Do what ya gotta do man. Do iit up!

 

I use snap-apart tools every day at work, I very rarely go a week without breaking something, I had a ratchet come apart on me last week and I have the busted knuckle to prove it. The POS harbour freight tools I have for my jeep and truck wont die even though they are rusted to hell and back due to my box leaking. I will never waste money on a brand name tool like snap-apart, when I can spend half and get twice as many tools.

 

I own mostly craftsman for my mechanics tools (wrenches, sockets, ratchets).

When I was an ironworker (cant do it anymore), Klein and Proto populated my box. Both brands are pricey, but define the monikers heavy duty and professional grade. I still use many of these tools (spud wrenches and sleever bar in particular) on a fairly regular basis when performing repairs on my truck (you'd be surprised what you can do with a spud wrench and a little know how).

Both of my boxes are Kennedy brand, they are ~50 years old (gift from my grandfather), which is slightly more than 2x my age, and they will likely outlive me.

LOL

I see your 1000lbs, and raise 500. Ingersoll Rand 1 inch drive bad mutherfukker impact for the win.

 

I finally bought a Craftsman pry bar yesterday that I've been eyeballing for like a year. I haven't bought it before now because I didn't have an immediate need for it but I believe this thing will come in handy some day.
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...G5#reviewsWrap

The lifetime warranty is what made me decide to go ahead and get it. I was a bit concerned with the gears in the head of it stripping but if they do then I'll just call Craftsman and get them to send me another one.

 

Yeah but all ratchets suck. Just like using a gear wrench to try and break a bolt free, that's just gonna break it.
I gave up on Craftsman when they stopped replacing them and handed me a KIT to rebuild the internal pawl mechanism.

I used a co-workers HF wrench to take off a Hydraulic line In a cleanroom, about 20 years ago. It was 1 1/8" and when it snapped I went through the lexan wall into the next room......That pissed me off
Never had a snap on or mac or craftsman or proto etc combination wrench break, had the open end stretch a bit but never on the Snap on or Mac

 

i have an assortment of some good tools and a lot of cheap chinese stuff. i pretty much started with nothing, and as a shade tree hobby, i can't afford to spend a lot of money on toys.

i started buying cheap tools years ago from a harbor freight type traveling show that came through town about once a year. the $100-150 i'd spend on 50 cheap tools wouldn't buy 5 pieces of snap-on or mac. so i collected an assortment of stuff that allowed me to keep the family fleet running, remodeled the house, built a deer camp, etc. and with cheap stuff, you learn its limits... i've still got most of it and still use them. i've got some stanley hand tools that have been really good. they came from walmart LOL.

i wore out every cheap crappy black and decker power tool i ever bought, and learned my lesson on that. i've replaced everything power with Dewalt or Rigid. I bought most of the Dewalt stuff from ebay either refurbed or used/like new. the refurb'ed stuff has been great. as good as new.

As said - pawn shops and craigslist are another good place to look for stuff, although you have to be really careful with pawn shops, know the used value, and hold the line on price. i've not had much luck at pawn. the shops around here pay so little for the goods, that they'll sit on them forever waiting on a big price. plus, most of its worn slap out from commercial use.

 

freight tools have a life time warratny on all hand tools

i also have a full set of popular mechanics(i dont know who made them) wrenches up to 1inch, they came form walmart i think about 10 years ago

they have been realy good

 

Pawn Shops are a great place to find tools and they ain't always used either. I bought a Craftsman Weed Eater and a DeWalt skill saw over 15 years ago from a pawn shop where I used to do the computer work at for $100 for both, NEW IN THE BOX. Obviously these "fell off a truck" somewhere as the boxes were still wrapped in plastic.

Still using both to this day...

Side Note: I also bought three Quantum bait casting reels for another $100 ($33.33 each) that same day. High end reels that were each over $100 at Bass Pro. Also new-in-box. Two of the three are still operational. You can get some real good deals in pawn shops, LOL...

 

Can also get some sick guns from pawn shops to lol.... I ALMOST bought a Scar Semi Auto Rifle from one in New Mexico. 1250 new without the attachments that were on it, 1500 for it and all the attachments. Man was that thing sick.

 

the only thing i sometimes buy at the pawn shop is the odd old video game and that is only if it is no more than $5. i find i can usually buy most tools brand new for a bit cheaper than i could get them at the pawn shop. you should see my compressor with a 60 gallon tank that i got brand new for $510 after taxes. since i have bought it i don't think i have seen a compressor with a 60 gallon tank for that cheap.