Re: Metric/Standard Wrench/socket interchange list

Posted by BH On 2012/9/21 9:07:58

Keith's point is spot-on.

A friend who lived in Chicago used to find a lot of great stuff left by the curb - right in front of his building - by idiots who overextended themselves, then lost their jobs (or worse), and couldn't take all that stuff along when they fled the area - everything to from fine china to a snowblower. Mind you, this was going on long before the Great Recession. I can only imagine what it's been like in years since.

Meanwhile, there were plenty of displaced workers who had been retrained, at taxpayer expense, as automotive technicians, but quickly became disillusioned with the field and then left it. Between that and the dealers that were forced to close when GM and Chrysler filed bankruptcy, there's a glut of good used tools and equipment out there for late model iron.

Of course, plenty of old timers have left their tools behind for the next generation of people who are smart enough to buy and use them.

For my hobby work, I have a good set of basic tools, but am fortunate to also have my dad's old tool box, though it predates the metric era. Over the years, I've picked up a several inexpensive sets of metric sockets and wrenchs under the Michigan Industrial Tools label. More recently, I've been shopping Harbor Freight - carefully.