Thread: Apprentice's First Tools, - Stahlwille? Repco? or ???

I've mostly got Sidchrome but it is old , very old. 50 + years . The new Sidchrome isn't a good as it was in my book. Also have Daniel Forge that is 35 years old ( made by Siddons )but not as good as Sidchrome.
Like Snap-on, but was out of my league price wise at the time.
Stahlwille look good too. If I ever needed ring spanners sets this is what I'd buy now.
Have Bahco shifters are the best I've used. Watch out you dont get left handed ones as I did. It can be a bit confusing with Left & right handed shifters.
Buy the best you can afford. BUY ONCE. And buy what feels right in your hands. Even if you have to do a bit of mix & matching. Look out for the specials . Buy a basic kit to start with & add to it as you find out what you need And what works.

AND DON'T LEND TO ANYBODY - PERIOD

Gary

Witte or Wiha for screwdrivers ATM, particularly when needing an electrical rating.

Channel Lock seem to be reasonable side cutters and pliers.

I have a few Proto ring spanners and wish I had more but haven't seen them around.
Appear to have the fit/finish of Snap on but (at the time) without the cost.

Brian mentioned Beta and they are absolutely top drawer, but haven't seen them around lately (although haven't been looking either)

Someone mentioned Teng, and their steel and internal dimensions are good.
I've grabbed a few sockets to replace flogged out/broken (old Aussie made) Sidchrome.

Serg mentioned Koken and they are excellent. Have some impact sockets and a breaker bar that replaced a Snap On on I snapped

G'day Superquag

I would suggest he get a SP set,and get an etching tool and initial or pin mark all of them,then take him shopping to your local vintage car swap meets also local markets and pick up extra tools by brand and size/type,I was at the Nambour Qld swap and picked up 2 knuckled second hand near new "Daniel Forge" ratchets 1x 10 inch and 1 x 5 inch (palm) for $35 the pair,got my Stahlwylie 1/2 x 9/16 AF the same way,$12 and to an apprentice dollars are dollars,if you're looking for Sidchrome,go for the older stuff,suburban garage sales are also worth looking at,where family are sell relatives gear,often X $ the lot,just a thought.


cheers

online can sometimes net good results. I have bought some of my Snap-on from the USA, on ebay, sold as new, but alot cheaper than new... Their second hand market is huge.

I got a couple Stahlwillie spanners from ebay.uk.co and seemed not a bad price. Here is one I found in about 20 secs:

Stahlwille Double Open Ended Spanner 1 2 X 9 16 | eBay

and here is one from ebay (USA)

Snap on 10 PC Metric Combination Wrench Set New Logo | eBay

I started my apprenticeship over 40 years ago and started with Sidchrome, I still have some of those originals, most have been pinched or borrowed. No chrome left but still fit well and do the job, broke a few (my fault) but never had problems with Sidchrome replacing, recently broke (undiong a stubborn wheel nut) my 40 year old breaker bar, took it into local Sidchrome dealer for replacement. The rep wasn't too keen to hand over a new one for my old de-chromed bar, so I told him even though Sidchrome was owned by Stanley a Lifetime Warranty is just that and unless he wanted some adverse publicity, I wanted my replacement. A week later I had a brand new breaker bar, I don't think there would be a problem with more up to date stuff though, Regards Frank.

Not a fan of SP Tools.

I've just spent 3 days doing a gearbox and transfer swap using a mix of Repco, Kincrome and SP spanners and sockets. I absolutely HATE the SP ratchet handles. They have stuff all detent on the direction switch and I must have accidentally bumped them 50 times. Infuriating and pointless. I've swapped to Repco ones in all my kits, and only used the SP handles because I could have more tools at hand. The SP sockets are on the soft side of ideal too. The Repco gear is the best I have, followed by Kincrome.

I forgot to add that the SP ratchets have stupid plastic handles which let go first time I leaned on them.

Yep, buy for Quality not quantitiy wherever possible or fiscally practical, is the loud and clear message.

Getting his opinion & reactions is like blood out of a stone... he's 17, and a really annoyingly non-communicative teenager ! - I'm assured it will eventually improve.

Anyway, his grunt sounded like agreement / appreciation for your comments....