Tony, I forgot to mention Williams... a fine old line of industrial tools - top notch. Now owned by Snap-On. Williams also manufactures the Kobalt tools sold by Lowe's. I've only bought a couple of odd metric combo wrenches in the Kobalt line, but they are made very well. I've heard great things about the Kobalt tools from others. And, you'll love this... they are union made in the USA!
Also agree on the Klien and Chennellock comments. You just can't beat Klien for electrical installation tools, and Channellock is a great choice for pliers.
I forgot to mention that Danaher also makes Armstrong (industrial tool supplier that competes with Williams and Proto), and makes ratchets and sockets for the NAPA brand.
I was in a Home Depot yesterday, and confirmed something that I had heard. The Husky sockets and ratchets, etc. and now being listed as made in Taiwan or China. No doubt, Stanley is still supplying those products from an offshore subsidiary, much like the Wal-Mart/Stanley offerings. Stanley got in trouble a while back over allegedly mislabelling things as "made in US" when much of the forgings were sourced from Taiwan. Maybe they really haven't changed anything but more honest labelling. They haven't dropped the prices, either, but they have scaled back their Husky line to the basics.
---> Bill
