Hand tools - what not to buy!

[sparc]

I replaced two pairs of wire cutters a couple of months ago and they're blunt already! One was a Knipex plier/stripping set, a second from NWS, so not cheap rubbish - about £80 the pair.

I've only used the cutters for 2.5mm cable at most - cutting and stripping, but the NWS now won't even cut a cable tie, and the Knipex won't strip insulation!

What's going on??

I consider my work load to be fairly average, so I can't see how I have worn them out in two months. It's got to be the quality of materials used.

 

[monkeyelectric]

Anything by clarke is pants and ck screwdrivers ain't the best either!

 

[Geordie Spark]

What's going on you ask?

Back in the day, quality tools - and I mean QUALITY - were made in a little English town called Sheffield where they were canny hands at the art of steel making. and the tools were stamped with the words "Made in Sheffield - England"

Are those words stamped on the tools you buy today???

Somebody once told me that in Japan there is a town / city /collection of paper huts or what ever, that is named "Sheffield, England" so they can make cheap tools there and legitimately stamp them with those words.

 

[Pete999]

Were they Elliot Lucas by any chance? They were the best, Stanley wooden handled screwdrivers as well

 

[Andy78]

Knipex are still German made I believe. Mine are still sharp as the day I got them a year ago. I would send them back under warranty, that's just not good enough. They used to offer lifetime warranty but not sure these days.

 

[Geordie Spark]

Were they Elliot Lucas by any chance? They were the best, Stanley wooden handled screwdrivers as well

Almost every kind of tool you can think of - and quality cutlery too - was made in Sheffield.

My original trade is a precision engineer, so for me it was engineering tools and Moore & Wright is a brand that sticks in my mind.

Here's link I just found and I'm almost weeping with despair. Moore & Wright - Moore and Wright

Part of the text reads: "Now part of the eminent Bowers Group and with production facilities in the UK and China, "

.... and there you have it - the total decline of our once fine industries and why we can now only buy crap tools.

 

[shanky887614]

Almost every kind of tool you can think of - and quality cutlery too - was made in Sheffield.

My original trade is a precision engineer, so for me it was engineering tools and Moore & Wright is a brand that sticks in my mind.

Here's link I just found and I'm almost weeping with despair. Moore & Wright - Moore and Wright

Part of the text reads: "Now part of the eminent Bowers Group and with production facilities in the UK and China, "

.... and there you have it - the total decline of our once fine industries and why we can now only buy crap tools.

Ive got a couple sheffield steel straight razors and there real nice and hold there sharpness really well.

Very good for 100 year old steel

 

[shanky887614]

Ive got a couple sheffield steel straight razors and there real nice and hold there sharpness really well.

Very good for 100 year old steel

I mean carbon steel, bassically they rust like hell

 

[Robotstar5]

Were they Elliot Lucas by any chance? They were the best, Stanley wooden handled screwdrivers as well

Still got (and occasionally use) some Elliot Lucas pliers and cutters I bought in the 70's

 

[Pete999]

Good aint they?

 

[sparc]

I've got 'Made in Germany' stamped into the metal on a pair - but I've been told that could mean anything, such as they're attached to a bit of cardboard in Germany, but the working parts came from - Anywhere.

Globalisation - don'tcha love it? More and more cramp circling the world in containers. I'm old enough to still vaguely remember Japanese goods being considered inferior - so maybe there's hope for Chinese manufacturering yet.

 

[Geordie Spark]

Don't buy any hand tool that hasn't got a battery inside or a bit of wire with a plug on the end hanging out of it. :jester:

Seriously though, the cynic in me is thinking that pliers & side cutters etc. are like the current crop of Consumer Units & MCBS etc - No matter what brand they are, who's name is on them, they all come from the same factory in deepest China.

 

[Guest111]

What's going on you ask?

Back in the day, quality tools - and I mean QUALITY - were made in a little English town called Sheffield where they were canny hands at the art of steel making. and the tools were stamped with the words "Made in Sheffield - England"

Are those words stamped on the tools you buy today???

Somebody once told me that in Japan there is a town / city /collection of paper huts or what ever, that is named "Sheffield, England" so they can make cheap tools there and legitimately stamp them with those words.

Apparently there's one in china called USA pronounced oohsar as well,for the same reasons

 

[Guest111]

Moore and Wright micrometers,now there's a blast from the past,I bet most youngsters today couldn't even use one properly,let alone reset one,the last lad that had mine wanted to know "what the small knurled bit on the top does".

 

[billyblade]

Moore and Wright micrometers,now there's a blast from the past,I bet most youngsters today couldn't even use one properly,let alone reset one,the last lad that had mine wanted to know "what the small knurled bit on the top does".

I think most young 'uns would think it was a G-clamp.