Shopsmith Forums

Has anyone seen these new Craftsman V-series tools? Supposedly these are supposed to start showing up in Lowes. I still have my cheap socket sets and ratchets. I had always hoped to upgrade them someday, but just have never gotten around to it. Then Sears and Craftsman went out of business, sort of, so I stopped looking. It looks like these new tools might be a copy or re-branding of the Facom brand of hand tools, which I believe are a solid European brand. Guessing these won't have the lifetime replacement warranty like the old Craftsman tools had. Anyone have any thoughts on Craftsman trying to resurrect itself with this new pro line of tools? Just wondering if these will be worth it, or if there are better brands to consider.

Not my favorite YT channel, but including the video below because it is how I first learned of this new tool line from Craftsman:

Whatever ends up working for them is probably good. I bought most of my Craftsman hand tools back in the early 70s, and to this day have almost all of them in use with no problems. I did have to replace one of their newer 1990s ratchet wrenches because the 90s quality was not as good as the 70s stuff. I was lucky however because I took it back to Sears and they offered me a rebuilt 70s ratchet as a replacement. That solved the problem

I have no interest in more hand tools as my toolbox already contains all I need.

Yeah, I have heard the older tool sets from Craftsman and other manufacturers are higher quality than many of them sold today. So much so that I believe some of these are hard to acquire these days because they are in such high demand. IF I thought I could get a complete set of vintage sockets from a good manufacturer, I would definitely do it.

What brand does yer best mechanic use?

Mac still around?

JPG wrote: ↑Sun Oct 03, 2021 7:06 pm What brand does yer best mechanic use?

Mac still around?

Yes, I see the MAC tool truck around here on occasion. As far as I know Snap-On is still a top brand, too. I've always liked Craftsman, a decent balance of price, quality, and availability IMO. I'm happy if this change means better tools at some retailers.

- David

I like my "60's" handles better than more recent designs. I really notice the difference the instant I pick a driver out of de tool box. Glad to see some attention being paid to creature comfort.

Thanks guys. Yeah, I believe MAC and Snap-On are still top brands. I don't know as much about MAC as I do Snap-On though. A while back I read that the quality on Snap-On tools had declined the last decade or so. I don't have specifics on this, but I am guessing it is similar to what has happened with Starrett and similar brands where quality on some product lines start to decline with a shift in manufacture to low cost centers around the world. I don't wrench on my vehicles as much as I used to, but still I need tools for taking care of the house as well as maintaining my power tools. Hard to justify a premium brand like a Snap-On for my needs, but then I believe they are so expensive because of the whole tool truck mobile model and financing they offer to mechanics. I have a decent set of open end & box wrenches in both SAE and metric, but my socket sets are cheap, cheap versions I got back in college decades ago. Been wanting to replace them with something better for years. Whenever I have needed an odd size socket that I didn't have, I have purchased them individually from Lowes in the past getting their Kobalt brand. I figured one day, I would just buy a whole set of Kobalt, but it seems like Lowes has been displacing this tool brand in favor of Craftsman and others. I am going to keep an eye out to see how this new Craftsman line fares. If a good deal pops up on them, I will probably pull the trigger on a set. Any other sockets or wrenches in maybe the prosumer range that I should consider? Snap-On and MAC are great brands, but probably out of reach for me.

I to still have a lot of my old craftsman tools but I have to give credit to snap on, their customer service is spot on most of the time , they will bring tools to your business like MAC if you need , and most of the time they are pretty fast about it . I needed repair on our semi once in the middle of no where and they showed up to the repair shop in record time, not only with the tools the technician needed but they stopped and picked up a fuel filter for us on their way .and I got a free hat lol , MAC has also been a good company for us .

Hobbyman2 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 05, 2021 12:44 am I to still have a lot of my old craftsman tools but I have to give credit to snap on, their customer service is spot on most of the time , they will bring tools to your business like MAC if you need , and most of the time they are pretty fast about it . I needed repair on our semi once in the middle of no where and they showed up to the repair shop in record time, not only with the tools the technician needed but they stopped and picked up a fuel filter for us on their way .and I got a free hat lol , MAC has also been a good company for us .

I knew a guy named Bobby down in New York. He drove a Snap-On truck and had a reputation for spotting a vehicle broken down on the road and stopping to help the guy fix it and sell him the tools he needed. He was a fantastic salesman and loved tools. In fact when it came to tools he was a real nut about them and opened a tool shop now well known called The Tool Nut.

edma194 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 05, 2021 11:04 am I knew a guy named Bobby down in New York. He drove a Snap-On truck and had a reputation for spotting a vehicle broken down on the road and stopping to help the guy fix it and sell him the tools he needed. He was a fantastic salesman and loved tools. In fact when it came to tools he was a real nut about them and opened a tool shop now well known called The Tool Nut.

Thanks Ed. Very interesting. Yeah, I stumbled upon ToolNut the last 1-2 years buying some Festool products from them. Hadn't heard of them before. Interesting to know this history about that company.