[Shop-talk] Quality Ratchets

[scott.hall at comcast.net]

I remember that thread!

kobalt is made by williams, which also owns snap-on.  kobalt is not made by snap-on.

and the mac/craftsman/husky tools do not all use the same forgings.  I have some mac ratchets that do not have a comparable (older) craftsman model--they're just too differently shaped to come off the same forging/die.  and like he said--you can't get the mac ratchet mechanism anywhere but mac.  well, the *really* old craftsman stuff is pretty nice--like 40-50 years ago.  but everything that's stanley craftsman from the mid-'80s on, not as much.

now the new craftsman stuff is obviously matco.  it's just not polished.  I don't like matco, but if I did, I'd just shop sears instead.   the kobalt stuff I've seen does not seem to share any snap-on stuff.

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Todd Walke <racertod at racertodd.com>

>          I've kept this post since it appeared on the list in 2003.  It was 
> a repost of a message from 1999 off some other list from a guy that worked 
> at Stanley:

<snip>

> Then again, IBM once didn't see Microsoft as a
> serious force in the personal computer business.
> Hmmmm.... Regards, Greg Hutmacher (now back in lurk mode)