Who owns who of the tool world.
J&E Fastener and Supply Co. is an excellent place. It's on 59th just off Eastern in Valley Brook.
Can also look at Fastenal for tools.
Also look at Festool. German made tools, but I believe there is also a US line.
I use tools almost every day. Pittsburgh from Harbor Freight are my go-to sockets and wrenches. I use Snap-on ratchets, but Kobalt from Lowes is a good budget brand, Snap-on pry bars, breaker bars, torque wrenches(3/8 and 1/2), and blue point ratchet wrenches(gear wrenches are worthless). I use all of my HF sockets on an impact and have maybe broken one in the past 10 years. Craftsman is junk- steer clear.
I don't know if it's still there but there was a flea market just on the south side of noble that had tons of good sockets ,wrenches and things really cheap. Been a year or two since I was through there but I was buying good proto,snap on sockets and things for 50c each wrenches I think we're a dollar ea . Had to dig through the boxes but they were good ones.
Bought a 3/4 inch Pittsburg socket set for big nuts on my dozer. Broke the ratchet pulling it by hand. Total junk. put a 4 foot cheater on a 2" socket,tied a come along on the end of that, pulled all I could on come along. When that nut on track broke loose it sounded like a 38 but the socket held up fine.my only problem with Pittsburg is they are so thick you can't get them on some places. That and harbor freight pi$$ ed me off when they wouldn't take a tool back
FYI, Amazon currently has a Craftsman 230-piece mechanic’s tool set in a blow-molded 3-drawer case for $119. Junk or not, that’s a pretty decent start to a tool kit.
I bought Harbor freight (Pittsburg) brand to use on my service truck. I kept the snap on stuff but used these for day to day. Excellent warranty and I ended up preferring the Pittsburg over the craftsman I had. All craftsman is made in china now anyway so why overpay for it.
Ive broken there stuff and they have always taken it back if I bought it from them.
I spent the last 4 years as an apprentice Toyota technician, and while I have spent some money on the tool trucks, the best value in tools that I bought are from the brand Gearwrench, which I mainly purchased online, but have seen them at Home Depot. Occasionally I would hit up the HF that was nearby if I needed something right now, but since HF can be hit or miss, I recommend checking out garagejournal's HF Pass/fail thread, where professional mechanics and advanced hobbyists give their input on what is and isn't good at HF
Additionally, the Home Depot Husky line might also be a good value, as I remember years ago seeing a photo of a socket that was stamped both Husky AND Matco's Silver Eagle line, which implies that they are or were made on the same line. I've never used Husky extensively, just picked up a socket or a wrench here and there to fill gaps in sets where I may have lost a socket or wrench.
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