Ratchet/ Socket- Sears not Craftsman

Cleaning out a family friends’ basement for her. I get tools
and scrap wood, she is no longer paying someone to take her
father’s old tools etc. It is a good trade.

Got a nice set of 1/2” S&K tools. 42470 ratchet. Some no
name Taiwan stuff.

There is another set marked Sears but not craftsman.
Does this pre-date craftsman? Or was it another line?

Sorry. I intended to post this in Tool Talk.
I will leave it instead of re posting.

There were some tools simply marked Sears like you have. Sears also sold another brand called Companion. My dad had some and they seemed to be nearly as good as the Craftsman tools.

I googled it!

The Craftsman trademark was registered by Sears on May 20, 1927.[2] Arthur Barrows, head of the company's hardware department, liked the name Craftsman and reportedly bought the rights to use it from the Marion-Craftsman Tool Company for $500.[3] The brand's early customers were mostly farmers. Barrows' successor, Tom Dunlap, upgraded the quality of the tools and added chrome plating to them as America moved into the automobile age.[4]

Sears's tool line, like many of its other product lines, uses a "good, better, best" pricing structure,[5][6] with the Craftsman brand as the middle tier and Craftsman Professional or Craftsman Industrial as the highest tier. Craftsman Professional and Craftsman Industrial are marketed as being comparable to brands like Cornwell Quality Tools, SK, Snap on, Proto, Mac, and Matco. The standard Craftsman line is marketed as being comparable in quality to other mid-price brands including UltraPro (NAPA), Westward, Gray, Husky, and Kobalt.

The lowest tier was originally branded "Sears". The company also used the "Dunlap" name for its lesser quality tools from the late 1930s until the late 1950s.[7] The Sears tool line was discontinued in the late 1980s and replaced by the "Companion" tool line. The Companion tool line was itself discontinued and replaced by the "Evolv" tool line in 2008,[8] with a focus on homeowners and DIYers. Evolv tools also have a lifetime warranty.

I never knew that about Sears tools.

All I ever saw was Craftsman.

Back in the mid to late 1980s, I swapped out an engine for a guy in his Volkswagen sedan (not a beetle). He was a good friend of mine and I declined any kind of payment. However, he bought a set of metric combination wrenches and gave them to me. They are "Sears" brand wrenches. I still have them and use them frequently. They are not polished chrome, but they work well.

Tom in TN

I bought this little set of metric Sears wrenches for one small project. I don't even remember what it was now. I was young, broke and figured I'd never need a metric wrench again so I bought the cheapest set I could get. One of these days I may eventually have a full set of metrics unfortunately I'm older and still broke.

Did Sears not have a tool line referred to as "Companion" tools? Just this afternoon I used a drill bit out of an old set of Sears "Companion" series.

Read my long post!

Believe it or not I did read it, everything but the last paragraph. These are certainly nice drill bits, mind you all drill bits look good when new but these do have an expensive look to them. Not sure where I picked them up.

I like SK tools, good company, been in business a long time. They recently replaced some tools for me that belonged to my Dad over 50 years old, free shipping and everything!

I was aware of Companion and Evolv and that they were low end.

Didn’t know there was Sears branded tool sets. Wasn’t aware of the Dunlaps either.

Seems any more the Craftsman stuff is as cheap as it gets any more, unfortunately.

Paul

Russ has it right. Sears used to market everything as "good/better/best", as it tended to discourage folks from shopping around; folks would come into the Sears store, look at the three different product lines and pick the "better" option, thinking they'd shopped around for price and quality. I remember the Companion tool line from back in the sixties and seventies, but I don't recall ever seeing them in someone's tool box. Sears knew most folks would opt for the "better" Craftsman tools most of the time, and Companion existed mainly to justify the higher price of Craftsman.

Not exactly a tool but 63 years ago I bought a Sears Allstate 6-12 volt battery charger. Still works perfectly but I did replace the cords a couple of times.