Files

[Mike Hutchison]

Was in a local ACE Hardware and took a quick at the Nicholson files.
Noticed Made in Columbia and Brazil. First time I had seen that.
Didn't purchase any of them since I've picked up USA made files at yard sales
in recent months.

[Chris Griggs]

Hopefully, they can do a better job hardening them at their Columbia plant than their Brazil plant has been doing. But somehow I doubt QC was their main motivation for moving/adding production somewhere else.

[Bob Lang]

We can all thank the Apex Tool Group. At their website you can see a long list of companies that used to produce quality tools before globalization and value engineering did them in.

Bob Lang

[Andrew Gold]

I've recently found files to be my most regretted purchase, though for the reason touched on in the first post. I didn't even think to look at estate sales, instead went to the nice tool store in town and paid full retail for the nicholson files I'd read about... Now I don't know if I've been to an estate sale in months that didn't have a small pile of them for sale, often for $1 each... My purchases were well over a decade ago, so not worth getting too upset, but still!

Live and learn!

[Jeff Heath]

What a shame....the new Nicholson files are an embarrassment to the once great company name. All they do is screech and chatter.....

I'm almost out of my stock of NOS Nicholson saw files, and have moved on to Bahco.

Hopefully soon, someone in America will figure out that quality is worth paying for.

[Jim Koepke]

Andrew,

Welcome to the Creek. Your profile doesn't show your location. What part of this increasingly smaller world do you call home?

jtk

[maximillian arango]

I have family that live 5 minutes from where they are now being made in Cali Colombia. I do hope that my home land can make these a little better especially considering that the city where Nicholson's facility is, Cali, is very developed(some say better developed then some US cities).

[Andrew Gold]

Sorry about that, hadn't yet found that portion of the site... I'm in Portland, Or.

[Jim Koepke]

Sorry about that, hadn't yet found that portion of the site... I'm in Portland, Or.

Great, not far from me.

Are you going to the Lie-Nielsen tool event this Friday or Saturday?

I am going to try and make it on Friday. Nothing I need, just like to keep up on new developments.

jtk

[Tom Blank]

Great, not far from me.

Are you going to the Lie-Nielsen tool event this Friday or Saturday?

I am going to try and make it on Friday. Nothing I need, just like to keep up on new developments.

jtk

Yeah, right Jim. I'm going to a tool show, but I'm not buying anything.

I'm heading up to the one in Seattle, I plan on buying something so it's not a wasted drive. 8^)

[Chris Griggs]

I have family that live 5 minutes from where they are now being made in Cali Colombia. I do hope that my home land can make these a little better especially considering that the city where Nicholson's facility is, Cali, is very developed(some say better developed then some US cities).

Better developed than anywhere in New Jersey I'm sure...but that's a pretty low bar

(hahaha only kidding...kind of)


Seriously, probably has less to do with where they are being made and more to do with how much the company is trying to cut costs. It is very possible to make good products in Non US, Non North America, Not first world countries....but it costs money. The Woodriver planes made in China are good tools, but look where the price went to get them there. The Eclipse vises that replicate the old records are fantastic...I was shocked to see they are also made in China...but again...you pay the price of a good product costs for them. Making things outside of first world countries where the cost of living and wages are lower certainly does cuts costs and increases profits...but thats only one part of the equation...many companies can and do make very very good products in other countries (just as some US facilities manufacture garbage), but they (and us as consumers) need to invest in that quality.

[george wilson]

The Mexican Nicholsons cost just as much as the old USA ones. And,I believe it's COOPER Tool Group,not Apex. Am I wrong?

[Chris Griggs]

The Mexican Nicholsons cost just as much as the old USA ones. And,I believe it's COOPER Tool Group,not Apex. Am I wrong?

Yeah, I hate that. They're not manufacturing them cheap to give the buyer a good price...they are manufacturing them cheap to give their investors a good profit.

Which I don't like as a sole motivation but that is there prerogative I guess. The great thing about being a consumer is I get to choose what I don't buy. I can't stop companies from doing crap I don't like...but I can choose not to give them my money...the power of the consumer is, well, powerful.

[David Weaver]

The Mexican Nicholsons cost just as much as the old USA ones. And,I believe it's COOPER Tool Group,not Apex. Am I wrong?

Apex appears to be the name of the parent:

http://www.apextoolgroup.com/brands-faceting

Wiss, nicholson, plumb, lufkin.......

Their brands owned page is almost like a graveyard. They should show the brands on headstones.

[maximillian arango]

Better developed than anywhere in New Jersey I'm sure...but that's a pretty low bar

(hahaha only kidding...kind of)

I just read this while waiting for my class at my school(rutgers newark) and realized the funny thing here is that the bar can't be set any lower. lol


I was at my friends house yesterday night helping his dad go through stuff in his shop, his shop is a 3 story barn with the only room left unoccupied by tools is for swimming in between tools and attempting to do work(no its not a small shop he just has a large collection of tools/ hordes all the tools that he finds). I was lucky to come across a lot(Boxes and drawers full) of files and most of them are Murican Made Nicholson. I asked him if he still uses them and he said, "only when the planets align." That being said I asked him if I could buy some and he said he would give it a thought but I would have to take a lot off his hands if he was to sell them(he has enough I think to send a zombie horde of sawmillcreekers to swarm his lawn chanting "files, Fiiiiiillllessssssssss" while drooling from the mouth). I am going back this weekend to pick up some chisels and planes he decided to let go off but my main concern is how do I check if they are worth buying? They all looked like they were not rusted just covered in dust.