Best tool brands?

What brand tiller are we using behind the tractor?

 

Don't rototill behind tractor, in fact don't really use rototiller that much. Once you have raised beds and greenhouse in place, if you aren't raising field crops, spading fork and hand tools are all I really use. Most use of tractor is driveway maint and getting out wood. In land prep, tractor and sub soiler to break up roots, and blade to level is most help, and disk and drag have almost totally replaced plow for major areas.

One fact most people ignore about battery tools is that there is no standard and that once battery is gone, tool is dead. 115 v and a cord might not be the best, but they have not changed in last 100 years and anyone with an inverter will have 115 v, no matter what the input battery voltage may be to that inverter.

 

I just noticed that my favorite trim sticks, sold by both Matco and Mac are made by Mueller-Werkzeug. The plastic they're made of is nearly indestructible, yet it won't mar most other interior plastic panels in cars. Or maybe it's just that I've learned where and how aggressively to pry on things without damaging them.

 

My son just got his first on wheels big toolbox (off of Craig's list) for Christmas. He is a gear-head like his Grandfather. When my father died last year, my brother took all the tools. My father had been a mechanic since he was 18 and had toolboxes full of the good stuff, even a hydraulic lift in his garage. Emotions get high when dividing assets, I claimed two items and stayed agreeable on everything else. @duane sometimes traits skip a generation. You would be surprised, one of your grandchildren could be very much like their grandpa those interests just have not been tapped.

 

I bought this tool box because it's the style I was issued in the Marine Corps. I thought the price was too high at $35... until I opened it. All old U.S. made tools. I keep these as loaners, and as raw material for making specialty tools. I take a few out when it's slow at work and clean them up.

 

I haven't heard Utica, or Diamond Horshoe... I buy used, better than any Snap-off, or Craftsman tool made. The reason SO and Crafts sell better WAS because of the exchange guarantee, I saw one guy in Sears turned down because the Number on the tool indicated that it was made in China and they won't replace those.

Rancher

 

I use Snap On, Old Craftsman, Milwaukee, and Dewalt on the farm. Buy Cheap Harbor Freight set of wrenches and sockets to put in the trucks and trailers. Best screw drivers are hands down Snap On in my book, but any screw driver is going to wear and lose its edges with regular use Snap On just seems to take longer to wear out for me.

 

Good tools are pricey. I was a certified Tradesman for 43 years. On your Philips screwdrivers take and grind the tip lightly, and never by any Philips screws if you can avoid it at all. I usually buy any of the old US made only tools 2nd hand from pawns or garage sales, flea markets. etc Same with woodworking tools. In precision tools for my gunsmithing or engine rebuilding etc, I prefer Starrett or Mitutoyo. I usually like my small hand tools up to 1 inch size to be a good quality, but look at the quality vs the name brand. An older well made Craftsman is just as good as snapon for normal usage around a home or farm. The 3/4 inch drive stuff is just by the crap and when it breaks I buy more crap because it does not get much use. In electric tools I buy battery power and what ever the best deal is that week. Hammers and chisels both metal and woodworking have to have to be best you can find, if you buy cheap their may cost you an eyeball. Taps and dies get best older US made you can find, same with your drill index. My drill index cost about 700 dollars years ago when I was still working. worth every dime, But then I do machining, welding, millwrighting, blacksmithing, gunsmithing, reloading and knifemaking. Also do carpentry and used to do heavy rigging. Every young apprentice starting out wants snapon, but really not necessary. I have often made my own tools when necessary. Anyway my 2 cents.

 

Snap-On and a few others make a Zero Strip Phillips screw driver set up, I believe it's called "Posi-Drive", they will not strip out a screw head during normal use! I also highly recommend the Snap-On "Flank-Drive" open end wrenches ( just don't use them on chrome plated fasteners) and they will not strip or round off most fasteners even when used on rounded or damaged nuts and bolts!
For normal use, the Snap-On thin wall sockets are superior to others for both reach and clearance ( think Lycoming cylinder bolts) and for impact, MAC tools impact sockets are far better! For Air driven Impact drivers, the Ingrisole Rand Composit Hi-Torque series will blow the nutz off of all other impact drivers! I have all 4 sizes, and they work on every thing better then any other!

 

Posi-Drive is a different driver and flanks ,Zero Strip Phillips screwdriver has small teeth in its flanks .

Driver or 1/4" hex bits for either style , but two different shapes , Posi heads are marked and so are the drivers (between the flanks )
I'll fine pix of them
Many different ways of Posi are marked in the flanks .

Bite lines on Philips
Zero strip slang for a maker
Sloth

 

Just like the chemistry for knives has improved through the years so have tools and even cheap ones are better then some of the old standbys of the past.
I have plumb tools I would not put to the work husky can perform ,times have changed and unlike when we were kids and good tools were few and far between ,now they are common as dirt and just as inexpensive. but few people are willing to get their hands dirty ,might smudge their I phone .
I just helped a friend replace the starter on his dodge diesel truck. and he was so gassed over how easy it was . he's not much of a mechanic but he is learning and that's what counts.
The nice thing now days is that you can turn to the internet and get answers and parts and information on diagnosis you can't get any where else. this is what he relies on for how to on most things . He turns to me for tooling and free advise ,but I'm not much help on computer problems.
My choice in tool purchase first was matching the need , I had no one to impress , I just needed to get the job done,
the 10 lbs of tools I started off with as a kid was not going to work, and some sockets were simply too thick to fit where needed so it was either grinding the excess off or finding something correct and affording it .you choose to afford hat is important to you.
My wife could not understand why I needed so manty tools that her dad never had , I had to show her the difference between old technology and present technology and it was not stalling but advancing and I had to advance with it.
Craftsman did not make every style of tool that existed so Snap-on was the alternative then MAC tool and others offering specialty tools applicable to my work .
Problem too was the diversity in my work became broader and deeper and the enticement of greater access was more than I could resist. Making tools that do not exist is common among mechanics , and borrowing from others designs is a given. and fun.

 

i use only tools off the brand gerdore

 

The fun however is when you get into vintage equipment that require British standard /Wentworth ,there is not metric or standard equivalent ,so your stuck with either modifying something you've got or buy the tools available ,brand X.

 

What do you want?

Like snap on tools are great but I would never buy a snap on welder.