We have one of the only Stahlwille trucks in the country(supposedly) that comes through my complex and he has it all. Both the Stahlwille and Hazet tools are nice, heck they both make factory tools for BMW, VW, Volvo, etc, but the support for them just is not there. True, they are not finished to the degree that a Snappy wrench or socket is but sometimes they have stuff that Snappy does not and their pricing is much more inline with Crapsman. Another decent brand that this guy carries on his truck is Koken. They are a Jap tool that appears to not have that big of a presence here in the states but they make a nice tool. They are not very inexpensive and they cover only the Jap drive sizes. If you ever find yourself in the market for magnetic sockets you need to look up Grey Pnuematic. They make 1/4" and 3/8" deep and shallow mag sockets and they are of pretty decent quality. Made in Taiwan and an absolute Snap-On rip off. I try not to buy into that kind of stuff but Snappy in their infinite wisdom only make their magnetic sockets in maybe 4 sizes and the Grey sockets are 8-19mm in 3/8 and 4-15mm in 1/4". They appear to be of good quality (CrV steel) and because of their nature they will never have to take the beating of a front line socket. Oh, they are your typical black oxide impact socket style too.

As far as Wright tool goes I have heard from a couple of different sources that they are owned by Snap-on and a certain amount of their stuff rolls right off of the same assembly line. I have never really had a chance to take a look at it and compare them.

The Euro pliers are nice, I have a few sets of Knipex and they are good stuff for sure.

The price of Snap-on wrenches is $2.00+ per mm anymore. I of course have the full set of Flank drives (you've gotta love the open end on those) and then I also own the few larger sizes that you need on Volvo's; 21,22,24,32 and a couple of others. Anymore though I go right to the flexhead Gearwrench set first thing first.

Welding tools. What kind of welding are you thinking about. Victor Junior pretty much is now and has always been the name in oxy-acetelyne welding. When it comes to MIG or wire feed welders there is a lot of brand loyalty going on there. Pick a good name brand that has good support in your area and you will probably be OK. Miller and Lincoln are probably your two biggest names out here. Myself I went with a Lincoln and it has been fine. Just make sure you get a big enough one to do the job. Hobarts are popular too. When it comes to stick welding the age old Lincoln red "buzz box" is a hard one to beat. The 220/110 model is on my short list of things to buy this year. When you have to weld some thick stuff that buzz box is where it's at, never know when you might have to build a battle ship right? As far as TIG goes I have not spent a lot of time in that neighborhood, but if you go there make sure you bring your wallet as a good machine will start at around $2,000.00 and go up from there. You can save a few bucks though and get one that will do both TIG and arc (any decent one has this ability) and not spend the money on the buzz box. In fact you can go both ways, make a TIG out of your arc welder, but it is a little more involved than making the TIG machine arc.

So tell me are you any closer to that set of 1/4" sockets yet?

Regards, Mark