The Craftsman 121-piece Standard and Metric Mechanic’s Tool Set.Joanne Elves/The Globe and Mail
Craftsman 121-piece Standard and Metric Mechanic’s Tool Set
Available at: Lowes, Rona and ACE Hardware
Price: $279.00
Ninety years of being a trusted tool brand just couldn’t end when Sears shut its doors. Craftsman Tools have hammered houses together, and helped change countless tires and oil filters. Stanley Black & Decker bought the brand last year, giving the logo a tweak and brightening the colour scheme. What matters more, there will be over 1,200 new tools and products launched over the next year.
The new 121-piece Standard and Metric Mechanic’s Tool Set comes in a bold red case. When it arrived, grown men popped wrenches and ratchets out of snug slots like kids unwrapping presents. Then they went to work in the garage. From under the hood the comments included, “solid grip on the sockets”, “the flip-switch to reverse directions is smooth” and “the wrenches seem strong enough to apply tons of pressure without fear of metal failure.”
The set offers sizes of sockets, wrenches and ratchets to handle most jobs. The large labels help people like me who can’t eyeball the difference between a 5/8 inch and a 14-mm wrench. Like the Craftsman tools of old, these come with a full lifetime warranty.
Watch for it to go on sale again. It sold recently for $119.
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