Electric Impact Gun at HF!

[seabob4]

Take this with a grain of salt but a guy at Sears told me Craftsman, Kobalt, and Husky tools are made by the same company,and they do look the same but they have two plants, the Craftsmans are made here and the rest China.

As long as most consumers want the cheapest price no matter what and China is willing to put 10 year olds to work nothing will change, i just ask for a choice, i bought some shrimp today and had two choices, farm raised in Tieland or wild caught US for 2 bucks more a pound, i bought US but that was only 6 bucks more, when it comes to other things such as tools it's hard to swing sometimes since we are not all made of money but you do what you can  

I hate the global economy, yet I take advantage of it.  Hypocrisy at it's best.  Human nature, I suppose...

[Circle Hooked]

Take this with a grain of salt but a guy at Sears told me Craftsman, Kobalt, and Husky tools are made by the same company,and they do look the same but they have two plants, the Craftsmans are made here and the rest China.

As long as most consumers want the cheapest price no matter what and China is willing to put 10 year olds to work nothing will change, i just ask for a choice, i bought some shrimp today and had two choices, farm raised in Tieland or wild caught US for 2 bucks more a pound, i bought US but that was only 6 bucks more, when it comes to other things such as tools it's hard to swing sometimes since we are not all made of money but you do what you can  

I hate the global economy, yet I take advantage of it.  Hypocrisy at it's best.  Human nature, I suppose...

We are all guilty of that, another bad part about the whole China thing is if you have a loan  on your house China owns most of it and most of us in one way or another.

[wingtime]

Almost all of my hand tools are Craftsman.  I have rarely had to take one back..  and usually If I did the failure was probably my fault anyways.  I have bought a few Harbor Freight tools. I don't mind buying from them since they are a Customer of mine now.  I don't expect much from them and I don't buy the extended warranty either.  The quality of Chinese tools has gotten better.    I can tell you that American made tools are considerably higher quality than the China tools.  For instance  I have several pneumatic drills in my aircraft tool box.  One of them cost over $200.   The other two probably $30 each.  The American made drill is SO much smoother and quieter it's not even in the same ball park.  Heck it even has Pachmyer grips on it!

[fitz73222]

Just to shed a bright light on what's really going on in China... China is not without its major problems that are looming in the near future. China's manufacturing labor costs have risen 200% in the last several years. Granted the labor costs are still far below this country but the trend is there and will continue. They have a huge employee turnover issue for the same reasons employees leave companies here; more money and better working conditions. Chinese have the same desire to own property, new cars, better education, healthcare, Levi jeans, clean water, etc and only higher income will support that. We Americans are quite revered in China because we represent all the things that they desire. In the meantime, as a result of our economic collapse US companies have retooled and automated processes to the point that the Chinese low labor cost no longer is a threat to US manufacturing as it once was and many companies have pulled out of China and moved operations back here mainly due to quality, shipping logistics and communication issues. There are many plant closings throughout China because of the lower labor cost in other Asian countries so it's happening to them as well on a huge scale. The Chinese government is bank rolling their economic growth  and is starting to realize that they can't export their way into prosperity so the paradigm shift is to grow their own internal markets and support their economy from within. I really believe that the worst times are behind us in this country from a manufacturing standpoint and in the next decade we are going to be on a much more level playing field against low labor cost countries because we are the worlds entrepreners, engineers and wealth producers. I've had 5 trips to China in the last 3 years and I'm seeing what I've talked about and have had many conversations with Chinese manufacturing managers and owners. You guys remember when Japan was the low cost junk producer in the 70's and 80's? We had plant closings, layoffs, loss of personal wealth and we recovered. Look at Japan now; they don't make junk anymore, they automated, produced personal wealth and build some of the highest quality electronics products in the world among other things with a very high standard of living compared to the rest of Asia. So if the Chinese, Vietnamese and Malaysians want to build our disposable junk; let um. Next it will be India and then eastern Europe. We'll just keep getting smarter like we always have...

[gran398]

Fitz my friend that was an excellent analysis. Thank you.

Thoughts like those give us hope for the future. What a shame that this country is mired in quicksand with our  "leadership" and backscratch politics. There was a feature the other night on the news that said members of Congress made more money in the stock market than the average investor because they were privy to upcoming regulatory issues/law changes affecting specific sectors/industries.

Of course, they were quick to say it wasn't exactly insider trading...but to me smelly nevertheless.

[fitz73222]

In anticipation of Mamas return home from her daughters house today, I decided to get the Christmas tree and decorations down and have the place spic and span before her arrival. After sweeping up the dead needles I took out her new $600 Dyson big ball vacuum cleaner and started the task. Within one one minute it plugged like it ate 3 bananas. She is made by the equivalent of the RAF in England; a proper country for sure. I started to diassemble and quickly realized a trip to the cave is in order to remove the constipation. Next I went and got the old reliable Bissel turbo vac, made in Korea and she plugged in about 2 minutes! Not to be outdone I went and got her little POS Dirt Devil for $29.95, Chinese made electric broom and sucked every needle up without a hiccup!

The moral of the story is get a damn artificial Christmas tree, made in China so I can just throw the whole POS in garbage and get a new one every year!

[Aswaff400]

The moral of the story is get a damn artificial Christmas tree, made in China so I can just throw the whole POS in garbage and get a new one every year!

we where tired of cleaning needles every year, and spending $80 plus on a nice tall tree, we spent $500 on a nice pre-lit from sears(most likely made in china), 8 years later, not a burnt bulb and still looks like it did the first year we got it, and from 5 ft away, it looks like a real tree... the box on the other hand, its seen better days

[SC170nFL]

I bought the cordless DeWalt to carry on the road in case of emergency. Never know when it will be needed. Had a shell puncture a brand new tire at the boat landing during Charleston Octoberfest and had to borrow a spare from Gone Fission. Thanks again, John

[seabob4]

The reason for that impact gun was to get this old wheel off...



Once the nut was off, rented (rent is the wrong word, borrow it with a deposit, get your money back when you return it) a steering wheel puller from Autozone, with some mods to the old steering wheel (drill and tap a couple holes), she came off...WITH A FIGHT!

But the new Edson looks sweet...



Installed with Lithium grease on the shaft...

[Spectre5922]

Hi. My name is Brent and I'm a toolaholic!  lol. Seriously... I have Craftsman hand tools and for the most part, like them. I won't buy Craftsman power tools because they are just knock offs of other brands. My Bosch jig saw and the Craftsman are identical. I bought the Bosch for $10 more because it said Bosch on it. I don't associate Craftsman with quality the way that I used to and they really hacked me off when they killed the tape measure warranty since I use one every day. For the most part, Stanley hand tools are just as good as Craftsman now and are cheaper. I have Porter Cable, Ryobi, Bosch, DeWalt and several other brands. Each serve their purpose and all work pretty much equally as well. The best deal out there is the Ryobi 18v tools. The batteries are $50 for 2 instead of $80 for 1 like Dewalt. The accessories and add-ons are usually under $100 instead of several hundred $$$ like the big names, and they work great! I have a HF angle grinder, air die grinder and a few ratchets that also work just fine. When I was young, I bought to be able to say my stuff was Milwaukee, Porter Cable, Dewalt, Snap On, etc. Now, I just buy what works without taking out a second mortgage.