Chinesium pliers

[Joe CalPo]

If you want good reliable tools go to flea markets and yard sales.  If they've survived long enough to be sold (don't buy stuff that wasn't used though!) they'll likely last.

[jcf]

If you want good reliable tools go to flea markets and yard sales.  If they've survived long enough to be sold (don't buy stuff that wasn't used though!) they'll likely last.

The late lamented Boeing Surplus Store in Kent, WA was my go to for all kinds of stuff,
including hand tools like wire cutters, pliers, drifts, carbide mini-drill bits, small lever clamps,
fine gauge solder, wire, varglas wire sheathing, various fasteners etc., small sheets of
various gauges of aluminum sheet, aluminum and stainless steel tubing, rods, extrusions 
and such like.
It was a candy store and you never knew what you'd find each time you went.
Unfortunately the feckin' Mickey-Dougy controlled (mis)management* closed it in 2007.
There was so much more money to be made in auctions doncha know, in spite of the
fact that it was mostly bits-n-bobs not large lots of materials, machine tools etc. Nope,
everything was going to be slapped into lots, regardless of how small the quantity or how
odd the object material. Auctions in which they make fractions of a penny on the dollar.

*Boeing's problems and major screwups of the last 25 years can be laid directly at the
feet of the "money at all costs" McDonnell mindset, which came directly from the
McDonnell family, that destroyed Douglas and did its best to squeeze Boeing for as
much as possible.

[Rick Lowe]

So is that where the greed-induced licensing on models that used the 'Boeing' name came from? Makes sense.
A bit like Chrysler and the 'Jeep' surcharge...

[jcf]

So is that where the greed-induced licensing on models that used the 'Boeing' name came from? Makes sense.
A bit like Chrysler and the 'Jeep' surcharge...

Not really, Boeing had been charging licensing fees to use their name and
trademarks for decades, and most of the fees were, and still are, low. They're not making pots o'cash on licensing. The fees also varied, and still do, by intended use and whether or not the use will reflect negatively on the company. Everybody started tightening up their IP protection and licensing rules due to the explosion of the internet because the old ways of granting rights no longer fit a changed world.
There was a lot of nonsense spewed on the modelling forums, a lot of it revolving around incorrect notions of how trademark, and copyright, works.
My favourite is the people blathering about how "Boeing can't charge to use the name Flying Fortress 'cause the B-17 was paid for by the taxpayers".
🙄
Umm, yeah not so much the Model 299 was a private venture prototype, not built with government funds, and the name was coined by a reporter. Boeing promptly had it trademarked well before the USAAC ordered any as the B-17.

As to "Jeep" it was/is a trademarked name and included in the IP that Chrysler purchased when they purchased the company. That's how acquisitions work.

[Rick Lowe]

OK, that makes that much more clear - thanks.
Like a lot of other stuff, it's useful to hear the correct story, rather than a knee-jerk inducing rumour or supposition. 

[steelpillow]

Like a lot of other stuff, it's useful to hear the correct story, rather than a knee-jerk inducing rumour or supposition. 

Yeah, it's the only way you can ever know that your version of the story really is the what-if you strive for! 

[zenrat]

When my grandfather died we went through his shed and found a huge collection of brand new hand tools still in their packaging.
All were cheap and nasty crap he'd picked up from market stalls.  He seemed unable to walk through a market without being tempted by a shiny pair of pliers or a fancy gadget of some sort.
IIRC most of them got given to charity.

[chrisonord]

I have been thinking about where I bought the pliers, and they could be from either Aldi or Lidl, inexpensive, but usually decent quality, for what I use them for. I have squashed a lot of pellets with them, and to be honest, the pellets didn't need much doing to them, as I had dug them out of my target boards, prep splattered.