Made in America

With all the talent here on this site, why is it not possible to start making tools in a garage shop at a cheap cost? Instead of whining and complaining about everything going to China, let's step up and try something different. Alot of the tools I use at work I have made myself. It's time to start thinking outside the box.

Alot of books are still available on manufacturing processes and the prices of CNC's are coming down. Hell even a conversion would work. It may not be perfect, but it would work until something better can be had.

I looked at a socket and figured out how to make one. If I can do it then anyone can.

Actually, there are a lot of tools, as well as other quality items, manufactured in the USA.
I dont know about the "in the garage at a cheap cost" part- a lot of the things that are actually worth buying are worth buying because they are made better, smarter, and inevitably, more expensive, than the chinese.

For instance, we were just talking about Klenk metal snips on another thread. Klenk invented aviation snips, holds the original patent, and still sells some of the best ones. Yep, they cost a bit more than the no name chinese ones, or even the sometimes made in America Wiss brand snips. (Wiss is owned by Cooper Industries, which has plants in China, India, Mexico, and Eastern Europe)

They have always been available, if you look, to purchase. The highest quality, made in the USA. But the problem is, most people dont look, and dont care, and buy the cheapest, easiest thing.

Same thing with all kinds of products. Pay more, and you can get an American made Fender guitar, rather than Mexico, Indonesia, or Thailand.
I use some amazing hammers made by small american blacksmiths, Hossfeld benders made in Winona Minnesota, Klein tools, which are mostly made in the USA, and lots more.
I have a friend who makes the best blacksmithing tools in the world- he has made over 30,000 pairs of tongs, along with all kinds of amazing spring swages and texture tools- in Buckley Washington- in a largish garage.
He does use CNC mills, and EDM, along with a variety of other industrial tools, and he certainly knows a lot about what he does, from machining, to forging, to heat treating, so he doesnt have much interest in selling cheap.
But guys like that, and small companies, are still around in the USA, the trick is to patronize em. I know of a good dozen or two people on this forum who make amazing specialty tools, all in the USA.

The stuff is out there, and its certainly not impossible to make a living here in the USA making the best quality stuff- but it is a bit more difficult to make cheap, commodity stuff, where you are directly competing with the Chinese.
The Chinese make mountain bikes for $100, and make $1 profit on each one.
Trek, on the other hand, makes $1500 to $3000 bikes here.

Personally, I am more willing to buy the best, no matter where its made, rather than cheap crap made in the USA. Of which there is still some out there.
I have a bunch of Milwaukee power tools that were actually made in Milwaukee, and Bosch tools made in Germany- and I prefer the Bosch.

But I do make a point of buying high quality, high design american stuff a lot- much more than a lot of people, who shop on price alone.

I make tools

I make a line of tools that are sold to silversmiths and jewelers all over the world, I do it right in my home shop and I barely make a profit. I sell to large catalog companies {think Enco but for jewelery tools} By the time I buy the metal and machine it and weld it and polish it and ship the finished product and they mark it up 30% the price is outrageous and very few people can afford them because most people are used to imported cheap tools. If they were more popular then a chinese company would be making them but since they are for a very limited market I am still able to produce them, actually I am the only person making them in the US. Before any one thinks I am getting rich doing it I am only making about 20 grand a year. I do it because I like to make them but as far as selling tools on a large scale I think it would be real tough to compete with china or any other third world country. I have experience with having stuff manufactured in China and the prices that they quote are so low it is amazing. I can see why alot of companies have gone that route. To give you an example I made patterns for a curtain rod company to get curtain rod finials cast in iron in china and their cost was 16 cents per pound of cast and finished finials. They are sold all over the world mostly to large department stores. To even try and compete with that is impossible.

Although I make different stuff than Kpotter, I also make tools for jewelers. I make tools for woodturners, beadmakers, glassblowers, etc. There are literally thousands of American knifemakers, some doing custom knives and some in production. I also make a few branding irons from time to time.

If you want to make tools in your garage, there's no reason you can't do it. You just need to play to your strengths. There are both low quality cheap and high quality expensive hand tools made both here and in China. I don't see a good nitche for making sockets and such, but there are plenty of specialty tools that either are overpriced, of poor quality or have not yet been invented that are fair game and can be made profitably...Joe

Me too-- I make American made shop tools

I manufacture a small line of machine shop tools that includes edge finders, sine bars, thread wires, indicator holder, magnetic chuck parallels and v-blocks and a few other tools.

My family has been making quality shop tools for 40+ years. It would be my guess that most machinists have owned or at least used one of our tools at some time. Sometimes they are sold under our brand name or more often branded for someone else.

Here is my take why it is becoming more difficult to purchase quality American made tools:
First we all have voted with our pocket book. It is difficult to compare pictures in catalogs and judge quality. Often times we default to the lowest price becuse of this.

Sometimes we buy just on price because of the tools limited use. I could go on but the net effect of buying the import encourages the big tool distributors to satisfy our demand for imports. As they buy more imported tools they squeese the American brands either off the shelf or out of the catalog. I know.

There are a lot of guys on this site that understand the problem and would prefer to buy American. Unfortunately the gatekeepers like the big box stores, Harbor Freight, the Big catalog companies have heard us vote and have no interest in giving up shelf space or catalog space to products that we have chosen not to buy.

Thought you should know.
John Fisher
Fisher Machine

I did think part of the answer to making American-made products affordable was to cut out the retail middlemen (and actually most of them have decided they cannot mark up US-made stuff enough to make it worth their while). On my website, I try to link customers directly to manufacturers where they sell "factory direct." That is only a partial solution, however, because many manufacturers are just not set up to deal with the hassles of small orders, with returns, and lots of customer service.

A few years ago I saw a small "boom" in internet-based stores that were trying to sell only American-made, using drop shipping from suppliers etc. Only a very few seem to last more than a few years, so that suggests that majority of shoppers are not willing to pay the price premium or sacrifice product variety in order to support businesses that employ workers here.

I like the individual initiative to "make it in the garage" but that doesn't seem an efficient way to run a large economy.

If you make it please let me know. I would rather buy American than cheap Chicom crap. I NEED accurate tools.

Lost in LA said:

I manufacture a small line of machine shop tools that includes edge finders, sine bars, thread wires, indicator holder, magnetic chuck parallels and v-blocks and a few other tools.

My family has been making quality shop tools for 40+ years. It would be my guess that most machinists have owned or at least used one of our tools at some time. Sometimes they are sold under our brand name or more often branded for someone else.

Click to expand...

kudos to you! website?

Lost in LA said:

First we all have voted with our pocket book. It is difficult to compare pictures in catalogs and judge quality. Often times we default to the lowest price becuse of this.

Click to expand...

I personally default to the name brand when I'm shopping via catalog, not the cheapest (ie starrett instead of an unknown name...altho recent developments like starrett outsourcing is really beginning to make even reliance on namebranding a sketchy proposition)

Lost in LA said:

There are a lot of guys on this site that understand the problem and would prefer to buy American. Unfortunately the gatekeepers like the big box stores, Harbor Freight, the Big catalog companies have heard us vote and have no interest in giving up shelf space or catalog space to products that we have chosen not to buy.

Click to expand...

the really unfortunate thing is that even tho there are lots of us around (even off this site), by comparison with the rest of society, we're just a drop in the bucket....compare this site's membership with, say, wallyworld's customer base

Lost in LA said:

Thought you should know.
John Fisher
Fisher Machine

Click to expand...

website?

Stephanie said:

That is only a partial solution, however, because many manufacturers are just not set up to deal with the hassles of small orders, with returns, and lots of customer service.

Click to expand...

unfortunate, but true

Stephanie said:

A few years ago I saw a small "boom" in internet-based stores that were trying to sell only American-made, using drop shipping from suppliers etc. Only a very few seem to last more than a few years, so that suggests that majority of shoppers are not willing to pay the price premium or sacrifice product variety in order to support businesses that employ workers here.

Click to expand...

speaking only for myself, the internet only works for me as an information source, I don't (99% of the time) buy over it. Beyond that, I'm a pretty 'tactile' guy, and when choosing a new tool, I buy the one that 'fits' my hand better- hard to do over the 'net

PS....glad you're still with us, Stephanie, you don't post as much as you used to, but as always, informative and helpful

John,

I noticed some of your tools out there. One site that sells them says "Made in the USA by hungry machinists".

Me too- I make american made shop tools --Part 2

For those who may be interested in purchasing some of my tools try:
http://www.cartertools.com/fm.html
or
http://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_search.php?critFast=fisher&B1=Product+Search

Those two sites cover most of our products.

you may email me
fishermachine at aol dot com
with your snail mail address and I will send a brochure and pricing.

Thanks
John Fisher

Lost in LA said:

I manufacture a small line of machine shop tools that includes edge finders, sine bars, thread wires, indicator holder, magnetic chuck parallels and v-blocks and a few other tools.

My family has been making quality shop tools for 40+ years. It would be my guess that most machinists have owned or at least used one of our tools at some time. Sometimes they are sold under our brand name or more often branded for someone else.

Here is my take why it is becoming more difficult to purchase quality American made tools:
First we all have voted with our pocket book. It is difficult to compare pictures in catalogs and judge quality. Often times we default to the lowest price becuse of this.

Sometimes we buy just on price because of the tools limited use. I could go on but the net effect of buying the import encourages the big tool distributors to satisfy our demand for imports. As they buy more imported tools they squeese the American brands either off the shelf or out of the catalog. I know.

There are a lot of guys on this site that understand the problem and would prefer to buy American. Unfortunately the gatekeepers like the big box stores, Harbor Freight, the Big catalog companies have heard us vote and have no interest in giving up shelf space or catalog space to products that we have chosen not to buy.

Thought you should know.
John Fisher
Fisher Machine

Click to expand...

I own a few quality fisher machine products,my favorite is my spring loaded tap guide.

Its great to know that some things are still American made. I am in need of a spring loaded tap guide and a new edge finder for home use. I will definitely be buying one from you guys this time.

Thanks for posting a link to your site!!!!