The Buy American Thread
 

How about a thread where we can pool our knowledge of what and where to buy American made products. I'll start us off;

Redwing and Carolina still have USA made boots, but be careful, they are not ALL made here. You have to look for the Union Label on the tongue. The USA ones also have small American flags down by the laces.

Key still sells USA made clothing, but again, make sure it's their USA "line".

KR Audio for American audio tubes.

Some of Flukes meters are still made in Everett Washington.

That's a start, and it would also be interesting to know what oil companies use domestic oil, if anyone knows.

What is the refiner that starts with M(arathon - just remembered), I believe most of their crude oil comes from US and Canada. Delta and Kohler still make faucets here. BrassCraft makes those small valves you use for toilets and taps here, got some at Home Depot for replacements. Panasonic makes phones in Mexico which is about as close as you are going to get because all the baby bells have theirs made in China. (I am going to be on Verizon's shit list as I sent them a nastygram with a copy to the PSC - 5 days to repair a phone line - rediculous.) Our Chev Impalas were made in Canada and that works for me. I'll post other names as they occur to me.

sad that this list is so short.

i'm now 45. i can remember a day if a product said "made in hong kong", i automatically equated it with junk. cheaply manufactured, poorly crafted garbage. i didn't want it. that was a time when "made in the usa" was proudly displayed on the goods that i bought. if i saw the good ole american flag on a product, i equated that with quality manufacture and pride in workmanship.

here's what's up:

because people in other countries are willing to work for much lower pay and no benefits, manufacturers are going to continue to exploit them.

because it is cheaper to buy land and construct factories in other countries, manufacturers are going to continue doing it, there instead of here.

because goods can be produced in other countries free from the constraints of environmental legislation, which is certainly much cheaper, manufacturers are going to continue to pollute them without mercy.

because of free trade agreements, goods can be produced overseas and brought to this country with few penalties such as tariffs, duties, customs fees, etc. good for business, bad for the country.

the combination of these factors and others makes it more profitable to manufacture overseas and ship it here than it is to make it here.

and the average american consumer has little concern for "made in the usa" anymore. i remember watching commercials on tv such as "look for the union lable" that promoted the "buy american" spirit. i don't think a renewed public service promotion would be a bad idea.

All else being equal, of course I would much rather "Buy American" than buy something made elsewhere. I HATE not even being given the choice anymore-Thank you, WallyWorld, for killing the local hardware store where you usually could buy "Cheap, better, or best"- Now you get Made in China crap or not at all...

I guess in today's attitudes you dare not say "look for the union label". What puzzles me is don't people realize we are in a race to the bottom? Globalization is now touted as a "good thing" - good for who? Smoot HHawley is maybe going too far but dammit if companies want to be regarded as "good citizens" then bloody well act the part. I guess Gordon Gekko made his mark - "Greed is good". There was a shirt manufacturer in Canada (Forsyth) (may still be there) whose motto was "No one ever regretted buying quality." They had a white on white dress shirt that I only outgrew as I simply could not wear it out. Now since the water from our well is slightly acid I have to replace the goosneck in the master bathroom shower periodically because all I can find is the Chinese crap made out of rice paper - well they call it brass.

We have the G8 trading nations, let's trade with them and tariff the helll out of the rest.

***News flash Madoff got 150 years, now for the AIG gang.***

Rebuilding our chevelle has left us in a very precarious position. When it comes to the motor finding made in the US parts is a little easier.

Dart engineering
Edelbrock

Both are still made right here in the good ole US of A

Now when it came to replacement sheet metal all of the dies were sold by GM and the only place they are stamping them is in Taiwan. Sadly quality is really hit or miss.

Brinkman Flashlights (Maglite)

Made in America
 

Let's not forget Smith & Wesson, Ruger, and Vaughan...the finest hand tools you can buy, their hammers are incredible. Not too sure where Moen faucets are made, but they're pretty damn good.

Merrylander, it's interesting that you point out that your water is corrosive...I just met another person from Maryland who claims that the water out there will eat copper water lines. As far as your shower head arms going bad, I've never seen this happen unless someone gets rough with them, or hangs a shower caddy full of stuff on them, which will cause them to break off.

Have to admit, the boiler and shutoff valves, blk iron and galvanized pipe fittings, freeze faucets, etc from China are nothing but junk. I also understand that they produce fake grade five bolts.

But some of their stuff is pretty good.
Chas

What about Colt ? A goodly portion of Berettas are made in Maryland...Then there's Thompson/Center, FNH/South Carolina, & there's Barrett over in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, not TOO far away from me. A few years ago, guess what was the 2nd largest US export after Boeings ? Tobacco products....US cigarettes, love 'em or hate 'em, sell VERY well overseas. We printed the home sweet hell outta "export" labels...Buicks, Cadillacs, & Chevys sold pretty well in China-Buicks especially. There were a couple models that were "China only"-had no counterparts here. I don't know if that's still going on since the troubles GM's been having-But China was a bright spot on an otherwise very bleak picture for GM.

How could I forget
 

my beloved Colt's. Sad thing is, Colt doesn't make much of anything anymore, think the .45 and the AR are about it. I did forget Thompson Center...1st class firearms. And Barrett, didn't he move his operations to Tennessee after California outlawed .50's for civilians?

Always was a Buick fan myself. Always figgered folks who bought them Cattleracks were just puttin' on a little too much of the dog. 'Sides, some of 'em was ugly as hammered shit.

Favorite all time car was a '65 Buick Skylark two door hardtop w a 355 Wildcat...which was really a HP 300 CID mill, 11-1 compression, 240 HP, 360 FT...ran like a striped assed ape for such a little motor. Hardly a day went by that I didn't have the speedometer pegged at 120, which is plenty fast for these crooked little Ozark back roads.

Then the do gooders lowered the speed limit to 55...

Chas

I collected Buick muscle for years, and got out about 4 years ago. Coolest one I ever had was a 64 Riviera with factory dual 4s on a 425 Wildcat. Man what a ride, FM radio, posi, the works.

U.K. also.
 

Regretably this is also the case in the U.K. I used to buy special order steel pins for re-pinning musical box cylinders from a company in Bradford called Pinco. Made in the U.K., sold in the U.K. Then some bean counter had the bright idea of selling all their production equipment (highly modified grinders, impossible to replace) to India. Labor costs were much lower; the idea was to buy back the finished products which even after delivery and customs charges would have been cheaper than making them here. Problem was that having got the equipment the Indian company went bust. Scratch Pinco; the last remaining pin manufacturer left in Britain. Now I have to buy pins made in Germany.

Question. Are there any TV's still made in the U.S.A? A few years back I visited a friend in Muncie, Indiana. She had two TV's; one a huge Magnivox in a beutifull wood case, the other a Sony. When it was working, the Magnivox produced a lousy picture and smelt hot. The Sony? Reliable and watchable. Guess which one we used?

Sorry about the lousy spelling, I've had to switch to Firefox and although it has all the bells and whistles imaginable, one thing I can't find is a spellchecker.

The water her IS acidulous and since I mentioned those damn Chinees goosenecks made from rice paper guess what happened - when I took my shower it leaked into the wall. I bought two when I replaced that one so I was able to get the shower back in service. It is a real PITA because the gooseneck breaks off and leave a small piece in the fitting, getting it out involves an awl, a hammer and long nose pliers. I must research whether or not a plastic (threaded) goosneck is available.

Our neighbor whose well is only about 30 or 40 feet deep had to replace all their copper piping. Our well is 300 feet deep so maybe the earth filters out more acid at that depth.

I don't think there are any TV plants left in the US are there ?

What about Ruger. Are they still being made in Arizona.

I think Benjamin Sheraton Airguns are still made in Wisconsin but would not bet money on that.

IIRC, Ruger has plants in Arizona, Connecticut, & New Hampshire. Sony DID assemble TVs for awhile in California, but that's been ages ago... As far as making a TV from start to finish, no, I don't think that's done here anymore.

Enjoy...
 

Outstanding! Anyone else notice that these brands we have mentioned are all the best quality stuff available. I still put up Americans against any worker in the world. If only the government would get out of their way.

Water
 

Next time you have to replace a gooseneck get an easy out, I carry one in my plumbing kit. I don't think you can thread any kind of plastic worth a shit.

Actually, the shower arm is made from chrome plated brass, although I have seen some white ones. I'll be more than happy to send you a chrome Moen at no cost, I've a pile of them, just PM me an address. Can't help you with brushed nickel or bronze.

It still sounds to me like someone slipped and grabbed the shower head, or stressed it in some way. They're generally pretty tough.

Chas

Painter, that is a good link, reminded me of my Weber Kettle...well seasoned by now. What can I say, I'm a charcoal man.

You'll have to pry that old Weber out of my cold, dead hand, once you pry the GP100 out of the other.

Chas

Hehehehehe...In the late '70s thru '92, my company belonged to Dennison Mfg. Co, an "Office Products" supplier out of Framingham, Mass. They were into EVERYTHING, pens, Carter's Ink, but one thing they made that EVERYBODY knows about are the little tiny re-inforcements that kids put around the holes in notebook paper...The also had Therimage, a heat-setting decalcomania that went on soft bottles, like French's Mustard & a LOT of hair-care & related products. They bought us because WE printed labels, too, & they thought they could utilise our capacity. Didn't really work out that way, our presses were 36" web width, & Therimage works best on narrow-web presses, no more than 20" wide tops. Their pressmen & engineers never could get Therimage to run faster than 2-300 feet a minute, which is dreadfully slow. They put up a narrow-web press at our place, & us dumb ol' hillbillies who didn't know Jack Schitt about printing-so THEY thought, anyhow, soon had it running along at 4-500 feet a minute...With better register, less ink spots, etc to boot...I always kinda liked that...Stickin' it to a bunch of arrogant New England Yankees...Mbwahahahaha...

I think that I need to get a 1/2" NPT tap and clean out the elbow a bit as the new gooseneck only went in about three turns, though it was quite hard getting the last quarter turn, I wrapped it with teflon tape first. The new one I put is was made in Taiwan and I usually found them to be better that the mainland bunch.

Thanks for that site, painter, I added it to my favourites.

I like you too, Sandy. :D I just wish I could find that grinning middle finger smiley. LOLOL

Present company excepted, of course, Tom...There WAS a lot of friendly-and SOMETIMES-a bit "testy" rivalry between the Framingham bunch & the Rogersville crew...The biggest problems we had were w/some of the manager types they sent down...Some of them WERE very antagonistic, & thought we were all a bunch of "Deliverance" types. We WERE, but once they got down here, & found out we didn't really bite-Too hard, anyway-things got better. I had to go up there a few times, & they couldn't have been nicer to me, though. Once I went up there in January, landed at Logan, by the time we got to F'ingham there was 22" of snow on the ground...I told 'em I appreciated the honor & all, but they coulda saved it for someone else...Damstuff wasn't even good snow-Very dry & dusty, you couldn't make a decent snowball outta it...Bigest thing I hated was I NEVER really got to see Boston- Typically, we'd land at Logan, haul @ss out to F'ingham, spend 2 or 3 days holed up in a hotel or at 300 Howard Street, which was where Dennison's headquarters was & then back to Logan & home. Once, I DID get the gal driving the limo to go thru town, she showed me Faneul Hall, The Constitution, the stadium, & where The Big Dig was. I was in their Purchasing Group, & once I hosted our group's meeting, I REALLY tried to "put on the Dog" for them-We have a "colonial" hotel-Actually, a "Jacksonian" era hotel, it was built in 1824, & I rented out the whole thing-all 10 rooms, & told the chef there to do his damndest. I think they were impressed...(grin)

Damn Yankees
 

Ya know Sandy, th' war's been over fer 150 years. Even I quit runnin' people with Kansas plates offa the road.

Never did figger out why they thought honkin' that damn horn was gonna do 'em any good.

Chas

Of course! :)

Lets sticky this thread.

http://www.kimballmidwest.com/ Found this link on a chevelle site I hang on. They say 85% of their hardware is US made. Thats nearly unhead of when trying to find simple things such as nuts and bolts.

They are now in my favorites.:)

Mine also.

Hills Bros., MJB, Chock Full o' Nuts, Master Chef, Chase & Sanborn, Market Pantry, Kirkland, Javana, Dunkin Donuts, Albertsons and Meijer brand coffees are all American processed and packaged right here at my plant in Suffolk, Virginia. We sure would appreciate your business.

(Hope I didn't break any rules.)

Dave

As long as you don't do Starbucks, someone needs to tell them that you roast the beans, you don't burn them.

Coffee, yuk. Never did get the stuff. I'm a tea type guy.

Once upon a time Wal-Mart advertised that every product they sold was made in America. How quaint!

John

Could we use this thread to build a database / sticky? I'd love to have a list that can point me to what I'm looking for. If we stay focused and get a little momentum going we can get our national economy moving in the right direction.

I had to breakdown the other day and buy consumables (shoes, bed sheets and tee shirts). I was happy enough I did it online, making the transport of my goods more efficient. But if I'd thought of it, I would've sought US manufacture too. I wonder about clothes, for example. They're low tech. Easy to manufacture. There's lots of people who'd like a job. OK, so it wouldn't pay much but we need to get unstuck from these highly successful pipe dreams and live within our collective means.

I'd also like to try to buy from my local area.

I could probably do more with this thread but I'm so beat right know from work all day I can't make much good for myself at this point in the day. I'm trapped in my own lifestyle.

There are American made clothes but you will pay a bit more. Florence always asks where they were made when buying for our granddaughters. Takes her longer to shop because she has to check the labels for 'country of origin'.

Good for her. :)

And American made audio gear..........lest we forget. I try to buy as much of that as possible.:D

Dave

What are some of those brands?

Regards,

D-Ray

As a former avid amatuer astronomer, my first thoughts went to telescopes.
here is a list:
Televue
astrophysics
discovery
TEC
D&G

All of these have incredible reputations. They cost a bit more, but they far surpass anyting from celestron, meade, or orion.

I am not 100% certain the optics in the televue, and TEC are made here. But everything else in them and the other scopes are made here.

Just an fyi, astrophics will set you back about $4k for a 4" scope. Compare that to a $250 dollar scope from china. But, Roland Christian(astrophysics) has about a four year waiting list to get one of his as well.