I see Sears sold the Craftsman brand to Stanley, a division of B&D. While many of the Craftsman power tools have been nothing but crud lately, their mechanics tools were still very good....guess that will all change now. I'm wondering how in the world will they make the power tools worse than they are currently?

Edited November 24, 20178 yr by Ron Dudelston
tags added

anything is an improvement no matter how bad it gets...

22 minutes ago, Stick486 said:

anything is an improvement no matter how bad it gets...

I have my doubts. B&D can screw up an anvil.

• I haven't purchased even hand tools from Sears for a long time. The "lifetime" guarantee has been watered down time and again. Ace hardware has a very good warranty on their tools and that's now where I get most of mine.

Steve

34 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

I have my doubts. B&D can screw up an anvil.

My mechanics tool buying days are behind me, so I won't be impacted...but others just starting out will (maybe) need to find another source. I will feel the impact if one of my current hand tools breaks, and they offer to replace it with some thing form China (I'm sure that will be the case). But like Steve, I haven't bought anything form sears in a very, very, long time. In the late 60's and early 70's if I needed a tool I'd check out the Craftsman tool catalog and then go buy what I needed......those days are long gone.

Not sure what to think of this?

Wonder if they are going to abide by the lifetime warranty portion of the tools? 

I plan on retiring in a decade or so, @Fred W. Hargis, Jr " I started with absolutely nothing. Now thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance I find I have most of it left.", your signature, is this what I have to look forward to!

Well, if you work at it as hard as i did. It's not easy holding onto nothing!

John, follow my example. You'll double your nothing in no time.

Actually, I'm working on my third million. I gave up on the first two.

45 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

John, follow my example. You'll double your nothing in no time.

Actually, I'm working on my third million. I gave up on the first two.

 

From what I have seen of B&D and Skil ,they are very close to the Craftsman in quality, so I don't expect any improvement.

Herb

According to a blurb in the WSJ, B&D is supposedly going to open a new factory and mentioned making new Craftsman stuff in the US vs offshore.   Don't know if they will keep/improve the warranty stuff, but I still have (and can use) my original 1/4' B&D drill from 40 years ago and my pro-line drill and saw are as good as anybody's on the market (make before they bought that yellow company).  Ditto for my old Pirahna saw blades...   smooth, clean cuts in just about anything.

 

I don't work for any of them and i can't comment on current B&D, Stanley, etc., except that i generally avoid them as they're all made offshore.  Pretty much why i do my rust-hunting at Restores....   old made in us, not completely abused tools are almost always better than new stuff...my opinion.

Maybe B&D is looking to produce a quality line of power tools. Hopefully, the Craftsman name will be that quality line . Craftsman tools have never been manufactured by a single company, always the lowest bidder. MY Craftsman 14" BS made by Rikon has proven to be a decent BS for the money.

Wasn't it B&D that bought DeWalt and Porter-Cable in the last few years, then tried to decide where to position them?    P-C used to be my go-to brand when I started.   Not so much any more.

 

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/tools/a24624/sears-to-sell-the-craftsman-brand/?src=socialflowFB

There have been so many tool brands sold over the past few years that it's hard to keep up with everything. I thought that P C was sold to TTI in China. They then sold Delta to  brand to investors who were planning a factory in USA to manufacture the Delta line of tools.. IT's hard to keep track anymore.

Yah that's the bleedin stinkin end of Crapsman. And near the end they almost pulled the brand out of the toilet too.  Probably they couldn't because Kids these days are not building their own cars or making things. So there are way fewer tool consumers.

I'm still seeing a lot of younger guys interested in restoration of 50's - 70's cars.  Their not interested in chopping and cutting down the roof and winshields and overpowering the engines like we did in the 50's. Restoring to original seems to be the trend today. With the change in the Cuban relations, I think we'll see a lot of the 50's vintage cars coming back for restoration.

I was thinking that very thing when the Cuban thaw was announced.....I drool every time I see a news report and some of the amazing cars they have down there.

Guess time will tell...it is a sad day for America IMHO...grew up with K-Mart, Sears, Montgomery Wards, J.C. Penny's as did most communities...saw Macy's is also shutting down ~100 Stores and Kohl's is struggling too.

 

16 hours ago, p_toad said:

I don't work for any of them and i can't comment on current B&D, Stanley, etc., except that i generally avoid them as they're all made offshore.  Pretty much why i do my rust-hunting at Restores....   old made in us, not completely abused tools are almost always better than new stuff...my opinion.

Yep, me too...I have a "collection" of B&D corded U-series drills all made in the late 60's & early 70's...first started buying them for parts, then it kinda got out of control...one here, one there for $2-$5...one of the best drill series ever made...

 

My first power tool purchases back in the very early 70's were a Craftsman Router, 1/3 sheet sander, 3x21 belt sander, 7-1/4" Skil Saw, Skil 3/8" VS drill, Skil Jig Saw...still have all of them today and they all work. One of my prized tools is a Skil 8-1/4" circular saw that belonged to my grandfather. It's a beast to handle, but it will cut 2-1/4" rough sawn white oak like butter. My dad & I built farrowing stalls using it 50 years ago. I bought a Craftsman 10" table saw ~1977...still a good saw...I also have a number of B&D Contractor series tools, (Drywall Scru-gun, Reciprocating saw) bought in the mid 80's...all good tools.

 

Most of my mechanic hand tools are Snap-On & Mac, but I do have some Craftsman bought in the early days. Most all are 40+ years old and remain a quality tool.

 

In their day Craftsman, B&D and Skil were names synonymous with Quality, Reliability & Dependability...all when stuff was still made in the lower 48. Guess "Lifetime" is a subjective term. Well at least the CEO's still get their big bonuses and paychecks...hopefully they were able to parlay all their mega stock options into valuable commodities too before they hire someone at $8/ hour to nail plywood on the windows. I'll "de-rant" now