Thread: Craftsman is here!

Originally Posted by garageman

vintage sidchrome was and a couple other brand back in eary days but not now]

Warren & Brown torque wrenches, the best in the world by a long shot.

Australian made tools.
Cooper has a factory here that makes screwdrivers , tape measures , soldering irons etc , sutton drillbits.Theres a few just not all that many.A few cottage ones if you look hard enough on the net selling high grade homemade wood chisels for $100 each and stuff like that.

Anyway the craftsman , i was interested because i saw an ad on foxtel by bunnings for them.The guy in the ad was using a polished chrome ratcheting wrench , my sources in the US tell me that the polished chrome wrenches are made in China now ; they still make the non chrome finish in the US for the wrenches but i doubt Bunnings will carry them since the profit margin is alot lower on the USA made tools.

Most of the ratchets and sockets are still made in US , i imported a new set about a month ago , socket quality is above the Taiwan/China stuff thats everywhere now.It would be nice if they stocked some non China tools from Craftsman , i believe the pliers are rebranded Knipex from germany but 1/3 the price.

I got a 10 acre handplane made in oz... My Cox

Originally Posted by jimbur

I was serious about Mumme products. Marvellous stuff. Pity they don't make woodworking chisels because their cold chisels are superb.
Jim

I've got a big Mumme cold chisel, I think its 1 1/4 ". Holds its edge better than any other chisel I've got.
A bloke I worked with borrowed my 1" Sidchrome cold chisel, and lost it, he replaced it with the new Mumme, I think it was my gain.

Originally Posted by Fuzzie

I wonder if anybody actually sits out there and evaluates the success or failure of a viral marketing campaign start attempt on a site where some functional knowledge exists compared to a y-gen-eric site such as facebook?

Interesting topic for the next season of the Gruen Transfer?

Slightly off-topic, but there's this: Astroturfing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and this: Sockpuppet (Internet) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not a new thing but disappointing to see it here. Worth keeping an eye on, and alerting the moderators if it becomes a problem.

Originally Posted by jenkinsr

Slightly off-topic, but there's this: Astroturfing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and this: Sockpuppet (Internet) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not a new thing but disappointing to see it here. Worth keeping an eye on, and alerting the moderators if it becomes a problem.

No, it will not become a problem. If it were that sophisticated, the marketer would have done a bit of research and found immediately that the discussion would quickly become, as it has, the usual nationalistic whinge. At least this time it has been enhanced by references to Oscar Wilde (much more prosaically, "all publicity is good publicity" would have served the same purpose), by the stab of the possum stirrer from the other side of the pond (it takes a xenophobe to know another? ), and considerations about the role of cheap tools and consumerism in the impending demise of the planet.

Personally, I'll take home the latter as the most productive contribution. Some time ago my daughter stopped dead my good humored ribbing about her being a spendthrift by pointing out that I have more machines than she has pairs of shoes. And, yes, many of them are cheap one-job ones that have survived that one job. Like cutting two paving bricks. I am not ashamed of admitting that I did it as mentioned above. I did not need to ask the shop attendant for advice or the hospital for emergency attendance. That Makita grinder is a good one though. I have had it for over 20 years.