There’s a tone of nationalism with the pride of American made goods but fwiw Red Wing boots are really good. I think they sell other stuff to round out their offerings and I can’t speak to those, but they do make great work boots
I’ll plug one because it’s local to me and they make really nice quality glasses: Randolph Engineering. If you like aviators, I think they’re one of the best out there. Made in Randolph, MA, just south of Boston. They’re not cheap, but they’re very well made.
Chinese made parts are generally worse. At least industrially. We buy a few things from China that we need in high volume and we have to go over every single part because inevitably 25% will be out of spec in one way or another. We’ve bought Chinese steel a few times and about half of that material was basically useless.
We avoid Chinese tooling, parts, and steel as much as we can. We will buy used Western made machinery before buying new Chinese machinery for the same reason. The two Chinese made presses we have have had to be rebuilt twice, and were only ever used for light duty stamping. Those presses, only about 20 years old are being decommissioned rather than repaired any further.
Most of what we use is American or German made. German parts generally hold tighter tolerances but they seem to last about as long. We have a few French made lasers that work really well until they don’t, and then they’re a nightmare to service.
None of that matters. Because we cannot function without these things coming in from overseas. I don’t know of any industrial building in my city that can. We make a lot of stuff in this town you need that you’d never think about. Conveyors, refrigerated trailers, the hydraulic fittings and irrigation systems that literally supply the entire agricultural sector, all of it depends on a vast intercontinental trade network that is actively collapsing. The latest order of punches and die inserts we ordered are sitting on a boat in Schenzhen and have been for weeks. Because even though we’re willing to pay the tariffs on the few things we order, the ten thousand other customers may not be. And until they can fill a boat with goods people are willing to pay a premium on, that boat isn’t going to leave harbor.
Empty shelves are only the beginning of how irrecoverably fucked we’re about to be.
Yeah, and I think everyone has forgotten that even the cheap, easily broken stuff helps us save money. I’ll happily buy the cheap 100 dollar Chinese tool to fumble with for an extra couple hours on a one-time car repair that saves me 500 dollars compared to the only American option, or 900 dollars going to a shop instead.
Things are just going to end up broken and unfixable in the non-industrial world too.
You can tell someone hasn’t bought American in a while if they think it’s a sign of better quality
The exceptions being long-standing, privately owned, trade craft businesses, like Red Wing boots.
Yah there’s some notable exceptions for sure.
I grew up surrounded by shitty right-wingers who wore Red Wings like they were part of a uniform. 🤮
I’m… sorry they had decent taste in boots?
There’s a tone of nationalism with the pride of American made goods but fwiw Red Wing boots are really good. I think they sell other stuff to round out their offerings and I can’t speak to those, but they do make great work boots
Are they still good? I knew they were 30 years ago but Im not sure if they kept it up.
I’ll plug one because it’s local to me and they make really nice quality glasses: Randolph Engineering. If you like aviators, I think they’re one of the best out there. Made in Randolph, MA, just south of Boston. They’re not cheap, but they’re very well made.
Chinese made parts are generally worse. At least industrially. We buy a few things from China that we need in high volume and we have to go over every single part because inevitably 25% will be out of spec in one way or another. We’ve bought Chinese steel a few times and about half of that material was basically useless.
We avoid Chinese tooling, parts, and steel as much as we can. We will buy used Western made machinery before buying new Chinese machinery for the same reason. The two Chinese made presses we have have had to be rebuilt twice, and were only ever used for light duty stamping. Those presses, only about 20 years old are being decommissioned rather than repaired any further.
Most of what we use is American or German made. German parts generally hold tighter tolerances but they seem to last about as long. We have a few French made lasers that work really well until they don’t, and then they’re a nightmare to service.
None of that matters. Because we cannot function without these things coming in from overseas. I don’t know of any industrial building in my city that can. We make a lot of stuff in this town you need that you’d never think about. Conveyors, refrigerated trailers, the hydraulic fittings and irrigation systems that literally supply the entire agricultural sector, all of it depends on a vast intercontinental trade network that is actively collapsing. The latest order of punches and die inserts we ordered are sitting on a boat in Schenzhen and have been for weeks. Because even though we’re willing to pay the tariffs on the few things we order, the ten thousand other customers may not be. And until they can fill a boat with goods people are willing to pay a premium on, that boat isn’t going to leave harbor.
Empty shelves are only the beginning of how irrecoverably fucked we’re about to be.
Yeah, and I think everyone has forgotten that even the cheap, easily broken stuff helps us save money. I’ll happily buy the cheap 100 dollar Chinese tool to fumble with for an extra couple hours on a one-time car repair that saves me 500 dollars compared to the only American option, or 900 dollars going to a shop instead.
Things are just going to end up broken and unfixable in the non-industrial world too.
what I’m hearing is that the shelves themselves will fall apart and we won’t have the tools to repair them