In recent years, the line
between consumer-grade and
professional-duty tools has
been blurred, often by marketing
hype that substitutes image
and attitude for quality and
integrity. Nowhere is this more
evident than at the annual
National Hardware Show in
Chicago, where manufacturers
introduce new tools to buyers for
hardware stores and home centers
as well as lumberyards and contractor
supply houses.
At this year's show in August, I
was reassured to find manufacturers
who still understand the difference
between consumers, for
whom tools are often status symbols
used occasionally, and tradespeople,
for whom tools are
essential to their livelihood. These
companies continue not only to provide high-quality tools, but to
promote them with the kind of accurate information and meaningful
performance specs that construction