Tadek,
I did extensive consumer testing on spanners, screwdrivers, pliers
etc.in the past (80's and 90's) when I was working for the ANWB, the
Dutch automobile sister club of the AA, AAA, ADAC, VAMTC etc.
The results could indeed be very surprising.
E.g. a socket spanner set from Stahlwille, one of the high quality
German brands, that cost around 250 at the time, had a lower score than
a 20 Chinese set for sale at the HEMA, a large low cost warehouse a bit
like Sears but not as extensive.
It caused one hell of a row with Stahlwille but in the end they had to
concede that the cheap set was stronger, harder and was a far better fit
following the DIN-norm. The only points the Stahlwlille set won were on
finish, corrosion resistance and slimness. It does look very nice.
The problem is that the cheap stuff can be very good or very bad and
everything in between. There is no way of knowing. The brands do not
mean much as they can have the tools made by different suppliers.
You do not need top tools, but at least a good quality to prevent damage
to the nuts, bolts, screws etc, and to yourself.
Very important is the proper fit. Many tools, also some expensive
brands, use a to large tolerances in their AF dimensions.
Get socket spanners with 6 sides, not 12. They do less damage to nuts
and bolts.
Some of the best brands available are probably Snap-On and Belzer,
although Belzer is hard and brittle and can snap dangerously, it does
not bend. However this is with extreme overload.
I stick to Hazet for spanners, Hazet, Gedore or Bahco/Skandia for pliers
and Wera for screw drivers and bits (diamond powder coated).
I have boxes full of old cheap spanners of bad quality that were left
over and nobody wanted after the tests we did.
I use these for misuse, to modify and/or make special tools from that
only have to be used once or twice.
Kees Oudesluijs
NL
[demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type text/x-vcard which had a name of
coudesluijs.vcf]
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