A late night Ebay impulse buy

[hickory n Steel]

 
Last night I was going through my emails and clicked on a " similar items " email from Ebay to see what's new.

This caught my eye and without thinking too much I bought it for probably too much, I payed $127 after tax and shipping costs.




Looking more into it now and going over the sellers pictures here , I'm thinking it was a decent deal considering the size of the set, but I'm not really sure.

It's about a 120pc set if you count the driver bits, all MADE IN USA ( even the bits ) except maybe the ratchets and the entire set appears to be unused as per the sellers description
The ratchets are apparently not Marked USA and they look a Taiwanese ratchet to me.
I don't really care about the ratchets though,  it's mostly all the sockets I'm after with the combo wrenches just being a nice bonus.


I'm thinking early 2000's, maybe '00-'03 just before True Value's Master mechanic tools all went Taiwanese.

I'm almost positive the ratchets are Taiwanese, and would expect American made Ratchets if the set were made any earlier.


The wrenches look nice as do the sockets, it all looks much nicer than the last of the US made G code Craftsman stuff.
The sockets really remind me of the late production Blackhawk sockets I have.

[goodfellow]

For $127 all in, you got a nice deal. The sockets look great. I like that style of internal broaching (vs. the entire length of the socket).

[hickory n Steel]

After doing the math I'm feeling better about this purchase.

At $127 that's about $1.05 a tool , if I don't count the bits that's $1.27 per tool.
A few years back I paid $2 for 1 identical looking 12mm blackhawk socket from a discount / closeout tool store by my mom's house, they had a bin of very similar looking Husky USA wrenches for $5 a piece.


I suppose I didn't do too bad.

[skfarmer]

i purchased a similar blakhawk set years ago. it rides in a montezuma box in my truck. my set was older and had the kilness style ratchets . good solid tools. i later added a 1/2 drive set with a standard and long handle ratchet of the taiwan style as you pictured. they have performed well even though they are not to the same level. that open space in the side of the box would accept a ratcheting screwdriver set that was available separately if i recall.

if i was to take a guess my sets are actual blackhawk production with banded sockets, while yours are later stanley made. i have a few stanley sockets that match them and the wrench screams stanley. not saying it is bad just an observation.

[hickory n Steel]

i purchased a similar blakhawk set years ago. it rides in a montezuma box in my truck. my set was older and had the kilness style ratchets . good solid tools. i later added a 1/2 drive set with a standard and long handle ratchet of the taiwan style as you pictured. they have performed well even though they are not to the same level. that open space in the side of the box would accept a ratcheting screwdriver set that was available separately if i recall.

if i was to take a guess my sets are actual blackhawk production with banded sockets, while yours are later stanley made. i have a few stanley sockets that match them and the wrench screams stanley. not saying it is bad just an observation.

 I was mistaken on the similarity to the sockets I have, the sockets are banded and the 34945 ratchet that goes with them is a kilness mechanism.

I do have a Stanley made Blackhawk 1/4 though,  a GW9945 Bman sent me.
One of those that says USA but is a bit of a question mark.

It's that very late production 12mm 1/4dr socket I bought that reminded me of the ones in this set.

[hickory n Steel]

If anybody is interested in the two ratchets let me know.
I'm sure they're a perfectly fine tool, but I do not want them.
Bit ratchets and things like that I'm fine with, but for regular ratchets I prefer American made.

[muddy]

Very nice buy. Love find NOS tools.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

[bonneyman]

I'm glad that 1/4" jobbie is doing well for ya.

I've been accumulating ratchets while they were available and cheap at the pawn shops. Those days are over! Now it's keep ratchets ready for trading fodder.

[hickory n Steel]

I'm glad that 1/4" jobbie is doing well for ya.

I've been accumulating ratchets while they were available and cheap at the pawn shops. Those days are over! Now it's keep ratchets ready for trading fodder.

It's a bit stiff and I don't really use it much, but I'm happy to have it in my collection.

[hickory n Steel]

I don't know how big and bulky this case is going to be, but I don't like blow moulded cases regardless so I don't think I'll be keeping everything in this case.

Maybe I'll just swap out everything from the tray in my Dayton box,  right now it's a mix of Craftsman indestro and N-B Husky.
It's not a huge deal having mixed brands, but it's nice when your sockets and drive tools all plug and play the same with nothing being tighter or looser.

I suppose that all goes out the window when your drive tools are all mixed doesn't it ?

Maybe I'll have to pick 1 brand of drive tools and extensions to go with, I'm thinking indestro.

[hickory n Steel]

I decided to go Easco / master mechanic for the drive tools.

Found this NOS for $10 on Ebay, and may have a line on a matching 1/4" ratchet and driver handle pair.


My set is at the post office now and should be delivered to my PO box this afternoon.

[hickory n Steel]

The set is overall pretty nice, but I do have one complaint.

Anyone see what's wrong with this socket ?



Other than though I'm pretty happy.

The 6pt's all have fluted corners, theres also both 6pt and 12pt for most of the SAE standard well sockets.



Theres definitely some Craftsman ( Apex / Danahar I guess ) relationship here.


The bits are pretty nice,  I've seen a 3/8 hex bit before but I don't think I've personally seen a #0 in a 1/4 bit before.

[hickory n Steel]

I think I might end up having to leave the tray out of my top box, I just ordered this Hansen organizer set and theres no way they'll fit in the tray.


Having just a top box out in the garage sure is limiting me, I may have to think about solving this issue.
I'd be doing okay if I wasn't using my deepest drawer for pliers I suppose,  maybe relocating my pliers is what I need to do ?

[bonneyman]

I've got a #0 in a 1/4" bit that I've put in a driver I made. Leave it in there as a designated #0. It's too hard to swap out easily and too easy to drop. So I just leave it in that handle.

[hickory n Steel]

I've got a #0 in a 1/4" bit that I've put in a driver I made. Leave it in there as a designated #0. It's too hard to swap out easily and too easy to drop. So I just leave it in that handle.

That's what I would have done.

I'll probably never use this bit because it's not likely to fit where I tend to need a driver that size, but I have it if I ever do need it.