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.

 

[Guest111]

I have a friend who is the UK sales manager for a well known foreign tool company,when I first met her,yes she,s female,I was surprised how much she knew about tools,and I mean she really knows her stuff,she can tell you anything you want to know about how different metals affect tool strength etc,blade tempering,all the important stuff.Anyway I asked her how come she knew so much about tools and it turned out she was brought up in Sheffield and her dad worked for Record tools,so she grew up learning all about them,I went to a large tool show and her firm were there,I buy stuff from them every so often,but only ever deal with her,some of the blokes faces are a picture when they realise she knows more than most of the blokes do.

 

[Geordie Spark]

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

I still have my 0" - 1" micrometer that I got when I was 14 ready to start work at 15. Every one then had their own personal 0"- 1" with the company providing the larger ones for whichever job you were doing.

Mine isn't a Moore & Wright though - it's a Shardlow which I think is / was an American make and I preferred it to the Moore & Wright. It fitted my hand better (felt "right" to me) and is easier to read.

Back then, when I was younger and my eyesight was better than it is now, I could - and did - work to tolerances of two tenths of a thou. OFTEN!!

 

[uksparks]

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.

Likewise, all my pliers and cutters are Knipex and still as sharp as day one. The only one I had a problem was, was the high leverage cutters from knipex, not sure what happened but I was just trimming cable and they jammed so jammed I could not shift them. I called knipex who said post them to thm and they will either fix or replace for free.

Anyway, I managed to resolve it by forcing them and a tin of wd40, but even after the incident, they work like new.

 

[Geordie Spark]

Likewise, all my pliers and cutters are Knipex and still as sharp as day one. The only one I had a problem was, was the high leverage cutters from knipex, not sure what happened but I was just trimming cable and they jammed so jammed I could not shift them. I called knipex who said post them to thm and they will either fix or replace for free.

Anyway, I managed to resolve it by forcing them and a tin of wd40, but even after the incident, they work like new.

My builder mate likes to go fishing with his rod off South Shields pier and he uses WD40 as bait !!

He sprays the line and hook area of it & casts it into the sea.

Apparently, WD40 has fish oil in it - or so he tells me - and the fish can smell it and are attracted to his line, but whatever .. he always catches something to bring home.

 

[tidyboiler]

My builder mate likes to go fishing with his rod off South Shields pier and he uses WD40 as bait !!

He sprays the line and hook area of it & casts it into the sea.

Apparently, WD40 has fish oil in it - or so he tells me - and the fish can smell it and are attracted to his line, but whatever .. he always catches something to bring home.

Pity he's so dense, it was a cockney boot.

 

[telectrix]

i used to get the ex. to dive off the pier. the resulting tsumani washed no end of fish up on the beach.

 

[billyblade]

I still have my 0" - 1" micrometer that I got when I was 14 ready to start work at 15. Every one then had their own personal 0"- 1" with the company providing the larger ones for whichever job you were doing.

Mine isn't a Moore & Wright though - it's a Shardlow which I think is / was an American make and I preferred it to the Moore & Wright. It fitted my hand better (felt "right" to me) and is easier to read.

Back then, when I was younger and my eyesight was better than it is now, I could - and did - work to tolerances of two tenths of a thou. OFTEN!!

(Ambrose) Shardlow was an English company based in Sheffield. My Dad used to work for them as a steel moulder. They used to make crankshafts for Spitfires during WW2 and were one of the reasons we got blitzed!!

Here's an advert for Shardlows micrometers:-