By Lynn Ketchum

 Tool Talk – Christmas List Idea?

Your motorcycle needs some kind of maintenance………what tool or tools should you use? If you have to buy a tool or tools, what brand do you buy?

Speaking from my own experience with tools, I would look at these brands:

Snap-On, Mac, Matco, Williams, Fleet, Ward's, Challenger, Blackhawk, KD, Proto, Allen, Husky, Craftsman, Stanley

Your first problem is figuring out how much to spend. Do you purchase the most expensive tool or the least or go for something in the middle?

Probably the most important question is how often you are going to use this tool.

The mechanics whose livelihood depends on their tools will generally use Snap-On, Mac, or Matco; Craftsman, Proto and S-K also show up on a regular basis.

Cheap tools have an annoying tendency to wear out and/or break (we'll talk about the breakage factor later). For example, if you're going to use a 24mm socket on a daily basis, it makes more sense buying the best you can afford - the higher cost will even out because they will (usually) last longer.

The second question is just how picky you are. Those that buy cheap tools have never known the feeling of holding a great tool in your hand - it will be balanced, heavy, and Just Feel Right.

The third question is simply - are you going to use this tool to do something stupid?  As an example, you use the tool the wrong way and it breaks or snaps and hits you. Do you have good health insurance and did you get a tool with a warranty?  Craftsman, for example, can be easily changed out at any Sears’s store. Don't be embarrassed, they're used to it, and the clerks won't interrogate you to see if you've been using that screwdriver as a pry bar. Snap-On tools are easily exchanged (although you rarely hear of one breaking) and those trucks show up almost everywhere. Many other brands have excellent - even lifetime - warranties, but just try getting it honored - you'll probably have to find the manufacturer and send it back, and I find that route is just more trouble than it's worth.

The fourth question is - is this tool safe from theft? Tools are even more prone than car keys to wander off when you're not looking, and the more expensive the tool, the more likely it is to wander. You will probably want to have some sort of identification on your tools.

So what are you going to buy? The first rule is - avoid cheap. Period. There is a reason you can buy a "complete socket wrench set" for $5 - it's built cheap from cheap materials. Your first clue a tool is cheap is that it feels too light - experiment with holding, for example, a nice S-K 1/2" drive socket in one hand and one of those no-name sockets with thin chrome plate and a perfectly round little hole in the center in the other. Feel how much heavier the S-K socket is?

Steel is expensive. Many cheap tools are made of inexpensive alloys, apparently comprised equally of aluminum, wet newspapers and old tuna cans.

The second rule - looks aren't everything. There are a LOT of tools out there that try to look expensive, even mimicking the look of some high-end brand (swap meet sellers of Snap-On look-a-likes are notorious for this). When in doubt, look for deep engraving or forged markings - the barely visible stamped words or numbers (or complete lack thereof) on cheap tools can be a dead giveaway.

The third rule - never buy something that can hurt you. If you live far from a tool vendor, a broken tool can render your whole weekend useless. Or, more likely, you'll be putting serious torque on some tool, and it will either slip or break. In either case, the end result to your hand (or head!) will look and sound roughly equivalent to dropping a ripe cantaloupe off a 10-foot stepladder. Your knuckles are expensive. So are teeth. A serious injury to your body does not need to be “a lesson learned.”

The fourth rule - forged over cast. Cast anything breaks more easily, so cast tools will usually be fatter, clumsier and not as strong as their forged equivalents. The right tool will make the job at hand much easier.

The fifth rule - balance your time versus your money. If you can wait to get the tool, AND if you have the time to spend on hunting for it or them, hold out for good used tools vs. new cheap ones. A compromise, should you need the tool immediately, is buy Craftsman - they are generally well priced and almost always
price worthy. If you need a tool to work first time, every time, spend as much as you can afford, you'll thank me later.

The sixth rule - they're cheaper by the dozen. Almost always, you can buy a full set of whatever tools you want for less than the individual prices of each item included. Once again, Snap-On is the exception to the rule here - there's no discount to buying them in bulk. But if you buy a Craftsman set (to use an example), you'll pay as little as 50% - sometimes less - of the aggregate cost of buying the sets individually. And make a habit of watching those Sears sale brochures that show up in your mail - buy 'em when they're on sale.

The seventh rule - it's fun to hunt on Ebay. Keep track of what is selling, and use the "advanced search" to find what it typically sells for, and you'll be able to better predict what a good bid will be (and if you can afford it).

Finally, some random thoughts about various common brands, in no particular order - Snap-On - the holy grail of automotive tools.  In quality and price, overall the highest. You definitely get what you pay for here. For example, Snap-On uses a process on their screwdriver tips that make them both highly accurate and virtually indestructible - if you have a screw with a damaged head, your best chance is a Snap-on screwdriver.

Mac, Matco - pretty much the same as Snap-On.

Williams - also known as J.H. Williams - heavy, solid and virtually indestructible, Williams has been THE industrial-use tool maker of choice for over 75 years.  Williams is now, by-the-way, a division of Snap-On, though I haven't seen any difference in the quality of the tools. Williams "Superratchets" in the -52 and higher series have remarkably fine ratchet mechanisms - important if you're in a tight spot with very little wiggle room. Earlier ones, while having coarser mechanisms, are great for heavy duty work.

Proto, S-K, Napa, New Britain, Allen, KD- Always reliable, never cheap. S-K ratchets have too coarse a mechanism, try before you buy.

Craftsman - I used to think that Craftsman was, bar none, the best value for money. Lately, I'm not so sure. A few years back, Craftsman changed manufacturers, and the newer stuff (compare your old Craftsman sockets to new ones, example) just doesn't seem to be of the same quality or to hold up as well, particularly Phillips-head screwdrivers and cutting tools. The combination sets tend to include their really cheap ratchets, which are coarse, clunky.

Gedore - their wrenches - coarse, fat and sloppy.  Generic Taiwanese tools - in my experience, usually shoddy, sometimes excellent. Don't prejudge, sometimes an excellent value for money. The better ones will usually be stamped "chrome vanadium".

Generic (mainland) Chinese tools - see above.  Generic tools trying to look expensive - don't bother. Ever.

Husky and Stanley - a notch or two below the run-of-the-mill Craftsman stuff.