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Why Are You Paying $20 For 4 Chinese Drill Bits?

Why Are You Paying $20 For 4 Chinese Drill Bits?

Chris   December 21, 2010  
0   0  

John from the Bridge City Tool Works Blog has an interesting article detailing some pretty unbelievable things he discovered when he payed a visit to an OEM Chinese factory some 10 years ago. You might be shocked at what he found out, but after the recent Chinese drywall issue and all of the lead painted toys, can we really be shocked at what comes out of China?

...I walked into the factory section that made twist drill bits. Here they were making, for the AMERICAN MARKET, those 59, 89, 119 pc drill sets found at the box stores and other discount joints for $19.95. Again, there were rows of women who were dipping the bits in what looked like Easter egg dye.

I asked the interpreter what they were doing. He replied, "They are making all the bits the same color as these four." The four bits he pointed out were the 1/8", 1/4", 3/8" and the 1/2".

I asked why.

I learned that those four bits were properly hardened. The remaining 115 bits were made with what I call pot metal. The reason?

"Because those are the only four hole sizes that Americans use."

$20 for 4 proper drill bits, while the rest were basically there to complete a set. Are you one of the unlucky owners of one of these sets? Do you find that some bits work better then others? It is one thing for these kind of shenanigans to take place with simple tools like drill bits, but if you head on over to Johns blog you can read about some more Chinese corner cutting with actual electric tools.

Source: Johns Blog - Bridge City Tool Works

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