Goodbye Craftsman ... hello B&D?

[dud]

I still use my 30+ year old set of Craftsman tools to do my own preventative maintenance on our vehicles. I love how they have held up ... and that they were made in the USA. As you may already know, Sears Holdings is in a bad financial way. Personally, I haven't bought anything at Sears (other than a few Craftsman tools) there in 10+ years.

Then I read this:

Stanley Black & Decker to buy Sears' Craftsman brand for $900 million

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-sears-divestiture-stanley-black-idUSKBN14P1FI


This is just really sad. First, they started sourcing their tools from China ... now this.

 

[NutBucket]

Agreed. This is pretty terrible. Craftsman was about the one real asset Sears had aside from property. I like buying US made tools...I guess that just got a whole lot more expensive.

 

[jlee]

Craftsman's quality has gone downhill over the last decade or so. My go-to is Gearwrench now.

 

[LevelSea]

I wonder if this will affect Craftsman's warranty.

 

[pauldun170]

Decent read...including the comments.
http://toolguyd.com/gearwrench-or-craftsman-socket-set/

 

[NutBucket]

The warranty is kinda useless now as they'll be replacing your old US made tools with something imported. Not impressed.

 

[bruceb]

I prefer Snap-On Tools myself, but a very good brand is Cornwell Tools (both are made in the USA)
http://cornwelltools.com/

 

[twinrider1]

It's been a long time coming. Best we can hope for is B&D stops the transition toward China and shifts everything to Taiwan. Taiwan can make good tools. Probably wishful thinking.
I bet they've been shopping the DieHard brand. I can see some value there.
Kenmore? I've always had good luck with their branded stuff, but I don't see much value in the name. Some lower tier company will buy it.
After that all they have is the land they own. And they've been borrowing against it for a while now.

 

[NutBucket]

Kenmore is just a rebadge anyway. I would think most people know that by now. I think where Sears still has a lot of recognition is in-home appliance repair. But I'm even turned off by that since their prices are relatively high.

 

[pauldun170]

Kenmore is just a rebadge anyway. I would think most people know that by now. I think where Sears still has a lot of recognition is in-home appliance repair. But I'm even turned off by that since their prices are relatively high.

Everyone has made a Kenmore at one point over the last century.
http://www.electrical-forensics.com/MajorAppliances/KenmoreWhoMadeIt.html
http://www.appliance411.com/purchase/sears.shtml

 

[compman25]

I prefer Snap-On Tools myself, but a very good brand is Cornwell Tools (both are made in the USA)
http://cornwelltools.com/

Don't forget Wright Tool, they are US made http://www.wrighttool.com/ . Also US made, SK http://www.skhandtool.com/

 

[lxskllr]

My Craftsman stuff is 30 years old, and I like it all. I probably wouldn't buy it today. If I needed something *now*, I'd get it from harborfreight, then keep my eyes open in used channels for American made tools for permanent use.

 

[Zorba]

Agreed. This is pretty terrible. Craftsman was about the one real asset Sears had aside from property. I like buying US made tools...I guess that just got a whole lot more expensive.

Good luck finding any Craftsman tools still made in the US. They outsources almost all of it to China, quality went to crap but the price stayed the same or went up. The last Craftsman tool I bought was a 20 mm wrech, not only did it round off the nut because it was so out of tolerance, it cut my hand open because they didn't debur it correctly. It was also $25, took it back, got a Kobolt that was actually nice for $12.

IIRC, when Craftsman was actually made in the US, it was made by Stanely, which also makes MAC Tools. I see this as a very good thing, get Craftsman away from the death spiral so maybe we can actually get a good/affordable US made tool again. Stanely has said they will add US production for Craftsman.

 

[NutBucket]

I guess i haven't purchased a craftsman hand tool in over a decade. I think all of mine are US made.

Hopefully you are right about it returning to US production.

 

[Thump553]

Does B&D even make tools in the US anymore? They are headquartered in New Britain, CT and was the major manufacturer there for decades but I don't think they actually do any manufacturing there anymore.

<--Another owner of 30-40 yo Craftsman tools, the major reason they were my go to brand (I'm an incidental shade tree mechanic) was their lifetime warranty, which is now next to worthless IMO.

 

[WackyDan]

Agreed. This is pretty terrible. Craftsman was about the one real asset Sears had aside from property. I like buying US made tools...I guess that just got a whole lot more expensive.

I thought it had been quite some time since Craftsmen tools have been made in the USA anyway. Some are made in China and some Taiwan.

That said, you can buy quality tools made overseas. Made in USA is nice to have if it is quality. I've steered away from Made in USA when the tool was shit. Example, I bought one of the higher end GearWrench sets which are made in Taiwan. They have a shit brand sold in AutoZones for cheap, but the real GearWrench stuff is top notch.

Same for my trailer tires... Made in Thailand by a Canadian company, they are far better than the Goodyears made here in the U.S.

That's a shame, but it is also about money being well spent.

 

[WackyDan]

Good luck finding any Craftsman tools still made in the US. They outsources almost all of it to China, quality went to crap but the price stayed the same or went up. The last Craftsman tool I bought was a 20 mm wrech, not only did it round off the nut because it was so out of tolerance, it cut my hand open because they didn't debur it correctly. It was also $25, took it back, got a Kobolt that was actually nice for $12.

IIRC, when Craftsman was actually made in the US, it was made by Stanely, which also makes MAC Tools. I see this as a very good thing, get Craftsman away from the death spiral so maybe we can actually get a good/affordable US made tool again. Stanely has said they will add US production for Craftsman.

I suspect they'll position Craftsman as just above the B&D hand tool line... Which isn't saying much. Does the brand have value? Yes. We've seen this before though with many other brands that have been fire saled... The brand gets milked for all it is worth so I doubt very much good things are coming in regard to rebuilding the brand... But at least B&D bought it so there is a chance they'll rescue it.

 

[WackyDan]

Does B&D even make tools in the US anymore? They are headquartered in New Britain, CT and was the major manufacturer there for decades but I don't think they actually do any manufacturing there anymore.

<--Another owner of 30-40 yo Craftsman tools, the major reason they were my go to brand (I'm an incidental shade tree mechanic) was their lifetime warranty, which is now next to worthless IMO.

Doesn't Kobalt have lifetime warranty now too? I have a few old craftsman tools left, but I've been really happy with my Kobalts.

 

[RGN]

Folks laugh, but the Pittsburgh hand tools from Harbor Freight seem to hold up - for general shade tree mechanic work anyway. (944/E60/350z/Impreza and my buddies Exploder that always seems to be here for a wrench turn) I have a ton of Craftsman, both new and old, but when need something that I don't have, I've been picking up the HF stuff. The last thing was a deep well impact set, and I have done some bad shit to those sockets.... haven't broken one yet and the set was somewhere under $25. The fine tooth ratchets are pretty decent as well.

 

[Mike64]

Doesn't Kobalt have lifetime warranty now too?

Sort of. I've never tried to use it myself, but from what I've seen in reviews on Lowe's website, they won't honor it without a receipt. And while I'm among the first people to call out whiners who "can't find" their receipts a week after a purchase, that really is pretty shady for a so-called "lifetime" warranty (except insofar as they mean "the lifetime of the tool, whatever it ends up being".) It's not like you can read most thermal-print receipts even a year after they're printed anyway...

 

[MongGrel]

Craftsman Tools have been going downhill for decades anyway.

I'd agree on Snap-On being one of the best as far as hand tools these days.

 

[RLGL]

You guys are forgetting about Power Craft tools from Montgomery Wards. They also had a life time warranty that was taken over by Sears. i have some Power Craft that was from my father, along with a bunch of Craftsman purchased in the 70's

 

[NutBucket]

Maybe Power Craft was made by Craftsman hence they honored the warranty?

Anecdote: I broke a pair of Craftsman dikes that I managed to break. Sears didn't have anything comparable so they credited me the last retail price. That ended up being more then the Knipex I bought instead.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Sears will soon go the way of Wards. There is no coming back from selling off their iconic brand. I feel bad for the employees who have once again been screwed by poor management.

 

[Zorba]

Sears will soon go the way of Wards. There is no coming back from selling off their iconic brand. I feel bad for the employees who have once again been screwed by poor management.

I am pretty sure if you follow the history of the CEO and how he took over Kmart and Sears, I think the death of the brands is a function, not a bug. He is currently mortgaging all valuable assets... To himself. So when they do go belly up, he'll get all of the valuable assets and all other creditors get nothing. The longer he can keep them afloat the more interest he pays himself.