Good day all,
On a long drive to the airport today, I was thinking about buying a set of metric and imperial T-handle hex wrenches. Doesn’t everybody ??
Later on I did what we all do and searched for “best T-handle hex wrenches”, and I saw prices from $15.99 for a 10-piece imperial set to $62.05 for an 8-piece metric set. Then I decided to look at Farbor Hreight to see what they had to offer and not surprisingly they had an 18 piece set of imperial and metric for $19.99.
Now, I’m a big fan of paying for quality, but I’m also a frugal Yankee. So in this specific case, is there a reason to pay $130 for set of wrenches that also sell for $20?
What would make a hex wrench 6-times better ?
All opinions/facts/data are welcome.
Cheers,
Erick
Replies
I needed a set of metric at one point. I went to Lowes and got an inexpensive set as it gets used once or twice a year. Makes sense to me. Not a lot can go wrong with them. If I were a mechanic or used them all the time, I might want something better but in this case they are fine for their infrequent use.
I've eyed that HF set up a time or two. While I dream of having a full set of Bondhus t-handles, it'll never happen. The HF will probably be on my wall at some point. Like Joe, if I used them multiple times a day, sure... but that's not happening anytime soon.
I have the HF units and they work fine for my needs. They are used in the wood shop, no nasty outdoor work. So you have to define needs vs wants. What will work for you needs.
Erick…you said all opinions are welcome. Well in my opinion the product difference that drives the pricing in quality of metal and medal hardness. An example, I am sure we have all had a screwdriver that deforms before it even thinks about loosening a screw.
I've purchased some HF hex wrenches with the ball tips. They do the job for me except one that I used the most showed considerable wear over the years on the short leg. Eventually I needed to grind it off a bit.
After that I lost them and had to replace them.
But I think Allen wrenches that are likely used should work. Plenty of other HF tools are not worth the trouble of taking them home.
you get what you pay for! as my dad once told me , you don"t have to buy the best, buy the best you can afford.
I have a set of Eklind allen wrenches. When they quit gripping, I just grind off the end about 1/8 of an inch or less. Usually about 1 time a year on the one or two most used sizes. Set screws are very hard, probably about the hardest threaded fastener most people encounter.
I have purchased HF tools on a couple occasions for specific reasons. I can not say each purchase was a mistake but overall the purchases were the most expensive way to go.
Eventually I purchased higher quality tools to replace the HF tools.
An inexpensive tool that works well, lasts a long time and doesn't damage what you use it on .... that's a rare but not impossible beast. With tools employed to interface with fasteners and similar items that involve a transfer of torque or other power from tool to tooled, the risk is always that a bad fit, poor material or other compromise in the making of the tool to keep the price down will result in a chewed thing. That wastes what's chewed and perhaps a lot of your time, as you try to remove it despite the now chewed-up tool interface.
You can get away with using inexpensive allen keys, screwdrivers and the like .... if you apply relatively small forces to what you're tooling and you're very precise in your application of the tool and its force to the screw, bolt or whatever. But below a certain quality of materials and finish, tools will distort, break or chew no matter how careful you are. Choosing inexpensive tools of this kind becomes a lottery.
Some tool brands have a high reputation and want to keep it. They tend to make their tools to a high quality as any failures will get amplified enormously in the internet-review world. They aren't infallible but the risk of getting a poor example of their tools is very low.
Personally I have quite a few Wera tools of the sort you're thinking about. They're mostly for use on bikes and other mechanical things but are sometimes used in the woodworking shed. They're expensive but very high quality, with a few technical innovations that are genuinely worth having. Have a look at their stuff here:
https://www-uk.wera.de/en/
(You can choose an English version rather than the default German).
But note the prices!
Lataxe
Agreeing as usual with Lataxe.
Overall I'm a buy once cry once, but have been there making cheap purchases.
There is a sweet spot though on the curve of tool price vs quality. Above that spot, there is an exponential increase in price per unit of extra quality.
Where the right spot for you happens to be will depend on not only the depth of your pockets, but also whether the tool will be used enough to justify the cost.
I'm willing to be really careful with a cheapo tool I use only once in a while.
I'm good with a limited capability on a tool where the better capability would be used only rarely.
I spend a lot of money on tools that save me time doing things I don't like so much or that I use every time I'm in the shop.
In terms of hex sets, I use a 5mm and a 6mm often. 8mm occasionally and nothing else unless it's a dedicated item for a tool, in which case I have a hex wrench on a magnet. Were it me, I'd just buy those three sizes.
There may be a middle ground here. I am still setting up my shop and assembling/adjusting equipment. I use a Craftsman set of SAE and metric T-handle hex wrenches more often than I would have expected. The T-handle design is far superior to the conventional stubby variety.
I also couldn’t justify high dollar tools for tasks like this. The set I use sells for about $32 today at Lowe’s (https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-14-key-Metric-SAE-Hex-Key-Set/1000594309).
I have no connection to Lowe’s. Probably also sold at Amazon.
In my experience Craftsman quality seems to have been retained after Sears went under, at least in hand tools like this.
Just a thought.
Hi Russ,
You're right about Craftsman, at least in my experience. The hand tools still seem to be a great value. Thanks for the recommendation.
I have an irrational fondness for Craftsman brand tools. Dad gave me a fairly comprehensive mechanics set in the 1980s. So much so that I have been buying 1930s (ish) woodworking tools with the Craftsman brand name on them (made by others). They work well then and now. Having said that, my dad's 1950s mechanics Craftsman tools were more refined than the 1980s ones I have.
If you've ever worked with tools professionally, quality usually supersedes price.
Cheap/less expensive tools can cause damage, down time and/or injury.
With some tools, there is not too much difference in form and function. Other tools may fail to live up to their expensive counterparts due to things like inferior materials, ergonomics and durability, just to name a few.
I've been working with tools on a daily basis for over 40 years and I can say this. Yes, you can often get away with less expensive tool but you should know when you can't.
I always think of setup bars when I go to the airport. I have the inexpensive kind (and they work great).
Ha !!
I'd hate to be starting out now in woodworking given the astonishing prices of new quality tools. In the Woodcraft catalog I recently noticed a virtually unchanged Frost sloyd knife at 10 times the price I paid for mine from the same vendor back in the day.
There's a few things to consider. Is this a profession or a hobby? As a hobby it doesn't matter what you spend if you have the money. A john boat or a mega yacht, what's in your wallet? As a business, purchasing equipment ,can be the difference of making a living or not. Also to consider is, as a profession, tools of your trade can be written off on taxes. Nearing the end of the year I would look over my tax situation and realize on many years that I should maybe buy something or end up donating that money to the government. In that case buying the good one may be the most economical.
A lifetime tool takes on a different meaning if your 20 as opposed to 70 ,by the way.
Also, a "lifetime"tool or machine seems to be different today than it was in the past.
Rockwell is a good example, Rockwell purchased Delta machine in 1939 followed by purchases of Porter Cable and then Walker Turner. Through their entire existence until they spun off to build Spaceshuttles they supplied replacement parts for all their machines, even if those machines were manufactured by the previous company and no longer in production. Even Craftsman, if you carried your broken tool that said " Craftsman" on it into any Sears they handed you a brand new tool on the spot. I now have a Grizzly combo machine that was still being manufactured 10 years ago, so a new machine by my estimation, that is obsolete for parts from the manufacturer and very little aftermarket availability! So in reality a disposable machine! Many of the companies have changed hands and the new owners, it seems ,are not interested in supporting the equipment manufactured before their purchase of the company.
If your starting out in a trade you have an enormous outlay for the tools and equipment you need but you haven't actually yet earned the money. In some cases for accuracy and quality you have to buy a better tool to be able to do the job, a square that is square, a level that reads level, but that doesn't mean that it has to be a Sterrett either. Everything else, you wing it to maybe replace at a later date.
I was in a Harbor Freight recently and saw that they have introduced a parallel clamp so I bought a couple. No, they're not as good as the Bessys but at 1/4 the price they do work! Once,walking through the isle at HF there was a mallet, the kind with the screw on faces so I bought it. I find myself reaching for that thing all the time and I have many mallets and hammers. Highland sells one for $40, mine cost 4!
Is a Festool machine at a 100% higher really 100% better than their next best competitor.....
My latest experience with cheapness was last year when my middle of the pack Milwaukee random orbit sander which had done me well for about 8 years suddenly decided to not be random anymore. Since I was nearly finished the job, figured I could get a cheap one until I got it repaired. Down to HD and bought a Ryobi-what a mistake. Right back down and got another Milwaukee. It wasn't as good as the first one but got me through a few jobs. Then I let the moths out of my wallet and dropped big bucks-especially big bucks in Canada- on a Festool. On the other hand, instead of dropping even bigger bucks on the dust collector I was able to get a tight fit on the sander and my Ridgid shop vac hose with an old household vaccuum hose. I didn't know til I got it home their sanding discs are holed differently but fortunately they included one,that I used as a template to rehole the lifetime of discs I already had. That's my go to tool now for good work and the second Milwaukee for rougher stuff. I gave the Ryobi away few days ago to a friend working on her deck.
Hello all,
This question stimulated some great conversation.
The reason I wanted to check with the FWW community on this topic was that I was trying to determine if the quality (higher quality steel, handle ergonomics, sizing accuracy, etc.) of the higher priced offerings really make a difference when it comes to something like a T-handle Hex wrench.
I purchased a Saw-Stop for reasons of safety AND quality. As I said in my initial post, I'm not afraid to pay for quality, and the PCS saw was as good or better, quality-wise, than others in the same price category.
But for something like a hex-wrench, the extra quality benefit wasn't so obvious. Reading your excellent responses makes me think that for my use case (which is a limited use), the less expensive options may be a good way forward.
Thanks for all your great comments. This is the kind of positive feedback that forums were built for :-)
Cheers,
Erick
I have bought a ton of both hand and power tools at garage and estate sales over the years, and I think that is a good way to get quality stuff at a low cost.
Interesting discussion as always. The original question was about T-handle hex wrenches that I presume to be used in a wood shop. I have the HF T units that I mostly use when I change blade size on my Griz 17" BS. I don't understand why you would apply so much tork that the hex will distort.
Worried about that set screw on a pulley? Use two set sct screws, one on top of the other to lock things - just don't forget it is there. Distorting screw heads with bad tools?? What are you attaching? I use lube to make sure they go in with minimal effort. If you are using brass, pre insert same size steel screws. Regarding socket sets and box end wrenches, the stuff I bought from HF worked for brakes, tie rod ends, and rear bearings on our cars. If I ran a garage, I would need something like Snap On. My Ridgid trim router trims very well. The HF mortise machine, dust collector, and drill press work as they should. My end wood projects are things like dining room tables, A&C tables, a desk, table tops, and some craft things. For me it is cost vs benifit.
It certainly helps to pre-drill, use a steel screw to carve the threads for a brass screw, ease with wax and so forth. Yet the turning force used to put various fasteners to wood can still require some high torques. The more the turning force needed, the more likely for a poor tool-to-fastner interface to distort and fail.
Brass screws are an amplifier of such issues, in that brass is much softer than steel, the interface is often a slot (the worst configuration of a tool-fastener interface) and the slot-size slightly variable in a box of brass screws. It's very easy to cam-out and ruin a slotted brass screw. A very well-made and fitting tool helps. Although .....
Personally I find the tool choice needs a wider consideration when the torquing forces are high and the tool>tooled interfaces are fragile. For brass screws there's nothing better than a small impact driver for reducing the cam-outs or other ruinations of brass screws to zero or very close to it.
I suspect an impact driver with any kind of screw-in is going to help, even with the toughest screws and the best tooling.
But then you're also best off with a good quality set of torque-bits....... :-)
Lataxe, always glad to find reasons to buy better tools.
The key here is to get a set of each at whatever price.Otherwise you will be compromising by forcing the wrong set into the opposite standard part.Incidentally,the parts in a machine are often hardened so dont force the key as the screw will strip the tool
I buy a lot of my hand tools from thrift stores and bring them back to life. I almost never have buyer's remorse