It seems that last month’s rumors were true – Ideal Industries has sold the SK Hand Tools brand to Hangzhou GreatStar Industrial.
SK Hand Tools joins a growing number of tool brands in GreatStar’s portfolio, including Goldblatt, Arrow, Pony, Jorgensen, WorkPro, and Shop-Vac.
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Here’s the official announcement, dated July 2021:
We are pleased to announce that Hangzhou GreatStar Industrial Co., Ltd. has completed its acquisition of SK Hand Tools. We are excited to build on our foundation and gain all of the proprietary SK patents and designs to help us provide diverse products and new opportunities to our valued customers.
Founded in 1914, SK is a leading provider of high-quality hand tools for professionals across a variety of industries. Operating in its 128,000 sq. ft. production facility outside of Chicago, the company offers a premium product portfolio that includes wrenches, ratchets, impact driving tools, sockets, screwdrivers, etc., and a variety of automotive-specific hand tools. One of the featured best sellers is the X-Frame Ratcheting wrench which is designed to apply torque in the tightest spaces.
Supported by its patented products and valuable technologies, SK has been able to build strong lasting relationships with its customers across various markets, such as industrial supply, automotive repair, and hardware repair.
Combining all of our patents, technologies, and resources will allow Great Star and SK to deliver the best innovative and professional products to our customers on a daily basis.
About Hangzhou GreatStar Industrial Co., Ltd.
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Established in 1993, GreatStar is the leading manufacturer of hand tools in Asia serving DIY, professional, and industrial markets worldwide. GreatStar also manufactures a full range of specialty tools for drywall, masonry, painting, tiling, plumbing, and automotive applications as well as power tools, tool sets, and flashlights. GreatStar’s culture of innovation, firm commitment to R&D and extensive customer insight ensure their leading brands and high-quality products meet the specific needs of the consumers and professionals they serve.
This is the second brand to leave Ideal Industries in recent years, with the company closing its Western Forge brand in early 2020.
GreatStar has gotten in the habit of rescuing failed brands, such as Pony, Jorgensen, and most recently Shop-Vac. It will be interesting to see how this story develops, and what they will do with the SK Hand Tool brand and associated patents and tool designs.
(Thank you to everyone for the heads-up!)
Steve
They mention the patents right away, I don’t see much of a future for SK Made in the USA. I hope I’m wrong though.
Jared
Ha. You posted seconds earlier. I was wondering much the same thing!
MM
Same here. Last week I picked up an S-K thumbwheel ratchet in 3/8 drive, and I just ordered the 1/4 before those disappear or get replaced by an potentially inferior version.
Jared
Interesting that the patents come up in the announcement. I wish I understood what sort of innovations GreatStar is hoping to take advantage of.
On the face of it, do they just want to release their own X-frame wrenches for example? How much is that sort of novelty worth I wonder…
Andy
Unless I’m mistaken, Ideal is a privately held company. I always love to see more business go to publicly held companies, like Greatstar. Still, I’m having a hard time caring about this newd. SK has been off my radar for too long I guess.
DT
Guess it depends on what was included in the sale.
If the new plant that Ideal build is included, then we can likely expect USA made SK tools to continue. If the sale was only the name, intellectual property and patents, then things will probably change. Got to have a little more info.
Better question: why did Ideal want to get rid of SK? Is it due to SK not making money, or did Ideal need the cash infusion for other things?
fred
Seems logical for Hangzhou Great Star – and also for Ideal who never seemed to gain much traction with the SK Brand.
As Great Star is the OEM for some Husky (Home Depot) and Kobalt (Lowes) tools – maybe we’ll start seeing some SK look-a-likes in those tool lines.
I suspect that Great Star probably bought the SK name and IP on the cheap – allowing Ideal to cut their losses.
I agree with Steve – that this probably means that another old USA brand tool line will no longer be made in the USA
Mike (the other one)
First Western Forge, now SK. Makes me wonder what will happen to Pratt-Read. Looks like Ideal is getting out of the tool-making business, unless it is just focusing on Ideal-brand tools.
Meanwhile, China eats another US company.
Eric
Look at half the responses on here. Those people say good riddance. SK sucked, slow to innovate, I can buy better products at Harbor Freight, etc.
Unfortunately the few of us that care about US manufacturing can’t support those companies. So long Sk. Watch out Wright.
Mike
Frack we gotta stop selling shit off to China. Now we’re gonna see more 1:1 clones.
Sean
SK is one of my favorites… I’m not sure what the future holds but hope they continue making great American made tools.
Hammer1963
SK has never been what I would call a stellar brand. Always hanging on fighting for leftovers. Old ideas with substandard quality claiming to be equal to the best in the industry. Aside from the X-frame wrenches, I doubt that there is too much technology to be had.
As far as another US tool company eaten by China, it’s not the Chinese. It’s the greedy ass US owners/investors that are selling. I doubt that Great Star held a gun to anyone’s head forcing them to sell.
Kentucky fan
I’ve never been a fan either proto and williams always had better products for similar prices.
Andy
4 of the 10 biggest investors in Greatstar aren’t Chinese. And I wouldn’t call any company greedy for trying to maximize profit. That’s why businesses exist.
fred
I suspect that Ideal was losing money trying to keep SK solvent – and the sale was out of desperation to salvage what value was left. Before we go and blame Ideal – we should think about how many Dewalt, Gearwrench, Husky, Kobalt , Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Stanley, Sunex and other Made-in-Asia sockets and wrenches that we buy in the USA. I suspect that we speak loudly with our wallets making these our preferred brands – compared to ones like Martin, Proto, and Wright that are still USA-made. Even one of my favorite USA brands (Williams – a Snap-On company) has moved much production to Taiwan.
Its a bit of a chicken and egg sort of dilemma. The Home Depot, Lowes. Menards, Harbor Freight, Wal-Mart and other corporate tool buyers would not be stocking their racks with these Asian tools if we were not buying them. Conversely maybe we’d be buying more USA-made tools if more were put in front us to buy. But I suspect that the marketing forays by certain brands at places like Home Depot – tell their buyers that price is more important than COO as long as quality is decent.
I’m afraid that as Walt Kelly’s Pogo once said: “we have met the enemy and he is us”
MM
I think you made a good point there, and I agree. I just don’t think SK has been solvent given the stiff competition that it faces. Their tools are fairly costly, so I doubt the average person is going to buy SK. They’re going to buy whatever’s cheap on Amazon, from HF, or perhaps whatever a big-box store has on the shelf (Kobalt, Husky, Craftsman, etc.) On the other hand a serious hobbyist or a professional is going to be more demanding but I don’t think that SK could compete with, say, Snap-On or MAC when it comes to customer service & high-end quality, or companies like Gearwrench when it comes to value for money.
You make a very good point about the tool buyers for big corporations. I’ve often thought that those people share much of the blame when it comes to people not “buying American”. It’s hard to buy American when there aren’t American options on the shelf. But those people aren’t malicious, they are stocking what sells. And most people seem to want “cheap” more than they want quality domestically made products. And I think most of us are guilty of this to some degree. Here we are on a tool site so most of us are either enthusiasts or pros so it’s kind of a given we have a preference for nicer tools. But how many of us think like this for other purchases? Do we strive for a good quality domestic maker when we buy flatware and dishes? A smartphone charging cable? A closet organizer? A broom? We are the enemy indeed.
Sean
I had a 36 year old SK 1/4 inch set. The ratchet finally died, and I write them asking if they had a repair kit. That replied, that they did not, but sent me a new ratchet no questions asked. That was some awesome customer service. I over torqued them and abused them for over 30 years and it held up, plus when it finally died they replaced it with something new. So the quality and service was very good. Very sad that this probably won’t continue.
JDubNC
I had a older Proto 1/2” ratchet I’d inherited (lifetime warranty) that needed a rebuild kit. I called, they said they no longer produced a kit for the ratchet. I asked about the lifetime warranty, I was told it was for the original buyer and I must have the receipt. I threw it in the trash, bought Gearwrench 90T extended cushion grips. Best ratchets I’ve ever used.
MM
That service you received was good to be sure. But in the same price ballpark you’ve got tool truck brands like Cornwell, Mac, Matco, etc., and when you break one of those they’ll probably be in your driveway that same day with a new one. No matter how fast a company can send you a new part by mail they cannot match the service of a fleet of local dealers. S-K was priced in the same ballpark as tool truck brands but it’s service, while good, was not *that* good.
PW
“But how many of us think like this for other purchases? Do we strive for a good quality domestic maker when we buy flatware and dishes? A smartphone charging cable? A closet organizer? A broom? We are the enemy indeed.”
*I* do. I almost never buy a product without checking COO.
But it’s not useful to blame individuals for systemic problems. Our entire economy is deliberately structured to make it as cheap as possible to import goods, and as difficult as possible to maintain domestic supply chains.
That’s due to a deliberate series of *policy* decisions dating back over a couple of generations.
Blaming individual consumers is a pointless endeavor. Most of us are acting as rationally as we can with the hand we are dealt. To change this we need macro changes, not cast blame at American consumers, who are downwardly mobile *because* of the same structural issues.
Jim Felt
Pogo certainly got that right. Even 50 or 60 years ago when it was first coined.
Chris
I knew this was coming 🙄 and I’m pretty mad about it. Really disappointed in SK and ideal industries right now. Until further notice, I will no longer be buying SK tools.
DT
Be mad and disappointed at Ideal, not SK. SK didn’t sell itself out.
Ideal clearly didn’t provide the resources to SK for development, as they had many ideas for new tools that never materialized.
If the factory was part of the sale, Greatstar will likely bring more cash to the table for SK to expand and develop offerings. The factory is new and I can’t see a new owner not utilizing it, assuming it was part of the sale.
While its frustrating that another US tool company has been sold to a foreign entity, it could turn out to be good for SK. We just don’t have enough details yet.
Travis
Yeah same here, that is the end of the SK road for me. I have been using them a lot since US made Craftsman went away years ago. Pretty much going to stick with tool truck brands from here on out I guess.
Flotsam
sorry to see this happen
Kody Jared Fernandes
So I’m guessing I should start working on the list of SK tools I want since there was no mention of keeping production in the US
Hon Cho
Keep in mind that it’s entirely possible that SK was profitable, perhaps it just wasn’t profitable enough to compete with other uses for Ideal’s resources. If one segment of your business is only returning 5% and the rest is returning more, the lagging business has to have a compelling story to get more resources to grow it’s profitability or to be retained in a company’s portfolio.
Of course, we don’t know the financial specifics of the SK business but it’s still a sad day for American business to transition to foreign control.
Rob
I’ll admit it: you were right.
Stuart
I was right about what? I didn’t make the rumor, I just shared about it.
I mean, of course, thank you!
rob
:-0. I’ll meet you halfway. You were right about latching onto the comments from the video(s) put out by Jori and his pop. I honestly did get that gut instinct feeling that something was going on with either a sale or a closure over the past year or year and a half. There were behaviours in stock replenishment and vibes from a couple interactions with staff. However, I just had no real evidence of anything in either direction.
Judd
Just my 2 pennies, but I never felt like Ideal put a whole lot of effort into promoting the SK brand after they acquired them. They built a nice new manufacturing facility, and put out a few press releases, and then, it seems like they forgot they even owned them for a number of years after that. Many of my fellow tradesmen weren’t even aware that SK was still in operation. I’m not suggesting they try to get some sort of exclusive deal with a home improvement chain or anything, but they definitely could have made some effort to sell through national auto parts chains, or set up some truck route franchises. There is also the industrial supply chains, that while they did offer product through, they never made any attempt to promote their products or do anything that would make their tools stand apart from the rest.
fred
Reading their HO-HUM (IMO) press releases over the past few years – may tell the story:
https://sktools.com/news.html
JoeM
Wait… Maybe I have a headache or something… I thought Arrow was an SBD brand? that’s why all the DeWALT, Bostitch, and Stanley stapling and pinning devices are dominantly sized for Arrow products… And that the DeWALT fasteners for said devices are exact duplicates of Arrow…
…Did I miss something? Did the pandemic do something to space-time where everything just… changed… and was totally hidden from perception? I know I’m still having trouble telling what day, or time, it is… but an entire move of a major pin fastener brand? It’s hard to believe I missed that… or was I wrong the whole time?
fred
Lots of fasteners seem to have been standardized – not by some restraint of trade conspiracy – or governmental mandate – but rather because some variant became so popular that others decided to use it. I can use T50 staples in many brands of staple guns. Stanley Bostitch SBS19 staples work just as well in my old USA made Swingline desk stapler as in my Isaberg Rapid pliers stapler made in Sweden. The last batch of 23ga pins that I bought for my Grex gun were made by Porter Cable and so on.
JoeM
Oh, so this happened a very long time ago? It’s a standard, not a patent situation… Okay… My bad…
Staples and pins seem simple enough that a lot of people would get fed up of having thousands of options available, when they universally only need around 20 or so. So it does make sense there.
Thanks fred!
MM
Yes, it’s been a thing for many years. My first job as a teenager was at a hardware store in the 90’s. At the time the Arrow T-50 was the standard for any sort of heavy-duty staple gun. All the other brands we sold in the store used Arrow T-50 style staples. I imagine it was a thing long before then as well. And back then SBD did not own Arrow.
fred
BTW – I don’t think that SBD (or Stanley or Black & Decker)
ever owned Arrow . When the company was acquired by Hangzhou Great Star it was owned by Masco Corp. – a company known mostly for its plumbing supply brands.
DC
Patent? Hmmm the X-frame wrenches comes to mind. Flex zone impact sockets are another.
Greg
Another one bites the dust. I collect Mac , Proto , Sk , Bonney , Granco, Craftsman ect but my main using mechanic tools are Snap On, they are dominant and seem to make a lot of their hardline in USA so if it breaks I can have it replaced now or way many years down the road so basically I feel Snap On is not going away anytime soon.
For years I have read threads with people whining about the high price of Snap on and they recommend brand A, B or C brand but now a lot of those brands been put out the pasture or made in Taiwan. I just don’t understand why brands like Mac tools and Klein make so many tools in Taiwan and expect people to pay made in USA prices.
When you buy a dead tool brand you can still use them love them enjoy them but never push them too hard them because of warranty reasons. When we buy tools with a lifetime warranty it can be just a big over priced lie.
MM
I think that Klein has been surviving purely on brand recognition for decades now. They make solid tools but I feel the hype and the price far exceeds the quality. And I think that some of the tool truck brands like Matco, MAC, etc, can get away with selling a lot of made-in-Taiwan tools for inflated prices purely because of their service.
For example I recently looked around for some extra-long flex head ratcheting box-end wrenches. All the big tool truck brands have these. Snap-on makes their own in the USA. The others all seem to be buying from the same Taiwanese maker, which also sells the same thing under the names EZred, Mountain, Icon, and probably others too. I can spend $550 with the Matco truck or I can spent $130 for Mountain brand on Amazon for the same tools made in the same factory. So what does one get for that $420 difference in price? Better warranty service. Mountain will warranty the tools but you have to mail them in and wait weeks. Matco will give you a new one right off the truck no wait. I wouldn’t pay that much for the benefit, but I can certainly see how a pro mechanic might.
I ended up buying both Snap-On and Mountain sets. These are tools I will use enough to justify Snap-On prices and quality for my main use. I snagged the Mountains in case I need a backup wrench for the backside of a fastener, and because they have a shallow extension on the side of the box end which might reach some spots the snap-ons won’t fit in so for $130 a set why not?
A few things I did pay Snap-On money for purely for the warranty/service was a punch and chisel set, air hammer tooling, and a variety of pry bars. They aren’t really any better quality than any other nice brand but the amazing thing is that Snap-on warrantys them, even against abuse. That has proven to be money well spent over the years.
fred
Mac and Proto are still SBD brands.
Bonney (at least the tool part) was at one time acquired by Kelsey_hayes – then a TRW automotive company. TRW automotive was sold to Northrup_Grumman and then to the ZF Group . As far as I know there are no modern Bonney tools being manufactured.
Also – as far as i know Granco (once a big supplier to the military and aerospace industry) are out of business. We had many Granco wrenches used in tight quarter operations for aircraft assemblies that we worked on in our fabrication business:
here are some modern equivalents:
https://omegatec.com/search.aspx?find=close+quarters&log=false&category=1097
BTW – the tool truck brands have always had a different business model.
Their premise is that if they bring the tool store to the end user and offer on-the-spot sales and replacements for high quality tools – then they can charge a big premium . Their “easy revolving credit” plans also keep many of their customers hooked. I was never a fan – but also did not run an auto repair shop. In our businesses – my partners and I agreed that we would buy the tools needed thus reducing the financial burden on our workers. If one of our carpenters wanted something like a Martinez hammer – we might balk – and let them (him or her) buy one themselves. But otherwise we bought most everything needed for the job
NoahG
Just more reasons to buy Wright. I’m not an auto mechanic so the industrial focus of Wright is more suitable for me.
rob
Trying to buy Wright products is just more reason to buy Proto.
fred
Wright certainly does not have much of a mass-market presence.
In our pipe/metal fabrication plant many of the MRO tools were Armstrong, Martin and Williams. Armstrong (a Apex brand) is out of business, Williams (a Snap-On brand) is now mostly made in Taiwan – and Martin seems to stiil be made in the USA.
Back in the 1960’s Sears – plus auto parts stores and hardware stores were still the primary source for DIY mechanics tools. The home centers (pre HD and Lowes) seemed to carry less.
You could shop around – but prices were high – often list price. One auto parts store might be exclusive SK-Wayne, another one Blackhawk, another Plomb/Proto, another Bonney. Lower end stores might have Thorsen.
Some hardware stores might carry Armstrong, others Proto, others Williams, others Wright, still others Fairmount/Martin. Lower end stores might have a small selection of Crescent.
Sears Craftsman – may have outsold the lot of them for the DIY market – and sears was the place to go for open-stock selection.
Asian and European brands did not seem to have much of a market and the tool truck brands (I recall mostly SnapOn) would not sell to the John Q Public DIY market
Eric
Wright was always an industrial brand. Same as Proto and Williams. It’s only in the internet age that they have been thrust into the consumer game. Yes Wright isn’t readily available, nor Proto but for a majority of those companies existence they haven’t needed to be.
loup68
I remember seeing auto parts stores selling Easco ratchets and sockets. They also made the Sears fine tooth ratchets and Sears sockets and wrenches.
Mike Ramsey
Well I just went to the SK website and they have got absolutely zero listed for sale on there. I don’t know what that means but it sure seems strange to me.
Nathan
SK made a number of great things and they made a number of well made things everyeone else had. I still say their sockets were a bit over priced but compared to the same socket from snap on or mac – they were a steel
Their flare nut wrenches are still my favorites – and I can’t really tell you why other than price for use – fitment on fittings – chrome quality – second to none and cheaper than others.
I’ve broken a 10MM sk flare nut and they replaced it free – but again not out of a tool truck so most mechanics won’t use them.
Their ratchets were great if you wanted round heads – which mostly have gone out of favor for pear heads with smaller ends. but I still say SK has the stronger ratchet of out others. Their LP 90 setup is perhaps my smoothest ratchet but it should have come out in the late 90’s. and where is the 1/4 drive model –
but even at 40 tooth their ratchets are some of the cleanest running and no wobble or play. great products. but so are MAC, Snap On, Cromwell, Gearwrench, etc etc.
As I see this – I mostly see Ideal focusing on electrical products and tools. SK didn’t really fit there.
Greg
Time to find the last new USA stock before it drys up.
Heywood jablome
Don’t pay much, as if you expect them to move production overseas and that’s bad to you. You will have no viable warranty.