Hand tools

[Big Swifty]

What are the premium brands, the decent brands you might not buy if you're making a living off of them but will hold up under regular use, and the brands that sell garbage which will soon be useless and make you go out and buy again?

I'm just looking for the basic hand tools, not power tools, but any/all information is good to know.

 

[FrankPintor]

Also watching this thread, though also interested in power tools. I see Daewoo, DeWalt, Black & Decker, Gamma, and so on here. My Kress and I unfortunately parted company a long time ago.

 

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

As with most things you get what you pay for. You can get Bahco tools here which will last a good while.

 

[elhombresinnombre]

I inherited most of my Buenos Aires hand tools from my late F-I-L most of which still work well after fifty or sixty years so I'd endorse going after secondhand. I've only spent about a week in Cordoba city so I don't know my way around that well: maybe amongst the shops in that sketchy area near the bus and railway stations? Mercado Libre might give you some clues. In Buenos Aires I would try Mercado de las Pulgas in Chacarita.

 

[Big Swifty]

I've looked at Mercado Libre, but all that really tells me is the price since a lot of the brands (which I'm assuming are Industria Argentina) are unfamiliar to me and it's hard, if not impossible (for me anyway), to judge based on photos. Much as I like the concept of Industria Argentina, as someone who hasn't been here long enough I'm still working through the learning curve of knowing what's what when it comes to quality and finding brands that generally give the best value for the price so I thought this would be a good topic that could benefit many of us.

 

[elhombresinnombre]

Fifty and more years ago, European and American hand tools were actually high quality products, manufactured in Europe and America and they were imported into Argentina in large quantities. Chisels and planes with hcs blades, sharpenable and settable saws - if they come up for sale they have survived this long and have many more years of life in them. As you will have gathered, I'd rather buy good secondhand stuff than gamble on unknown quality in the new products that are currently on the market in Argentina.

There's a widely held belief in Argentina that currently imported products are inferior to the identical models sold elsewhere. This might be a QC issue though many presume there are parallel production lines in Chinese factories which use inferior materials when they can get away with it. Traditional hand tools? Buy secondhand!

 

[Ries]

I have been buying Industria Argentina hand tools for 15 years, and tools in general since about 1970. The quality of hand tools here is quite good. The good ones are not cheap. I buy Bremen, and Bahco, and there are several good hammer companies. Gherardi and El Roble both make good hammers.
I especially like the selection of specialty hand tools, like leatherworking, jewelery, and so on- I just bought a very nice awl in Boedo for 3000 pesos, about a third what a mass produced made in china one would cost in the US.
For hand power tools, I am pretty convinced its well worth the price of paying for bosch or metabo once. My metabo hammer drill has been doing its job without complaint for maybe 12 years now. I find a hammer drill absolutely essential here.
I am a lifelong tool user and buyer, so to me, its always worth it to buy a good one once.
I find there are a range of ferreterias, and you need to find the good ones.
I love distribuidoar Distor, on Salguero near Santa Fe, Gata, on Peron y Rivarola, and Matisa on 25 de Mayo, but there are lots more out there. Juan B Justo has a lot of really good ones, over near Corrientes.

 

[Ries]

Bahco Argentina is a division of the Swedish company, but they have had factories here since the early 60s.
Black and Decker and Dewalt are decent international brands, pretty much everything you get here would be made in China.
I probably own 50 hand power tools in the US, and I stick with higher end stuff, but I have been metalworking for a living for 40 years, and so my standards are higher.
I have found used tools here to be run hard and put away wet, and, generally, overpriced. As a regular at the Pulgas for over a dozen years, it would not be my recommendation. There is one guy there who sells industrial and vintage tools- but not much in the way of hand tools. If you need a good vise, or machinists tools, he has those.
San Telmo feria has "polishers"- antiquarians that shine stuff up, but the prices are generally more than new.
Facebook Marketplace is always worth a look- its where people actually want to sell stuff now, cheap.
Larger tools are quite expensive used here- there is a good brand of argentine metal lathes, no longer made, called Turri, and they routinely sell used for 5 to 10 thousand US dollars. Same thing with quality Argentine drill presses or woodworking machines. I know a guy who makes very nice sliding table table saws, for example, and while they are a fraction of the cost of Italian or German ones, they are still several thousand dollars.

 

[Alfred_Arnold]

Just to add a bit, i have a few Bulit and Crossmaster hand tools in addition to Bremen and Stanley that work quite well.

Power tools are tougher to qualify because the prices vary to outrageous extremes, though I've settled on Gamma as my local brand of choice for when I need something "decent" for occasional use. I second the recommendation to splurge for a premium brand on the hammer drill (or SDS) as well as a circular saw and angle grinder. Cordless tools are very expensive and generally not worth buying here (besides a drill).

 

[Quilombo]

I have a Klatter cordless drill kit, and a Philco impact drill; no issues with either. I think both are made in China, but considering I paid less than $30 for each of them they were good deals.