It's true!

Alan Bienlein

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Was at Home depot this morning and cruised down the clamp isle and couldn't believe my eyes. The orange made in the USA Jorgies have been replace by inferior blue irwin made in china for more money!:crazy::pullhair:
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I did a guick look up top of the displays and saw they had 2 boxes ( 8 clamps total ) of the heavy duty Jorgies left so I inquired about them. I was told they weren't supposed to be there and were to be sent back and not sold. After being a little persistent I convinced them to sell those last 2 boxes to me.
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Two weeks before I had picked up four of the HD36" and four of the HD24".
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I was curious and compared the so called "heavy duty" irwins to the HEAVY DUTY Jorgies and there was no comparison! The irwins felt lighter and had a smaller bar and they were $3 more than the USA made Jorgies.

As far as the lighter duty irwins your better off going to harbor freight. The light duty irwins have a wood handle compared to the nice and larger rubbered coated grip of the Harbor Freight ones and for about 80% less in cost!:eek:
 
It is surprising how much of my incidental business Lowe's has lost by discontinuing some lines. The lack of certain name brands gives me less incentive to go in the first place so I don't pick up any "extra" items I might see. Porter Cable badged Chinese Forstner bits for the price of the Freuds they used to carry? Nope. The disappearance of drill bits in 64ths and the overstock of 1/8", 3/16", 1/4", etc. doesn't help draw me in either. The BORGs have to serve the lowest common denominator. Much like the dwindling tool isle at Sam's and Costco. Time's are tough and they can't stock the cool stuff for just a few of us :(. The masses that don't know better or don't care will keep on buying which is good. Those high school and 'oughta-be-in-college' kids need somewhere besides McDonalds to work, eh?
 
I think that's why when we come across stuff like this it needs to be posted here on the internet so people that actually do some research before buying might just catch wind of things like this and avoid buying these inferior products they are pushing on us just for a higher profit margin.

Seriously your getting less of a clamp and charged a higher price!
 
Each Lowes can carry different products to suit their customer base. Usually it's 90% homeowners. I've been dusting off the same 2 Irwin Marathon dado sets for the last 6 months.

You can special order almost any brand name like Freud, Bosch or Bessey and it will be in the store for your pick up within 7 days.

The Lowes I work part time at has more contractor supplies that most of the other Lowes stores because Home Depot is right down the street and they seem to attract most of the pros. (and they also pay more than McDonalds and you don't smell like french fries when you get home :D)

I understand your frustration though. I work in the tool department and I walk the isles all day. There are very few tools or accessories that are on the shelf that as a serious woodworker I would consider buying.
 
You can special order almost any brand name like Freud, Bosch or Bessey and it will be in the store for your pick up within 7 days.

Good point Bob. My Lowe's is only a couple miles away and I have ordered online and picked up later with good success. I was out and about and so popped into my Home Depot; all the clamps are Irwins pretty much there too. The Irwin parallel claps seemed different than those I've seen at Rockler. Maybe they just didn't have the Yellow paint but, I don't remember the ones Rockler had on special having the heads quite so floppy and easy to misalign(?). Probably just subjective and based on my mind wandering ;-)
 
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