Sad At Sears

The other day, I made a run to Sears, to buy a battery for my Craftsman li-ion compact drill.  It's a great little tool.

I spent some time wandering through the hand-tool section, and realized that the old Craftsman brand is basically dead.  Craftsman tools used to all be made in the U.S.A, to a nice level of fit and finish.   Now I see two grades of Chinese made stuff--chintzy and somewhat nicer.  

I used to buy only Craftsman hand tools, but it looks like when I need new ones, I won't make an extra effort.  I can just as well buy Mexico/Taiwan sourced hand tools for slightly less money at Home Depot.

There are still mass market hand tools made in the U.S. with a no-B.S. warranty.  Check out Klien and Channel Lock.