been upset about for over twenty years! I grew up depending upon those companies making high quality products. Most of American manufacturing has gone away because of the greed of the owners. And with it most of our industrial capability... Very sad.
I am Canadian but I share your frustration. We used to make Skil tools in Toronto, Porter Cable and Rockwell in Guelph, Ontario and Black & Decker in Brockville, Ontario. As late as the 1980s, Makita built a new factory in Ontario. Just like your US factories, ours are all long gone. While it is true that companies are greedy it is just as true that trade policies will determine where products are ultimately made. Puppet politicians across the USA, Canada and Europe enacted the trade policies that created the incentives to close down factories providing middle class jobs and move those factories to Mexico or Asia. Today's supply chain crisis ought to underline the need to bring production back home but I have my doubts the corporate puppets in Washington, Ottawa and European capitals will do much about it.
@@Gottenhimfella In the Canadian context, every free trade agreement signed since 1988 has incentivized the closure of Canadian factories. We had one rational free trade agreement called the USA - Canada Auto Pact but the WTO ruled that was illegal. Until quite recently cars could be shipped from PRC with a tariff of less than 3%. At the same time a car shipped to PRC was subject to a tariff around 25%. Massive economies like PRC, India and Brazil maintain to this day massive tariffs to incentive production within their own borders. Transnational corporations willingly build plants in those countries to access their domestic markets and to use cheap labour to build goods for the West. They can sell most of their goods around the world with minimal tariffs applied and undermine our domestic manufacturing in the process.
My grandfather was the chief maintenance engineer at the old Pepperell Mill in Lindale, GA. I still have and use his old hand tools, all Craftsman. I think about him every time I pick one up. I hope my son, when he gets my tools, will appreciate them too. I also have an old Craftsman table saw circa 1980 that was my first big tool purchase. It sports a new modern fence but is otherwise original and gets a lot of use. And my drill press is a Delta. It needed a little love about two years ago and it was tough to track down parts but I’m glad I did. It is a wonderful machine. Sad to see Delta go away.
Brilliant review of these tool companies’ rises and falls… my jaw is still dropped at the stick-handling of brands that occurred. Almost inhaled my stout at “… K-Mart stores smelled bad….” Been there, done that. Thanks for the consistently captivating content, whether regarding shop techniques or history of the trade!
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard people say “DeWalt was good until B&D bought them.” They aren’t referring to DeWalt radial arm saws. They are referring to DeWalt portable tools. People don’t realize that B&D has owned DeWalt for half a century and rebranded their professional line to DeWalt. For most intents and purposes, B&D has always owned DeWalt. I think DeWalt’s history would make a good video. I think their original radial arm saws are still being made today by a different company.
Black and Decker professional made GOOD tools. B&D professional router is simply yellow now. They had another tool design that was simply carried over to dewalt.
Just a comment , 1) in my possession I have a Poret Cable "D "handle routr kit that as given to me in 1990 by a retired school teacher who purchased it in the 40"s, still works great 2) I also have a 10in Rockwell Delta contractors table saw in great shape that was purchased in 1990 ! all the old stuff really works better than the new knock offs !
I was just in Craftsman’s new manufacturing facility in Fort Worth TX. Mechanic sets made in USA we’re just about ready to be shipped out to Lowe’s stores. I saw them with my own eyes being made and stacked up getting ready for shipment. Expect soon to start seeing them showing up.
great episode, I am a Delta, Porter Cable and maybe a little Craftsman fan.....and I have wondered about the loss of quality.....my first Craftsmen tools were from the 40's and 50's from my grandfather, then I started buying them,,,,my Delta and Porter Cable tools are from the 80's and early 90's......oh, the good old days.....thanks for a wonderful episode , Paul
In the 70's Dad inherited Grandpa's tools. If Craftsmen made a tool, that was what Grandpa owned. He passed that thinking to Dad. Not long after we lost Grandpa, I snapped a wrench in 2. I think I was using it as a lever. Dad's response was "let's go get another one". He drove me to Sears and I was sure I was about to buy an expensive wrench. We walked in, showed the sales guy both halves, he held it up, check the size, walked over to the shelf and brought us a new one, said have a nice day and could he do anything else. Best warranty ever. When they lost that, they became just another wrench.
My dad walked into the Sears near our house and said he was looking to replace his 3/8" ratchet. He explained (a) he'd used a 3' long pipe for leverage and (b) it was 30 years old. The clerk said "It's guaranteed. Period. Have a nice day." It breaks my heart every time I see the Craftsman name. All Dad's jewels are scattered and gone.
I remember in the mid 70’s as a young teenager getting the Sears ads and looking for the sales on Craftsman tools. My dad and I would then go to the order desk at Sears, payed for the tools, and impatiently waited for the order to arrive the following week. My first credit card was a Sears Card (short, wide credit card with gold font) so that I could buy whatever Craftsman tools I needed. I also remember ordering my first metric sockets in the early 80’s with the hash mark ring around the bottom of the sockets. I still have them and truly hope they do come back. Going into Lowes to check out their selection of Craftsman tools is such a let-down from what I remember as a kid.
My best circular saw was PC but the switch has gone out on it and it really needs bearings too. So in the corner it sits along with a great random orbital sander. I wish they both worked like they did way back when.
My dad loved Craftsman tools. He also owned the 8 inch syracuse circular saw, porter cable belt sander. all these tools he taught me to safely use. How about that big heavy Porter Cable 1/2 inch drill. he used it for mixing concrete, paint, stucco and you name it. I still own the Rockwell 315 circular saw, its my most accurate of all the saws I ever owned. By the way that Syracuse saw was super heavy! and very Dangerous, the blade guard flipped all the way backward, and my dad used it as an extra handle/ guide !! Thanks for the trip down memory lane.NWR
Thanks for the great explanation. I'm 75 years old. I grew up with Craftsman tools. At 13 years old I told my parents I wanted a craftsman tool set for Christmas, which they did. We lived on a large Wisconsin farm, so the tools were used regularly. Every year more tools were added, boxes upsized. I still have nearly all those tools. In 2017 we bought a condo in Sarasota. I build street rods for a hobby. I decided to setup an identical set of tools in that shop. I went to Ace hardware and old remaining sears stores, the internet, craigs lists to acquire the "forged in USA" tools I grew up with. I did buy some of the "new" tool made off shore, is what drove me to hunt down the originals! I also built several homes so I have Delta, Rockwell and Porter Cable power tools. So Sad!
I've got a bunch of those Delta power tools that were made in the late 1990's, including the jointer and planer you have, plus their combo disc and belt sander and tabletop band saw. I find them to be very well made and mine have been trouble-free after years of steady use. I also have a Porter-Cable labelled circular saw that I bought at least 15 years ago that has been a beast.
Interesting history lesson. But If I cleared out all the Delta, Porter Cable and Craftsman tools out of my garage/shop I would be left mostly with an echo. My 30 year old Delta miter saw has played a major role in two sheds, a couple remodel projects and two decks among many other smaller projects. I still use it almost weekly. I have craftsman mechanic tools in my box that I have had since I was a teenager, and I retired last year. My favorite tool is my Porter Cable biscuit joiner, and I have several PC 20Volt tools that I really like and work real well for me. It is a shame that the golden age of US tools seem to have died. Tools do not mean as much to people today as they did to those of us from an earlier generation. Younger people, marvel at simple projects I make from wood that I just kind of threw together for something to do. As a Teen in the 70's I could pick a friend at random from my group of friends and we could swap out a V8 in a long afternoon. Recently, a kid that grew up next door to me( I say kid , he is now 35) asked to use my garage to do a disc brake job. I said sure , laid out the tools he would need, and left him and his buddy to have at it. After the third time they came into the house because they were stuck on how to proceed, I had to sit there in the garage and talk them through each step. In a recent conversation with my wife about the fact we were entering our last decade or two, I teared up when I told her If I go suddenly before her, find someone to take and look after my tools and appreciate them, it is a collection that represents over 50 years of effort. How when My wife says hey let's stop at the antique shop, My first thought is, I wonder if they got any good tools, and it kind of makes me sad.
As I get close to retirement, I've started collecting wood shop and some metal equipment. Grizzly is always good if you can find it cheap enough on Market Place. I do have a Delta 6" Jointer and I came across a old craftsman 4'" jointer as a backup and for smaller pieces (very heavy cast iron). So much of today's shop tools is not made to last. As a few other have stated, what brands are making quality tools today? Stumpy, I love the background you show of your hand tools, I'm sure each one has its purpose. It reminds me of the Junior High wood shop tool cabinet (only much better).
I have all of these brands in my shop. Most see little use today after being replaced by upgraded tools of other brands. However, my Delta 10 inch cabinet saw is still in the centre of my shop and is my only table saw. My Delta 12 inch planer is also still in use. I can relate to the waning support for the Craftsman brand back in the early 90s. I had to see my Sears store general manager to finally get them to honour their warranty. Yes. It was the actual tool , not the name, that sold me.
Our first reliable power tools were made by Rockwell. They made some of the first hammer drills. Almost all of the suspended ceilings in North America were drilled using a Rockwell hammer drill back in the 60's.
We used Delta IIRC and Porter Cable sanders in 1994 for shop class in middle school. Those sanders worked so quiet and balanced. No one makes them the same anymore.
I bought many good Porter Cable tools in the early nineties. While they were fine tools, I particularly like the fact that they came with long electrical cords at a time when other manufacturers were cheaping out with three and four foot long cords.
I remember as a teenager and budding woodworker flipping through my Taunton Illustrated Guide books, and it seemed every other tool photo was a Delta. I was determined that someday I'd be a "Delta Man" and get myself a Unisaw, etc. I was kind of disappointed to learn later on that Delta wasn't what they used to be. Fortunately, I've inherited a lot of old tools from my grandfather, and many of them are old Delta tools. I've been using those for over a decade, and I'm sure he used them for many before that.
My first power tools in the early 1980s were Porter-Cable, many of which I still have. All performed well (with the exception of their early plate joiner model 555, which was poorly designed). In 1986, I purchased a new Delta Unisaw (3 hp, 220v, with the low-voltage starter switch). It still performs like a champ. Amazingly, it was only two years ago that I changed the three drive belts; there were absolutely no cracks or obvious signs or degradation, even though they were well over thirty years old. I changed arbor bearings last year.
I absolutely love my Porter-Cable routers from the 80’s. They are in daily rotation with Milwaukee, and Festool. They are the ones I grab first. It is sad to see these brands being stripped of their quality and reputation because equity guys care more about money than blue-collar guys care about performance. Unfortunately it’s the way the world works. Great video!
Porter & cable have been around for ever, they were the best power tool for carpentry in the world. My family owned a hardware and carpentry business and remember my dad and grandpa swear by them and loved them.
Great explanation of the iconic tool brands. I was introduced to woodworking by Norm A in the 80's. Even though they covered the logos on his tools, I knew I needed the Porter Cable and Delta tools he used on the show: At the time the Porter Cable 3 1/2" trim saw was a great alternative to a 7 1/4" circular saw for cutting sheet goods. As you said their routers were pretty much the standard back then, still have the higher powered one in my router table. For my first cordless drill driver I went with PC, just because of the name. I still use my rock solid Delta Unisaw I bought new in '04. That Delta 10" miter saw had to go years back though- too damn heavy! Glad I found your channel.
Craftsmen Tools , that one breaks my heart, I grew up with those tools, my dad worked at Easter airlines with craftsmen tools, I recently bought a Hugh tool box set , many doubles , of craftsmen tools from some one who wanted to be a mechanic , but wasn't. There are other brands now that claim to have a lifetime warranty, but they're just not as good..Its just a shame to walk through Lowes and see the craftsmen name on what looks pretty shoddy.
At Lowes now. They are super nice. Made in Taiwan - not a cheap place to make tools - one of the best countries for tools. I suspect Kobalt is the same factory. Both brands seem to be trying to be nice. It’s Black & Decker that went to crap.
Thanks, James! As a kid, I used to ride my bike around New Jersey “jug-handles” and find craftsman tools that fell off of trucks. I’d bring them to sears and get a brand new one every time. Loved that. I’d love to hear about DeWalt next. Seems like that one isn’t what it once was. Also, what’s the deal with Ryobi? Any interesting backstory there?
Plenty of interesting backstory with Ryobi! Innovators of the portable thickness planer (AP-10) and one of the first to sell a plunge router here in the States. That's all back in the mid '80's. I also have a resaw bandsaw that they offered. Now of course they are just another badge engineered by TTI.
At least Ryobi kept their battery platform the same, their current Li Ion 18v batteries still work in their old NiCad tools, unlike a few other manufacturers who change their systems every few years to force you to buy a whole new batch of tools because you can't get new batteries & they include a chip which kills the charge controller in the battery pack when one cell fails (because they tap just one cell in the battery to keep the kill chip working).
Ryobi was bought out by Hong Kong's Techtronic Industries who owned Homelite at the time. They also own AEG, Hoover, Dirt Devil, Vax and now Milwaukee. Under Ryobi they manufacture Rigid and Emerson Electric power tools. With the way quality dropped like a stone with Homelite and then Ryobi one hopes the same does not happen with Milwaukee. I went to replace a bearing in a Rigid/Ryobi sander since it would have cost more to have it done under the warranty and found I could not purchase an identical bearing locally because the local bearing supplier would not sell bearings that matched the extremely low level of quality of the OEM bearing since they thought it unethical to sell something that cheap and poorly made. The new bearing at less than $2 was of higher quality than the one being replaced which had failed after only a few months of use. That $1.XX bearing has lasted a few years now under heavy use and is still turning smoothly. Can't say the same for other parts of the tool such as the snubber assembly that prevents runaways which only lasted a few months until I plastic welded up a sturdier replacement of my own. My 40 year old Porter Cable sander is still on the original bearings. The only reason for buying the Rigid/Ryobi was B&D discontinued the aluminum brake sheave for the Porter Cables snubber which lasted for years since you only had to replace it after going through several silicone snubber belts. I'm going to turn a new aluminum sheave for the snubber and use silicone o-rings to re-instate the snubber on the Porter Cable.
I paused the Video and added Undaunted Courage to my Audible library…. I have 7 late 1980’s Porter Cable routers in my shop. They have been trouble free. I have several PC sanders, including the first and second generation random orbital types. I also have their last generation biscuit joiner. All terrific tools that get daily use. I even have on e of their laser guided miter saws. What happened to the brand is criminal! Thanks for the historical perspective.
I have Porter Cable tools that have been in my family since the early 1960s and others of the same era that I have collected in recent years. Today's zombie version of Porter Cable should be put out of its misery.
Similar story here in Australia, albeit on a much smaller scale. Sidcrome made great quality hand tools and their spanners and socket sets were legendary. Every kid growing up and working on their cars aspired to own them. Now they are made in Taiwan and look and feel like the hundreds of other brands that come out of there. The name no longer has any value and should be consigned to history.
Yeah, that one really bites. I was one of those kids, and I still have some of the original Sidcrome spanners I bought back in the day. The jingle said it all: “You canna hand a man a granda spanna”. The day the Taiwan-made versions started to appear on the shelves was also the last time I bought a Sidcrome tool.
@@julianwhitta1114 Yeah me too. Soon as I started working, I bought a combination metric imperial socket set. 45 years later, still getting a lot of use. When I'm done with it, hope the kids get to wear it out.
I've had a Craftsman 1/2" ratchet handle in my mechanics kit for decades. Not used it much as my main sets are 3/8th. It's still nice and shiny, looks good. But.. I'm in the UK and I have absolutely no idea how I came by it. No clue. I also bought a 10" Delta mitre saw twenty years ago from a UK company who had become the official stockists, but it was dropped after a short run. My Porter-Cable finish nailer, I bought in the USA but there was a time you could buy P-C here. I've sold the Delta and the nailer, so I'm assuming they're still in use somewhere today.
I have a "Proto" made in USA socket set ,purchased in the UK in 1976,the guy in the tool store,said it was as good as Snap On,it has been used a lot working on motorcycles over the years.One of my best buys ever.
When I started woodworking in the 80s there were three brands of top quality shop tools..... Delta, Powermatic(both made in the USA) and General (made in Canada) that were always at the top of the "shootouts" that the magazines like Fine Woodworking wrote about. Today it's all made in Taiwan. Luckily cast iron last, bearings are cheap and motors can be rewound.
There was plenty that were quality back then and 90s that were made in Taiwan. I got an over 20 year old 10" Harbor Freight contractors table saw used a few years ago that was made in Taiwan. It could use getting a better fence to make it more accurate but it's a good tool. Frankly Boomers sold off all American brands to overseas to save on cost in turn made this country unable to develop it's own tools or have a viable market to be able to do that. Like watch Strange Parts channel. The Chinese has an amazing open marketplace for tools, tooling, and other industrial supplies that would make people's jaws drop. There is an whole city dedicated to it.
Thanks Stumpy, I'm 83 now and my Dad, who worked for International Harvester as a dairyman on their Experimental Farm at Hinsdale, IL and had had mostly Craftsman tools as I grew up. His Farher-in-law was a cabinet maker/home builder in Southern Illinois from the 20's into the early part of WW 2 and passed in 1947. As a young man in the late 50's and early 60's I started buying Craftsman tools with each paycheck many of which I still have but at this age their use is waining. About 1967 I bought an 8" Craftsman table saw from a contractor that went out of business, making a better stand and collecting and making many accessories for it. It's still in my garage and used occasionally. I inherited a Delta/Milwaukee 12" radial arm saw and Atlas metal lathe from an Uncle which I used for years but for lack of space are gone now, dern. As we down sized many of my tools went to who knows who at the Estate Sale. Many that I kept are those of Grandpas, Dads and several of his brothers which carry a lot of memories as I use them on occasion. Making wood urns for my late brother and other relatives using those tools brings meaning to family members, and self. Having only a daughter, who is an artist she gets many of the tools, and is pretty good with them. In your video about the Craftsman line I saw no mention of "DUNLAP" tools. I had a small Dunlap jig saw from Grandpa, unfortunately sold some 40 years ago to a young fellow, but still have Grandpa's 7/16_⅜ DUNLAP open end wrench. It has the Dunlap name with the sizes on one side and "Forged in USA with a small V, for vanadium I'd suppose on the back side. I also have a 1939 Craftsman tool catalog, it's location eludes me right now, but no doubt a lower quality line of tools Sears marketed at the time. Again thanks for the informative videos. Jim Martin
Thank you Mr Martin for sharing your story. Working with a tool owned by a family member for decades is a special experience. I hope your daughter treasures the tools she gets from you. I have many 60s and 70s era tools that belonged to my father. For the last few years I have begun to collect older tools. Often times I buy them from relatives of the original owner who have no use for them but want them to go to a good home. Some times I buy them from the original owners who are downsizing their residence. I always seek to respect what the tool has already done. I am also aware of what it meant to the owner who paid good money for it and then took good care of it for many long years.
I never knew half of what you presented. My dad’s old Craftsman tools are GOLDEN. The 79 piece Mechanics set I was given in 1970 still are excellent tools. I have a New Old Stock Craftsman tool box that is in MINT condition. No more Craftsman for me ever again. I am totally set up. Well Done presentation!
I worked in the hardware department of Sears in 2005-06, specifically cleaning up the messes their hotshot sales managers were making by selling out the last bit of goodwill the Craftsman name had, all while rolling out a bevy of changes, limitations, and exceptions to the very legendary warranty they were advertising. I had a 70-year-old man bring in a Craftsman corded drill from the late 50s that had finally given up the ghost, expecting for a brand-new replacement; that didn't apply, so he left it on the counter and walked out in a huff.
I just made a comment about a man that replaced his Craftsmen tools with Snap-On tools. He went through that same thing around that same time span 2005 to 2010.
@@THE-michaelmyers Yeah, I got out just as "Fast Eddie" Lampert (the then hedge fund golden boy CEO of Sears) was making all the changes that ended up destroying the retail titan and netting himself a billion dollar windfall as he put thousands of families out of work.
I love history lessons like this. But learning about brands that might be best avoided for now begs the question...which brands are the ones now in their heyday, and which we can have confidence in - and why? Harvey is a relatively new consumer brand in the US, and I think it is taking maybe the opposite journey from making everyone else's stuff to now making their own. That would be an interesting story. Perhaps also a look at "new" store brands like Rigid and Cobalt. There are interesting similarities and interbreeding going on I suspect (for example Delta's Cruzer and Rigid's miter saws, which seem nearly identical - is there a difference?).
Ridgid is owned by Emerson, but licenses it's power tools to TTI, which also has rights to build Ryobi (Ryobi is a Japanese manufacture) and other name brand tools. The "new" store brand Ridgid was founded in 1923
In the late seventies, early eighties I worked as a motorcycle mechanic at a large, well know Honda dealership. There were six full time and several part time mechanics working there. Everyone used Craftsman tools and most used them pretty much exclusively for their hand tools. Often, a tool was used outside of what it was designed for or to an extreme level resulting in a damaged or broken tool. Every one was replaced....no questions asked.
Got most of my hand tools in the early 70's as a young mechanic, still have and use them every day, but now when one breaks, and not that often, I am beyond ticked off that I will get a new NON- USA made tool/wrench , whatever. If I was starting out today, I might look into long time and legacy USA brand SK tools, they are made in the USA but SK is so intent on their tools quality, they actually OWN the steel mill that supplies the stock for their tools, so if something goes wrong in testing, they can immediately call over to the steel mill and find out why. As far as know, no other USA tool MFG goes to these great quality measures.
It seems like the common thread when it comes to previously high quality tool brands going down hill is this: mergers with multi-purpose companies that are more about trying to appeal to more and more demographics than they are about maintaining build quality. Even some companies like Oliver and Powermatic, which back in the day (especially in Oliver's case) made absolute tank-quality machines, now seem to rely on the same exact overseas factories as most of the main machine brands (Jet, Grizzly, Laguna, etc.) do (before, of course, putting their own unique finishing touches and logos on them). Just look at how similar the physical shapes and sizes of these tools are across all the brands. And while they are still solid quality, they're nothing like they used to be. The contrast between old Craftsman and new Craftsman is even more stark. I get the need for making tools and even big machines financially accessible for hobbyist woodworkers and even single-man shop pros, and to be fair, many of these same brands still produce great quality tools overall. However, at the same time, it makes me sad to see companies get acquired by these giant corporations and the quality go down (or even still maintain their ownership in the US but outsource their manufacturing, much like Oliver and Powermatic). I have a Porter Cable (690, 1.75 HP) router and despite the fact that it's from the late 2000s (bought it in late 2007) and thus was not USA made (Mexico, I think), it's still one heck of a solid router that has never come close to failing me even on super hard woods with big bits, so I'm gonna cling to it with all my might. When I get a second, more powerful router for a router table, I'm gonna give vintage Porter Cable ones a look.
You are looking at this from the point of view of the consumer instead of the companies. Slash and burn economics has been the MO of this country for a while now: take a brand with a reputation for quality, grind it into dust, and laugh all the way to the bank until people get wise. Then sell the hollowed out carcass for someone else to rebuild. Rinse and repeat.
I’m a young mechanic. I go to garage sales and buy people’s grandfathers tools. I have found so many craftsman wrench sets from the 70s and 80sThey are so strong 💪 so I just scrub them up or have them laser cleaned.
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I learned a lot listening to Undaunted Courage. Great recommendation.
Not a fan of the commercial in the middle of the vid. It screws up the continuity of the subject matter.
Some sites that do this lost my viewership and others never got my subscription.
I think I understand the reasoning behind this, but I don't agree with it. Please put them back at the end of the show. I do watch them there.
@@slowguy56 Did you enjoy the video itself? If you had any idea what goes into making that video for you to enjoy, free of charge, you wouldn't begrudge me a minute or so (which you can easily skip) to pay for it. :)
@@StumpyNubs
Well said. Something has to pay the bills. Most of us get it. Commercial in the middle is not a big deal. UA-cam is going to jarringly cut in with a commercial anyway, for something I would never buy. At least with your commercials, it’s something I might be interested in.
Have you heard The Frontiersmen by Allan Eckert? Hands down the best audiobook I've ever listened to.
Just to fill in a few blanks.... My maternal grandfather, Bernard Fuller (1907-2003), was the founder and president of 'The Fuller Tool Co." He started making screwdrivers after WW1, and quickly expanded to other hand tools. He was the major supplier of hand tools (screwdrivers, hammers, wrenches, pliers, etc.) to the Craftsman brand. Of course, he also marketed under the Fuller Tool name. Unverified family lore has it that he was selling his tools with a 'Guaranteed Forever' label, and that Sears picked up on it. I still have his $100,000,000 sales award from Sears (it's a small shop apron). Check your old Sears hand tools - if it has a BF stamped on it - That's Bernie Fuller - my Poppa!
my fuller tools are still going strong! some are over 60 years old.
So cooolllll!
I was just thinking of the Fuller name a few days back. I've seen it a thousand times but never paid much attention. As I shop yard sales I've been collecting pieces here and there....Fuller keeps popping up. tHanks for posting your story!
That's great stuff 👍 and it's nice to hear of a Sears supplier that didn't get skinned alive
@@breth8159 isn't it a shame that a newer generation of suits comes in and ruins these companies one after another? You would think that they would recognize what they are doing.
I gathered up my PC router and belt sander, Delta drill press and scroll saw, and a few hundred pounds of Craftsman mechanic tools and we watched this together. They shed little metallic tears in knowing their families have not been forgotten.
epic 🥺
Thanks 🙏
Hey! what are you doing in my shop?
Aw, that's so sweet. I weep with them.
Very clever👍👍👍👍👍.
Some quick stories about Craftsman tools. When I was in the AF, I worked part time at Sears, primarily in the tool department. I had a gentleman come in one day with a long Phillips screwdriver. About a 1/3 of the end of the screwdriver was melted off. Apparently, he used it as a welding rod. Yep, we replaced it. Sears sold repair kits for ratchets, and I would often replace the ratcheting gear from our part that we sold. My manager loved me as I saved him a bunch of money. If we replaced the entire ratchet, the manager was charged the cost of the new ratchet against his operating cost. The cost of the repair kit was also charged against him, but it was only a fraction of a ratchet's cost. One day a very old gentleman came in with a ratchet that was completely worn out. He wanted it repaired, but after spending quite a bit of time trying to find the parts an after talking with the old man, we determined that it originally belong to his father and was one of first or second-generation ratchets that Sears sold. Parts were no longer available. We would replace it with one from our current inventory, but he would have to surrender the old ratchet (standard policy). The poor old fellow was in tears. That old ratchet meant the world to him. I talked to the manager and he agreed to let the customer keep his old ratchet and we would give him a new one. Think one could get customer service like that today?
Nope.
Good luck. You would have to buy the bridge that was made in China first.
Great story! Sadly, those days of respect for the customer have evaporated and have been replaced by money-grabbing heartlessness. You and your manager definitely did the right thing.
If he wanted to keep it so bad he should have just bought a new one. After all they are guaranteed against defects not wear and tear. They already got their money’s worth. This guy was just exploiting store policy
You and your manager were very kind, thank you for helping that old fellow.
James, I'm 64, and as a young boy in the 60s and 70s, nothing was more fun than going to Sears with my dad and walking through the Craftsman section. It was amazing! All those beautiful tools precisely placed throughout, shelves brimming, helpful employees.
But, a few years ago walking through that Sears I was overwhelmed with sadness, the shelves were a mess, mostly empty, and the employees were mostly fools just passing time, totally disinterested. Finally the local Sears closed. However, I still have many of those Craftsman tools and every time I use one, I think of my dad. Great memories. And a great video, thumbs up!
We get that with B&Q in UK. Some time back, I went into one of their stores in another town (much wealthier town with many retired middle class staff working their for something to do). Everything in order, shelves and labels all correct, staff able to advise with knowledge and experience - even the youngsters were very capable (taking job before going to university). I wonder if you get such variety between different branches of same big box store in US?
I second that story. Same deal here. We lived in a town too small to have a Sears so it was a treat to make the 100 mile trip to the nearest town with a Sears, etc. All those tools! Many of my Christmas and birthday presents were tools, and always Craftsman. I still have them all, except for the bandsaw. That got sold at my parent's farm auction. It shouldn't have been but by the time I noticed it was already auctioned off and it would have been more trouble than it was worth to get it back. But that wasn't their best power tool so no big loss except for the memories.
I went to sears a few years ago and same thing and the workers was tattooed all up with piercings all over and playing on their phone like zombies and it didn't stay open long after, computers and phones has wrecked this world.
I’m 63. Can relate to everything you said. We used to love going to Sears. When I went with my mom to get clothes I enjoyed the popcorn and nuts. When dad went there it was the tool section. Even as a young adult I loved browsing Sears tools. Our whole house had Craftsman tools and Kenmore appliances.
The smell, as a kid of the 60's I wasn't into the tools, but I was always hungry and immediately in front of the store was the nut and candy island...with the wonderful smell of hot roasted nuts. I had completely forgotten about this until he mentioned the smell. We traveled a lot as my dad was a career military man, so I don't know if all stores had them but the one we frequented did. Much later as a late teenager I remember going to a different store/city and missing the smell...seems all good things come to an end.
The Craftsman decline hit me hard. As a kid Craftsman was the gold standard of American tools. Going to Sears was a great time back then.
Had my small craftman tool set as a kid back in the early 70's...fast forward I inherited all my dad's craftman tools... I treasure all them tools...⚒️🔨🛠️
Same here. My dad had a “real” set of craftsman tools when I was growing up. Outside of the antique tools that I collect, I still keep a lookout for tools of the same vintage. The modern ones are junk and just like everything else now.
@@andrewschrotenboer9445
Avoid any craftsman tools with A in the model number (Asia=China) Any Craftsman tool with the “Industrial” designation is USA made. Also simply look for USA on the tool. Otherwise don’t buy it.
Ya I don't understand why these corporations buy these great names and drive them into the ground. Sad
When I was a kid going to Sears and the tool department was like a pilgrimage.
Great video. My Dad was in construction and swore by Craftsman. After using a Craftsman’s wooden handle hammer for over 30 years one day a “claw” of the hammer broke while pulling a nail. He took it back to Sears (this was in the late 60’s) and they replaced the hammer on the spot (even though the salesman thought Dad should have been happy with the life he got out of the hammer). I am still using a Craftsman hammer that my Dad gave me in my early twenties, over 50 years ago. I don’t use it on a daily basis as my Dad did, but it’s the only hammer I prefer to use. Thanks for sharing the history of these brands. Very interesting.
Last weekend I met a fellow who has been making signs for around 30 years. I noticed he had a Porter Cable router mounted in his CNC machine. Before I could ask, he says "I have two. I run one until I hear the bearings start to go, send it out to have them repaired, and put the other one in." That's the kind of quality they used to have, right there.
The real Porter Cable tools were premium priced and premium quality. Today's zombie Porter Cable is worthy of a horror film.
@@rightlanehog3151 hahahaha 😆...so true...ya made me spew my coffee
@@samspade5648 Unlike a real zombie, today's fake PC die easily.
A guy I know has a custom designed machine which uses three industrial routers. He has to replace them each year since the work he does wears them out so fast. He does custom spiral cutouts for posts or other things. Many of the posts are two feet in diameter and eight to ten feet tall. One of his designs, has outer spirals and inner spirals all from the same piece of wood.
Porter cable routers where the gold standard
This is an intensively emotional video for me. I am a Baby Boomer and grew up at a time when "Made in America" was the standard of the industry: Craftsman, Kodak, Kenmore, RCA Victor, Philco, GE, Electrohome, to name a few... the original Mustang, the Trans-Am races, the hot-rods, the sound barrier, the man on the moon, the wholesome shows on TV... even clothe lines (textiles) being created in the US. We were not perfect but a company name (Porter-Cable for example) meant something, stood for quality, ... How about the IBM PC from 1984 who (along with Apple) created the "Personal Computer Revolution" that shook the world only to be sold to Levono (China) in 2004!!! How times have changed - Sadly enough, when I go to other countries, American brand-names (now Made in China) are now synonymous with cheaply made - they (the foreigners) call us (you and me) the "Wall-Mart people" and it is not a compliment - it is about quantity over quality, keeping up with the Jones, suing one another, self-destroying our own country, loss of what it means/meant to "be an American" and of course being "awooken"! May God help us all! Thank you for this great presentation which is a glimpse of a more wide-spread national disease, Ciao, L (Veteran)
Well said.
Me too, born in 51. It's hard. So sad to just give it away. All for something cheaper. I still believe people will pay more for quality, especially if it's a tool.
Not only the consumers the companies are the ones to blame they decided that making products in overseas countries is good for them it's cheaper they sell at the same price or higher but the product ain't worth shit and the guys in the stores are just there for the money with as much brains as 6in nail that's the problem as a teenager an older guy once told me a cheap whore is no good and a good whore is not cheap he wasn't lying
Unfortunately Boomers truly sold this Country out for their own greed.
I was born in 1952. I’ve noticed though in the 80s when “proudly made in USA “ and “buy American “ became big that the truly great American stuff never said made in USA it said made in some town in some state and often had the factory owners name on the product. Like ford for the models t and and proto Los Angeles cal . Vice grip elurthyra Ohio (sp?) kinda like old school capitalism where individual proud of his product and thinking his grandkids are gonna inherit and continue ue his legacy doesn’t cut corners. And the workers from some Ohio town want people elsewhere. Not to curse their town when the f”ing product breaks on them. Detroit used to make better cars than Germany or Japan. Not since late 60s. Admit it. Japan and Germany make better cars. I think Korea might even match or beat Detroit now !! I blame the business schools and arrogance and stock market ownership of everything. Managers are short sighted or have conflict of interests. Workers see screwed and know it and have little loyalty or pride. We can learn from others. Our creativity is still great . And not just for movies and video games.
I'm getting old! I've got a whole woodworking shop full of Delta, Porter Cable and Craftsman tools... I still use them all the time, because they work so well. Times, they are a changing. Thanks for the trip down memory lane Stumpy!
I had just completed a note to a new woodworker. Just a story of what tools “Made in America” meant to a woodworker. Thank you for you comment.
I have a couple of sets of Craftsman tools from the 70's and 80's when they were made in the USA. Absolutely bullet proof. Porter Cable was THE router company - I had their venerable 690 router from the 80's until recently until I upgraded to a Bosch earlier this year. I remember going to Sears with my grandpa to replace a wrench that broke - the person took care of it on the spot. Just told him to get another one from the rack and he was good to go. I really wish we could bring back the good manufacturing we used to have - I'll be happy to pay for higher quality.
There are still a lot of small companies doing high end quality tools, but their prices are insane. Are you willing to pay $200 for a circular saw blade? I can't justify that even if it is ten times better than the ones they sell at Home Depot.
@@jimthesoundman8641 Yep, was thinking the same thing. I do my best to buy US Made products, but I most often cannot justify the additional expense. And how often does the label read, 'Made in USA with global products'?, like the DeWalt pressure washer I just bought.
@@doug.ritson assembled in UK/USA means nothing as they could just pack it to final box and add a screw or similar
My Dad was a field mechanic for Caterpillar in the 60's and 70's. It was a regular event for us to swing by Sears to get a replacement Craftsman tool for one that was broken. Not because they were bad, but because they were well worn and usually many years old. Sears replaced them on the spot every time!
@@jimthesoundman8641 Me too. I've been happy with the Diablo/Freud blades. Bang for the buck they just work. I can't justify $150+ for a saw blade especially when it's a hobby and not a job.
When I was in college in the early 70’s at USF one of my professors Dr Wimmert had worked at Delta that made drill presses. He told this story one day. Sears came and wanted Delta to make Craftsman drill presses. They had higher specifications than the current Delta units like better motors, bearings, and most tolerances. Delta agreed to made the better drill presses for Sears because of the volume that Sears contracted for. So the Delta and Craftsman drill presses looked the same, the quality of the Craftsman was better and sold for less than the Delta brand. He said that Sears did this with all the brands they sold like Craftsman, Lady Kenmore and others. Sears did not just relabel but required better specifications.
I worked in the engineering department of a company that made paint spray guns. Sears decided to add the product to their line. First, they did there own product testing and analysis are required several design upgrades before acceptance.
In my experience, Sears took existing products, made changes then labeled them Craftsman, the parts that broke were always the "Upgraded" parts which you could only get at Sears.
Years ago I bought a Sears utility knife with blades, so when I kneaded more blades I went to the local hardware store, but found out they didn’t fit. Through it away and bought a Stanley!
I've had the same set of Craftsman screwdrivers in my toolbox since I was in Boy Scouts over 30 years ago. They are showing their age, but that's also a sign of the great quality they had. It's a shame what has happened to all these once-great brands.
About 30 years ago (about the time everybody were getting their MBA's) companies run by investment bankers, decided that America doesn't have to produce anything and shipped our manufacturing overseas. Worse yet they shipped our tooling capacity overseas too. So you had a hard time even building a prototype. A good example is Cooper Tools, which bought a bunch of great American tool companies, like Vise-Grip, Crescent and many others and then sold them off, where most are made in China or Taiwan. If you want to know why, wrenches don't seem to fit the bolts anymore, they are rough metric conversions to SAE standards and are smaller than the original patterns. They are not tempered to the same standards and usually have inferior materials.
Many of the cheap foreign-made wrenches had such loose tolerances was because they sneakily reused the same dies for forging two different wrench sizes if the size was close enough. Some are exactly the same, like 3/4" and 19mm. But many were off by 0.3--0.5 mm and passed them off as a particular size. A way to cut cost, as they made such little margins on each. So corners are cut, ie. thin chrome-plating skipping the nickel layer and the chrome just flakes off. Improper or skipped tempering. Minimal standards of alloying specifications. etc.
Recently I needed a specific sized long bit, fully fluted, to drill pilot holes in some timbers. The jig I purchased from the hardware supplier for the fittings was exact. First bit was only fluted on the end. It broke almost immediately. Too thin, soft material, bound up as it coun’t eject the material where it wasn’t fluted. (Relatively green oak.) Purchased a more expensive fully fluted bit. Holes too big. Turns out the fudging on sizes put the bit slightly larger diameter than the jig. Hand drilled a couple of holes just fine but now the fastener does not hold as it should. Third try, found a properly sized bit, fully fluted. I’m going to be smart this time, bought two in case/when the first one failed. Well, it fit properly, fully ejected the residue when drilling AND it never broke. So, I have an “extra” bit which I’ll likely never use. However, it was a hard lesson in discovering just how far off these things can be today. I never really thought a precision tool, bit, fastener, etc. would be so poorly designed and manufactured. Today I am again rebuilding my shop, (long story), with a variety of tools. I wanted, (for my OCD), them all to be the same brand. However, I realize that won’t happen today. And yes, like many commenting here, I miss the old Sears Craftsman automotive and other tools……….
Another pretty significant reason manufacturers went overseas was because they no longer had to deal with mountains of government imposed regulations.
Part of that problem sadly was the customer. If something was 15% cheaper, they'll buy it
@@vernoncrown True, like chrome plating.
I inherited some of my dad's Craftsman power and hand tools that he bought back in the early 60's. I still have the power planer and belt sander, along with several hand tools that just won't die. Craftsman used to be synonymous with quality. Sadly, that's not the case anymore.
By today's actual messing with standards and safety by that don't use tools by gopher standards.
The sad part is those Craftsman tools were not construction / commercial grade tools made to work 8-12 hours a day for years. Disston. Utica. Stanley push drill. Channelock. Swingline.
My favorite. I inherited from from my dad. A Cummins A 1/2 inch drill. You had to be careful with it. It would break your arm.
The thing I remember the most was the $200 3/8s inch Milwaukee I bought in 1970. Outlasted the Craftsman my partner bought. He thought I was stupid for paying that much. A Craftsman pro was $75. He bought two of them. Every week he would got to the nearest Sears and exchange the dead one for a new one.
Five years later when I no longer built swimming pools and permanent covers for them. I gave them to my tin smith brother in law for his toolbox. When I could no longer buy the variable speed trigger. It also was reversible, and only had one speed.
My dad has a Craftsman drill press and table saw from that same era. Still running strong and accurate. He's had them for longer than I have memory. I'm 56.
@@warrenpuckett4203 I don't like "modern" battery tools. Like the cars, they are flimsy and have too much to go wrong---Then there is the new battery tech, that makes them obsolete, but Grampa's 1950 aluminum plug-in tools still work fine.
I met a carpet installer who loved Bosch drills---when they were German. His Bosch outlasted three Skil drills. Now Bosch says "Hecho en Mexico," so I'm dubious of their quality.
@@elultimo102 I worked for Bosch. I visited their plant in Mexico. It's just a nice as their plant in Germany.
so true, sure miss Craftsmen tools my family had in the 60s
Walking into Sears and browsing the tool aisle was always a treat. I inherited a lot of Craftsman hand tools from my grandfather in the 80s including the infamous puke smelling screwdrivers. These still hang in my workshop with some bearing his engraved initials.
Puke smelling screwdrivers haha. Thats because the buna N rubber deteriorates into butyric acid
Now that sears is gone, I have nowhere to go when the old lady goes to the mall 😢. If someone would put one tool store in every mall, then all the guys would have something to do, and who knows, we might even buy a few things!
This felt like the telling of my life story. First hand tools, Craftsman (still have most of them working great). First router Porter Cable (still working). First table saw 10" Delta (Stupidly sold). Stumpy, I can tell we grew up in the woodworking craft about the same time period. Great video. Maybe do a video informing us who the new leaders in those fields are,
Back in the 80's I worked with an air freight forwarder. The owner and I made a sales call on a small tool manufacturer in Gastonia, NC that made sockets and socket drivers. We were given a tour of the plant, particularly the stamping and cutting operations. They pointed out a machine in the corner that stamped the brand name on the sockets. While we were there they changed of the stamping die die from Craftsman to SK Tools. They actually had 3 brands they manufactured there. All were the same except for the name on the tool and the retail price point. It was an eye opening experience for sure!
So it was Craftsman, SK and who was the third?
@@frotobaggins7169 I don't recall. It was almost 40 years ago. It was the midgrade but I don't think it was a nationally known brand.
Hey, I live in Gastonia. Do ya remember the name of the place or where it was located? Just curious!
@@noscwoh1 I think it was SK Tools but it's been a long time. I do recall that it was in one of the business parks off 321 north of 85. This was in the early 1980's, probably 1983.
@@noscwoh1 I’m from Gtown and the company, before it was bought by Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital and shuddered, was Danaher Tool Group. Prior to being Danaher it was Easco Hand Tools. Their location was off of Isley Dr in Gastonia. I saw craftsman wrenches by the thousands being produced there right along other brands.
Still have my dad's tools from the 1930's and 40's. A Black & Decker 1/4" drill, SK Wayne sockets, Diamond Calk among others. In the early 70's we took the drill in for brushes and a new chuck and the person at the counter asked my dad if he knew the drill was discontinued around 1931. He said no but can it be repaired and they said yes. I still use it on occasion.
When I started working in construction as a carpenter over 40 years ago when you saw a guy with Porter Cable tools you were in awe.
As for Craftsman I was a firm believer in their product as was my dad. Unfortunately after multiple thefts over the years my Craftsman collection is all but gone.
Sorry to hear that. Had the same happen to me, by a relative, no less.
@@phil4483 That stinks !
It's tragic, really, the way my tool collection is turning out. I have one part antique, incredibly made tools that will outlast me, and one part cheap trash that I know might not even make it through the next project. At the moment, I have more faith in buying a harbor freight tool that I KNOW I'll have to repair, than spending real money on a tool that I can't be sure will actually be better.
My current hand belt sander is from Harbor Freight because I can't get ahold of an old PC sander. At least that one is under a no questions asked warranty
I think that a choice of instruments depends on your work. If your work is a very important and expensive would be unwise to use a cheap tools.
@@3kainos I definitely agree, certain tools at HF are shockingly high quality, and many tools at HF are much better than the average tat at Lowes or Depot that command higher prices due to a brand name. But I still expect to be repairing them. However, another thing I like about HF is their tools tend to use very common parts and because of that are relatively easy to repair.
I just bought a floor jack from Harbor freight for $250.00 that is exactly like Napa ones for $800.00. Welcome to the consumer based economy of capitalism. It will only get worse and never get better.
There are a lot of HF junkies posting on this thread. ProjectFarm (2.49 M subscribers) tests all kinds of toola and HF comes out on or near the bottom of every test.
Loved this video. It certainly explains the tool options today compared to the tool options of my youth. How about a follow-up video in which you introduce us to the brands actually worth buying today (if there are any)??
Gearwrench, knipex, sk, proto. New craftsman is good.
This is a tale as old as business. Every time company A buys company B, calls it a merger, a "combining of synergies" or some bogus corporate double-talk, the products they make suffer, and consequently the customer. Again and again and again. Thank you for the history lesson, the reminder, and the warning that the Crafstman brand, one I grew up with as a kid, is not to be intrinsically trusted these days.
You said a mouth full. i wont buy craftsman they are junk to me............
Yep... I think the icing on the cake is that the high level people involved in the mergers are usually able to cash their fat checks and deploy the golden parachutes before the businesses actually suffer the consequences. It seems like our economic model just rewards people who leave a trail of destruction behind them.
@@jimyep9971 ...and StanleyBlack& Decker thinks the Craftsman name is worth a mint...very high prices on both their hand tools and power tools that I have seen...better priced options on many competitors of similar quality out there, and just as good of warranty...yes, the Craftsman name was built on a combination of good quality(and USA made), good prices(often VERY good prices), and an unbeatable warranty policy...SBD has missed the mark on most of those if you ask me..especially the price/value part....
@@dyer2cyclesame with Porter Cable. Craftsman is their darling, and Porter is the red headed step child of SB&D
@@Utuber-x44 Yes, I was saddened when I discovered Porter Cable was in their fold...I always considered Porter Cable to be a top-tier power tool, above most of their competitors, certainly including B&D, Craftsman, Skil, even stuff like DeWalt..yet, SBD placed Porter Cable as a mid-tier, upper lower-tier brand..makes no sense...it should certainly be placed above Craftsman...I would have made Porter-Cable my top-shelf professional brand if I had acquired them...but then, that is what SBD made DeWalt into when they acquired them..heck, even the quality of the DeWalt stuff has slipped....
I love hearing about history like this - I just think it is fascinating! Some years ago (2003 at the earliest, I know), I got a 10" Craftsman miter saw. Eventually, when I would turn the table to adjust the miter, it would have a grinding sound, like something was caught underneath. So I took it in to a (relatively) nearby Sears service center. They had to send it off for repair, which was OK with me - pretty much what I'd expected. It came back, with that problem fixed, but had some fatal flaw (I forget exactly what) that the repair guy(s) (or gals - not to be sexist) had introduced. It rendered it basically unusable for accurate cutting. Back to the service center. This time, I attached what my dad would have called a "nasty letter," which I addressed to the repair department. It wasn't really nasty, of course, just sharing my ire with their sloppy "repair" work. This time they replaced the saw entirely with a new model. I took it home & used it for a time, but eventually it developed a problem - maybe the same grinding noise under the table, though I forget for sure. I gave up at that point & bought a 12" Ridgid miter saw from Home Depot. Top of the line? Probably not, but I could afford it & it still works fine for me. I vowed at that time never to buy another Craftsman power tool, though their hand tools seemed just fine. In fact, we got my brother several when he started studying airplane repair. I also got a set of cushioned mats from Sears/Craftsman that I still use in my garage woodshop. These days, without forking over $$$$$$$, which I usually do not have, it is so hard to find good, reliable power tools. Whenever I have needed a new tool in recent years, I have scoured reviews - both professional and consumer - and it is so hard to find quality that is consistently rated, either good or bad. Kind of a mixed bag in pretty much all cases. Anyway, thank you for sharing the information. As I said, it was fascinating!
Right again SN. Being 75 now, I was around to see the good stuff as my family was mechanics and carpenters and these 3 brands were industry standard. Back in 2000 I was a high school carpentry teacher in Texas and got the ok to buy a 15" planer. I went back and forth between Delta and Powermatic and decided on Delta based on past experience. Oops, it was foreign made and not very good at all. I regretted it from the day I got it and it was expensive. Thanks for this great video.
Interesting story behind some of the tool makers. I still own a few of the US-made Porter Cable, Craftsman, and Delta tools from the 60ties. This is pretty much the story of most of the great American manufacturing industries. I am a 40+ year retired R&D engineer who has worked across many US industrial products from the late 60s to the year 2012 and have seen this phenomenon repeat in every segment of our industrial enterprise. Globalization is a double-edged sword and it depends on who is wielding it for what purpose😩😩🤣🤣
60ties
sixtyties
nobody needs that many
@@zebragoboom thanks for your useless comment. Even one of you is too many.
Typical communist-axis troll account canvassing UA-cam channels and other American media sites!!
My 25 year old Craftsman tape measure broke a month ago. I took it back to Lowes, expecting it to be replaced on the spot. They looked at me dumbfounded. They found a much older manager, that new what I was talking about, and he said it is possible by sending it to craftsman with the the original receipt. The experience was a sad reality trip for me. It was like a six year old being told there wasn't a Santa Claus
Ya know how you feel, I my local sears store would not replace 💩 for me in the 80s so I got rid of everything that said Crapsman took it back to sears and told them to stick it were the sun dont shine and told them and the entire store that they dont honor there warrenty here and lost a former loyal customer. I replaced everything with Mac,snapon,Matco. To bad all the company's are going down hill even Mac sold out to stanley there not the same quality any more 😔😕
I had no problem, I took a screwdriver back to Lowe's and they gave me a new one
I had a 20 year old Craftsman ratchet that broke. I went to lowes, picked out the replace and the store clerk exchanged it with no questions.
@@bobthebuilder6315 metabo FKA Hitachi still are very good quality when the rebrand happened a few years ago it was good to know that's all that happened was the name I have a roof nailer that's done 100's of roofs still going strong 🔨🔨
I’ve replaced some Craftsman screwdrivers and sockets at Lowes. No problems
My very first job out of high school was at a small, but very successful, company that dealt in power tools, (Stationary and hand-tool), and repairs of same. When your job is tearing into power tools and finding what caused them to fail, (my job), you learn a lot. My favorites were Milwaukee, PC, Delta, and the industrial lines of Skil, Bosch, and Black and Decker. B&D screwed themselves by eventually focusing on their terrible consumer products. I never returned so many tools to customers as "Not Worth Repairing" as with B&D. Skil, at that time, had an awesome line of professional tools, including my favorite: The Hull Scraper / Barnicle remover, that they made for the USN. Thanks for the post.
My grandfather swore by Craftsman and so did I. I 'd enjoy hearing about the downfall of other brands, but I really like hearing about the quality companies you like. I always add those tools to my ever growing wish list.
Interesting to hear that Porter Cable doesn't even make routers anymore. I remember when my employer required D handle routers and there was only one other D handle router and that one was made by Makita. We did a lot of edge routing and being able to route safely with one hand was a great advantage, a time saver as we didn't have to clamp anything down. We could just hold it with the other hand. We also did a lot of fluting, so the D handle was the sensible option.
My 1991 Porter Cable recip-saw still works better than anything. In fact I watched my buddy's newly purchased saw come apart cutting half-inch mild steel rod. Ridiculous!
I still have the D handle Mikita router my Grandfather bought me when I was 18….back in 1988 😂😎
Lowes still sales porter cable routers but not the same quality as before. I bought a Port Cable table saw about three years ago and was using it and the motor caught on fire. Took it back to Lowes to replace it and again the motor caught on fire with in 10 minutes of cutting down trim. To find out Porter Cable then recalled all their table saw but Lowes was still trying to sale the ones they had to make money from them. I found out by calling Porter Cable and complained about the motor on two units that I had catching on fire and they told me they have all been recalled and that Lowes wasn’t allowed to sale them to people. Never seen a replacement table saw yet only 20v tools now.
Like millions of others. I have a Delta contractor table saw, a Porter-Cable router, and many pounds of Craftsman tools. I could tell the table saw, bought in 2001, was not exactly top quality, but it has worked for me for 21 years and counting.
It does sadden me that these brands, and SO MANY others, have gone the way of outsourcing and loss of quality.
Great video as always, Stumpy Nubs!
I miss the Sears Christmas catalogs, I remember dog earing all the things I wanted for Christmas, used to get clothes but never the toys I wanted... Mom and Dad just didn't make enough money back then for such toys... Dad however had a full tool chest of Craftsman tools that I never witnessed him use... I remember pulling out a ⅝ wrench to take my bike tire off to repair the inner tube. I made the fix, got the tire back on my bike and went for a test ride... when I came back my Dad grounded me for 30 days because of 2 reasons, 1 I didn't ask to use his tools 2 I left the tool on the garage floor where I had made the repairs. (I was 9 and forgot) I'm 51 now and I still remember that day every time I'm using a tool I need to put it back. Anyways, maybe you can talk about Hatachi (Metabo) next time? Great Video
You never saw him USE the TOOLS??? I have fond memories of my Dad doing tons of engine/car mechanics with his, and he did not have much, I inherited his few Craftsman wretches. Me as I did more and more auto mechanics I bought as I went, and got more than double the tools he had, and those are mainly Craftsman. I still am in awe to think of some of the stuff he did with the meager tools he had. he even did an engine rebuild but I do not know he might have borrowed some stuff to do it. Or had a friends help who had the particular tool to do it. I do not even remember how he got the engine out and in, he must have rented some stuff, and I was not paying attention to it.
This was fantastic. My grandmother (on my moms side) worked for Sears and was a die hard Sears patron. I'm pretty sure every gift was from Sears. The best gift I received from her and my grandfather (God rest both their wonderful souls) was a Craftsman 1/4 horse drill. It lasted many many years until it smoked itself to death about 15 years ago while I mixed mortar with it. My first and only belt/disc sander is Delta and I use it to this day. I purchased that with my allowance over 30 years ago. I wanted one ever since seeing my stepdads Shopsmith with the sanding belt attachment. I didn't know the history of these brands before watching this episode. Thank you for another spectacular video.
Additionally, i love your systematic, well-organized, yet interesting delivery. You are a great teacher. Thank you.
I remember returning a craftsman 1/2” ratchet to my local store because it was slipping. The guy there took it to the back room, rebuilt the mechanism, and handed it back to me 15 minutes later.
Wow! I had no idea they did repairs i store. What year was it approximately?
Sears did not rebuild the mechanism. Sears replaced the parts with a repair kit. I wish they still made the made-in-USA repair kits.
Swapped out many of those during the mid 90's. Sockets, wrenches and screwdrivers we replaced but the ratchets got the repair kit.
I used to rebuild them at sears
I went through my dads , retired mechanic toolbox and brought every single craftsman wrench and or tool and exchanged them. It was crazy . The cashier said go pick out the replacement and we’ll swap them at register.
I still have (good) tools from all three manufacturers. It's now difficult to determine which brand to trust for anything I want. Most of the "good" stuff is EXPENSIVE. I appreciate you pointing out quality tools.
The "good" stuff was always expensive. The saying you get what you pay for is truely right when it comes to hand tools.
@@judithkatz1918 Not always; sometimes you buy an expensive brand name product, and find out it's not as good as you expected. Project Farm channel does a terrific job of testing products, and weeding out the ultra expensive ones that are resting on their laurels. One interesting thing I learned? All impact tools have to pass certain standards, so a Snap on impact socket isn't going to be better than one from Harbor Freight. I'm sure there are more secrets out there, to be had about tools.
The "good stuff" is not expensive. With tools, computers, bicycles, the cost of "good" stuff is pretty much unchanged in relation to average incomes. What has changed is the vast amount of cheap stuff which can range from junk to good enough to pretty good. I remember tool shops in East End of London closing down in 1990s as big box stores like B&Q opened up on brown field sites. Tradespeople as well as DiYers went big box for most tools even to extent of buying junk that lasted for one job then into skip with rest of the trash. Result was specialist tool shops only sold spares or specialist gear so not enough turnover.
Eg computers: people whine about a £5 difference between 500GB SSDs so buy the cheaper, less reliable one. But in 1990s, it was £600 for a 2GB HDD, if I remember correctly and I paid about £125 for a floppy disk drive in mid 1980s while still a student.
So - the world changes, conglomerates buy up up smaller companies vecause the founders want to retire and cas in and it's tax efficient to buy up companies out of surplus cash. And consumers, whether DiYers or tradespeople, mostly buy cheap with only a few of us wanting high quality which, often, even we can't justify by our usage.
Often amusing to see rabidly passionate comments about unnecessary cost of Festool and Mafell by some tradespeople, use of them by rich DiYers, and connoisseur comments about Makita made in Japan products.
For balance of affordable and quality, back in 1980s through early 2000s, Bosch green range was usually excellent if sometimes underpowered
@@d.e.b.b5788 Very good point. Even the top brands have range fillers which is why sticking with same battery platform for cordless tools can lead to compromise that you just put up with
Best thing you can do is decide on your price point.
Figure out which tools are the same but with different labels. Buy the one with the best warranty thats on sale at the cheapest price.
Or you can buy 2 going down a peg or 2 .
Depends on end use these days
In a garage packed with tools, the only Porter-Cable tools in the lot are my 100 Router, 505 Sander, and the 4" belt sander. However these aren't at the bottom of the drawer collecting dust but are the tools I reach for when needed. Forty years plus of regular use. There are makers today making great reliable well designed tools, cordless are a favorite. Nevertheless it's reassuring or joyful in some way to reach for tools that have performed so well for decades.
Craftsman is the one that gets me. I'm 45 and my dad and grandpa always swore by Craftsman tools. I lost my dad about 18 months ago and inherited all his tools. I don't know if a company could take a hit to their rep like this and come back. I really hope so!
My grandfather worked for Sears, so we became Sears forever customers. The local Sears is now a Whole Foods store 😞
@@markanderson8066 Ours, and most of the mall, is empty! Sad.
@@markanderson8066 Do live in the Colonie, NY area?
..but Craftsman is not a company..it never was..it was a house-brand created by, and for, Sears, just like Kenmore...Craftsman is now just another "brand" in StanleyBlack&Decker's massive portfolio... :(
Great documentary thank you!
Wat Up, Jimmy :D
My Delta Unisaw is the centerpiece of my workshop. I bought it towards the end of the Pentair era. It has been a workhorse and I've never had an issue with it in over 20 years.
Great video. I've got a lot of Porter Cable portable power tools I bought in the 80's and 90's when they were made in TN and they still are going strong. These 3 brands were so iconic in their day. It's a shame that they have all fallen into the tool dumpster of life through neglect, mismanagement and corporate greed. On the flip-side, it's nice to see a resurgence in quality tools for woodworkers from hand tools to power tools. I feel like we are in a true renaissance in woodworking tools that is truly incredible. It's just sad that it isn't the iconic brands that are leading the charge.
Ben: Same here. I talked with local tradesmen in the late 80s and they were buying Porter Cabler or Milwaukee. The local hardware chain had a yearly sale featuring Porter Cable products so I stocked up. They are still going strong. I managed to pick up a NOS PC 690 router set (Tennessee production) about 2 years ago from an older gentlemen who had bought it and never used the kit. The wrenches were still in their plastic wrap.
I started my tool collection in the early 2000's. I managed to grab some great deals on used tools, closeouts, and discounted tools. I bought a Delta tablesaw, drill press, jointer, planer, and bandsaw. I bought Porter cable routers and Craftsman hand tools. I used these tools to build cabinets and other furniture for my home. It's sad to see what's become of these once great brands. I'd love to see info on Festool and Snap-on tools. I now am buying Makita cordless tools, would love to see a video on them as well as other cordless brands like Dewalt.
When I started in the masonry business in the early 90s Craftsman was the go to for tape measures,brick hammers,and horsehair dusters.The most used tools outside of the trowel were covered with the best warranty in the world.Beautiful
Estwing, Red Rose, I think. For trowels.
I used to work for Sears Canada in the late 90s early 00s, and finally remember working in the hardware section, proudly telling customers that the hand tools had a lifetime warranty. I exchanged many screwdrivers, sockets and ratchet parts.
In the 1970s I was helping a girlfriend fix the brakes on her 1968 VW Beetle. The axle nuts were awful to get off. I used a 8 foot cheater bar on the Craftsman breaker bar. The axle nut came loose at the very moment the breaker bar broke. I sent her into the Sears store. The clerk looked at it, then stared at her. "*You* broke this!!??" She stared him down in return. "Heck yeah I broke it!" He shrugged, picked up a new one from the tool bin, and handed it to her.
Milwaukee. Our shop had the old milling machines, presses and lathes from the late 40's that were great machines. Eventually the bean counters replaced them with cheaper Chinese made ones that break down all the time. The old machines are in a surplus warehouse but I can't convince the management to resurrect them. Too bad ...
I used to work at Sears when I was highschool. That was just before they started with their shenanigans. Luckily I was able to buy a huge tool set, a drill, and my first guitar (using my employee discount) that were still made in the USA and backed by their "no questions asked" warranty - except the guitar, of course. I still have all three of them! I have over 20 guitars, many very expensive ones, but that Sears guitar is still my go-to! I love the neck and the pickups are crazy strong and powerful.
Silvertone
Back in the '80s, my Dad found a Craftsman 1/2" ratchet half buried in the parking lot of a truck stop. He dug it out with a screwdriver (probably also a Craftsman) and took it to a Sears store. They gave him a brand new 1/2" with all the then current bells and whistles. No questions asked. In thirty years of repairing printing equipment, I never broke a single Craftsman tool. Thank you for the history lesson. It really bugs me that the US doesn't have any of the previously high quality brands still representing what we once could be proud of.
The USA has them but they are expensive. Not the price the average guy wants to pay. A set of Snap-On wrenches will cost you.. A 10 piece wrench set costs $454 at the moment. When I was still working they stopped putting the prices in their catalog as the prices went way up all the time. Several times a year a new price sheet was published. Snap-On power tools were usually just chrome plated Black and Decker, (their pro models, not k-mart stuff).
@@DannyB-cs9vx Absolutely true. The average mechanic that uses Snap-On tools has anywhere from $10,000 upward to $25,000 invested in those tools. However, I was told the price can be written off on taxes as a business expense.
I've owned all of the brands you have mentioned. Thank you for the background stories on each brand. I used to love going to the Sears tool department. Now, I wouldn't even consider it. I use the internet and UA-cam reviews before I buy a tool. Then I end up making my purchase online or at a local store if I can find it. I've had bad luck with Craftsman, Porter Cable and Delta.
My woodshop has a Jet 10" arbor saw, a Jet 12" band saw, a DeWalt bench top planer and a Grizzley 8" jointer. I would love to hear about these brands.
Your channel is my favorite on the subject of wood working. Thank you.
Stumpy, I have always been fascinated with tools, and loved hearing the history of these iconic brands. As a future video, could you discuss the history of Shop Smith. I remember as a boy seeing Shop Smith's being demonstrated and would dream of someday owning one.
I loved this one. I have a Delta contractor saw that's the same age as my youngest son, 32 years. I'm just about ready to take the plunge and buy a SawStop Professional, for safety reasons. I'm sad that I can't buy a new Delta with the same safety features. I also lived through the decline of Craftsman. I was an auto mechanic in 19979-80. Remember the Chevrolet Citation? I was proud of my Craftsman tools and toolbox. Now, I have other brands and don't consider Craftsman as my 2nd or even 3rd choice unless I can't find the tool I need in any other brand I trust. The variety of tools in the Craftsman brand is way down and many of the new ones advertised in the Craftsman emails I get are just gimmicks, tools that serve a single purpose or are just tweaks of an existing tool. Thank you for doing this research into my tool past. I had no idea about Porter Cable's history.
Being required to repair Chevy Citations is enough to drive anyone out of the mechanic's trade 😉
We had a citation, went through two floors and couldn’t scrape the rust enough to change the spark plugs before it got to 50 000 miles. But i had a lot of teenager fun with it.
@@rightlanehog3151 We called 'em Chevy "Mutations" !
@@matthewshannon6946 I don't think you were being very fair to mutations. 😂
I have a delta contractor saw that I inherited from my dad. It's older than I can remember (I'm 36). I still use it. No safety features at all. And the blade guard is wobbly so I don't use it. Scares the crap out of me everytime I use it. I treat it with more respect than any other power tool. I'd like a new one with more safety and a proper dust collection system. But hurts me to think about downgrading in quality or forking over a fortune for a sawstop
These 3 brands cover 90% or better of all the tools I own. While I miss what Craftsman and Delta used to be, Porter Cable is the one that truly breaks my heart. My father had a pile of their portable tools he bought in the 50's and used into the 2000's. I still have a bunch of them from a former business that are now pushing 30 years old and are used almost every day. Not sure what I'm going to do if I manage to outlast them.
I once loved going to Sears and buying tools. I considered it a treat. I sure miss those days, but I still have and enjoy my tool. All good things must come to an end, and now we sit back and think of all the good things that we've lost.
I LOVE the history videos you sometimes do here. As for the next brands, I suppose Stanley and Black & Decker would be good to cover. Some of the higher-end woodworking ones like Powermatic and Jet as well.
Back in the early '70s, my brother broke an 18" long 1/2" breaker Craftsman breaker bar. He took it back to the local Sears store and took to the tool manager. The manager went to the appropriate shelf, pickout a new one and reached to my brother, but held on to his end and said: "I' will give you this, but you have to tell me how you broke one." My brother had to admit that had put a 4 foot long pipe on the breaker bar in order to loosen a VW flywheel nut. He got the replacement and a smile. Unfortunately, those days are long gone.
Heck I found in the junkyard in some junk car a small 1/4 drive rachet the fine tooth one, it was all rusted up, took it back to Sears they exchanged it for a new one, but at that time they no longer made the fine tooth ones anymore. I got a fine tooth 1/2 inch one years earlier they were nicer. but still have that almost new 1/4 inch one. If you broke a open wrench they would exchange those too. I used to do what your brother did, but never broke one.
Gone because folks also can't help themselves.....buying used craftsman ratchets and sockets and taking them back to trade for new
It's a wonder he didn't flip the VW onto its top rather than break the breaker bar. 🤣
My parents had a similar experience in the mid 1950's. They built their house using wood from tenements being torn down in NYC. The lumber would be brought in by the truck load but then it needed to have any nails pulled. My father bought an "unbreakable" Craftsman hammer from Sears. My mother would pull nails using the hammer with a 4 foot "cheater" pipe to get some of the bigger nails out. He tool it back once, no question asked. The second time the salesman gave him a suspicious look but handed him a new one. On the third one the salesman exchanged it for him then asked "Can I ask you what you are doing with the hammers?" My father first asked if it will effect things if he needed another. The salesman said no. So he told him. The salesman laughed but was just impressed the hammers were standing up as well as they did. The third one didn't receive the punishment the others did but did break some 20 or 30 years later.
Sears would give you replacement on Craftsman tools for yrs., lifetime warranty doesn't exist now. We had a Craftsman sander from the 50s that lasted for 30 plus yrs. solid steel body, best sander we ever had, never found one better
When I began woodworking in the early 90s, my first table saw was a Delta Contractor saw. It was awesome!
Great video. So sad to see so many iconic brands (not just tools - Budweiser) be sold off and quality tank.
Keep up the great work.
Thanks for a great video. I bought almost exclusively Porter-cable in the 90s when watching Norm's New Yankee Workshop. I can still here the Porter-Cable and Delta commercials from his show in my head. Later I moved onto DeWalt for my wood working hand tools, including their awesome 13" planer. My 10" table saw and 16" drill press are by Jet. My 6" inch jointer is a Grizzly. All my 20v cordless tools are by DeWalt. I might move to Milwaukee for heavy duty automotive cordless tools moving forward. "The Den of Tools" bear's UA-cam channel has a great summary of all the tool brands out there and the few companys that own them. My Craftsman tools are now being replaced by Tekton tools, marketed out of Grand Rapids, MI.
Great content as always, James. Thanks for continuing to put out the diversity of content. I'd be interested in hearing about some of the common brands I see in home centers today like DeWalt, Bosch, Makita, Milwaukee, SawStop, Bostich, and Grizzly.
Great bit of history, James. I remember K-Mart’s blue light specials from 50+ years ago, but not the balogna subs. I have a couple Porter Cable sanders that I need to move away from before i have more tendon problems. I’ve had a few of their 690 routers over the years, as well. And my toolbox has a pretty wide variety of Craftsman tools that I bought in the 80’s. Oddly enough, nothing from Delta, but a few DeWalt and Grizzly and a nice Onefinity CNC that is doing its thing while I listen to podcasts and UA-cams tonight. Thanks again and I’d enjoy the story behind the story on anything from DeWalt to Felder and particularly any of the companies that are no longer available.
You nailed what I've been upset about for over twenty years! I grew up depending upon those companies making high quality products. Most of American manufacturing has gone away because of the greed of the owners. And with it most of our industrial capability... Very sad.
I am Canadian but I share your frustration. We used to make Skil tools in Toronto, Porter Cable and Rockwell in Guelph, Ontario and Black & Decker in Brockville, Ontario. As late as the 1980s, Makita built a new factory in Ontario. Just like your US factories, ours are all long gone. While it is true that companies are greedy it is just as true that trade policies will determine where products are ultimately made. Puppet politicians across the USA, Canada and Europe enacted the trade policies that created the incentives to close down factories providing middle class jobs and move those factories to Mexico or Asia. Today's supply chain crisis ought to underline the need to bring production back home but I have my doubts the corporate puppets in Washington, Ottawa and European capitals will do much about it.
@@rightlanehog3151 Can you give some instances of those policies?
@@Gottenhimfella In the Canadian context, every free trade agreement signed since 1988 has incentivized the closure of Canadian factories. We had one rational free trade agreement called the USA - Canada Auto Pact but the WTO ruled that was illegal. Until quite recently cars could be shipped from PRC with a tariff of less than 3%. At the same time a car shipped to PRC was subject to a tariff around 25%. Massive economies like PRC, India and Brazil maintain to this day massive tariffs to incentive production within their own borders. Transnational corporations willingly build plants in those countries to access their domestic markets and to use cheap labour to build goods for the West. They can sell most of their goods around the world with minimal tariffs applied and undermine our domestic manufacturing in the process.
My grandfather was the chief maintenance engineer at the old Pepperell Mill in Lindale, GA. I still have and use his old hand tools, all Craftsman. I think about him every time I pick one up. I hope my son, when he gets my tools, will appreciate them too. I also have an old Craftsman table saw circa 1980 that was my first big tool purchase. It sports a new modern fence but is otherwise original and gets a lot of use. And my drill press is a Delta. It needed a little love about two years ago and it was tough to track down parts but I’m glad I did. It is a wonderful machine. Sad to see Delta go away.
Brilliant review of these tool companies’ rises and falls… my jaw is still dropped at the stick-handling of brands that occurred. Almost inhaled my stout at “… K-Mart stores smelled bad….” Been there, done that. Thanks for the consistently captivating content, whether regarding shop techniques or history of the trade!
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard people say “DeWalt was good until B&D bought them.” They aren’t referring to DeWalt radial arm saws. They are referring to DeWalt portable tools. People don’t realize that B&D has owned DeWalt for half a century and rebranded their professional line to DeWalt. For most intents and purposes, B&D has always owned DeWalt. I think DeWalt’s history would make a good video. I think their original radial arm saws are still being made today by a different company.
Black and Decker professional made GOOD tools. B&D professional router is simply yellow now. They had another tool design that was simply carried over to dewalt.
Just a comment ,
1) in my possession I have a Poret Cable "D "handle routr kit that as given to me in 1990 by a retired school teacher who purchased it in the 40"s, still works great
2) I also have a 10in Rockwell Delta contractors table saw in great shape that was purchased in 1990 ! all the old stuff really works better than the new knock offs !
I was just in Craftsman’s new manufacturing facility in Fort Worth TX. Mechanic sets made in USA we’re just about ready to be shipped out to Lowe’s stores. I saw them with my own eyes being made and stacked up getting ready for shipment. Expect soon to start seeing them showing up.
I've been impressed with the new V-series for sure. The V-series only modern Craftsman tools I own
That's good to hear. Hopefully we can start making more things here.
Please tell us about DeWalt and Rigid next.
great episode, I am a Delta, Porter Cable and maybe a little Craftsman fan.....and I have wondered about the loss of quality.....my first Craftsmen tools were from the 40's and 50's from my grandfather, then I started buying them,,,,my Delta and Porter Cable tools are from the 80's and early 90's......oh, the good old days.....thanks for a wonderful episode , Paul
In the 70's Dad inherited Grandpa's tools. If Craftsmen made a tool, that was what Grandpa owned. He passed that thinking to Dad.
Not long after we lost Grandpa, I snapped a wrench in 2. I think I was using it as a lever. Dad's response was "let's go get another one". He drove me to Sears and I was sure I was about to buy an expensive wrench. We walked in, showed the sales guy both halves, he held it up, check the size, walked over to the shelf and brought us a new one, said have a nice day and could he do anything else. Best warranty ever. When they lost that, they became just another wrench.
My dad walked into the Sears near our house and said he was looking to replace his 3/8" ratchet. He explained (a) he'd used a 3' long pipe for leverage and (b) it was 30 years old.
The clerk said "It's guaranteed. Period. Have a nice day."
It breaks my heart every time I see the Craftsman name. All Dad's jewels are scattered and gone.
Had the same experience with a 3/8" ratchet back in the mid 80s. Sadly, neither that store or guarantee exist anymore.
Delta is still out there. Just bought a 10" table saw from Lowes online, delivered to the house and I am very impressed with it.
I remember in the mid 70’s as a young teenager getting the Sears ads and looking for the sales on Craftsman tools. My dad and I would then go to the order desk at Sears, payed for the tools, and impatiently waited for the order to arrive the following week. My first credit card was a Sears Card (short, wide credit card with gold font) so that I could buy whatever Craftsman tools I needed. I also remember ordering my first metric sockets in the early 80’s with the hash mark ring around the bottom of the sockets. I still have them and truly hope they do come back.
Going into Lowes to check out their selection of Craftsman tools is such a let-down from what I remember as a kid.
Amen.
My best circular saw was PC but the switch has gone out on it and it really needs bearings too. So in the corner it sits along with a great random orbital sander. I wish they both worked like they did way back when.
My dad loved Craftsman tools. He also owned the 8 inch syracuse circular saw, porter cable belt sander. all these tools he taught me to safely use. How about that big heavy Porter Cable 1/2 inch drill. he used it for mixing concrete, paint, stucco and you name it. I still own the Rockwell 315 circular saw, its my most accurate of all the saws I ever owned. By the way that Syracuse saw was super heavy! and very Dangerous, the blade guard flipped all the way backward, and my dad used it as an extra handle/ guide !! Thanks for the trip down memory lane.NWR
There is a very small UA-cam channel called Josiah Hannah where the host demonstrates his vintage PC tools.
Thanks for the great explanation. I'm 75 years old. I grew up with Craftsman tools. At 13 years old I told my parents I wanted a craftsman tool set for Christmas, which they did. We lived on a large Wisconsin farm, so the tools were used regularly. Every year more tools were added, boxes upsized. I still have nearly all those tools. In 2017 we bought a condo in Sarasota. I build street rods for a hobby. I decided to setup an identical set of tools in that shop. I went to Ace hardware and old remaining sears stores, the internet, craigs lists to acquire the "forged in USA" tools I grew up with. I did buy some of the "new" tool made off shore, is what drove me to hunt down the originals! I also built several homes so I have Delta, Rockwell and Porter Cable power tools. So Sad!
Thankfully there are still a few good, old tools on Craigslist for those willing to put in the time to find them.
I've got a bunch of those Delta power tools that were made in the late 1990's, including the jointer and planer you have, plus their combo disc and belt sander and tabletop band saw. I find them to be very well made and mine have been trouble-free after years of steady use. I also have a Porter-Cable labelled circular saw that I bought at least 15 years ago that has been a beast.
Interesting history lesson. But If I cleared out all the Delta, Porter Cable and Craftsman tools out of my garage/shop I would be left mostly with an echo.
My 30 year old Delta miter saw has played a major role in two sheds, a couple remodel projects and two decks among many other smaller projects. I still use it almost weekly.
I have craftsman mechanic tools in my box that I have had since I was a teenager, and I retired last year.
My favorite tool is my Porter Cable biscuit joiner, and I have several PC 20Volt tools that I really like and work real well for me.
It is a shame that the golden age of US tools seem to have died. Tools do not mean as much to people today as they did to those of us from an earlier generation. Younger people, marvel at simple projects I make from wood that I just kind of threw together for something to do. As a Teen in the 70's I could pick a friend at random from my group of friends and we could swap out a V8 in a long afternoon.
Recently, a kid that grew up next door to me( I say kid , he is now 35) asked to use my garage to do a disc brake job. I said sure , laid out the tools he would need, and left him and his buddy to have at it. After the third time they came into the house because they were stuck on how to proceed, I had to sit there in the garage and talk them through each step.
In a recent conversation with my wife about the fact we were entering our last decade or two, I teared up when I told her If I go suddenly before her, find someone to take and look after my tools and appreciate them, it is a collection that represents over 50 years of effort.
How when My wife says hey let's stop at the antique shop, My first thought is, I wonder if they got any good tools, and it kind of makes me sad.
As I get close to retirement, I've started collecting wood shop and some metal equipment. Grizzly is always good if you can find it cheap enough on Market Place. I do have a Delta 6" Jointer and I came across a old craftsman 4'" jointer as a backup and for smaller pieces (very heavy cast iron). So much of today's shop tools is not made to last. As a few other have stated, what brands are making quality tools today? Stumpy, I love the background you show of your hand tools, I'm sure each one has its purpose. It reminds me of the Junior High wood shop tool cabinet (only much better).
I have all of these brands in my shop. Most see little use today after being replaced by upgraded tools of other brands. However, my Delta 10 inch cabinet saw is still in the centre of my shop and is my only table saw. My Delta 12 inch planer is also still in use. I can relate to the waning support for the Craftsman brand back in the early 90s. I had to see my Sears store general manager to finally get them to honour their warranty. Yes. It was the actual tool , not the name, that sold me.
Our first reliable power tools were made by Rockwell. They made some of the first hammer drills. Almost all of the suspended ceilings in North America were drilled using a Rockwell hammer drill back in the 60's.
We used Delta IIRC and Porter Cable sanders in 1994 for shop class in middle school. Those sanders worked so quiet and balanced. No one makes them the same anymore.
I bought many good Porter Cable tools in the early nineties. While they were fine tools, I particularly like the fact that they came with long electrical cords at a time when other manufacturers were cheaping out with three and four foot long cords.
I remember as a teenager and budding woodworker flipping through my Taunton Illustrated Guide books, and it seemed every other tool photo was a Delta. I was determined that someday I'd be a "Delta Man" and get myself a Unisaw, etc. I was kind of disappointed to learn later on that Delta wasn't what they used to be. Fortunately, I've inherited a lot of old tools from my grandfather, and many of them are old Delta tools. I've been using those for over a decade, and I'm sure he used them for many before that.
My first power tools in the early 1980s were Porter-Cable, many of which I still have. All performed well (with the exception of their early plate joiner model 555, which was poorly designed). In 1986, I purchased a new Delta Unisaw (3 hp, 220v, with the low-voltage starter switch). It still performs like a champ. Amazingly, it was only two years ago that I changed the three drive belts; there were absolutely no cracks or obvious signs or degradation, even though they were well over thirty years old. I changed arbor bearings last year.
I absolutely love my Porter-Cable routers from the 80’s. They are in daily rotation with Milwaukee, and Festool. They are the ones I grab first. It is sad to see these brands being stripped of their quality and reputation because equity guys care more about money than blue-collar guys care about performance. Unfortunately it’s the way the world works. Great video!
@@toddthreess9624 you won’t be disappointed! The regular router base along with the plunge base make the router a very versatile tool.
Porter & cable have been around for ever, they were the best power tool for carpentry in the world. My family owned a hardware and carpentry business and remember my dad and grandpa swear by them and loved them.
They were the best and most expensive. People who paid the premium to purchase Porter Cable tools tended to take better care of them as well.
Great explanation of the iconic tool brands. I was introduced to woodworking by Norm A in the 80's. Even though they covered the logos on his tools, I knew I needed the Porter Cable and Delta tools he used on the show: At the time the Porter Cable 3 1/2" trim saw was a great alternative to a 7 1/4" circular saw for cutting sheet goods. As you said their routers were pretty much the standard back then, still have the higher powered one in my router table. For my first cordless drill driver I went with PC, just because of the name. I still use my rock solid Delta Unisaw I bought new in '04. That Delta 10" miter saw had to go years back though- too damn heavy! Glad I found your channel.
Craftsmen Tools , that one breaks my heart, I grew up with those tools, my dad worked at Easter airlines with craftsmen tools, I recently bought a Hugh tool box set , many doubles , of craftsmen tools from some one who wanted to be a mechanic , but wasn't. There are other brands now that claim to have a lifetime warranty, but they're just not as good..Its just a shame to walk through Lowes and see the craftsmen name on what looks pretty shoddy.
They just don't look shoddy, they are. Sorry, but they are.
Thar is just not true. They are not shoddy. Project Farm tests lots of tools, and Craftsman do fine in his tests.
At Lowes now. They are super nice. Made in Taiwan - not a cheap place to make tools - one of the best countries for tools. I suspect Kobalt is the same factory. Both brands seem to be trying to be nice. It’s Black & Decker that went to crap.
Thanks, James! As a kid, I used to ride my bike around New Jersey “jug-handles” and find craftsman tools that fell off of trucks. I’d bring them to sears and get a brand new one every time. Loved that. I’d love to hear about DeWalt next. Seems like that one isn’t what it once was. Also, what’s the deal with Ryobi? Any interesting backstory there?
Plenty of interesting backstory with Ryobi!
Innovators of the portable thickness planer (AP-10) and one of the first to sell a plunge router here in the States.
That's all back in the mid '80's. I also have a resaw bandsaw that they offered.
Now of course they are just another badge engineered by TTI.
At least Ryobi kept their battery platform the same, their current Li Ion 18v batteries still work in their old NiCad tools, unlike a few other manufacturers who change their systems every few years to force you to buy a whole new batch of tools because you can't get new batteries & they include a chip which kills the charge controller in the battery pack when one cell fails (because they tap just one cell in the battery to keep the kill chip working).
Ryobi was bought out by Hong Kong's Techtronic Industries who owned Homelite at the time. They also own AEG, Hoover, Dirt Devil, Vax and now Milwaukee. Under Ryobi they manufacture Rigid and Emerson Electric power tools. With the way quality dropped like a stone with Homelite and then Ryobi one hopes the same does not happen with Milwaukee.
I went to replace a bearing in a Rigid/Ryobi sander since it would have cost more to have it done under the warranty and found I could not purchase an identical bearing locally because the local bearing supplier would not sell bearings that matched the extremely low level of quality of the OEM bearing since they thought it unethical to sell something that cheap and poorly made. The new bearing at less than $2 was of higher quality than the one being replaced which had failed after only a few months of use. That $1.XX bearing has lasted a few years now under heavy use and is still turning smoothly. Can't say the same for other parts of the tool such as the snubber assembly that prevents runaways which only lasted a few months until I plastic welded up a sturdier replacement of my own.
My 40 year old Porter Cable sander is still on the original bearings. The only reason for buying the Rigid/Ryobi was B&D discontinued the aluminum brake sheave for the Porter Cables snubber which lasted for years since you only had to replace it after going through several silicone snubber belts. I'm going to turn a new aluminum sheave for the snubber and use silicone o-rings to re-instate the snubber on the Porter Cable.
I paused the Video and added Undaunted Courage to my Audible library…. I have 7 late 1980’s Porter Cable routers in my shop. They have been trouble free. I have several PC sanders, including the first and second generation random orbital types. I also have their last generation biscuit joiner. All terrific tools that get daily use. I even have on e of their laser guided miter saws. What happened to the brand is criminal! Thanks for the historical perspective.
I have Porter Cable tools that have been in my family since the early 1960s and others of the same era that I have collected in recent years. Today's zombie version of Porter Cable should be put out of its misery.
Similar story here in Australia, albeit on a much smaller scale.
Sidcrome made great quality hand tools and their spanners and socket sets were legendary. Every kid growing up and working on their cars aspired to own them.
Now they are made in Taiwan and look and feel like the hundreds of other brands that come out of there.
The name no longer has any value and should be consigned to history.
Yeah, that one really bites. I was one of those kids, and I still have some of the original Sidcrome spanners I bought back in the day. The jingle said it all: “You canna hand a man a granda spanna”. The day the Taiwan-made versions started to appear on the shelves was also the last time I bought a Sidcrome tool.
@@julianwhitta1114
Yeah me too.
Soon as I started working, I bought a combination metric imperial socket set.
45 years later, still getting a lot of use.
When I'm done with it, hope the kids get to wear it out.
I've had a Craftsman 1/2" ratchet handle in my mechanics kit for decades. Not used it much as my main sets are 3/8th. It's still nice and shiny, looks good. But.. I'm in the UK and I have absolutely no idea how I came by it. No clue. I also bought a 10" Delta mitre saw twenty years ago from a UK company who had become the official stockists, but it was dropped after a short run. My Porter-Cable finish nailer, I bought in the USA but there was a time you could buy P-C here. I've sold the Delta and the nailer, so I'm assuming they're still in use somewhere today.
This is great! 👏 Always wondered what happened with some of these iconic brands.
I have a "Proto" made in USA socket set ,purchased in the UK in 1976,the guy in the tool store,said it was as good as Snap On,it has been used a lot working on motorcycles over the years.One of my best buys ever.
When I started woodworking in the 80s there were three brands of top quality shop tools..... Delta, Powermatic(both made in the USA) and General (made in Canada) that were always at the top of the "shootouts" that the magazines like Fine Woodworking wrote about. Today it's all made in Taiwan. Luckily cast iron last, bearings are cheap and motors can be rewound.
There was plenty that were quality back then and 90s that were made in Taiwan. I got an over 20 year old 10" Harbor Freight contractors table saw used a few years ago that was made in Taiwan. It could use getting a better fence to make it more accurate but it's a good tool. Frankly Boomers sold off all American brands to overseas to save on cost in turn made this country unable to develop it's own tools or have a viable market to be able to do that.
Like watch Strange Parts channel. The Chinese has an amazing open marketplace for tools, tooling, and other industrial supplies that would make people's jaws drop. There is an whole city dedicated to it.
Thanks Stumpy, I'm 83 now and my Dad, who worked for International Harvester as a dairyman on their Experimental Farm at Hinsdale, IL and had had mostly Craftsman tools as I grew up. His Farher-in-law was a cabinet maker/home builder in Southern Illinois from the 20's into the early part of WW 2 and passed in 1947. As a young man in the late 50's and early 60's I started buying Craftsman tools with each paycheck many of which I still have but at this age their use is waining. About 1967 I bought an 8" Craftsman table saw from a contractor that went out of business, making a better stand and collecting and making many accessories for it. It's still in my garage and used occasionally. I inherited a Delta/Milwaukee 12" radial arm saw and Atlas metal lathe from an Uncle which I used for years but for lack of space are gone now, dern. As we down sized many of my tools went to who knows who at the Estate Sale. Many that I kept are those of Grandpas, Dads and several of his brothers which carry a lot of memories as I use them on occasion. Making wood urns for my late brother and other relatives using those tools brings meaning to family members, and self. Having only a daughter, who is an artist she gets many of the tools, and is pretty good with them.
In your video about the Craftsman line I saw no mention of "DUNLAP" tools. I had a small Dunlap jig saw from Grandpa, unfortunately sold some 40 years ago to a young fellow, but still have Grandpa's 7/16_⅜ DUNLAP open end wrench. It has the Dunlap name with the sizes on one side and "Forged in USA with a small V, for vanadium I'd suppose on the back side. I also have a 1939 Craftsman tool catalog, it's location eludes me right now, but no doubt a lower quality line of tools Sears marketed at the time.
Again thanks for the informative videos. Jim Martin
Thank you Mr Martin for sharing your story. Working with a tool owned by a family member for decades is a special experience. I hope your daughter treasures the tools she gets from you. I have many 60s and 70s era tools that belonged to my father. For the last few years I have begun to collect older tools. Often times I buy them from relatives of the original owner who have no use for them but want them to go to a good home. Some times I buy them from the original owners who are downsizing their residence. I always seek to respect what the tool has already done. I am also aware of what it meant to the owner who paid good money for it and then took good care of it for many long years.
I never knew half of what you presented. My dad’s old Craftsman tools are GOLDEN. The 79 piece Mechanics set I was given in 1970 still are excellent tools. I have a New Old Stock Craftsman tool box that is in MINT condition. No more Craftsman for me ever again. I am totally set up. Well Done presentation!
I worked in the hardware department of Sears in 2005-06, specifically cleaning up the messes their hotshot sales managers were making by selling out the last bit of goodwill the Craftsman name had, all while rolling out a bevy of changes, limitations, and exceptions to the very legendary warranty they were advertising. I had a 70-year-old man bring in a Craftsman corded drill from the late 50s that had finally given up the ghost, expecting for a brand-new replacement; that didn't apply, so he left it on the counter and walked out in a huff.
I just made a comment about a man that replaced his Craftsmen tools with Snap-On tools. He went through that same thing around that same time span 2005 to 2010.
@@THE-michaelmyers Yeah, I got out just as "Fast Eddie" Lampert (the then hedge fund golden boy CEO of Sears) was making all the changes that ended up destroying the retail titan and netting himself a billion dollar windfall as he put thousands of families out of work.
I love history lessons like this. But learning about brands that might be best avoided for now begs the question...which brands are the ones now in their heyday, and which we can have confidence in - and why? Harvey is a relatively new consumer brand in the US, and I think it is taking maybe the opposite journey from making everyone else's stuff to now making their own. That would be an interesting story. Perhaps also a look at "new" store brands like Rigid and Cobalt. There are interesting similarities and interbreeding going on I suspect (for example Delta's Cruzer and Rigid's miter saws, which seem nearly identical - is there a difference?).
Wright makes excellent wrenches, ratchets, and sockets. Made in USA.
Ridgid is owned by Emerson, but licenses it's power tools to TTI, which also has rights to build Ryobi (Ryobi is a Japanese manufacture) and other name brand tools. The "new" store brand Ridgid was founded in 1923
In the late seventies, early eighties I worked as a motorcycle mechanic at a large, well know Honda dealership. There were six full time and several part time mechanics working there. Everyone used Craftsman tools and most used them pretty much exclusively for their hand tools. Often, a tool was used outside of what it was designed for or to an extreme level resulting in a damaged or broken tool. Every one was replaced....no questions asked.
Got most of my hand tools in the early 70's as a young mechanic, still have and use them every day, but now when one breaks, and not that often, I am beyond ticked off that I will get a new NON- USA made tool/wrench , whatever. If I was starting out today, I might look into long time and legacy USA brand SK tools, they are made in the USA but SK is so intent on their tools quality, they actually OWN the steel mill that supplies the stock for their tools, so if something goes wrong in testing, they can immediately call over to the steel mill and find out why. As far as know, no other USA tool MFG goes to these great quality measures.
It seems like the common thread when it comes to previously high quality tool brands going down hill is this: mergers with multi-purpose companies that are more about trying to appeal to more and more demographics than they are about maintaining build quality.
Even some companies like Oliver and Powermatic, which back in the day (especially in Oliver's case) made absolute tank-quality machines, now seem to rely on the same exact overseas factories as most of the main machine brands (Jet, Grizzly, Laguna, etc.) do (before, of course, putting their own unique finishing touches and logos on them). Just look at how similar the physical shapes and sizes of these tools are across all the brands. And while they are still solid quality, they're nothing like they used to be. The contrast between old Craftsman and new Craftsman is even more stark.
I get the need for making tools and even big machines financially accessible for hobbyist woodworkers and even single-man shop pros, and to be fair, many of these same brands still produce great quality tools overall. However, at the same time, it makes me sad to see companies get acquired by these giant corporations and the quality go down (or even still maintain their ownership in the US but outsource their manufacturing, much like Oliver and Powermatic).
I have a Porter Cable (690, 1.75 HP) router and despite the fact that it's from the late 2000s (bought it in late 2007) and thus was not USA made (Mexico, I think), it's still one heck of a solid router that has never come close to failing me even on super hard woods with big bits, so I'm gonna cling to it with all my might. When I get a second, more powerful router for a router table, I'm gonna give vintage Porter Cable ones a look.
You are looking at this from the point of view of the consumer instead of the companies.
Slash and burn economics has been the MO of this country for a while now: take a brand with a reputation for quality, grind it into dust, and laugh all the way to the bank until people get wise. Then sell the hollowed out carcass for someone else to rebuild.
Rinse and repeat.
I’m a young mechanic. I go to garage sales and buy people’s grandfathers tools. I have found so many craftsman wrench sets from the 70s and 80sThey are so strong 💪 so I just scrub them up or have them laser cleaned.