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Klein tools, let's start with screw drivers.

rons

Diamond
Joined
Mar 5, 2009
Location
California, USA
Klein tools screw driver tips versus others?

Can't say anything bad about them. The tips of the screw drivers are black. Looks like a gimmick for selling. When I first bought a set at an electrical
distributor (I know it's not the best price but it was close) the black tips looked like a coating on a solid shank. It's not. The tip is a hardened piece
that is attached to the shank. Run your finger nail along the tip where it is attached to the shank. There is a small gap between the two pieces. Never had
a tip come apart from a shank. Compare that to a regular Sear Craftsman type with their famous claim of that Chrome Vanadium Steel. Don't even want to think
about the cheapo off-shore junk.

Working on nice new equipment with soft nosed tools just screws up the tool and what it is trying to turn. Those older screw drivers are just used for
opening paint cans.

Those Klein tools hold up. For those who think this way, can you provide what you know. What is better than a Klein? Mac?.
Have walked through a MAC truck 20 years ago but that stuff was not affordable at the time.
 
I have one of their smaller flat blade screwdrivers that I have had for years. I mostly use it for electrical work, and the tip is still going strong after about 20 yrs. Also a big fan of wiha screwdrivers.
 
I'm using the same Klein screwdrivers (and pliers) I got about 40 years ago. My standard length #2 Phillips has removed and replaced thousands or possibly even tens of, and is still the most reliable and slip resistant screwdriver in my tool box. The rest of the Kleins are the equal to that other then they haven't been used as much, but still no problems ever.

To answer the OP's question... nothin.

While I'm here I'd like to turn folks on to the handiest darn pliers I own. It's never used it for what it was designed for, which is an end cutting wire cutter. I think Channellock should market it under a different name. It's great for grabbing on to things and pulling or twisting. Makes brake springs a cake walk to name just one thing. I'm on my second one, also in about 40 years. I'm sure the first one was abused just a little too much one time. I don't see it there now, but years ago the Channellock website had customer testimonials on their products. Every guy on there was saying the same thing I've said here about these pliers, including being one of their favorites. Few if any were using it for what it was designed for.

Search Channellock 748 End Cutting Long Reach Pliers. Some day you'll thank me. Couldn't live without it.
 
I have a couple of Phillips-head screwdrivers -- one branded Williams, the other branded Bridgeport -- that were made by Bridgeport Hardware Manufacturing before Crescent Niagara bought them out, that still don't show any significant signs of wear . . . after forty years of my use and who knows how much other use before I bought them secondhand. Under Crescent Niagara, Cooper, and Apex ownership, the quality of Bridgeport-branded screwdrivers declined severely and the recovered somewhat, but I don't think there is any US-made screwdriver matching the quality of the Bridgeport Hardware screwdrivers made in Bridgeport six or more decades ago.

As for Klein, the story I heard is that Stanley made the first screwdrivers branded with the Klein name, but the working relationship between the two companies deteriorated to the point that Klein entered the screwdriver-manufacturing business by buying Vaco. Both the Stanley-made and Vaco-made Klein-branded screwdrivers were top-notch generally, but there was a period ten, twenty years ago, when some of the Klein flat-blade screwdrivers would snap off their tips if used with a wrench or to pry.

With all that out of the way, I still think the P Baumann / PB Swiss screwdrivers are probably at the top of the heap. Not at all inexpensive, though. And, to be honest, there are damn good screwdrivers being made, in the US, in Europe, in Japan, in Taiwan, and in China.
 
Now that Klein seems to have become either Lowe’s or Home Depot’s in-house brand I worry the quality will suffer. Possibly not...

In any case, Klein still makes the best linesman’s pliers out there.





Be safe and stay healthy




Jeremy
 
Mac tools are garbage. Made for broke college kids.

Barely a step above fisher price.
Klein actually gives a shit. Much better product.
 
Question for you guys with old trusty Klein screwdrivers: What do the handles look like?

Their modern lineup has a black rubber "cushion grip". I hate cushion grips -- they always go rotten in 5 years, turn to goo, and smell like puke. Are these Kleins any better?

I wouldn't mind buying some new drivers but I didn't give the Kleins a second look, because of the handles.

85076_callout.jpg
 
Question for you guys with old trusty Klein screwdrivers: What do the handles look like?

Their modern lineup has a black rubber "cushion grip". I hate cushion grips -- they always go rotten in 5 years, turn to goo, and smell like puke. Are these Kleins any better?

I wouldn't mind buying some new drivers but I didn't give the Kleins a second look, because of the handles.

My 35-ish to 40 year old Klein screwdrivers all have cushion grips and suffer none of what you're talking about. None!
 
Klein doesn't seem to biodegrade over time, neither plastic or rubber grip -- 25-30 years so far. I have a OEM briefcase toolbox full of Xcelite tools that stink to high heaven, when kept in their box or just in a toolbox drawer. (Febreze and long-term airing out helps.)
 
I've got some of those stinky Excelite hex drivers. They are godawful smelling if they're kept in a closed container. I think the sticky decomposing rubber only happens on the newer thinly applied stuff. All the old more solid rubber handle tools I've got are still just about like the day they were made. A lot of the 5-10 year old stuff with the "soft-grip" rubber coated plastic is getting sticky and gooey and peeling away.

Yet another example of why accountants and shareholders shouldn't be making all the business decisions.
 
One of my favorite tools is a pair of Klein lineman's pliers, which I found in the street in town on the way to work. One of the perks of driving a motorbike. Just reached down and snagged them. Probably were left on the back of a Con Ed truck.
 
Question for you guys with old trusty Klein screwdrivers: What do the handles look like?

Their modern lineup has a black rubber "cushion grip". I hate cushion grips -- they always go rotten in 5 years, turn to goo, and smell like puke. Are these Kleins any better?

I wouldn't mind buying some new drivers but I didn't give the Kleins a second look, because of the handles.

View attachment 309415

If you use some other brands with those grips they eventually twist off. If I didn't like the grip I would pull it off.
The rubber grips on my Klein tools have stayed the same for 10 years.

Get one of those black DVD cases made in China. They smell like worse than road kill. At first I thought it was out-gassing and the smell will go away.
Not even after 20 years.
 
The tips are blued alloy steel and I think the line you feel is the edge of the plating where it stopped at the plating mask.

AFAIK the shanks and tips are one piece.

I took a closer look at the line between the black tip and the chrome shaft. The line is wavy and it actually looks like a piece of masking tape
was wrapped around the chrome shaft and then the tip was painted black.

The chrome shank is .245 diameter.
The tip is .243 diameter.
One reason to think that there are two different pieces.
Or that the plating on the shank adds .002 to the diameter.
 
I think most all of my screw drivers are Crafstman, no complaints. Most of my Craftsman tools were bought in the mid 70's to early 80's.
 
When I try to reverse out a tight phillips head with other screw drivers the tip may pop out of position and wear the screw and head.
Over a brief time the hardware starts to get damaged and the screw driver tip is the fault. Very aggravating to ruin a screw head along
with the feeling that I'm never going to get this sucker loose. The shape and hardness of my Klein drivers have performed well with the
least damage to hardware. Got a wide drawer full of screw drivers that are not Klein and I hardly use any of them.
 








 
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