Thread: What's happened to Stanley tools?

Originally Posted by dakotax3

Agree Jim. So we, the tools buyer, should also keep up with the times and start looking more at tool specification, not provenance or genealogy.

We could do with at least three levels of grading in the labelling.

1 For amusement only - don't bring into contact with wood.
2 For occasional use.
3 A heart tick - this tool may break your pocket but not your heart.
Cheers,
Jim

Agree Jim. So we, the tools buyer, should also keep up with the times and start looking more at tool specification, not provenance or genealogy.

And we shouldn't always look for the cheapest option. The number of people out there looking for the cheapest option far outweighs those looking for quality. So players come into the market with cheap products and good manufacturers have no choice but to join the race to the bottom. I'm just a DIY guy so I buy a lot of stuff at Bunnings. If I had to make a living with my tools, I suspect I would buy more from places like Carba-tec who I suspect stock better (and more expensive) stuff.

Originally Posted by dakotax3

I am still cursing the greedy bar steward who stole my leather pouch full of Stanley Butt Chisels bought in my apprenticeship in the '70s but it has caused me to consider cheaper alternatives and I found one in the name of Plumb with through-tang and strike cap for less than $20 today, a ripper.

The moral to the above? Yesteryear had only one type of tool; hardworking, longlasting, built for the job. Today we have light duty tools being made to a cost aimed directly at the paleskin shiny bum who might use them as a once off; then they're left to rust away. One problem is you guys aren't comparing apples with apples.

I agree with most of that and we need to keep in mind that in relative terms tools are cheaper than they've ever been, but there's something about having confidence in the tools that you use that money can't buy, these days there's always a nagging doubt in the back of your mind, even with brand new tools.
By the way dakotax3, who stocks the Plumb chisels?

Originally Posted by Doken

I agree with most of that and we need to keep in mind that in relative terms tools are cheaper than they've ever been, but there's something about having confidence in the tools that you use that money can't buy, these days there's always a nagging doubt in the back of your mind, even with brand new tools.

I'm lucky in a way coming from a small place where you know nearly everyone. For power tools I ask about complaints and returns. People tend to be honest when you see them everyday and know where they live.
cheers,
Jim

Originally Posted by jimbur

I'm lucky in a way coming from a small place where you know nearly everyone. For power tools I ask about complaints and returns. People tend to be honest when you see them everyday and know where they live.
cheers,
Jim

I generally used to stick to 3 or 4 brands for power tools but I've sacked one of them.
I had a Metabo screw gun and the clutch started slipping when it was about 5 years old, I took it in for repair and the parts were unavailable, confirmed by two different repair shops.
I was left with a $450 door stop, I won't touch Metabo tools again.

Unfortuantly brands like Stanley, Irwin, ect are keen for a slice of the diy/retail chain hardware stores (you can add powertool brands to that too). Make a poor quality tool, make sure its sitting on the shelf of a Bunnings type place next to their generic brand for only a few dollars more and consumers will go for the 'trusted' brand name most of the time.

I have a full set of Irwin/Marples blue chip chisels. The Marples ones I purchased 12 years ago are so far superior to the Iwin ones I got 3 years ago, same goes for Vice grips and kwik grips. Alot of Stanley stuff is junk now too, although I just paid $45 for a new sliding square, which I reckon was worth it.

You wonder how much longer they can keep trading on their brands previous reputation?

An interesting conversation here. I find myself agreeing with so much of it.
I guess we just have to accept the world is changing and try to adapt.

I'm in the process of teaching one of my daughters tool skills. (She's renovating her first home) She bought a set of the Stanley ergonomic screw drivers and I told her she should be ok with that choice.
Nup...two months down the track and the tip of the #2 phillips is rounded over.

Life is just a bit harder now I guess. We can no longer follow the old brands blindly like we once did.
Now, we need to look a lot more carefully into every tool purchase.
The upside is of course, that prices are way down also. That's some kind of compensation I guess.
Cheers
Jim

You get what you pay for.
Pay cheap, you get cheap and nasty but if you pay heavy, you get two chances, ether you get what you wanted, a good tool, or you get ripped off.
Some people have been known to up the price so that you think the item is a grade higher.
Regards

Doken
I have had 2 Metabo drills, both 750watt one of them a big industrial capacity mother with little use, both bought in the early '80s; and both failed. As written previously on another thread, I was finally able to repair the larger one with a $20 part but only after seeking advice on here. The tool shop salespeople haven't a clue and don't want one. Everyone says Metabo is so good but the proof for me is always in the pudding.

I was shopping for some handtools for a slightly incapacitated acquaintance in Bunnings Millers Rd Altona where I saw the Trojan (not Plumb) chisels; $13 each from memory.

Grandad-5
Low prices don't mean a thing if tools round over and become unusable. I was given a set of Kinchrome screwdrivers a couple of years ago and I am impressed enough to recommend them.

Originally Posted by dakotax3

Grandad-5
Low prices don't mean a thing if tools round over and become unusable. I was given a set of Kinchrome screwdrivers a couple of years ago and I am impressed enough to recommend them.

My comment wasn't a suggestion to always buy cheap.
Often I've had the opportunity to compare what I paid for quality tools 20 or 30 years ago with the same quality tool today and am staggered at the difference.

EG: My first socket and spanner set was a months wages in the late 60's early 70's. (Sidchrome) That got me a smallish chest with two drawers and flip-top lid. Complete sets of sockets, open end and ring spanners.
Last week I drooled all over a Kinchrome MONSTER tool box at a local store with I'm guessing 10+ drawers that came up to roighly my chest height full of every conceivable type of tool one could ever want in a lifetime. Each tool in its own little compartment. Heavy grade steel on the box with locking mechanisms on each drawer. Comparable quality in the tools themselves
Cost? About a months wages by todays standard.

EG 2: Theres been much mention of the new Bosch articulated SCMS on these forums. The cost is roughly half what I paid for my top of the range Bosch SCMS purchased about 15 yrs ago and the new one looks like it would run rings around mine. That comparison is in real dollars. Not equivalent value dollars so the cost is cheaper again in real terms.

EG 3: I paid $100 for my first Makita 4inch angle grinder circa 1980. Cost today of a 4" Makita trade quality angle grinder still roughly $100 in todays money.

Buying quality tools today is nowhere near as costly as it was say 30 years ago. So why not buy quality?

EDIT to add: Sorry. One more. I bought one of those Stanley screwdriver sets that come in the black plastic moulded boxes back in roughly 1980 when I opened my first business. Cost me roughly $50. I still have all of them and I've used and abused every one of them. Still going strong.
Thus my willingness to recommend them to my daughter. Result is known. But based on this experience, who was to know you can no longer trust that brand. Cost isn't always a good indicator. Like my first 3 examples. Just because they are so much cheaper than I'm used to, doesn't always mean they are rubbish.
Cheers
Jim

Originally Posted by dakotax3

Doken
I have had 2 Metabo drills, both 750watt one of them a big industrial capacity mother with little use, both bought in the early '80s; and both failed. As written previously on another thread, I was finally able to repair the larger one with a $20 part but only after seeking advice on here. The tool shop salespeople haven't a clue and don't want one. Everyone says Metabo is so good but the proof for me is always in the pudding.

I was shopping for some handtools for a slightly incapacitated acquaintance in Bunnings Millers Rd Altona where I saw the Trojan (not Plumb) chisels; $13 each from memory.

Grandad-5
Low prices don't mean a thing if tools round over and become unusable. I was given a set of Kinchrome screwdrivers a couple of years ago and I am impressed enough to recommend them.

Yeah mate.
I've got a Metabo jig saw which is about 15 years old, it's had bucket loads of use and it hasn't missed a beat so I'm still not convinced that the quality of their tools is average, but no spares for a 5 year old screw gun that cost me $450 !!!
You've got to be kidding.
I flatly refuse to buy tools at Bunnings any more, no one in the place has got a clue and all their stuff is geared to price for the consumer market, I bought some parrot beak tile nippers there about three years ago and the tungsten tip broke off on the third tile.
The big question now is where to buy quality tools and who makes them?
I'm happy to pay.

Originally Posted by Grandad-5

EG 2: Theres been much mention of the new Bosch articulated SCMS on these forums. The cost is roughly half what I paid for my top of the range Bosch SCMS purchased about 15 yrs ago and the new one looks like it would run rings around mine. That comparison is in real dollars. Not equivalent value dollars so the cost is cheaper again in real terms.
Cheers
Jim

My old Elu PS174 is still going strong and still cutting perfect mitres, but yeah, it cost me $900 almost 20 years ago.
For a frag more these days I can buy a bigger saw that bevels both ways, cuts to 60deg and has trenching stops, but I'll stick with the Elu, I can carry it one handed, drag it up ladders and it's built like a truck.
$40 for a belt is a bit rich though.
My son got married and bought a house about a year ago, he's not a tradie but I thought as a house warming Id get him a set of tools.
I bought a set of Crescent tools in a blow pack case, spanners, pliers, allen keys, you name it, 50 or 60 pieces all up, for I think around $90.
I've got a pair of Crescent pliers that cost me $45 twenty years ago, so Crescent has obviously gone the same way as Stanley, they used to be top notch.

A bit of honesty would go a long way. I liked the way Makita went with Maktek, cheaper but no pretence.
Perhaps they should rebadge the below par stuff as Stanlite or some such name. However, it does make you wonder if they know themselves what is good anymore. It shouldn't matter where it is made as long as the factory is given the right specs and quality control is there.
cheers,
Jim

Originally Posted by Doken

My old Elu PS174 is still going strong ...........

That's a name you don't hear much anymore.
That, and Electra Beckum.
Wonderful machines. Or, they were anyway.

Jim