No one has yet commented on the quality of Park's Chinese-made tools.

Japan has always made the best woodworking saws, chisels, planes, swords. Mitutoyo has been one of the leaders in the world for making ultra high precision machinist measuring tools. SKF bearings(as well as other Japanese companies) replaced the US as the top ball/roller manufacturers in the world. When we purchase high speed bearings for machines they referred to as Japanese bearings. This all happened after the 1970's.

Did your Honda or Toyota rust away in the 1980's?

Unfortunately the States are ruining their own manufacturing quality to compete with Asia. They should stick to high quality products only like Germany, whose manufacturing numbers will amaze you since they are socialized/unionized with a much higher pay scale than the US.

I know. We should not try to beat them at the race-to-the-bottom game. Make the best stuff that no one else can make. Create niche markets.

Apparently not.....

Chinese or not, the tip of the last T25 bit I used out of a brand-new SBS-1 kit corkscrewed after tightening just a half-dozen disc rotors. I like Park tools, but not always.

But what percentage of the world's manufactured goods does the USA consume?

Just like the wolf, the grizzly, the shark...as much as it can.

And just like a dog that eats so much it gets fat and lazy.

That is why quality Japanese knives are made in a completely different style than quality German knives.

Hence, Damascus, or folded steels of different ingredients. Or the harder tempered edge than the spine.

that's not really how global capitalism works.

https://tomgeoghegan.com/2010/07/in-these-times/

What a stupid thing to say. Just because it is made in China does not mean it is inferior to the goods made in the good ole' USA. Some products made in America are worse than those made elsewhere.

Go with good tools, regardless of country of manufacturer. And lose the bigot attitude.

Do you know that the Statue of Liberty is not made in the USA?

Save the union jobs! Obama loves you.

It's not bigotry to prefer to purchase goods from countries who's workers are allowed social, religious, and economic freedoms, have decently enforced safety regulations to protect them, have environmental practices which protect our global resources (air, water, etc.). In short, I try to send as little of my money to China as possible: not because I don't like the Chinese people, but because I'm not comfortable propping up the totalitarian system they are stuck under by sending my money there since it mostly ends up in the hands of those exploiting the people.

This has nothing to do with bigotry. This is a case of profiling which in my opinion is a valid considuration when determining whether to purchase an item of unknown quality.

Umm, yes it is. You use politics as your backbone for purchasing decisions. And those decisions are as flawed as your political reasoning. The great thing about travel is that you learn about other cultures and open your mind to how other people do things. Many parts of the world have customs, traditions, AND political ideology different from the USA. Your holier-than-thou attitude smacks of it own mental totalitarian system for which you want to impose on others by speaking so negatively of others buying decisions. I'm buying from China. And proud of it! Maybe it is you who needs to take a trip?

I guess I can breathe easy then, most of my tools are older park and campy that I bought in groups off craigslist. Though if I needed something, and the price was right, a china based tool would be fine with me. Too much global competition going on to base every purchase on political considerations. Kinda like food, I buy local and fresh when I can, but I'll open a can of beans when I'm hungry!

Of course I'm making a political statement by preferring democracy to totalitarianism. We each have to come up with some reason for preferring one product over another and mine isn't simply quality or price, but the behavior of the people who are selling it and what they will use their profits for. At the end of the day, they can do whatever they want, but it's my right to decide if I want to support them financially or not. I can't see why you should have a problem with that. We're allowed to have personal preferences, you know.

And as for your travel recommendations, I've been there, done that and gone you one further. I've been abroad, including China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and lived in Asia for many years, both of my kids were born there. I'm a guy who has seen enough to figure out what he likes. And I'm not a fan of totalitarianism and don't consider it bigotry to disapprove of it anymore than it would be bigotry to be against pedophilia.

Forget the politics get back to the tools its getting

Maybe this is why my Park laser cut headset wrenches didn't fit right and just screwed up the corners on the nuts. Measured the wrench openings; not even close to spec. bk

With the exception of Ping, pretty much every golf club sold in the US has been made in China for decades. I would assume that what golfer's experience is pretty much what others have said about tools. If you pay a premium price, you tend to get a premium product because the manufacturer pays more for better raw materials and higher quality control standards. FWIW, the only reason Ping golf clubs are still made in the USA is because their parent company, Karsten MFG, holds defense contracts to make missile casings.

In the case of some tools the main problem is because there is nothing better available. Sadly park no matter where is made it will be better than other junk. So basically we are trapped or we get the Wrap they are selling or we get the other stuff that is inferior quality wise.

Craftsman has been sucking big time lately so what else are you going to buy then? If you go to another manufacturer that had a lower quality before, it will be even lower now or maybe same quality but it will look pretty bad.

Var stuff is pretty good the problem is where the hell to get VAR? is not just go to performance and ask the guy... hey do you have a set of VAR cone tools or spoke wrench? I'm sure the mechanic wont even know what VAR is.

I do have a campangolo spoke wrench that is so old that you would not even imagine, a mechanic gave it to me when i was 13 y/o and im 41 right now... Still perfect! The park one got pretty bad after a few years... so again... if you dont have where to get better we are trapped with shi...tt..yyy tools and probably they will continue lowering quality.

Talking about asian tool... for example ICE Toolz look pretty good, but there is no reviews about the tools no where, one of these days i'll get some stuff from them to test.

the median wage in China is now nearly twice the median wage in India. And I think it is going up rather fast, some companies are pulling out.

Park Tools would love it if you blamed China, however, if your Park Tool is of inferior quality as suspected try another brand that is somewhat cheaper. It is Park Tool's fault if their quality drops through he floor, not some guy in China.

Filzer is another one to try. Why have brand loyalty when there is no difference besides the label.