Guess which countries manufactured my tools

[Frank Pellow]

I recently put together an inventory of all my tools for insurance purposes. There are in excess of 200 tools and I had to come up with a replacement value for each, so this was not a trivial task.

Since all the data was already in a table, I decided to add a column for "Country of Manufacture". Next I added up total value by country then worked out percentage totals of where my tools originated. I then organized a summary of the form:

Country Percentage of Total Value

Country 1 j%
Country 2 k%
Etc.

I thought that some people might be interested in the results.

I was able to identify the country of origin for about 99 percent of my tools. It turns out that the tools were manufactured in 13 known countries and that there are 5 countries with a percentage of 10 or more.

Anyone care to hazard a guess at those 5 countries and of the "winning" country? I will let you guess for a while, then post the results this evening.

[Per Swenson]

I'll bite,
Hi Frank,

Lets see,
USA
China
Germany
Canada
Taiwan

In order, Close?
Per

[Tim Morton]

OK...


USA
China
Taiwan
Canada
Germany

[Karl Laustrup]

I'm not sure of the order, Frank, but I would have to put Germany up in 2nd or 3rd place, based on your extensive collection of Festool products. And I think you have a good selection of Canadian tools also, so those would go toward the top.

I'll be watching to see if I'm correct. :)

[Rob Blaustein]

China/Taiwan 40% (mostly from Delta stuff)
Canada 25% (mostly General--TS etc)
Germany 25% (Festool stuff)
USA 10% (other stuff)

Sorry to lump China and Taiwan, I can't recall who makes what typically, though I suspect China is much more prevalent than Taiwan.

[Douglas Robinson]

Germany 30%
USA 25%
China
Canada
Taiwan

Doug

[Paul Canaris]

Austria
Italy
Taiwan
Germany
Britan
Japan
Canada
USA

Were just not the manufacturing nation we once were.:(

[Todd Burch]

Frank, this got me to thinking about mine. The biggest ticket items are Italy, Austria, & USA (not in proper order). After that, overseas, but the pacific instead of the atlantic.

I would have to say hand tools are mostly USA, since the majority are bordering antique status.

[John Renzetti]

Hi Frank, For you I'd say
Taiwan
Germany
China
Canada
USA

Also did a quick count in my shop. Came up with about 19 countries. There's probably a couple more in there that I haven't thought of. Top five for me are
Austria
USA
Germany
Italy
Japan
Quick count of the others would add China, Taiwan, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, UK, France, Mexico, Singapore, Canada, South Korea, Australia.
I was surprised at the number of different countries.
take care,
John

[Mark Singer]

Mexico
Slovinia
Peru
Cuba
Monaco
Upper Volta (power tools)
Lower Volta (battery operated)

I have a feeling I may not win...where is Festool made? Upper Volta?

[Steve Stube]

I'd say Rob has nailed it and I'll second it.
China/Taiwan 40% (mostly from Delta stuff)
Canada 25% (mostly General--TS etc)
Germany 25% (Festool stuff)
USA 10% (other stuff)

[Ken Salisbury]

I wouldn't even begin to take the time to figure out what country my tools came from. I would rather use that time making something with the tools I do have.

When I buy a tool I buy by the rule of "the best tool for the money in my budget". I prefer to buy American made, however that is not always possible based on my criteria.

[Mark Singer]

Ken

I agree.....I think we are running out of things to talk about:confused:


I wouldn't even begin to take the time to figure out what country my tools came from. I would rather use that time making something with the tools I do have.

When I buy a tool I buy by the rule of "the best tool for the money in my budget". I prefer to buy American made, however that is not always possible based on my criteria.

[Byron Trantham]

Ken

I agree.....I think we are running out of things to talk about:confused:


Here, here!!!

[Paul Canaris]

Come to think of it, I once had a Transylvanian tablesaw that I donated a fair amount of flesh to.

[Frank Pellow]

Mexico
Slovinia
Peru
Cuba
Monaco
Upper Volta (power tools)
Lower Volta (battery operated)

I have a feeling I may not win...where is Festool made? Upper Volta?
One of those countries does make my list -but not the top five.

[Frank Pellow]

I wouldn't even begin to take the time to figure out what country my tools came from. I would rather use that time making something with the tools I do have.

When I buy a tool I buy by the rule of "the best tool for the money in my budget". I prefer to buy American made, however that is not always possible based on my criteria.


Ken

I agree.....I think we are running out of things to talk about:confused:


Here, here!!!
I appear to be boring quite a few folks with this topic. :(

But, I am very interested in where things are made, I love statistics, it was not very much extra work for me to come up with these statistics, and it appears that some people may be interested. :)

So, different stokes for different folks, and I hope to see some more guesses. And, I am also interested in other people's lists. :D

[Larry Browning]

Frank,
You have WAY too much time on your hands :eek:

I can only look forward to the day when I retire and can compile lists of completely meaningless information. (Which I know I will do) But for now all I do is count the time until I do retire (5,256,478 seconds) :D

[Wes Bischel]

Frank,
I do find this topic interesting. Most of my newer equipment is from overseas, but my old stuff is all from the US.
I have found even the Japanese and European brands I have bought or considered are being made in China. :rolleyes:
My guesses would be
Canada
China
Germany

Wes

[Allen Bookout]

Frank,

I sure am interested. Also it would be interesting to see the percentages by year or some sort of appropriate time period of purchase from each country. This might show some indication of the shift of good products available from different nations as time marches on.

My guess would also be that the earlier purchases were from USA, Canada and Europe and the later shifting to Asia.

Allen

[John Cavanaugh]

Gotta love the "inner" analytic that just cant help himself. ;-)

Seriously though, I wish more people that I worked with were more like you.


Ill guess

USA
Taiwan
Germany
China
Mexico

--
John Cavanaugh

[Frank Pellow]

First I will comment upon the guesses:


I'll bite,
Hi Frank,

Lets see,
USA
China
Germany
Canada
Taiwan

In order, Close?
Per
Per, the first four that you list are in my top 5. But the order that you have these in is almost backwards.



OK...
USA
China
Taiwan
Canada
Germany
Tim, except for Taiwan, you have four of the right countries. But, you order is exactly backwards.



I'm not sure of the order, Frank, but I would have to put Germany up in 2nd or 3rd place, based on your extensive collection of Festool products. And I think you have a good selection of Canadian tools also, so those would go toward the top.

I'll be watching to see if I'm correct. :)
Karl, Germany and Canada are the top two.



China/Taiwan 40% (mostly from Delta stuff)
Canada 25% (mostly General--TS etc)
Germany 25% (Festool stuff)
USA 10% (other stuff)

Sorry to lump China and Taiwan, I can't recall who makes what typically, though I suspect China is much more prevalent than Taiwan.

Also, guess by Steve Stube

Rob, even if you lump China and Taiwan, the combination would come third in my list.



Germany 30%
USA 25%
China
Canada
Taiwan

Doug
Doug, you are correct about Germany being at the top. But your USA number is too high and Canada away too low.



Hi Frank, For you I'd say
Taiwan
Germany
China
Canada
USA
…
John
John, you like many others have four of the five but include Tiawan -which is not in my top five.



Austria
Italy
Taiwan
Germany
Britan
Japan
Canada
USA

Were just not the manufacturing nation we once were.:(
Except for Austria, they all make my overall list. And. Paul, you are the only one to include Italy which is in my top 5.



Frank,
I do find this topic interesting. Most of my newer equipment is from overseas, but my old stuff is all from the US.
I have found even the Japanese and European brands I have bought or considered are being made in China. :rolleyes:
My guesses would be
Canada
China
Germany

Wes
Wes you correct that those are my top three. But, you have them in the wrong order.



Gotta love the "inner" analytic that just cant help himself. ;-)

Seriously though, I wish more people that I worked with were more like you.


Ill guess

USA
Taiwan
Germany
China
Mexico

--
John Cavanaugh
Hey John, you forgot Canada.

[Frank Pellow]

Germany___25.6
Canada____24.8
China______15.9
USA_______12.7
Italy_______10.0
Taiwan______3.9
Japan_______2.0
Sweden_____1.6
Thailand_____1.0
Mexico______0.9
UK__________0.6
France______0.1
Korea_______0.1

Unknown____0.8

The percentages arte bassed upon cost of tools.

[Frank Pellow]

Frank,

I sure am interested. Also it would be interesting to see the percentages by year or some sort of appropriate time period of purchase from each country. This might show some indication of the shift of good products available from different nations as time marches on.

My guess would also be that the earlier purchases were from USA, Canada and Europe and the later shifting to Asia.

Allen
Allen, about 90% (by value) of my tool purchases were done over the last two years, so the percentage breakdown I gave is quite current.

[Frank Pellow]

Frank,
You have WAY too much time on your hands :eek:

I can only look forward to the day when I retire and can compile lists of completely meaningless information. (Which I know I will do) But for now all I do is count the time until I do retire (5,256,478 seconds) :D
Larry, actually I don't have much time at all. :p

For instance, here is an approximation the amount of time that I spent on productive tasks in the last two days:

Tuesday:
2 hours -finishing the clean up of the debris around my shop
1.5 hours -removing a stump in the neighbors garden
6 hours -restoring a garden shed at my daughters place
2.5 hours -playing with, giving baths to, and reading to two of my grandchildren

Wednesday:
2 hours -working on our vegetable garden
9 hours -re-staining the exterior of the workshop
1.5 hours -house cleaning

[David Fried]

Frank,

Since you are doing an inventory I am assuming your list includes both hand and power tools. How does it break down if you separate the two?

Dave Fried

[Frank Pellow]

Frank,

Since you are doing an inventory I am assuming your list includes both hand and power tools. How does it break down if you separate the two?

Dave Fried
Yes Dave, the list includes both hand and power (as well as benches and cabinets and rollers and stuff like that).

That woud be an interesting way to look at things. It will take a bit of restructuring, but I will do so (probably tomnorrow) and let you know. My guess is that Canada would win the hand tool category with Japan or the USA second.

[Tim Morton]

Frank,

Since you are doing an inventory I am assuming your list includes both hand and power tools. How does it break down if you separate the two?

Dave Fried

Geez Dave can't you see how busy Frank is with his family, and now you have him BACK on the computer ..hows he EVER going to have time to work in that beautiful shop of his:D:D...BTW Frank could you show us a graph that would trend your purchases both before and after you joined the CreeK?:cool:

[Corey Hallagan]

All I know is you have one real sweet shop shop there in Canada Frank with some great tools and equipment. I am sure you earned your retirement. Enjoy it and if that means daily inventories or whatever, that is cool :)

Corey

P.S. I will trade you my blue green scroll saw for your blue scroll saw!

[Rob Blaustein]

OK, maybe I was off on the order, but I didn't do too badly on most of my percentage guesses:

Germany___25 vs 25.6
Canada____25 vs 24.8
Chinas_____40 vs 19.8 (way off on that one)
USA_______10 vs 12.7

[Frank Pellow]

OK, maybe I was off on the order, but I didn't do too badly on most of my percentage guesses:

Germany___25 vs 25.6
Canada____25 vs 24.8
Chinas_____40 vs 19.8 (way off on that one)
USA_______10 vs 12.7
Yes Rob, I noticed that the other percentages were close, but forgot to give you credit. Sorry.

[Frank Pellow]

Frank,

Since you are doing an inventory I am assuming your list includes both hand and power tools. How does it break down if you separate the two?

Dave Fried


Yes Dave, the list includes both hand and power (as well as benches and cabinets and rollers and stuff like that).

That woud be an interesting way to look at things. It will take a bit of restructuring, but I will do so (probably tomnorrow) and let you know. My guess is that Canada would win the hand tool category with Japan or the USA second.
OK, here is the hand tool list. Last night when I predicted that USA or Japan would come second, I forgot that Bessey clamps are made in Germany. So, Germany places a strong second.

Canada______29
Germany_____25
USA_________16
Sweden______10
Japan_________8
UK___________3
China_________2
Korea_________1
Unknown______6

[lou sansone]

70% of my equipement is USA

10% italy or european
10% brazil
10% tiawan

looks like I am odd man out again
lou

[Frank Pellow]

70% of my equipement is USA

10% italy or european
10% brazil
10% tiawan

looks like I am odd man out again
lou
Nothing at all from Canada? Say a Veritas hand plane or a Leigh jig?

[Christian Aufreiter]

Hi Frank,

I don't know if you posted this thread for a specific reason but when talking about "Made in ..." I think we should try to figure out how much of a product really comes from the "Made in ..." country. In German, we call that "Wertschöpfungsanteil" but I'm not sure if "value added" is the right translation. I'm not familiar with the specific situation but I know that German products must have a certain percentage of "Wertschöpfung" in Germany in order to justify "Made in Germany".

Regards,

Christian

[Mark Singer]

Christian,

Is that a real word , or are you testing our German? The one with the "W":confused:


Hi Frank,

I don't know if you posted this thread for a specific reason but when talking about "Made in ..." I think we should try to figure out how much of a product really comes from the "Made in ..." country. In German, we call that "Wertschöpfungsanteil" but I'm not sure if "value added" is the right translation. I'm not familiar with the specific situation but I know that German products must have a certain percentage of "Wertschöpfung" in Germany in order to justify "Made in Germany".

Regards,

Christian

[Ed Blough]

Germany___25.6
Canada____24.8
China______15.9
USA_______12.7
Italy_______10.0
Taiwan______3.9
Japan_______2.0
Sweden_____1.6
Thailand_____1.0
Mexico______0.9
UK__________0.6
France______0.1
Korea_______0.1

Unknown____0.8


One thing we have to remember here, tools made in Taiwan were at one time labeled as made in China. The United States and most of the free world recognized Taiwan as the real government of China until fairly recently.
I think if a tool is ten years old or older and it is labeled China I think it is safe to assume it was made in Taiwan.

[Frank Pellow]

One thing we have to remember here, tools made in Taiwan were at one time labeled as made in China. The United States and most of the free world recognized Taiwan as the real government of China until fairly recently.
I think if a tool is ten years old or older and it is labeled China I think it is safe to assume it was made in Taiwan.



All my tools that are labelled "made in China" are made in China, not in Taiwan.

[Ed Blough]

Hi Frank,

I don't know if you posted this thread for a specific reason but when talking about "Made in ..." I think we should try to figure out how much of a product really comes from the "Made in ..." country. In German, we call that "Wertschöpfungsanteil" but I'm not sure if "value added" is the right translation. I'm not familiar with the specific situation but I know that German products must have a certain percentage of "Wertschöpfung" in Germany in order to justify "Made in Germany".

Regards,

Christian

I believe in most cases a significant portion of the product must be made in the country for that country to be listed as the made in country. There are some new terms appearing on the scene such as "Assembled in xxxxxx" or "Made from parts from xxxxx assembled in xxxxxxx"

Personally I really don't care what country made the item as much as I care what country ends up with the profit. An item made in one nation by a company owned by another nation has profits going to that second nation. Profits are what are used to build more assets that increase the wealth and financial strength of the owing nation.

[Ed Blough]

Ed, we are not supposed to discuss politics at Saw Mill Creek.

All my tools that are labelled "made in China" are made in China, not in Taiwan.


Sorry I must have missed that prohibition.
I apologize to all, not for what I said but for saying here. Sorry

[JayStPeter]

Frank,

Question: Did you count your general use tools (socket sets, wrenches etc.), or is this list just WWing related?
What's from Sweden?

Jay

[Ian Abraham]

Had a quick look around my shed over here on the other side of the world...

And my number one came up Swiss !!
But then I am a fan of Bosch power tools ;)

The 'American' brand name stuff (DeWalt, B&D) is from all over the place, Taiwan, England, Mexico.
Some Japanese and Dutch stuff there as well.

Maybe another question.. Where are your Favourite tools from???

Cheers

Ian

[Christian Aufreiter]

Christian,

Is that a real word , or are you testing our German? The one with the "W":confused:

Mark, believe or not, "Wertschöpfung" is a real German word. It might not be the most common one though :D . Seriously, what is the "strangest" thing about it? The length? Well, "Wertschöpfung" consists of THREE words:
- "Wert" (noun): value
- "Schöpfung" (noun): creation, work, product (the word-by-word translation is definitely not appropriate)
- "Anteil" (noun): share, portion
-> "Wertschöpfungsanteil" (noun)

@ Ed:
Yep, the portion is the important and interesting aspect. I wonder if there are national or international laws/standards.
However, I don't really where a tool (product) is made either. To me, it's more important that the tool serves my needs and that there's a service dept. not too far away.

Regards,

Christian

[JayStPeter]

With this thread in mind, I quickly toured my shop. I think the USA wins, followed closely by Taiwan. They are clearly far ahead of any other country. Taiwan is on most of my tools, just not a couple of the most expensive (Unisaw, Oneida).
It's a close race for 3rd between Germany and Canada (my Veritas and Festool investments are similar so far). I thought my Bosch's would give the edge to Germany, but they just added to the USA tally. The Fein vac ... Italy. The only China I could find was my Delta DP (I'll try not to hold that piece of junk against China).

Some quick back of the envelope calculations (based on $)
1. USA 38%
2. Taiwan 29%
3. Germany/Canada (tie) 13% ea.
5. Italy/China (tie) <3% ea.

Taiwan is the clear leader in number of tools, with probably 50%. The US would drop significantly as there are a limited number, but all good expensive stuff :)

I'm sure if I thoroughly went through all my tools the percentages would change and ties would break, but this is probably pretty close.

For those who think I have too much time on my hands, please feel free to trade weeks with me. I needed a 5 minute diversion, thanks Frank.

Jay

[Tim Morton]

Hi Frank,

I don't know if you posted this thread for a specific reason but when talking about "Made in ..." I think we should try to figure out how much of a product really comes from the "Made in ..." country. In German, we call that "Wertschöpfungsanteil" but I'm not sure if "value added" is the right translation. I'm not familiar with the specific situation but I know that German products must have a certain percentage of "Wertschöpfung" in Germany in order to justify "Made in Germany".

Regards,

Christian

wasn't that what VW called Farfegnugen?

[Frank Pellow]

Frank,

Question: Did you count your general use tools (socket sets, wrenches etc.), or is this list just WWing related?
What's from Sweden?

Jay
The vast majority of my tools are woodworking related. But, I do have a socket wrench set (made in Taiwan and branded Mastercraft by Canadian Tire) and I did include it.

[Ken Waag]

Hi Frank,

I don't know if you posted this thread for a specific reason but when talking about "Made in ..." I think we should try to figure out how much of a product really comes from the "Made in ..." country. In German, we call that "Wertschöpfungsanteil" but I'm not sure if "value added" is the right translation. I'm not familiar with the specific situation but I know that German products must have a certain percentage of "Wertschöpfung" in Germany in order to justify "Made in Germany".

Regards,

Christian

If I'm getting Christian's point correct, it is a good point. Alot of tools (and other items) labeled made in USA need only meet certain requirements. Like Christian's Werschetsersauceandall, it means that just some of the parts and assembly must be done in the USA. For example, a few years back while many were badmouthing the import competitors, and praising Delta's USA made products, many of the parts were coming from other countries and some of the assembly was done here. Enough to meet those requirements. That USA machine might've been about one bolt away from being an import. So it's less straightforward than it appears.

Not judging the situation either way just saying that often you don't knoiw what you don't know.

[Mark Singer]

Frank'

Do you have 1 routa bit from Isreal? Please check ....my sista really wants to know ...its , how do you say....."very impotant"

[Christian Aufreiter]

If I'm getting Christian's point correct, it is a good point. Alot of tools (and other items) labeled made in USA need only meet certain requirements. Like Christian's Werschetsersauceandall, it means that just some of the parts and assembly must be done in the USA. For example, a few years back while many were badmouthing the import competitors, and praising Delta's USA made products, many of the parts were coming from other countries and some of the assembly was done here. Enough to meet those requirements. That USA machine might've been about one bolt away from being an import. So it's less straightforward than it appears.

Not judging the situation either way just saying that often you don't knoiw what you don't know.

Yep, that was basically my point. But you expressed it a lot better, of course. :)

Christian

[Frank Pellow]

Prompted by the recent thread http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=30002, I decided to revist my tool purchasing habits and see how things stack up 6 months after I last looked at them.

Here is my revised list (showing cost of tools by country) :

#1: Germany___26.2________(previous #1 with 25.6%)

#2: Canada____25.2________(previous #2 with 24.8%)

#3: USA_______14.4________(previous #4 with 12.7%)

#4: China______13.9________(previous #3 with 15.9%)

#5: Italy_______9.5________(previous #5 with 10.0%)

#6: Taiwan______4.1________(previous #6 with 3.9%)

#7: Japan_______2.2________(previous #7 with 2.0%)

#8: Sweden_____1.5________(previous #8 with 1.6%)

#9: Mexico______1.1________(previous #10 with 0.9%)

#10: UK__________0.6________(previous #11 with 0.6%)

#11: Thailand_____0.5________(previous #9 with 1.0%)

#12: France______0.1________ (no change)

#13 Korea_______0.1________ (no change)

Unknown____0.6___________(down from 0.8 because I found out where some tools were made)

Please observe that the USA, Mexico, and the UK have moved up in the list and that China and Thailand have moved down.

Based on some comments that others have made, I should add that I am reasonably confident that, with my tools, a high percentage of the total tool is made in the countries that I have listed. In a couple of cases I actually split the tool cost between sourcing countries.

[Tom Donalek]

Frank, I'm afraid that I don't know the spread sheet formula to do it, but would it be possible to re-work the ranking based weighted by value? What I'm getting at is that you could have a large number of cheap items from one country, a just a few high-price items from another, and that 'information' wouldn't show up in your ranking. I'm just not sure how to do it in a valid, useful way...

Is there a statistician in the house?

[Frank Pellow]

Frank, I'm afraid that I don't know the spread sheet formula to do it, but would it be possible to re-work the ranking based weighted by value? What I'm getting at is that you could have a large number of cheap items from one country, a just a few high-price items from another, and that 'information' wouldn't show up in your ranking. I'm just not sure how to do it in a valid, useful way...

Is there a statistician in the house?
Ir would be very easy for me to add a column which indicates the number of "tools" from each country. Would that give you what you are suggesting, Tom?

[Lee DeRaud]

Ir would be very easy for me to add a column which indicates the number of "tools" from each country. Would that give you what you are suggesting, Tom?I think what he's suggesting is the percentage of total tool-investment dollars spent in each country.

[Frank Pellow]

I think what he's suggesting is the percentage of total tool-investment dollars spent in each country.
How is that any different than what I put into my list.

[Paul Canaris]

Italy
Germany
Taiwan
China
Japan
England

[Lee DeRaud]

How is that any different than what I put into my list.I thought (and so did Tom apparently) that the percentages in your list was in terms of "numbers of tools", not "cost of tools". If it reflects the purchase prices, you're right, you've already done it.

[Howard Barlow]

...I love statistics, it was not very much extra work for me to come up with these statistics, and it appears that some people may be interested. :)

Frank, did you know 68% of the people polled don't believe in surveys? 82% believe statistics are just made up 73% of the time and have no better than a 50/50 chance of being 100% correct most of the time.

Oh...
Tiawan
China
Germany
Canada
USA
Funkytown

[Tom Donalek]

Ir would be very easy for me to add a column which indicates the number of "tools" from each country. Would that give you what you are suggesting, Tom?
No - I think that this is what I'm thinking: Let's say you have 10 tools from Blueland each worth $100 and 4 tools from Redistan each worth $500. Your straight 'number of tools' ranking would be:

#1 10 Blueland = 71.4%
#2 4 Redistan = 28.6%

But your 'value' ranking would be

#1 $2000 Redistan = 66.7%
#2 $1000 Blueland = 33.3%

See what I mean? I guess that I'm thinking about the "made in the USA/North America" tool discussions and I'm curious about where our bucks/loonies are going. I should probably go tabulate my own stuff, but given that you have all the raw data in front of you, I thought I would ask.

Now that I've thought it through a bit, here's what I would do if I had your spreadsheet in front of me: 1) sort the rows by 'country of origin', 2) Sum dollar values for each country, 3) make new table with 'country' and corresponding total dollar value, and 4) complie ranking and percentage of 'value' by 'country'. I know I'm being a pain in asking this, so you're very welcome to use your time more productively than doing this! I'm just suspecting that the ranking would be different, and I'm curious about precisely how...

[Frank Pellow]

I thought (and so did Tom apparently) that the percentages in your list was in terms of "numbers of tools", not "cost of tools". If it reflects the purchase prices, you're right, you've already done it.
The percentages in my list are based upon cost of tools.

[Paul B. Cresti]

Frank,
Your post got me thinking so I did a quick survey myself. My percentages are base upon total value percentages. Just to note I included my phase converter (Kay) and my cutters heads (Schmidt) which are mostly insert type and cost me a couple of bucks!

Italy - 68%
USA - 16%
Austria - 8%
Germany - 6%
Tiawan/China - 2%

There may be some others or the percentages my shift a bit because it is a quick survey where the majority of my shop is included.

[JayStPeter]

With this thread in mind, I quickly toured my shop. I think the USA wins, followed closely by Taiwan. They are clearly far ahead of any other country. Taiwan is on most of my tools, just not a couple of the most expensive (Unisaw, Oneida).
It's a close race for 3rd between Germany and Canada (my Veritas and Festool investments are similar so far). I thought my Bosch's would give the edge to Germany, but they just added to the USA tally. The Fein vac ... Italy. The only China I could find was my Delta DP (I'll try not to hold that piece of junk against China).

Some quick back of the envelope calculations (based on $)
1. USA 38%
2. Taiwan 29%
3. Germany/Canada (tie) 13% ea.
5. Italy/China (tie) <3% ea.

Taiwan is the clear leader in number of tools, with probably 50%. The US would drop significantly as there are a limited number, but all good expensive stuff :)

I'm sure if I thoroughly went through all my tools the percentages would change and ties would break, but this is probably pretty close.


In the past 7 months, my percentages from Germany and Canada have probably gone up a little. Veritas and Festool have been my two go-to companies lately. I'm not sure where to count Infinity router bits, but they have also gotten a big chunk lately. I don't think I counted bits/blades in my initial estimates though ... too many brands/too much effort (a number have hit the trash can since then too). Italy has probably broken it's tie with China also as my new HVLP setup comes from there. I didn't keep my calculations, but I expect the percentages would only change slightly (though Italy would now be double China).

Jay

[Lee DeRaud]

Well, my "shop" is about 90+% made-in-USA, mostly because the cost of the laser completely overwhelms everything else. Leaving it out makes things a bit murkier, since most of my woodworking gear is either (1) Chinese-made Delta or (2) Ryobi.

Despite the Japanese-sounding name, Ryobi is a US company. The routers are marked 'made in USA' but I can't find any markings on the BT3000 table saw (my 3rd-most-expensive tool :eek: ).

(Just doing my bit to add some confusion to the "cheap foreign junk" vs "quality US machinery" debate.:p :cool: )

[tod evans]

Well, my "shop" is about 90+% made-in-USA, mostly because the cost of the laser completely overwhelms everything else. Leaving it out makes things a bit murkier, since most of my woodworking gear is either (1) Chinese-made Delta or (2) Ryobi.

Despite the Japanese-sounding name, Ryobi is a US company. The routers are marked 'made in USA' but I can't find any markings on the BT3000 table saw (my 3rd-most-expensive tool :eek: ).

(Just doing my bit to add some confusion to the "cheap foreign junk" vs "quality US machinery" debate.:p :cool: )

lee, ryobi is not usa! maybe some parts are assembled here but that`s where the affiliation ends.
http://www.ryobitools.com/index.php/about/tti

[Scott Coffelt]

Ken

I agree.....I think we are running out of things to talk about:confused:


maybe it's time for some more design critques.

[Lee DeRaud]

lee, ryobi is not usa! maybe some parts are assembled here but that`s where the affiliation ends.
http://www.ryobitools.com/index.php/about/ttiHmmm...possibly a recent merger/acquisition (like Delta/PC/B&D/Dewalt/whatever). Last time I looked, they were based in South Carolina.

[Alan Burhop]

Personally I really don't care what country made the item as much as I care what country ends up with the profit. An item made in one nation by a company owned by another nation has profits going to that second nation. Profits are what are used to build more assets that increase the wealth and financial strength of the owing nation.



If that profit goes to an american company it is going to someone in the upper class. THe american worker (middle and lower classes) never see any of this profit. As a result the middle class is disapearing into the loweer class.

Do you think that an american company is going to funnel it's profits into assets in this country when they can make more profit from building another plant in mexico?

I would rather give my money to a foriegn company that employs american workers. They are funneling more money into our economy, not the american company that funnels our money into a foreign economy.

[Lee DeRaud]

If that profit goes to an american company it is going to someone in the upper class. THe american worker (middle and lower classes) never see any of this profit.If by "upper class" you include anyone with a 401K or a company pension fund that invests in the stock market or, for that matter, anyone who owns stock themselves, maybe you're right. Otherwise I think you need to realize that the "Scrooge McDuck" model of corporate economics is a bit behind the times.


Do you think that an american company is going to funnel it's profits into assets in this country when they can make more profit from building another plant in mexico?

I would rather give my money to a foriegn company that employs american workers. They are funneling more money into our economy, not the american company that funnels our money into a foreign economy.Heh. I had a rather spirited version of this discussion with my next-door neighbor (the sales manager at a local GM dealership) when I drove home my new car. He took me to task for "not buying American" because I had traded in my Canadian-assembled Oldsmobile for an Ohio-assembled Acura.

[Frank Pellow]

Looking at number of tools ](after have eliminated or grouped all tools worth less than $20 (Cdn)), here is the country ranking.

1: USA___________45

1: Germany_______45

3: Canada_________27

4: Taiwan_________19

5: China___________11

6: Japan___________8

7: Sweden__________5

8: UK______________2

8: Mexico___________2

8: Thailand__________2

10: Italy____________1

10: Korea___________1

10: France__________1

Unknown________8

Note: Unlike the value ranking, this one has actual numbers rather than percentages.