Better quality Tandy Basic 7 set

[David4766]

Would anyone have any suggestions on where to purchase better quality versions of the Tandy stamping tools that are included in their Basic 7 Tooling set?
 

Thank you

David

[YinTx]

Get some vintage ones.  Price is still good, and the quality is much better.  A lot of us have extras, and are willing to sell them.  In fact, I have some for sale in the for sale section of this site.

YinTx

[David4766]

Thank you for your reply. I was really looking for tools other than Tandy/Craftool. I guess I wasn’t too clear in my original post.

[YinTx]

There are many brands out there.  But in my opinion and experience, in order of quality/price ratio, from worst to better, starting with don't consider it:  

A. cheapo tool sets off of ebay/amazon, don't do it.  as they tend to bend easy and leave bad impressions.

B.  z series craftools

C.  recent cheap craftools - ok to learn with and decide if you like the craft.

D.  90's craftools

E.  70-80's craftools (very useable, very nice impressions, reasonable to acquire)

F.  Pre letter craftools (many hand made, very nice impressions, great value for the $$)

G.  Craftool Pro (excellent quality for price, discontinued)

H.  Barry King

I.  Jueschke, Robert Beard, other custom tool makers:  These are all incredible high quality tools, and expensive.  At this price point, personal preference rules.

Hope this helps.  H and I are available from the makers, some have very long wait periods.

YinTx

[buzzardbait]

Craft Japan tools are higer quality than Tandy tools, Barry King tools are well worth the price difference.

[tsunkasapa]

9 hours ago, YinTx said:

There are many brands out there.  But in my opinion and experience, in order of quality/price ratio, from worst to better, starting with don't consider it:  

A. cheapo tool sets off of ebay/amazon, don't do it.  as they tend to bend easy and leave bad impressions.

B.  z series craftools

C.  recent cheap craftools - ok to learn with and decide if you like the craft.

D.  90's craftools

E.  70-80's craftools (very useable, very nice impressions, reasonable to acquire)

F.  Pre letter craftools (many hand made, very nice impressions, great value for the $$)

G.  Craftool Pro (excellent quality for price, discontinued)

H.  Barry King

I.  Jueschke, Robert Beard, other custom tool makers:  These are all incredible high quality tools, and expensive.  At this price point, personal preference rules.

Hope this helps.  H and I are available from the makers, some have very long wait periods.

YinTx

I'm not sure where I got this picture. I just use it to date some of the tools I buy from time to time. All credit to whoever, it is NOT my research.

[YinTx]

15 hours ago, buzzardbait said:

Craft Japan tools are higer quality than Tandy tools, Barry King tools are well worth the price difference.

agree, to a point.  Elle, ProCarver, Craft Japan, Ivan Taiwan, etc. all fall in the spectrum somewhere between 1969 to present Craftools.  The older Craftool (1969 and older) IMO are as good and sometimes better.  Being handmade, sometimes worse.   For your most used tools, BK are worth it agreed.  I even have quite a few Robert Beard tools that I really really like.  Could I do it all with the Craftools?  Yep.  Would you be able to tell the difference in my finished product?  Probably not unless you were just really familiar with the tools.  But I'm glad there is such a variety of tools and toolmakers out there.  

Now, the Sergey tools are unique, and I'm bettin you'd know when I used those!  

 

YinTx