The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Advise Needed

X-MAS is fast approaching , My BOYS want new hand tools..one is 18,one 13 I went down the road whe they were younger to buy em SEMI-DECENT tools only to find a screw driver stuck in the dirt after the snow melted to find a wratchet an several sockets ..a rusty bulk of crap ..THEY are a LOT more grown up now ...SHOULD I ...is my ? ..get them each a set of Craftsman hand tools ?? like the decent set that comes with all the wrenches,sockets screw drivers ..etc ?? ...an hope for the best ??..Heck I still have all my tools given to ma at that age.

I think Craftsman would be the way to go. They are easy to get warranty replacements for.

Yes,I would go with CRAFTSMAN too.Get the starter sets that come in the plastic cases.Usually the're on sale often, especially with Christmas fast approaching. I joined the Craftsman Tool Club for extra discounts.It was free.

i would agree with builder on this, craftsman is definatly the way to go. working in the trade show display shop i started to build quite a tool collection and the snap on man loved me... then my wife being the ever kind loving woman she usually is (usually) bought me craftsman's largest boxed set they have... i havent needed to buy anything since then other than a few odds and ends. and when getting broken tools exchanged it is much easier to drive to sears and get a new one than listen to the snap on guy wizz and moan about me being rough on tools that he has to pay to fix... correct me if i am wrong but i spent a premium on the tools so that they where lifetime.. any hoo a good set of craftsmans would be a great gift IMHO
~army truck

If you go with Craftsman don't assume ALL tools sold by Sears are Craftsman. They've started selling some cheaper tools that, while they carry a Sears label, are not labeled "Craftsman" and only carry a 90 day warranty.

That would be the Companion line. Another option would be to look at the Gear Wrench/ Gear Ratchet lines. Sears has them as does Lowe's. I have some of those myself, and I do like them. Wrenches are very tough, I use them more oftern than my Craftsman stuff at home, and almost as much as my Snap=On/Mac/Matco stuff at work.

If you feel your boys are old enough to take care of tools,yeah get them a nice set of Craftsman tools.The Craftsman hand tools are a pretty darn good investment.Very few of us need to go to the expense of buying Snap On tools.I bought my first set of Craftsman tools back in 1957 and have added many more tools to that set over the last 50 years.If I remember right I paid $39.95 for that set.Which in 1957 and being 20 yrs.old seemed like a lot of money. But to this day I still have about 95% of that set left.Lost a few over the years,and one of the first things I learned was to not lend them to anyone.I hear a lot of guys saying that SnapOn is the only way to go,but I have used mainly Craftsman all of my life with good results.Yeah if I look thru my tool cabinet I can find a few SnapOns,but they were bought used at pawn shops and garage sales.I am not knocking SnapOn tools,but how many of us need to lay out that kind of cash?I even worked with them professionally for a number of years.And they did the job.

Thanks Guys i think I'll just drop the $ on a Craftsman set in the case for the Boys,
Longbox, my eldest also has on his list a set of gear wrenches he loves mine !...Bein he is now 18 an prob his last x-mas under our roof I'll prob spring for a set of them for him ....STANDARD !...he wants Metric he can buy his own !...lol