Snap-On Tools! (A Brief History) 

Confession time, how much have you dumped into your Snap On addiction?

That little $3 attachment, is around $40 when adjusted for inflation. They were expensive from the beginning.

I still have some of the Craftsman tools my dad bought back in the 70's. None have worn out, they just have a tendency to wander off. I'm not sure what he paid, but I know it was less than a comparable Snap-on.

The snap-on man got me, i bought a 55” roll cab and haven’t looked back. I was in the market for a while but nothing had the quality of the snappy box. Once i bought it, i filled it with tools from all different companies. The only thing i have really spent money on since then were the flank drive wrenches, metric. Worth every penny.

I can’t stop watching the bear! Absolutely amazing detail of research, well constructed delivery, and the most affable bear you could find! The entire bear concept and execution is absolutely brilliant, keep up the good work...

Cornwell is older company. Started in 1918. One thing : they do that most techs are picking up infomation on. They use suppliers codes in the product numbers like Lisle starts with "LS" or Ingersoll Rand is "IR" so they're not scared to enclosed who actually makes the tool. The BOGO deals Cornwell have are VERY HARD to beat. "Buy this angle die grinder for 300 bucks; get this straight die grinder for free." Its their best die grinders they have their name stamped not some cheapie crap. I have let guys who owns Snappy ones used mine and they were amazed how well it performed. I got most of my air tools from those BOGOs and I probably saved closed to $2000. I live about 15 miles away from SO headquarters. Not scared to wear my Cornwell hat around Kenosha. Oh I do get lot of dirty looks hahaha

I remember in like the 90's Snap On was considered the absolute best and you couldn't even buy it in stores. Sorta crazy they were able to get that reputation without even being sold in stores.

My Father had a set of quarter inch snap on sockets made in 1926 it is missing one socket, but still has the"t" handle as you pictured and the rachet. It was suppose to go to me, but its funny as it has disappeared

My uncle, who was a mechanic, had snap-on tools and they were nice..... But you're right, I couldn't see dumping that much money on my daily driver and project vehicles. Harbor freight for tools that are cheap and there's a good chance I'm going to destroy them, like pounding a socket on a rounded off lug nut, because it was put on with an air gun at the stealership Home Depot, Lowe's and Menards for the rest of my generic tools like wrenches, sockets, etc, etc Oreilly Auto, Advance, etc, etc for specialty car tools I might need to rent/buy

Thanks for making an informative channel with a sense of humor. I also really appreciate you taking time making a fun animation on top of all the hard work you do with research. Love your channel it’s fun and easy to watch.

Always love the brief history vids, well done.

I love snap on.. for the farm work I do I can’t afford stripped bolts and broken wrenches. When you are alone in the middle of a field working on the only machine you have to do the job. Balls deep in mosquitoes, flies, sweat burning your eyes. You grab a tool made for a lifetime of service.

Another quality video on the history of a tool company. Well done Bear !

Love these history vids, very informative like a case study into the company!

Well, Milwaukee was once known as the machine shop to the world. Although many of the companies that made Milwaukee what it was back then, though there are many that still remain. Milwaukee was also a huge parts supplier to Detroit. But if you like your history this town has quite a bit. It is hard to find outside of Milwaukee and Wisconsin there is a set of DVDs called the making of Milwaukee and as well as a book Milwaukee 150 years that's tells a lot of the stories of the industry's that began here.

When I started my career, I had to supply my own tools. For a 19 year old kid, that meant huge expenditure. I could have bought from the big red truck but then I couldn't have afforded a car to get me to work. I chose Craftsman. I still use all of them and that was over 50 years ago. In my mind then and now, the difference between Snap-On and Craftsman was their appearance. Snap-On was highly polished with a thicker chrome finish. Another benefit to Craftsman was they just seemed to fit my hand better. I made the right choice. (Back then we didn't have as many choices as we do now)

Love your content. Thanks for the lesson.

I am now in the habit of looking for DaBear every time I visit a Harbor Freight in Las Vegas. Great video! Thanks for all of the tool company history videos.

I've been wrenching for 60 years, never owned Snap-on tools. Feel they were well overpriced for the work to be done. Made a good living without Snap-On. I think it's just an ego thing.

Great video Bear. I was born in Milwaukee and all my family is from Kenosha. They have all left that frosty cold place (Milwaukee is the coldest big city in North America - that winter wind off Lake Michigan is brutal), but Milwaukee (and Kenosha) sure is ground zero for a lot of tool outfits and heavy machinery companies.

Another solid video, bear! Good job

I’m with you Bear and I totally agree! I was a very young truck mechanic @ Louisville Motors Ford in Louisville, KY. When I say young, right out of the Air Force. The snap on rep saw me and started sharpening his fangs. I was giving him almost a third of my paycheck every week. I started to learn, I got him paid off and bought my tools from Sears and other places. Sears wasn’t cheap, but paid about 1/2 or even less than the snap on tools. Thanks again for your videos and I really enjoyed this one!

Love to hear the story of “ Bonnie” tools. I really like this series on tool history. Also maybe “Proto tools”?

Hey Bear, I've seen some sockets made by Snapon that were 5/8" drive for the military. The idea being to keep them from being stolen for home use. Of course somebody came out with a 5/8 to 1/2 adapter. Go figure.

Outstanding presentation. I've watched all the history of videos and I'm seeing a trend of the tool business. And it is a underhanded cut throat world out there. Thanks for your hard work. I look forward to seeing more. As for snap on I has a very limited amount of sockets, a couple of wrenches and 2 screwdrivers. I just don't want to spend that much money when there are other things in life I'd like to enjoy.

Just love this series. We have a Snap-On franchisee in the neighborhood and by all appearances he works really hard and does pretty well. Nice house, a bunch of boys, church-goin' solid family. Sad to hear how corporate is treating them. My wife was a State Farm agent for many years and over those years corporate played similar games and became so noxious she retired early. Years ago after seeing how a bigger business treated my dad, I vowed never to work for one. And I didn't. And all these years later, I'm glad I didn't.

Great segment and yes you don’t need expensive tools to work on cars unless it’s a specific tools designed for a specific vehicle. Weekend warriors to professionals do very well with tools from HF, Kobalt, Craftsman, Dewalt, Milwaukee, MAC, Matco, etc. just to name a few.

Great history. I knew nothing about Snap On so it was good to get that perspective.

We’ve got a Snap-on tool box and set from the 80’s on the Farm, and they’re good tools but we’ve still broke them. I really like the snap-on ratchets and wrenches over about anything else. But my at home set of tools is mostly Craftsman and gearwrench.

When i started in Automotive , at the tender age of 15, I had a old set of SK tools, still have them, as time went on , I picked up all kinds of different brands. Yes I have some Snack on, but mostly Cornwell and Matco, and of course Carpman. Now im gonna say, in most cases tools dont make the mechanic, the mechanic makes the tools

Good and fair overview, Bear. Shine on !

Yup, that drop test will be awesome, especially watching the big bear paws maneuvering the controls.😱😱😱

I bought several big box store toolchest and put Snap On decals from Ebay on them. Feels good in my pocket book. Thanks for sharing

Only scram on tools I have are 1.7/32 nut driver, 1 #2 Phillips screw driver , 1 carb adjustment tool. From 1985. When I was doing tuneups a expert tune, prices to high so I went to craftsman.

My younger brother technically worked for a custom body shop for a couple of years, but in fact he was working for Snap-On during that time. He got a lot of nice tools, but he never seemed to bring any money home. I have one Snap-On tool - a 10mm flare-nut wrench (I got tired of the cheapo wrenches rounding over the fittings on the brake lines for my Honda Civic - the brake shoes on that thing wore out like the erasers on a third-grader's pencil). I bought the wrench at one of the short-lived Snap-On retail stores, and managed to get out without anything else (although if I'd had any money no doubt I would have ended up with a complete set of tools).

Very informational and interesting video!

Back in the late 80s, early 90s I worked as a mechanic, I made my living using mostly Craftsman tools, I can remember the Snap-On tool guy like it was yesterday, they used heavy handed sales tactics, like a bad used car salesman, they would give people endless amounts of crap if they saw you using any other tools other than craftsman, especially if you were using a craftsman tool box, they pushed there tool boxes very heavily, if your not using Snap-On your not a real mechanic, that was there attitude, they make great tools but there tactics left such a bad taste in my mouth I have not purchased a snap on tool to this day.. seriously 5k for a tool box? Not me, love these videos Red..

thanks for the video, totally agree that the tools are exceptional the difference between the greatest screwdriver in the world, for example the snap on ratcheting screwdriver which costs well over 100$ and a Stanley 20$ one is nominal. Plus on a job site expensive tools grow wings

The Snap-On truck is my favorite toy store. I bought their lithium cordless impact recently, and HOLY CRAP it has changed the way I wrench going forward.

Bear! I was getting a haircut on Friday and while I was in the chair, this van rolled up and when the guy slid the door open, there was a little barber supply shop inside. I was like "That's like the Snap On guy!". The ladies that worked there said they loved it, and his prices were less than at a typical barber/beauty supply store.

Great job Red!

Great video DaBear. You are right on target.

I remember buying some MasterCraft tools (probably Harbour Freight equivalent in Canada here) as some tools for home and my coworker who was a former "mechanic" at a lube shop told me my tools were crap because they weren't Snap-On and his whole tools box alone was worth more than all of my tools. Big whoop the freaking do, you bought a tool box worth 4k dollars when he made $18/h. Big whoop de freaking do, I will stick with my crap to do work around my house/car and not waste my savings on buying overpriced tools.

Never owned a Snap-on tool even when I was a mechanic. I got by with HF, Craftsman and Cornwell stuff. I was not going to go into debt with Snap-on over a minimal set of tools. The only Snap-on item I've owned was their code scanner. The old guy in the shop I worked at had a bunch of Snap-on tools and was tired of having to send them in for repair. He was big into HF's Earthquake impact guns when they came out. The only HF sockets that I broke with an impact gun were their impact sockets, never broke the chrome jobs which I always thought was funny.

Love it. definitely agree on a lot of what u said & while I love my snap on tools in some cases they r too pricey but they always work!!

Great information

I drive past their headquarters in Kenosha almost everyday so I feel a little connection to them. When I get a (quality and expensive) toolbox I think I'm gonna go to them

Incidentally, Orson Welles (War of the Worlds, Citizen Kane) is from Kenosha.

From what I underatand S-O doesnt report to the big 3 credit score companys.So if you walk away from something it doesnt ding your credit or does it bump your score up when you pay it off. Best thing to do is keep the account on the truck to cover your bases.

Ok. Here goes. To the best of my memory. I had a neighbor who became a snapon dealer and he struggled for a couple years never being able to get ahead of the franchise fees. He started making better money but then the fees climbed. Snapon was charging him 50,000 dollars for use of the logo that was advertising on the truck then they decided to dump on him a bunch of cheap promotional give aways that they were charging him an arm and a leg for without even his permission. The more he made, the more they took until he couldn't take it anymore and sold the truck, franchise and route which almost bankrupted him while he waited for a buyer. What a nightmare.

I own thousands of $ of snap on , there good but a set of spanners from 3/8"- 15/16" cost $700 AUD 15 years ago Since they changed the font on their spanners the chrome is to soft , I'm not complaining as they have given good service but still vanity over quality don't cut it. N.B I've been a truck mechanic for over 30 years , when I started out you either bought snap on , stallwille , geador, hazet, or spent time bleeding .

Brilliant. Thanks.

Very interesting, thank you

Excellent!

My father was an autobody repairer back in the 70s/80s, and I remember meeting the Snap-On driver for our small-town and my dad telling me they had the best quality tools, but you paid for them.

I own all of one snap on product, a reject dead blow. It is about only good for using to vent agression. Kobalt, craftsman, and stanley are the only ones i have multiple tools in.

I can appreciate starting with a 40" Blue-Point box filled with every brand under the sun. I can also appreciate what every manufacturer can bring to the table. It all depends on the intended work, efficiency and quality of output. This is why professional technicians choose top tier tools. FYI, I haven't owed a dime to a truck in over a decade.

They also own part of my pay check each week. They acquired that back in 2018.

Snap On I bought in Costco are LED work light and storage rack .

Smarter than the average bear.

Totally agree!

They bought Challenger Lifts around 2013, which is based out of Louisville KY

If my memory serves me correctly, when Snap-On started the existing tool distribution chain wouldn't distribute them so they were forced into creating their own system of directly visiting professional tool users. So trying to destroy them actually gave them an advantage. As for retail distribution of Snap-On Tools, I was at the Toyota dealership parts counter recently and they had a fancy display of Snap-On tools (ratchets and such) and glossy catalogs. I asked if they sold Snap-On tools and he said yes. They charge Snap-On list price and if they don't have it will get you any tool you request.

I see that red doesn't have the cigar in this one! How does the bear get on the video?

Cant wait to see "a brief history" for Mac Tools

Good lord! Looks like I won’t be buying Snap-on ever!

I actually really haven't dumped all that much into snap-on. Mostly because of their price. All i have is either Craftsman, Kobalt, Harbor Freight and Cornwell. (Which I just bought a new tool box from LOL)

Have a look at E-Bay it's full of over-priced Broken Snap-off or is it Rip-off tools?

You should include patent right infringement in your videos. Snap on and Bosch are 2 companies currently in trouble in this area! It's import to the consumer because when you buy into a line you want to know how the service will be or expanded and if they will be ordered to stop!

My tool line up varies. I have bought a couple of Snap-on items. But, more Cornwell Tools will be accompanying my older Craftsman tools and my Carlyle tools. Other tool manufacturers I have include Lisle, Pittsburgh Pro, Earthquake XT (air impact), Power Torque (O’Reilly Auto Parts tool brand) and a couple of other tool names. I like how Cornwell is a family owned and run company and ole Joe Sydorowicz from the “Cornwell Monday” on the Koon Trucking channel has provided great service for me. What do you reckon about a film on Cornwell Tools, Red?

Please get your hands on some Wurth Tools. This company is HUGE is Europe and have been selling tools in Euro-land for a while and have started selling in the US for about a year. Pricing is about 1/2 of Snap-On, Matco, Mack, etc. and they have a lifetime warranty, as well.

I have always felt like that about Snap On tools, congratulations on the pilots license.

Hi Red! Greet video! If you want to learn more about the 20V lithium battery patents, the technical details, and what went into actually getting them working, Leonard French on the Lawful Masses RU-vid channel has a really good video on the subject. I'm pretty sure AvE has also done some teardown and comparison videos explaining how they work and why Milwaukee actually earned the patent for the batteries. Thanks for creating some really interesting, quality videos explaining the history of various tool makers. I find it all really fascinating! Keep up the great work!

There was much more than just tools in that water. Harley Davidson was founded there along with Miller and Pabst Blue Ribbon beers.

Another interesting topic, thanks. Shine on

Could you do some videos about Hilti cordless tools?

cool info best place to buy snap on products is used yard sales or storage auctions

Very nice video

i work in a shop the only wrenches i have of snap on are open end flare wrench for brake lines my tool rep tells me that younger mechanics are buying tools from e bay or amazon making it hard to sell tools from snap on i like your chanel because your a harbor freight pitchman .i have a tool set i still have from sears i bought in 1980 i still use the ratchet on occasion. thanks mr red beard.

I learned early on that I was not going to buy everything snapon, I don't and didn't care back then what the tech's wanted to say or do I wanted to take my paycheck home not give it to snapon!! And would do it over again the same way, if I were young! Thanks for your good videos!

Oh shit? My shop has pro-cut lathes. I never knew! I wish you could do a little more detailed, like what the old toolboxes had, and how they evolved over time

you are right about the cost of crap onnn

I have a few Snap-on odds and ends but I prefer and collect Proto and SK Wayne tools. I also have a cabinet filled exclusively with older Made In USA Craftsman tools. Just check out Estate sales and flea markets for the best in Mechanic and machine tools. I have had some of my tools for over 50 years. Buy quality wisely not from a van.

I probably have $6-7000 in snap on before I realized.i can get more for my money with husky or kobalt.i feel those brands want to step into the high end tool bracket and they work really hard to put out a quality tool at a good price.and it’s a lot easier for me to warranty those tools over snap-on

Awesome video! Snap-On does make some great tools but I fully agree about the price compared to the work to be done i worked at a state dept as a heavy equipment mechanic. I had a Craftsman chest and Craftsman tools. They worked just fine but the guys in there looked down on me. Im like dude, you make 5 grand a month and have a $15,000 tool cart? Cool 👎 haha

You the man 👍🏻

Snap On trucks became the only way they could bring their product to market. Competitors wouldn’t distribute it for them as a start up. I like Snap On, just not their prices. Everything is twice what it should cost, or more. I went from them being my first choice, to making them my last resort because of pricing.

how do you do the animated bear? SO CUTE!!

Find the old Harbor freight news flyer with milwaukee in it as they started out

I’ve been wrenching for over 40 years on three different car lines. When I started, I had a toolbox full of Craftsman tools. Now I have a mix of things-almost none of it Craftsman. Since I’ve always specialized, I seldom, if ever buy a set of anything. That’s kept the price WAY down regardless of who I bought from. I almost always bought off the tool truck, and my choice usually depended on which salesman was the most honest, upfront and reliable. What good is a “great” socket if the salesman never shows up, or gives you crap about warranting the tool? Also, the last thing I want to do after a 12 hour day or a 60 hour week is go stand in line to exchange a tool. I heard that in the last years of Sears, if my coworkers went there to replace a broken socket, and they were still wearing their uniform, Sears wouldn’t honor their warranty. Oh, and there was a big banner on the wall offering a 5% discount to trade school students!

What got me is the cheap slide hammer set at harbor freight I bought for 20$ being sold for over 500$ by Snap On. Don't get me wrong I have more Snap On hand tools than any other brand but, I draw the line there. Their KRL 35' series is worth it and add a top chest later or put a wilton vice on top with a butcher block. They also have great licensed merchandise and other odds and ends that are good ie. socket organization ect. It's all about USA made for me, but I do have a moral threshold like the bear. :]

I'm just a guy that fixes the lawn mower, keeps the family cars running and wrench on my Harley's. I got a mix of Craftsman, Huskey, and Pittsburg. I even have a set of large wrenches that I was given by a friend on my 16th birthday and they were no name Chinese wrenches from China. If I have any snap on sockets lying around it's because I bought some odd sockets at a lawn sale somewhere....

What part of Iowa did you grow up in I live in the nw part of Iowa

I have no Snap On tools and will not buy any unless I really need them. They are way overpriced! I use mostly Craftsman

Well said. I confront tool snobs with this question " do you have the skills that equals the high end tools" as a shade tree mechanic craftsman and others are still better than I am lol

Its not just snap on. Most tech/trade schools have programs in place that push the students to buy $20k in tools from one of the "pro tier" tool companies before they even graduate

The old joke - "Billy Jean King just got a new job. She's the new spokesman for Snap-On-Tools!"

When my snap on truck dealer first met me and i asked what set his tools apart from the gear wrench and matco, he said that other companies will lie and say that their toola are 100% made in the usa and that snap on now tells the truth that a few components are made overseas

im early that's cool my grandpa swears by snap on and he has everything

I was a mechanic in the Navy Circa 1975 it was largely snap on tools. By 1985 it was mostly brands like husky. Must have been the low bidder.