Disappointed but not surprised

Robert Farmer

Member
Messages
38
A few months ago I bought a Milwaukee 1/2" magnum from Home Depot which
was on sale for $99. I have used it a couple of times and it is as powerful
as most say. Just last night I was out in my shop just looking over some of
my tools and I happened to read the plate on top of the Milwaukee. The first
thing that jumped out at me was- Made in China. I shouldn't have been sur-
prised as everything else is made in China nowadays, but it never occurred to
me that although I knew Milwaukee was owned by another company, that
their tools, at least their famous drills, are being made in China. I also just
bought a cordless Makita drill. It too, is made in China. The only thing really
bothering me about all these Chinese made tools is their longevity. Will they
hold up over the long run? What are you all's thoughts on this?
 
I have a Makita cordless that was made in China. I have been beating the heck out of it for almost a decade. I like it so much I had the batteries rebuilt. It just keeps going and going. This doesn't mean everything built in China is good just as not all American cars are poor. We really have to shop the product itself and not the brand name or point of origin. Many manufacturers make good and bad products, here and abroad. I too miss the days when anything that had the brand name "insert your favorite here" on it was sure to be good.
 
Last edited:
It's not so much as where a particular tool is made as it is to what specifications it's made too. As long as that Milwaukee drill was made to the high standards that Milwaukee tools have always been then it could be made anywhere and still be a high quality tool. Specifications dictate the quality level more than country of manufacture.
 
Too many things made in China. About two years ago I was disappointed to see a DeWalt DW7670 dado set made in China....great set for the price, but their blade models starting in "76" had always been made in the UK.
 
None of us are happy with the situation.
But all the things said above are true. As far as the tools themselves are concerned, it is not where it was made but how.
Other than that let us use caution before we stray far afield with this discussion.
 
Well, I'm old enough to remember, as I'm sure many of you do, when "Made in Japan" meant poor quality :rolleyes:

Not the case anymore.

In Japan, the cost of labour is so high, that many of the well known Japanese companies are moving their factories to China, most of the R&D and engineering is still done in Japan, but that too will change. The fact is that Japan is graying bad, the population here is becoming old, fast.

I used to do a lot of motorcycle touring here, outside of the major centers, there are all kinds of places that have become ghost towns. I remember driving up one very nice, lovely little valley, and I had a strange feeling, something was just not right :huh: I finally figured it out, there were no cars in the driveways, there was no laundry on the line, no dogs barking at us, and no rice growing in the fields, we were passing small farm after small farm that were empty, it was eerie :(

The vast majority of younger Japanese just do not want to work like their fathers did, work hard for a large company and see your kids twice a week for a few hours, they just do not want that lifestyle, there are so many of them that just live off their parents is makes me ill. The result of this is that the Japanese companies have to look abroad for their labour, it is cheap, yes, especially compared to Japan, but, the bigger thing to the companies is there are more trained or willing to be trained factory workers abroad than in Japan, they have to go where the workers are. Most young Japanese guys I know would NOT want to work shift work at a factory putting lug nuts on a new Honda 8 hours a day :dunno:

Just my observations :wave:
 
I just bought an 8” jointer from Grizzly. I did a lot of searching (soul searching also) to find a jointer made in USA or even Taiwan. People will tell you the Unions (high labor cost) caused the tool makers to go off shore. I personally would pay more for USA MADE. The extra money you pay for American made products is not going to the workers. Just look at top executive salaries. (And their perks) My wife bought a box of chocolate this past Christmas. I was reading the packaging and, was made in china. Where do we draw the line? I did buy the jointer, but it took away a lot of the joy and pride, because it was made in china. It is hard to find a tool that is not made in china.
Paul
 
When i was a kid, "Made in Japan" meant it was junk. They certainly turned that around. I think the Chinese are catching up fast, especially since their cost of labor is going up, and they will need to compete for quality to stay a manufacturing powerhouse.
I'm still skeptical too, but i find that i'm pleasantly surprised more and more by stuff coming out of China.
When i can, i buy north american goods. When that's not an option, or if i'm buying something used, i don't really care where it comes from - i'm looking for the best quality i can afford.
Paul Hubbman
 
This is an interesting thread. It summarizes our americam viewpoint nicely.
Myself I can't buy Japaneese; hold over from WWII, but that is changing out of necessity. I wouldn't buy at HF at first; then I became a little selective of Tiawan made; now with it virtually all Red China I will join the pricebuyers guild.
Anyone who ever bought a new Chev PU and drove it thru its life knows the feeling of GOOD workmanship. In Texas we used to love "Made in Texas Fords." Now they come from Canada, Mexico and the USA. Yet look at the labels assemble in USA --- Toyota, Nissan,etc. The R&D for the new San Antonio built Tundra was done in a GM laboratory. They will tell you that up front.
Stu hit it on the head when he said the Japaneese are greying. There workforce in 1946 was decimented by the war and everyone worked, much of it make work cleaning up and rebuilding. When we went on jeep tours of the rural areas every inch of terrace was in rice. I can remember the construction of concrete streets and buildings by hundreds of laborers. The Korean war was a real boost for Japan; rebuilding american equipment became big business. 1955 was the beginning of the bubble that balooned to the 70s when they were a real world power again. A Toyota executive told us in a meeting in San Antonio that Toyota owes much to its Koreans War work. As the shift of the Model Railroad was from US to Japan to China today almost all toys are mfg in China.
But, lets be even more fundemental. Our steel fence posts began with USS, the Colorado iron and steel, then Okla Iron and Wire, and other mfg making fence posts from lowgrade scrap; now the fence posts come from Mexico, Brazil,India, and South Africa and scrap comes from everywhere. I saw on PBS, a program, where child labor in Pakistan cuts up beached ships for scrap and ship loads of highgrade scrap came from Desert Storms battlefields. I was looking at the Grizzly catalog and they contract in many countries for the mfg of machines. I bet there is little commality between one contract and another.

Yet I am greatful for the global market. I eat grapes and cherries from Chile, I bought Lytic lumber and barbed wire from Brazil, Hawaian pineapple (and some grown in Mexico), and I don't eat Argentine beef or Palestine figs.

I tried at Rockler to buy a good french made rasp; apparently they don't make them anymore so I will settle for a Garrett Wade import. To our FAMILY living and doing business in the far corners of the earth I commend your enterprise and pray for my IRA which is half what it was last march.

Ray Gerdes in (THANK GOD ITS RAINING) beautiful Texas
 
OK post, Raymond. And, you kept it within bounds but only by onion skin distance.
There is a lot that could be said on this subject. But, there are whole forums for that sort of discussion. Here ain't one of them.
 
Top