Tool Deals Thread

jymmiejamz

Founding Member
Callsign: KN4JHI
I've also started following these guys on instagram: www.championbuilt.com

The Lista factory is also just in my backyard and used or demo stuff seems to pop up on craigslist/ebay locally somewhat frequently.
Lista is total garbage in my experience. Tons of JLR dealers are putting them in. They are more like parts department cabinets than tool boxes because none of the drawers are the right size for any tools.
 

evilfij

Well-known member
20% off coupon for inside track members. Check their Instagram. I know they are common coupons, but maybe you need a 20 ton press or something.

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If they sold German tools I would live there. I saw a YouTube where a guy went in and bought every icon tool.

@acheck whatever that deal was it’s gone. :(
 
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evilfij

Well-known member
I got a 10% off KC tool (some exclusions apply, I assume tool of the day) and a $10 off your first $50 order at Chad’s codes if anyone wants to order domestic. I am sure they are one time use, but I am an existing Chad’s customer (I suppose I could use another address but that is cheating and Chad’s are good people). Message me if you want one or the other.

Thanks @WreckITFrank but I am on the Knipex VDE, not comfort grip, for my electrical tools. 🙃

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I know that this set is useless like having a 3/8 ratchet without any 3/8 sockets or drill bits without a drill :) but I was pround of myself for not cutting myself making liners for the new Hazet box (this one was empty, the one from .de is filled with foam inserts and tools, but I was trying to channel my inner @JimC and appear to be organized while I wait for the rest of my Hazet stuff to show up.

I used this and thought it was nice. $10 on Amazon for 20in x 6ft (the box insides appear to be random neither metric nor standard round numbers). So mainly the tools are in there so the liners set (I did not glue them down)
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I was inspired to put the wrenches in like that because of the Heyco box set. It has a much better chosen set of tools than the Hazet version, but the Hazet version is Hazet so ....

Heyco version:


Note it has combination wrenches and more of them, two hammers, more pliers etc.

Hazet version (I ordered but has not shipped from .de):


One hammer, double open end wrenches (who uses those!) one pliers etc.

Heyco pic and then Hazet pic


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Oh and in good news the third party seller on Amazon did in fact ship me my Heuer vise (160 model, not 180 but that’s ok). 49 euro shipping! I got a DHL tracking number in a couple hours! It was like $400 all in compared to $700 plus in the US.
 
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evilfij

Well-known member
In other news, let’s say I want to go full @JimC and make my own foam inserts, what foam am I supposed to use? I bought the Wiha scraper/xacto knife thing with interchangeable blades (after mistakenly ordering just the blades which was fortuitous because the other set I got has the xacto knife blades) so I want to put it to use (in typical evilfij fashion I did not think to use it even though it arrived the same day when I went to make the box liners .... at least I did not use a hammer).


Blades that have knifes are not in stock anymore. I like the Wera and Felo handles better, but neither have a tool like this and it is high quality (the handle thing is merely a preference).


I blame this guy for my current hoarding. But he is very, very good. Too bad he stepped away from his channel.
 
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rocky

NAS-ROW Addict
20% off coupon for inside track members. Check their Instagram. I know they are common coupons, but maybe you need a 20 ton press or something.

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If they sold German tools I would live there. I saw a YouTube where a guy went in and bought every icon tool.

@acheck whatever that deal was it’s gone. :(
 

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evilfij

Well-known member
So I am trying to finish out a second set of tools for the castle. I was initially planning on doing all Hazet, but when I was cleaning out the tool box, I thought better of it as I decided to leave the Hazet with the main set. I also decided against getting a box there. 90% of the time there I need to be mobile. It’s not like at the hovel where I work out of the garage 90% of the time. The stuff will fit in my old craftsman box or it comes in a nice case.

A lot of stuff that is headed there is just my old primary tools, but they are beat. I wanted to get something German or at least German brand, but did not want to pay Gedore/Wera/Stahlwille/Hazet prices. I did that with the Heyco and Gedore Red wrenches so I wanted to keep up the theme.

So for sockets and ratchets, I decided to try Proxxon. I have an internet friend who is into Pinzgaurers and he swears by them.

The 1/2 and 1/4 inch sets with the baton ratchets (this is the heavy duty Proxxon ratchet set, they also make a round headed one and one where the handle twists to turn the head which I thought was weird) were on sale for $112 each. I actually bought the SAE set for two reasons. One, I wanted a set of SAE 1/2in drive 6 point sockets as I have enough metric sockets now to outfit an entire dealership service department. Two, for some reason when I added the metric to the basket it was charging me a ton of shipping costs, like $30 more than the SAE. And also SAE German tools are hard to find and way more expensive than metric if you buy Gedore or Stahlwille (not sure Hazet even sells SAE anymore).

I was sad because I had to throw out my Williams Kobalt 1/2 and metrinch 3/8 ratchets today. The metrich was stripped (thankfully I had a USA Stanley that fit in the case nicely). The Kobalt just had the switch broken off, but the repair kit was the same price as the Proxxon. They served me well (honestly they probably got more use and abuse than even my craftsman ones). I was sad because I had to throw out my Williams Kobalt 1/2 and metrinch 3/8 ratchets today, but new tool orders make me happy. :)

So to replace them picked up a spare 1/2 ratchet and two 3/8 ratchets for beaters/gifts. I have a ton of old US made 3/8 craftsman sockets in SAE and Metric so the 3/8 will work with those, but now I have a spare.

I don’t have a welding hammer so I decided to try the Austrian Stubai brand one for the main tool set.

Keeping with Austria, and with @WreckITFrank telling me to buy Knipex linesman pliers, but not seeing the VDE model, I bought the three piece Gedore set with side cutters and the 142-10 which is the Gedore version of cobras. These are made in Austria. Speaking of Knipex cobras, I bought two more cobras as they were on sale. So I will have three cobras (one regular red, the two comfort grip), the Hazet version, and the Gedore version to compare them all (I did not get a Stahlwille but I thought about it). Then I bought the smallest Knipex bolt cutters to go with my 35 3/4in set.

I bought the Hazet tire tool to use for the swollen chrome lugs on the defender with my 28mm Gedore socket. It should fit in the tool box (unlike my breaker bar which is migrating to the castle). I also picked up a couple Hazet scribers as I did not own one of those either. Finally, I got the Stahlwille “corona” wrenches which are shallow offset. I liked the deep offset ones so much I grabbed this (I almost got the stabil flat offset but I was able to restrain myself). Plus I get to post wrench pictures that say “Corona 19.” Thats worth $100 right there .... ;)

I also bought a $30 Yost vise just to see how bad it is. If nothing else, it’s a spare set of hands to hold stuff especially when welding and they shipped it overnight so I will have it tomorrow am when I wake up.
 

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JimC

Super Moderator
Staff member
This is funny @evilfij - Proxxon is the budget brand in Germany. There is always a large selection of Proxxon power tools next to their Dremel counterparts in the large German home stores, their primary product seems to be these kinds of small tools. All the products, power and hand tools, seem to be a couple generations older, just older case designs, grip moldings etc. maybe this is how they keep the prices down. Also I’m very certain the the stuff is Chinese, maybe Taiwanese, but not German COO.

Not knocking your tool choice except to say that I really don’t like the shade of green that Proxxon applies to everything...
 

evilfij

Well-known member
I am buying them because they are budget :) After all this is the tool deals thread. Haha. I don’t think they are as bad as the Kobalt set posted. ;)

@JimC you are correct with one qualification.
A lot of the Proxxon power tools are made in Luxembourg (this is from the COO) and some things made in Germany (same). I presume this is like other lines where the higher end stuff is made in Europe, but the cheaper stuff in China, However, a lot of the power tools with what I thought were reasonable prices had a Luxembourg COO. Proxxon sells power tools directly in the US, most notably their version of a dremel.

I actually like the green, but I am a sucker for colors. I spent considerably more getting my GT3 in paint to sample Auratium green than I have on all the tools I have purchased. Just the paint option was more than I paid for my red NAS D90!

The hand tools are made in Taiwan (most of them anyway, I can’t find a COO on the ratchets). I am hoping they are of a quality similar to Gedore Red which I was really impressed with. German company, Taiwan made. Even Wera sockets are made in Taiwan and they are very nice. (The Wera ratchets are made in Czech.)

Honestly, I was just looking for some beater/loaner/gift ratchets to replace the ones I had to throw out and for the castle set. I could not bring myself to buy tekton, or Chinese craftsman, or similar off Amazon and I did not want to shuck out Stalhlwille/Hazet/Gedore/Wera money. While doing my .de browsing, at $20-25 each on sale (minus VAT plus shipping which in a bulk buy ends up being about a wash on small items), the Proxxon looked like a good value for 72 teeth ratchets and I liked the design of the baton ones. The baton ones were only a couple dollars more than the round head (the rotating handle ones were almost 2x the money which is getting close to the good stuff price and funny enough Facom is the only other rotating handle ratchet I know of).

I think for less expensive ratchets, 72 teeth is the sweet spot (and honestly the Hazet 90 tooth have more backdrag than I would like, but I have not used them enough to see if that frees up .. the Stahlwille are finest even though they are 80 tooth). I will do a comparison at some point between all the brands. I am planning some videos for my instagram.

Proxxon ratchet options:


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But then I saw they do what everyone in europe does and sell a 1/2 and 1/4 set at an attractive price, but I have enough of those ... then I saw they had SAE options so I was like, that works. As far as budget, they have other 1/4 and 1/2 sets with the standard ratchets and fewer sockets. Those are like $66


You can get them with fuller socket sets for $85


And the Baton sets were $112. Metric (note the description is wrong as it has sockets in 1/2in from 10mm-34mm)


And the one I got, the SAE set with baton ratchets (they have the mirrors of the smaller sets with standard ratchets in SAE too):


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They also have the most well thought out trunk set the 23650 I have seen, but it is $156 plus shipping (it does come with two Knipex pliers, but the one is alligator not cobra).

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I almost bought both the SAE and Metric sets because #matchymatchy but I could not find a way to add the metric without adding another $40 in shipping and for that I would get a second Gedore Red set for $130 off regular amazon (I really like that set and it is in my top five value deals with the Felo wood screwdrivers for $20, the 13 euro Hazet screwdrivers, the $15 Gedore red SAE wrench set, and the Gedore blue 1/2in set for $90).

If I don’t like them I can always give them away to one of my young car friends ... or @WreckITFrank ;)

In other news, I picked up some superlube to try on ratchet heads and the $30 yost vise is as bad as $30 implies, it did not even come with mounting bolts, but it will work as a second set of hands in a second tool set. I have a piece of 1/4 plate I may drill and weld to a spare tow ball mount and see if my welding or the vise fails first. :)
 
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evilfij

Well-known member
Am I the only one who did not know that the end comes off a hand impact driver? That end was on there since I bought it about 25 years ago.

It gave me a chance to use the Felo striking cap screwdrivers though. I started with the smallest one. They held up like a champ. If anyone is interested in an impact driver, it’s a mission critical tool for stuck screws (especially the one that mount the hinges to the bulkhead on a defender), lisle still makes US made ones for $25 on prime. The problem I have is I can’t for the life of me find impact grade posidriv 5/16th bits. Are the door hinge bolts a posi 3 or posi 4? That’s what I want/need. The Gedore red set has the bits, but I don’t think they are impact grade.

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Ignore the cheap, small, hammer. My Hazet and Gedore hammers have not arrived.

If anyone is looking for inexpensive hammers, Arcan brand on prime seem nice for $13 for the 3lb drilling and $10 for the ball pein. The 3lb one showed up and I was happy with it. It’s 3x that for the metal shaft estwing I like and you don’t want to know what Hazet hammers cost. ;) ... actually they are not that bad. Three piece set is $100 plus shipping on .de (1kg sledge, 300g engineers, and a soft face double side one). The real deal is the 2kg Gedore with rotoband for 20 euro. Shipping hammers is costly though.
 

acheck

Well-known member
I have an impact driver with a 3/8 square drive and use a Snap On PZ4 3/8 drive bit with it for door hinge bolts.
 
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evilfij

Well-known member
Of course! Snap-on makes one. Maybe I need a second snap on tool ....but my impact driver is 1/2 so would need to use a reduced. Hmmm.
 

evilfij

Well-known member
Oh, I was thinking impact bits (the black ones) which is what I was looking for. But I am not paying this price:


I did find the Wera PZ4 striking cap screwdriver for $22 (the all black handle jumbo Wera striking caps are the beefiest screwdrivers I have ever seen I have 12mm slotted now and have the 14mm slotted coming).


So I will just use that to strip them out first :)

It’s not letting me order the Hazet and I think it is non-impact anyway. :(

KCtool has the Hazet bit for $9.35

 
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erover82

Well-known member
Unless you're using bits on a job site every day, regular bits will work just fine in an impact. I've abused the hell out of all kinds of bits with impacts and never had one shear due to fatigue. Worst case, you buy another bit, which in the context of your German tool binge, shouldn't be too painful.
 
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