Craftsman is back!

[troyboy]

Looks like SB&D has turned the brand around. Lowes has an outstanding inventory and the Craftsman line is improving by leaps and bounds. Unfortunatly the C3 line is dead and I would venture Kobalt is not going to survive. Maybe Sears will turn around?

[osteodoc08]

I see it as a marquis of a time gone bye. Sold to the highest bidder and built for the lowest cost. Could be wrong. Been wrong before.

[shooterg]

If they ain't Made in USA they ain't back.

[Texas by God]

I’m going to buy a Craftsman mower tomorrow. The last one I had I gave to my daughter after using it for 20 years.

[Mal Paso]

Stanley bought Craftsman Tools last I heard.

I bought a metric wrench set. Decent Quality/Price. Harbor Freight doesn't believe there are 18mm nuts.

[Nueces]

Ace hardware stores also carry Craftsman, at least in central Texas. And I discovered last month that they will still honor the lifetime guarantee for tools. Not fun to wave bye-bye to Sears, but some luster remains on the Craftsman brand.

[Bazoo]

I have some of the new made in china craftsman tools. Better than nothin. I got a bunch from pawn shops that are made in the USA.... Much better than the new. Far as I'm concerned craftsman is dead unless they start making them in the USA again.

Kobalt stuff is okay, probably better than china craftsman. It used to be made in the USA by snap on. Those were real good.

[samari46]

When the craftsman brand tanked all the hand tools like wrenches,sockets and ratchets that Kobalt made and sold in Lowes was my next choice. Have not been disappointed at all. Sturdy, good quality and although not cheap give me good service for the money. Lowes had been working over their tool world since before Christmas and when they started putting the craftsman brand on the shelves I guessed that they had switched their house brand. Wally world does sell some craftsman stuff. Most of my Craftsman power tools and hand tools are pushing close to 30 years. Still have Proto,Armstrong, Snap On, and a few others. At 72 doubt I'll be buying any craftsman power tools or wrenches any time soon. There are a couple web sites where you can buy replacement parts for almost any power tool sold in the U.S. Have to refurbish some of them. Frank

[Hannibal]

I bought all the hand tools I'll ever need as a young man. Screwdrivers seem to need occasional replacement no matter who the manufacturer is, otherwise I'm quite happy to not need to worry about it.

[MrHarmless]

I’m going to buy a Craftsman mower tomorrow. The last one I had I gave to my daughter after using it for 20 years.

Definitely go for it. I bought a Craftsman push mower, model #37460, last year, and aside from sharpening the blades and adding oil once in a while, I have had absolutely no problems with it.

Never had to pull more than three times.

[abunaitoo]

First set of tool I got were Craftsman.
Back in 1967.
Still have them today.
Over the years more of them joined the family.
along with Proto, snap-on, and others.
I wonder if Lowes, Ace will still honor the lifetime replacement warrenty????

[labradigger1]

Craftsman lost my business when they quit warranting certain tools that previously had the warranty, pipe cutters and tape measures for example. The death nail was the made in China stamping. They had a great run but I’m done with them.
I bought all my tools when young and rarely need anything new. If it doesn’t say USA then it’s not for me.

[bedbugbilly]

As the old saying goes - "You can put a pig in a dress and take her to the prom, but when you take her home and fo to kiss her goodnight, you're still kissing a pig."

Years ago, Craftsman had good tools and good warranty - putting the name "Craftsman" on a Chinese made tool doesn't make it the "old Craftsman" that many of us grew up with. I'm not saying that the tools are necessarily bad - some may be excellent - but we live in a disposable society and unfortunately, many of the old tool lines that we respected many years ago no longer exist as they did.

[Rick Hodges]

Even before they went to China they changed the design of open end and box wrenches. They made the ends much heavier and thicker...reinforced them. I'm sure it cut down on the amount of returns for sprung wrenches, but it also make them more difficult to get into places. My set was my fathers that he purchased in 1948, and except for a few replacement wrenches that I sprung are still going strong.

[frkelly74]

25' Tape measure and 4' level. both are on their 4th free replacement. It has been a while since I had to try the free replacement but it is encouraging to see that they are still twitching in some iteration. The 4' level I tried to replace at Ace but they didn't have the correct one, but the Sears store in Kalamazoo did at the time, or at least close enough. I traded the slope bubble feature for the magnetic strip, which was a good trade as far as I am concerned. I do not think they were necessarily better than other tools but the free replacement when you cut off your tape or your lever goes off was/is great.

[bob208]

Lowes does honor the warranty. I am still using craftsman wrenches I bought in 69 even have the top box I bought that same year. I also have proto and s-k.

[NWPilgrim]

I saw all the red/white Craftsman tools at Lowes but assumed still made in China. After they started that years ago I ended up buying Husky wrenches at Home Depot. Still made in China but HD is only one mile away and the tools look decently designed and have a replacement warranty.

I have my Dad’s Craftsman 1/2” socket set from the late 50s and my own multiple USA sets and wrenches. So if Lowe’s is honoring the legacy warranty I might end up buying replacements for lost items there.

Btw, the thicker open end wrench ends was not for more support. They just use fewer blank sizes. If you look at the entire lineup of a set of wrenches you see that about every third one looks normal and then the next two are thicker, then normal thickness again. I’m sorry but that is fugly and as mentioned, reduces your work space in tight quarters. Craftsman is not the only China brand that does this.

All of my electrician tools are now Klein. My power tools are Milwaukee. Tape measures Stanley or DeWalt. Went to replace the blade in a Stanley 25’ tape and found the plastic case version is cheaper than the blade itself, by a lot. I still replaced the blade in my metal cased measure but bought a second tape in the plastic case model.

If anyone finds a reliable source of USA made sockets and combo wrenches other than the shop truck brands I would like to know so I can try them out.

[Boolit_Head]

I still have some of my original craftsman tools from the 70's. But they get hard to find because my box grew from the hand carried pit box to two 26 inch wide craftsman units. One even has a side cab on it.

[OS OK]

if they ain't made in usa they ain't back.

ditto

[Conditor22]

Craftsman built their name when they were made in the USA, quality tools that lasted. A lifetime warranty is nice BUT having a tool break when you need it and don't have time to go replace it sucks. That's why most professionals pay more $ for tools that last.
Diehard batteries used to be made by interstate when they got their stellar reputation, now it's just farmed out to the cheapest bidder. The new owner (a few years now) of sears bought the chain as a tax write-off and didn't give a rip about the company.
I used to have a Sears card, the family and I used to go there regularly many years ago. For the last, almost 20 years the only time I'd go to sears was for a tool replacement.