Thread: Ya canna hand a man a granda spanna

Originally Posted by Bulletman

When i was young , this was the saying for Sidchrome tools, I remember saving up to buy them as an apprentice , from memory they were advertised as Aussie owned and 99yr guarentee , or could have been a replacement if it broke , i cant remember.

Anyways i recently purchased a 1/2 drive sidchrome socket set - not because i desperately needed it , or even cause it was cheap , i just bought it to carry in my ute just in case. My god its a big step back from what i remember , the ratchet ball that locks the socket onto the drive is seized so i cant push the socket home - and this is straight out of the new packet , the for / Rev keeps slipping to neutral so it wont ratchet. I perservered with it but decided to take it back after my second attempt at using it , and the bloke at the tool shop showed me a drawer full of them with the same issue.

My tools these days are Cat brand snap on , so maybe i am spoilt, but i dont remember ever having many issues with sidchrome tools when i was younger - then again I guess it was over 35yrs ago so most likely tools weren't getting mass produced in those days. Possibly I would have just pulled it apart and fixed it in those days too.. but i dont recall doing it.

Bulletman

Hi Bulletman

Pretty sure you are correct. They had a 99 year guarantee or free replacement (certainly during the 70 & 80's) no idea now or even where they are made but sounds like the one you have needs to go back and be replaced no matter what!

Cheers - Simon

The modern stuff is completely different. I still have plenty of older Sidchrome stuff from my Apprenticeship and they are great tools. I have one modern set of their spanners - not a patch on the older stuff - they look better, but they aren’t as strong - have broken a couple of them.

Can speak about the sockets, etc - I have heaps of older stuff but my my newer stuff is SP - which I’ve found to be pretty good for the price.

I've got a heap of the old Sidchrome and they are still going strong 30 something years later. Not impressed with their new stuff at all. Also got some old Stahlwille and they are beautiful to use.

They were made in Brunswick, Vic, by Siddons Drop Forgings. Siddons first made hand tools after WW2 to take up production capacity that was no longer used with the cessation of war work. In 1991 the firm was bought by The Stanley Works, now Stanley Black & Decker, and Oz production ceased in 1996. Sidchrome branded tools are now made in Taiwan.

When I was an apprentice/young tradesman in the 50's -60's a Sidchrome rep used to call around workshops and factories taking orders and selling from his van. I you had a busted one he would replace it free of charge no questions asked as to how you broke it.

My 1/2" drive set, including a few Snap On wobble drives was pinched out of my work ute 18 months ago.
I checked the pawn shops but they never turned up. [emoji53]

Was given them as a 1st year in the early 80's.

They've been replaced with a 3/8 Gear Wrench set., extra wobble extensions, breaker bar, adapters, etc.
Lovely finish and a fine ratchet but the jury is out on how they'll hold up.
I've already broken a wobble drive, but admittedly I was asking a 3/8 wobble to do the work of a 1/2" drive.

Most of my set spanners are Stahlwille,many would be 40yrs old,they are a great spanner.The ring spanners have a very thin wall,but never broken one,apparently the handle of the spanner is actually hollow,which reduces weight and increases strength.

The ones that have been lost and stolen, were replaced with mainly Sidchrome.Although there are some of my fathers Dowidat and Gedore(spelling) mixed in,which we inherited.

I recently retired my old 1/2" Minimax socket set,mainly because i had lost a couple of sockets,the ratchet had worn out and fallen apart and the metal box was Shagged.

It was replaced with the Tradetools brand,i think they are 'Force'.They are not bad,even the ratchet is good quality,as is their small 1/4" drive socket sets.

A couple of guys that go to the local Trash & Treasure market buy up all the old Sidchrome spanners & sockets then sell them on at the major swap meets.

Where is Sidchrome product made now ? I guess the same factories in Asia that make Kincrome.
I didn't realise they have been owned by Black & Decker since 1990 Sidchrome – Sidchrome

I've got a socket set purchased in the UK 40 odd years ago that's still going strong. Made by Hilka and seems to be good quality. The ratchet has taken some abuse and I always expected it to break so purchased a back-up socket set 35 years ago and that's still unused !
The Hilka set is just Metric & AF so I purchased Stahwille Whitworth sockets, one a week because of the cost....

Most of the 'quality' names have either disappeared or now get their tools made in Asia.

Abingdon King Dick, Bedford, Williams Superslim, Britool, Stahwille are all in my toolbox along with Elora, Gedore, Terrys (stamped magneto spanners) and many others. Even the cheaper spanners back then are better than some of the mid-range ones now.

Sidchrome was a new one to me when I came to Australia but I have quite a few now, mainly in Whitworth sizes.


Colin

Originally Posted by scarry

Most of my set spanners are Stahlwille,many would be 40yrs old,they are a great spanner.The ring spanners have a very thin wall,but never broken one,apparently the handle of the spanner is actually hollow,which reduces weight and increases strength.

The ones that have been lost and stolen, were replaced with mainly Sidchrome.Although there are some of my fathers Dowidat and Gedore(spelling) mixed in,which we inherited.

I recently retired my old 1/2" Minimax socket set,mainly because i had lost a couple of sockets,the ratchet had worn out and fallen apart and the metal box was Shagged.

It was replaced with the Tradetools brand,i think they are 'Force'.They are not bad,even the ratchet is good quality,as is their small 1/4" drive socket sets.

Noice, Stahlwille and Minimax were the absolute top of the tree.
I have Dad's Stahlwille 1/4 drive set. I used to borrow it a bit in the 80's.
When I went to buy my own miniature 1/4 drive set in the early 90's the only other I could find that were as tiny as Stahlwille was Snap On.
All other brands were pretty much 3/8 drive size.
I bought the Snap On kit as it was $430 vs $700+ for Stahlwille!
Quality tools are so cheap in comparison these days!

Some of my favourite rings are US made Proto that I bought back then, beautiful to use and the finish was and is every bit as good if not better than Snap On. Today they are owned by Stanley and all but impossible to buy here.
Of the older hand tools I have a mix like the rest of you, Gedore, King Dick, Britool, Dowidat which were all Dad's and so treasured but still in use when I need to use Whitworth.