Good quality Tap and die set

Tom Lewis

Tom Lewis

Joined
Feb 24, 2000
Messages
1,866
I have a incomplete set of taps and dies that my Father had back in the 1950's. They work great. I got some from Harbor Freight and they are worse than nothing.
What is a good quality tap and Die set. Are Craftsman sets any good?
 
If they are as still as good the the old craftsman set my dad has from like 30 years ago then yes there good. No idea if there as good anymore though :(
 
The old Craftsman stuff was pretty good. The new stuff, not so great.

There is non-industrial stuff at Lowes and Home Depot that I have used in a pinch that is okay. I have pressed Hanson taps from Lowes into production use. Way better than HF crap. I think these might be a good fit for the home handyman wanting decent quality in a set. Their Dewalt drills are also surprisingly good for consumer grade tooling.

For industrial quality, there are lots of good tap and die makers, and I can't say which is best. Personally, I almost always buy OSG taps. I don't even know if they sell them in sets. I wait for MSC to have a decent sale (I check their website daily) and buy them there. These are good for more than just a few holes. And a knifemaker can count on them to work without screwing up their hard labors.

One of the most costly tools a machinist can buy is a cheap tap.

I wish all you guys could utilize thread milling, but it takes a CNC. It makes all the problems with threading go away.
 
Since you have most/part of a set I would say order the sizes you are missing from MSC. The smaller the tap the more you should buy. A cutting fluid like Tap Magic helps out a lot also.

Wayne Suhrbier
 
This is not a bashing post, it is the truth: never buy Chinese or Indian taps. They are inconsistant in finish and sharpness and you are lucky to get a few holes in aluminum let alone stainless steel. US, Japanese, German and Swiss all produce quality products (too lazy to go to the shop and get brands). Enco & MSC always have sales (request thier flier/email) and McMaster has decent prices and fast shipping. As Nathan said the most expensive tool you can use is a cheap tap.
 
The only Taps I order at work are Walter/Prototyp. I buy them thru a distributor. They have a wide range of taps for specific materials with many different coating options which is like night and day in the modern world of machineing. They are expensive but they do last. I think you may be able to buy from there website.
 
Norseman makes a nice set of taps for a reasonable price. For making knives just buying the few sizes you need in the primo brands like osg is not a bad move either.
 
get spiral point taps from an industrial supply place like MSC or McMaster or Enco. Hardware store taps are rubbish, the Sears taps are worthless, I can typically get several hundred holes in mild steel out of a single OSG spiral point

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