The Buy American Thread

[Twodogs]

Brinkman Flashlights (Maglite)

[Charles]

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

[Sandy G]

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.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

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.

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

[Twodogs]

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.

[Combwork]

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.

[painter]

http://www.americansworking.com/

[Twodogs]

Originally Posted by painter

http://www.americansworking.com/

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.

[Sandy G]

Originally Posted by Twodogs

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.

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...

[BorisTAnimal]

As a musician, specifically a bassist, my main concern is quality. I've mostly played Fender instruments in the thirty some odd years I've been playing. Having said that, I have experienced what a quality US made P-Bass vs say an Indonesian built Ibanez BTB feels. Although the quality of the Ibanez instruments wasn't all that bad, it just didn't feel "right" to me. I currently own two US made Fender basses (American Standard P and fretless J) and I use US made D'Addario strings.