Reply by DS

As long as you realize that most Chinese cities have resorted to welding the man hole covers in the street so they aren’t stolen to make hand tools, you might be okay. (Low quality steel.)

Second thing to realize is that many of the name brands you know and love are already made in China and that those Chinese manufacturers usually make the exact same tool with thier own private label and sell it as the “top line” product at the imported tool store at a 70% mark down from the name brand.

Still, even with that knowledge it is a mixed bag.

Example 1:
There’s the $200 name-brand jig saw that I bought with the Chinese private label for $69. Same tool, same awesome performance and features. They didn’t even use a different color plastic in the molds… I just got to keep a lot more of my money which I used to buy more wood.

Example 2:
Then, there’s the $19 trim router that the spindle was so unbalanced it nearly put me in the hospital the first time it was turned on. Thankfully, and luckily, I avoided injury with that one.

-- "Hard work is not defined by the difficulty of the task as much as a person's desire to perform it.", DS251