Made In The USA, Value Edition: Chapman Tools

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if you’ve ever wanted to steal parts of a public restroom, your dream is about to come true!

Two quick housekeeping notes. The first is that I’m perfectly aware of the perhaps annoying shift “Made In The USA” has taken in the direction of “Tool Time” lately. My apologies; we will return to regular service in the near future, after just one more post.

Second: In keeping with my general desire to find affordable USA-made items, I’m now titling some of these as “Value Edition”. So while I’ll still be talking about $498 leather sneakers made start to finish in North Carolina, for example, that particular recipe will be leavened a bit with products that are farther away from upscale/fetish status.

Such as today’s offering, from Chapman Manufacturing. For $43.50 you get pretty much every screwdriver you could use in most normal situations, plus a nifty ratchet adapter that allows you to loosen stubborn screws or put a little oomph on your reassembly.

to everything, turn, &c.

The precision with which these bits and drivers are machined and assembled, to say nothing of the steel quality itself, is a true joy. The plastic cases are basically indestructible. Chapman offers what I believe to be a reliable guide to working and breaking torque:

Beyond the basic screwdriver set, Chapman offers a bewildering and delightful array of sets for security bits, gunsmithing, typewriter repair, and specialty use. Both hex and Torx bits are available as well. If I’d had this set when I was fifteen years old I could have wreaked havoc in my high school, for sure. You needn’t buy a complete set, mind you; each piece is available individually. The set cases are available in many colors — and, for those of you who need your Made In The USA purchases to be “bougie”, in individually-made cases of walnut, cherry, and other woods. But even a fully custom-engraved wooden-case Mity Master set doesn’t exceed $350.

Much has been made lately of the Linus Tech Tips (LTT) screwdriver, and it’s neat, but Chapman has a more versatile product at a lower price. If you have a fetish for precision, you won’t regret buying anything they have to offer, including their nifty palm ratchets which probably deserve an article of their own.

Which isn’t to say you can’t break this stuff — and I’ve already figured out how.

bent, folded, spindled, mutilated

Last week my crew chief did a quarter-panel swap on the NC Cup car; as far as we can tell, it’s most likely the fourth time this has been done since “Marilyn” was delivered as a Sunlight Silver “Playboy Series” car in 2006, and the second time since arriving in Powell, Ohio almost six years ago.

(To be fair, Marilyn has also notched up multiple AER wins, several SCCA wins, and a NASA regional championship during that time.)

The quarter-panel is welded on, of course, but it’s also secured by the door latch and two fairly stout T30 bolts:

These went on with an impact gun last time, because it was the middle of a race weekend. This time I couldn’t find my T30 bit socket, a situation that has since been rectified, so we tried undoing the striker plate with the miniature Chapman wrench. Doing so broke the ratchet mechanism, although we did get the plate off. For an idea of just how over-torqued it was, I twisted the shaft of an Eklind folding hex driver shaft in the process of trying different tools. The T30 Chapman bit didn’t deform or break, however. And a replacement mini ratchet was eight bucks.

Simple, well-made, and entirely free of pretense, the Chapman screwdriver set is worth your attention. Some of you may be interested in the “Ukraine Edition”; proceeds from this set go towards feeding families affected by the war, which strikes me as admirably nonpartisan in our oddly belligerent Current Year mindset. If your family is on the other side of things, the Red/White/Blue set is available. Take a look.