Advice on Bunnings’ Craftright tools

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eracode

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#318006 5-Dec-2024 20:56

I’ve been buying DIY tools for nearly 60 years and have pretty much always bought very good quality stuff from top brand names - but I need to ask this question.

Our son, 37, is a keen DIYer and is showing some great inherited genes. I’m helping him build a collection of tools by buying him tools at birthdays and Christmas. I have no idea whether Bunnings’ Craftright brand is any good. e.g. I want to get him several ‘quick-release’ clamps. Do I need to get him Irwin or similar (as I have myself) or are Craftright okay? Not just clamps - that brand in general. On the basis of ‘you get what you pay for’, I’ve always shied away from Craftright but maybe don’t need to.

I guess the same question goes for Number 8 brand at M10.

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mrdrifter

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#3317402 5-Dec-2024 22:03

The Craftright and Number 8 are both at the budget end of cost and quality. I've had the odd item or two from when I was starting out or where I have needed something one off and they've always turned out to be almost single use for anything with moving parts i.e. clamps (they've all failed). I mean they can't get much wrong with the bungy cords or a mallet which lives with the camping gear, but I've had to replace nearly everything else from that tier of tools.

mdf

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#3317404 5-Dec-2024 22:40

I've got a fair amount of craft right stuff, including a fair few quick release clamps and f clamps that I have had and used on a DIY level for many years. Theyre not the *best*, but for clamping wood etc I think they're absolutely fine. The rubber ends do sometimes come off but if you look after them and use them within reason, no problems. I also like that they change to spreaders pretty easily.

IME, If he want to do woodworking with big glue ups, he will get way more utility out of several pairs of cheaper clamps than one set of really expensive clamps.

mdf

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#3317405 5-Dec-2024 22:43

Reread original post and now need to add - depends on the tool. I like my craft right clamps, but some other stuff like ratcheting screwdrivers and sockets aren't as good and I've invested more in those.

CokemonZ

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#3317422 6-Dec-2024 07:08

Live and die by the Adam Savage ethos of buy the cheap one, and if/when you break it buy the good one.

Bit different because it's a present but getting a lot of the right tools at a budget price and quality IMO is better than getting one good tool and having to bodge your way through the job as you don't have everything you need.

I have a bunch of craftright stuff, and and it is as the poster says above, lower end. But I have a lot of stuff I wouldn't have if I was buying the good brands.

Do the same with power tools - ozito until it dies and then decide if I need the good one.

eracode

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#3317425 6-Dec-2024 07:25

Thanks for the answers - they’ve been helpful. The more I think about this, the more I feel ‘no-one ever regrets buying quality’ and ‘quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten’. There’s also a lot of pleasure to be had from owning and using quality tools that are exactly the right tool for the job. I would like him to have my experience where I own tools that have lasted a lifetime.

So in the case of the quick-clamps I think I’ll bite the bullet and get him Irwins. I’ll feel better about them as a gift.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

johno1234

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#3317427 6-Dec-2024 07:27

Bunnings honour warranties do keep the receipts and it’s hard to go wrong for DIY stuff.

mentalinc

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#3317435 6-Dec-2024 08:08

This looks like a good starter set on sale this weekend: https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/fuller-tool-set-82-piece/p/364635

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Bung

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#3317444 6-Dec-2024 08:39

The Craftright quick clamps here seem ok. The moving handle pivots on the end of the handle. I have some other cheap (Bunnings??) clamps with blue jaw pads where the handle pivot was at the midpoint and the body pivot would break if you squeezed too hard. Easily repaired with a small bolt and I'd buy again but they don’t seem to be around.

BlargHonk

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#3317448 6-Dec-2024 09:03

If I was buying for myself, I would get the cheap one and then replace it when it dies with a good one.

But if it was a gift, I would go for mid-range or above. It's a gift after all

lxsw20

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#3317451 6-Dec-2024 09:29

mentalinc:

This looks like a good starter set on sale this weekend: https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/fuller-tool-set-82-piece/p/364635

Fuller Pro is alright, the normal fuller like that is pretty janky.

Personally I buy quite a bit of Bacho stuff, middle of the road stuff and they've got a decent range. I've had this set for 15 years, done plenty of work on the cars with it and its still all working well.

https://www.mitre10.co.nz/shop/bahco-socket-set-106-piece/p/267254

richms

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#3317457 6-Dec-2024 10:03

I get craftright as my dont care about it set. Working outside - take the craftrights, so that if they get forgoten and rained on, I dont really care.

They are the same as many other cheapo tools that get the job done. They don't seem to be sourcing anything too crap for the range and the only things I have had fail have been things I would expect like a little mitre saw and box which was blunt in no time,

They are a good indication of what tools to get good ones of, if you wear out the cheapest one, that means you use it enough to get the best. I find the middle of the road tools are the ones to avoid. Paying a good portion of something decent for something that if its never used is wasted, and if you use it a lot you should have got a better one.

Richard rich.ms

LostOhSoLost

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#3317910 7-Dec-2024 22:34

Currently my favorite cheap(er) brand is Tolsen although I have only been buying their scrwe drivers, spanners and socket sets (Topmaq have had some really good prices on them).

I will second Fuller Pro as well but have a couple of items where the different sizes in their range are made in different countries and it seems to affect the quality (Taiwan made wire cutters could cut very fine wire but the next size up was PRC made and lack the same furriness in the grinding of the cutting edges).

Some top brand name pricing is just a tad excessive, the worst i have found recently was left handed drill bits (good for drilling broken bolts out), $10 from aliexpress for 5 of different sizes verse something like $40 for a Sutton 8mm , and they were actually sharp.

panther2

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#3317926 8-Dec-2024 08:27

had no problem with craftright F clamps they have held up well