Are they worth getting?

[ThomasPowers]

In Ohio with my geology degree I usually could pick up a piece of gravel with a fossil in it and tell them that "this is about 500 million years old---but I'll trade it for your 50 year old item even!" Funny I never had someone take me up on it; but it made the point that age doesn't necessarily mean valuable.

As for trying to get good deals online; well I still do better with TPAAAT.  A lot of online people see some items sell for really high prices online and don't understand that those are the exception not the rule---like their ASO compared with a NOS Sodefors anvil!

[Gazz]

I must have close to a hundred picks without handles and never paid more than a dollar for any of them.

[Frosty]

People selling online don't differentiate asking price from selling. Old dirty and rusty don't mean valuable antique. If I'm interested enough to stop by again and it's still there my offer is usually half my initial counter. On more than one occasion it's been given to me for nothing or bundled with every darned thing. Take it or leave it. <sigh> 

Bargaining is a learned skill and often entertaining as all git-out. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

I've had friends that will haggle for 2 hours just to knock a nickel off.

 

[Bantou]

10 hours ago, Frosty said:

Bargaining is a learned skill and often entertaining as all git-out. 

Frosty The Lucky.

When it comes to bargaining, Kenny Rogers gives great advice: “You gotta know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em...”

Edited May 22, 2021 by Bantou
Fixed autocorrect

[pnut]

8 hours ago, Bantou said:

“You gotta know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em...

I thought you were about to check what condition my condition was in. I'm breathing a sigh of relief

Pnut

[bluerooster]

brand new picks can be had for ~$40, complete with handle installed.  Wrenches of that size also not what the asking price is. But, It's at least 20 years old. :rolleyes:   I've got a box full of Craftsman tools that are getting close to 100 years old. I found that the lifetime warrenty isn't worth the paper it's printed on.  Had a broken socket, guy at the Sears store told me it wasn't a Craftsman tool. When it was plainly marked "Craftsman", with a part number.  But it didn't look like the new tools.  I've also got a few Snap-on tools that will probably be declined should they ever break, due to their appearance. (probably worth more as functioning antiques) But, I have the catalog they came from, and the receipt. :D 

[Frosty]

I've had that happen at the local Sears before they closed, I had to get the guy's supervisor and then it went up a few levels. Sears what few storefronts are still open are just retail sales. The internet has turned them back into catalogue sales. Just not as good. <sigh>

Frosty The Lucky.

[Daswulf]

I've run into the problem with older name brand tools and warranties. Mainly why I want a quality Tool from the get go, not a "quality" name.  Some will warrant  older tools but only with the new style. Which if you liked or preferred the original that you had, can be frustrating. 

[Frosty]

It's been a long time since Sears replaced a broken Craftsman power tool with a Craftsman. They closed their repair shop better than 20 years ago. A few years before that the Craftsman bench grinder I sharpened lathe cutters and drill bit on needed brushes so I took it in. Wrote the probably problem on the work order. 2 weeks later I checked and was told it was ready. I went in and it was disassembled and vacuum wrapped to pasteboard with "worn out. Replace." on a note under the plastic. They HAD however put a flex light on it! It didn't have one when I brought it in but they'd put a new one on and wanted to charge for it.

I ripped the counter guy a new one and left with the grinder and no charge to the State. I went across the street literally and spend IIRC $6 on a set of brushes and had it running perfectly half an hour after getting back to the shop. Heck it worked fine after I cleaned the contacts with a soft brush but the new brushes restored it to like new condition. 

Now all service is through a 3rd party. I used to LOVE Sears, my tool box was almost nothing but Craftsman as were my power tools. Now? HAH!

Frosty The Lucky.

[arkie]

I was talking to an old fella once as he was whittling on a piece of wood.  He had a brand spanking new Craftsman 3 blade pocket knife with about a 3" blade.  I asked him how he liked carving with his pocket knife, and he said he loved it.  "Just got it replaced", he said.  I asked why.  Seems that he had taken it into the Sears store (this was back when they honored the warranties) with the main blade only about 1/8" wide at the handle, tapered down to about 1/16" at the point after probably a hundreds of sharpenings.  "Worn out..." he told them.  They replaced his knife with an exact replacement!  Ahhh, the good old days....

[Frosty]

When I was a Boy Scout a troop member lost his Craftsman Boy Scout knife on a camp out Sears replaced it, no questions asked. He and his father had gone in to buy a new one. The man behind the counter took one out of the little box, unwrapped it from the oil paper handed it to the scout to check out ad told him to put it in his pocket, it's guaranteed unconditionally for life. 

They replaced Dad's tools as they wore out too. No questions asked. 

I guess if you don't have a warrantee you don't have to worry about quality control. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I have had a Sears credit card since 1969, the first credit card I applied for after getting out of the service. Like others here Craftsman tools were all I bought for my shop and they always honored the lifetime warranty. Right off hand, I can only remember using it once for a 3/8 in. drive ratchet and another for a 1/2 in. impact wrench. I have also bought a bunch of parts through the Sears parts direct store online. The last time I used the card, a little over a year ago, was for a motor start capacitor for our 30 year old Kenmore air conditioner.

Last week I got a letter from Sears about the card. It said because there was no activity in a year on the card my account would be closed unless I used it. I thought Pffft go ahead and close the account because it's become useless anyway and they wonder why they are going bankrupt and closing stores left & right.

[Glenn]

Sears tried  to replace my high dollar 1/2 inch drive socket wrench handle with the cheapest 1/2 inch drive socket wrench they had on the shelf.  I said no thank you as my handle was a bit larger, smooth, and was contoured and fit the hand.  Their new one was poorly made, with sharp edges, much smaller and did not fit comfortably in the hand.  Think professional grade that could be used for hours a day, to yes it is 1/2 inch drive but it hurts to use it because it is so poorly made.  Went to another Sears in another city and it was exchanged without question from stock in the back.  

Sears finally decided NOT to honor a friends original plastic card that was placed on the machine, covered with a paper and the machine lever activated to make an impression through the paper.  The wanted to issue him a new credit card with a mag stripe on the back.  He declined their offer.

The Craftsman brand has been sold and the stored offering that brand no longer anything but a minimum warranty with the product.  They definitely do not honor any warranty that was originally purchased with the original tool or product.

[Frosty]

Sears is just a marketing name anymore. The reality is a memory. 

At least Dominos pizza hasn't changed!

Frosty The Lucky.

[Daswulf]

Even the truck tool dealers change tool designs and can rarely offer original replacements. Luckily for the ratchets and some tools they can repair them on the truck. 

Many of the tool tuck companies seem like their heads got fat and they charge outrageous prices for things pricing themselves out of the market. The only one I truely like is Cornwell as of the last bunch of years. Snapon, mac, and Matco have Some tools that are stand alone over the rest of the brands but Cornwell seems to maintain value for the product better than others overpriced tools. 

Gearwrench tool brand seems to hold their own on sticking with good tool designs and warranties. I do love their products and they are sold in multiple places. Not to mention quality from the getgo. I've only had to get a very few tools warranted out of many I use regularly. 

Other than that it's all a pig in a poke of sorts. I sold most all of my craftsman sockets and wrenches for dirt cheap years ago and buy tools I have more faith in now. Funny how one of the biggest names in tools basically shot themselves in the foot. Craftsman does Not mean quality to me anymore. They Had some good products but I wouldnt buy anything from them now expecting any kind of warranty or much in the line of standards. 

[LeeJustice]

So since it has been brought up about Craftsman tools and the warranties...everyone selling that name now has their own unique SKU's for the tools that they sell.  So if you have one bought years ago at Sears, and try to exchange it at Ace hardware or any other retailer which sells Craftsman tools, they can decline the exchange.  It was not a Craftsman tool that they sold to you.  Take up your warranty exchange with the retailer that you bought it from.  Try to keep track of that!

[BillyBones]

On 5/22/2021 at 7:32 PM, bluerooster said:

I've also got a few Snap-on tools that will probably be declined should they ever break

Blue, Snap-on tools are quite collectable. In the 1920's they started with date codes. On the tool usually next to "Snap-on" is a small emblem. This shows what year the tool was made. I have run into a couple dealers who collect these tools and would give a new one for the old one even though nothing wrong, they just wanted the old one for themselves. Those codes are easily available on line and most Snap-on dealers keep a chart on the truck. Also the "Snap-on" logo has changed and some are more collectable than others. 

WW2 Snap-on is highly sought after. I cant remember the exact measurement, but i think they shaved 1/16" off the anvils of their ratchets and some other small changes to preserve materials for the war effort. 

Warranties on Snap-on are mostly up to the dealer. I had a wrench that broke because one side was ground down my dealer would not replace, changed shops, new dealer, he exchanged it without a question. You can also get them exchanged through Snap-on, not a dealer. But you have to contact them and send them the tool and they will send a replacement. I went through that with a bunch of Cornwell tools. 

Sears Craftsman, Ah...the bane of the mechanic, maybe? Craftsman has made and still does make quality tools, from time to time. They are notorious for contract changes. take a cordless drill for example. They will contract say DeWalt for their drills. When you first get one you get DeWalt with a Craftsman name, after time Sears will have DeWalt make changes, say a plastic gear in place of a metal gear for example. There by making them cheaper for Sears to purchase, after a time of doing that the drill went from a quality tool to a piece of junk. 

 

[arkie]

Back when Sears would honor the warranties, I bought my son a torque wrench for Christmas.  It was the mechanical kind, not a digital.  First time he used it to check the torque on his alloy car wheels (within the stated range of the wrench), apparently the mechanism broke and wouldn't read the torque.  He took it to the Sears store and they refused to replace it...reason: "We won't replace a tool with moving parts"....gimme a break!!!!!!!!! (no pun intended, Frosty).  Said right on the box that it was guaranteed...guess not.  That was the last time I will ever buy a Sears or Craftsman tool.

[ThomasPowers]

I remember taking a craftsman adze in once for replacement; was told they hadn't made adzes in decades and couldn't replace it.   When I was poor I used to buy broken craftsman hand tools at pawn shops and flea markets and get them replaced.  Helped me to tool up when I was starting out.  Sad that they missed the boat on the internet---they used to rule remote sales through the catalogs now it's back to remote sales but they are still circling the drain...

Last time I took in a ratchet wrench that was failing they just replaced the "innerds" with a cheap poorly fitting version you could push around in the head.  Not something I would want to risk my fingers using in a tight space.

[Gazz]

Years ago, I had a Sears credit card.  I had just set up shop and was tooling up and thought it would be good to have a Sears catalog in the shop so I went to the local Sears on Monroe Ave and headed to the service counter asking them for a catalog.  No, you can't have a catalog even though there was a stack of them behind the counter.  I explained that I wanted one for my shop so that I could order stuff at the moment I knew I needed something.  No, you have to buy something from the catalog to get a catalog.  Okay, please give me a catalog?  No.  I cut up my credit card and gave it to the woman.  Years later I was helping a friend work on his windmill mast at his house and was using a Craftsman grinder which quit.  I took it to the Sears repair center and they would not fix it because I had used it in an "industrial manner" and not on a home owner project.  Sears was no longer the valued retailer of my dads generation.

[ThomasPowers]

On prices:  Yesterday I was  looking at wagon tyre prices on CL in various places.  They ranged from US$125 to US$0, yup free. This was for equivalent items; often in the same areas.  One place had 50 tyres piled up and didn't want "insulting" offers.  (I contacted a smithing friend local to the free one but it was gone. Hopefully to another smith and not a scrapper or a flipper.)  I think this is not a very efficient or rational market.  I also saw a CL listing for 10 anvils for US$3000, Looked to all be below 100# and in unusable shape, old ASO's, worn and broken faces, etc, many probably around 50 pounds.  Yet someone thinks they are worth $300 apiece!  (Not in a big city either; in AR.)

[Latticino]

Regarding product warranties:  I recently brought a backpack I purchased from EMS into one of their local stores.  The zipper wasn't working correctly and I was hoping that they would either fix it or replace the backpack based on the "lifetime warranty" it was sold with.  I was told that since I bought it back in 1978 it was no longer under warranty.  When I told them I was the original owner, and clearly still alive, I was informed that the lifetime warranty was for the life of the backpack, not my life...

Didn't try to argue that the backpack had never been alive, and understood that I've certainly gotten my money's worth out of it.  Still I thought they would have been thrilled to replace it and hang the original on the wall to show how well their products stand up over 43 years...  Oh well, guess I just will keep using it with the messed up zipper.

[ThomasPowers]

Yes; I have Swissgear (Wenger) computer bag where the main fastener broke.  They could neither repair, replace or even point me to a place to buy repair parts for it.  Not a good encourager for future sales! I may try to forge a steel replacement for the plastic piece.

[Gazz]

Serious on the wagon tire prices!?  I just bought a few wrought iron ones for $4 each.  I may go back to see if he has any left!