Is this craftsman wrench a counterfeit?

[joegreen]

I am missing the 13mm craftsman wrench from my set. I bought one on ebay that looked pretty good. When it arrived it immediately felt different in my hand. It felt heavier and just not right. I then looked at it closely and the font for the 13mm looks really weird and fake. I retuned it and the seller is basically saying its a real wrench and to prove its fake so i can get my money back. I will post two pictures. One is from the listing and the other is of the wrench I received.

 

[bridgman]

Those are definitely two different wrenches - if you look at the "13mm" on the open end side the "1" is outside the wrench opening on the one you received but inside on the listing.

All of the photos of current Craftsman wrenches I could find online looked like the listing but not like the wrench you received.

The fonts also seem to be different but that is getting into the "harder to be sure" territory.

 

[joegreen]

Yeah the more i look at it the more differences. The the stamping quality and space between the 13 is off

 

[dishdude]

Craftsman under Sears ownership outsourced all production with various levels of quality and manufacturing differences.

 

[Trav]

I would say that is as fake as they come. The 13mm on the open end looks like it was done with an engraver, the rest of it does not look very authentic looking either even for a craftsman. JMO

 

[skyactiv]

You bought it off eBay, that says it all.

 

[Propflux01]

Chinese copy of a Chinese wrench?

 

[drtyler]

The newer wrenches made in India aren’t particularly good looking; yours could very well be one of those.

I just don’t think anyone would go to the trouble to fake a cheap wrench. Snap-on or MAC, yes, but not a Craftsman raised panel.

 

[Pablo]

Craftsman under Sears ownership outsourced all production with various levels of quality and manufacturing differences.

This. They vary on date and manufacturer.

Most real cheapies are sloppy fit.

 

[RyanY]

I would go to Lowes and check out the authentic India Craftsman wrenches before charging the seller with forgery. The India wrenches look/feel very different from the recent Taiwan and older USA Craftsmans.

 

[Astro14]

The recent Chinese craftsman wrenches look about that crappy. It may not be fake, but it may not be worth keeping.

I bought a couple of wrenches on eBay to replace old ones. I look for the old, used “collectible” craftsman - made in the US.

 

[Boomer]

Go to Lowes and get a real Craftsman. If you can't get your money back chalk it up to experience and avoid buying on the internet for critical items.

 

[MSCH]

Craftsman is not what it was 30 or more years ago. I doubt it is counterfeit, but why go to Ebay when they sell craftsman locally? Ace Hardware among other carry Craftsman.

the larger wrench in the photo is about 60 years old.. you can tell by how thin the handle is, I have a few of them
the smaller wrench is probably in the 30 year old range.

you can say they have dropped in quality over the years, regarding finsih anyway, but its doubtful you will ever break a 13mm.

 

[Zee09]

I have had eBay merchants in Italy and the UK sell OEM parts and tag them with my name and I didn't find it for years. Surprisingly when I notified eBay they shut them down within days..
It really took minimum effort on my part as eBay jumped right on it.

 

[Astro14]

Go to Lowes and get a real Craftsman. If you can't get your money back chalk it up to experience and avoid buying on the internet for critical items.

Honestly, I’ve been very unhappy with new production Craftsman lately. The Taiwanese is better than the Chinese. Having owned Craftsman tools for nearly 50 years, the current stuff is missing the quality of old.

I would actually buy a real* Craftsman on eBay over the current Craftsman stuff.

If I needed a set of wrenches, I would just bite the bullet and go Stahlwille, Hazet, Wright, or Williams. If on a budget, Tekton.


*Collectible. Old. Made in the USA. Yeah, they’re marketed as collectible, but if you’re looking for one wrench to match a set of existing Craftsman, that’s the way to go.

 

[MSCH]

it is also worth saying anybody who works on stuff regularly needs more than one of each 10mm and 13mm tools.

 

[AutoMechanic]

What it looks like to me is the one posted on eBay looks like one of the Chinese production ones. The one you received appears to be one of the newer production India made wrenches. That’s exactly what they look like in the store. Very cheaply made kind of looks like a toy wrench. What it is probably someone has a bunch of them they obtained somehow and are selling them off and you got one of the newer ones instead of one of the older production Chinese wrenches.

 

[MSCH]

I just went to ACE Hardware website... and the junk in the OP's pictures looks exactly like the junk on Ace;'s website. Apparently genuine. https://www.acehardware.com/departm...rxUH2SrRmPy9YGBgtcRoCV9oQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Astro14]

it is also worth saying anybody who works on stuff regularly needs more than one of each 10mm and 13mm tools.

Agreed.

In those sizes, I have a set of Stahlwille combination, Williams ratcheting combination, Gearwrench ratcheting combination, Hazet long pattern combination, Craftsman stubby combination, Stahlwille offset box, SK stubby offset box, Stahlwille “moon” box end, Stahlwille line wrenches and Tekton 60/30 open end. I think. Might be some others I’m forgetting. That’s in the box at the shop. At home, there is still the set of 40 year old Craftsman combination wrenches.

Along with 1/4”, 3/8”, and 1/2” regular and deep sockets. 3/8” impact regular and deep sockets. 1/2” impact regular and deep in 13mm. Crows foot wrenches. Crows foot line wrenches.


But if I had to buy one set of new combination wrenches - Stahlwille. They’re the ones I reach for most often. Next might be the offset box. They get in where others simply can’t.

 

[RooflessVW]

You bought it off eBay, that says it all.

Not really. I buy a lot of tools on eBay. No surprises yet.