The Ultimate List Of The 21 Best Hand Tool Brands On The Market
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Even in the modern world, where power and air tools are commonplace and affordable, the humble hand tool is still the most popular by far. Almost everybody has a screwdriver, a hammer, and a wrench. Hand tools are easy to use, easy to maintain, easy to store, and extremely durable. They can be used in many industries, from engineering, to automotive, to carpentry.
A hand tool is more than a brand name. There are some brands that make subpar tools at a premium price, and many people are more than willing to pay just for that name.
What separates good hand tools from great hand tools is the quality of their materials, the innovation in their designs, and the care taken by the craftsmen who make them.
In this article we’d like to introduce you to some brands you may not have heard of, brands that produce high quality tools that can easily compete with the big names, at much more affordable prices.
This is our ultimate list of the best hand tool brands on the market. If you’re in the market for a hand tool, you’re bound to find something for you on this list.
Anex
Over its 70 years of history operating out of Sanjo, Niigata - an area renowned for quality stainless steel, Anex has established itself as one of the world’s leading fastening tool specialists.
Anex has a great range of quality JIS Japanese screwdrivers and drill bits, which make up the bulk of their catalog, but they also sell nippers, hammers, and tweezers.
Their screwdrivers are popular worldwide thanks to their compatibility with JIS screws, making them extra versatile.
Canary
Canary is a sub-brand of bladesmith Hasegawa Cutlery. Hasegawa Cutlery was founded in 1933 in Seki, a premier blade-making city, and Canary was established roughly two decades later in 1956.
Canary is one of the world's most popular brands for bladed tools and scissors. Their corrugated cardboard cutters, particularly, are carried by many logistics workers to cut and break down cardboard boxes. They also have a wide variety of very sharp office scissors and other cutting tools.
Deen
Deen is a tool brand developed by a leading tool shop, Factory Gear, in response to public demand. Factory Gear specialized in selling high-end American automotive tool brands, but after listening to the feedback of their customers, they became aware of many ways that they could improve upon the tools on the market.
Deen have added features and design improvements to a variety of popular tools, and developed some entirely unique tools and supplies too. They make various types of ratchets and wrenches, swivel ratchets, pliers, vise grips, crimping pliers, ratcheting screwdrivers, steel tool boxes and more.
Engineer
Engineer is a popular tool making company that makes some pretty special tools. In particular, their Neji Saurus range of screw removal tools are very popular around the world. These unique pliers were designed to remove stuck and damaged screws wherever they may be. Their specially-designed jaws grip onto the screw head so that you can twist it out.
Aside from the Neji Saurus range, Engineer's award-winning combination scissors are highly recommended. These 4-in-1 scissors can cut paper, cloth, wire and cardboard. With micro-serrations, and a built-in wire cutter and box opener, these are the last scissors you'll ever need.
Fujiya
Fujiya makes some of the world’s best pliers, nippers and wrenches. Their Kurokin range of premium tools really stand out among the competition with black and gold styling and high-end materials.
Popular with linemen, electricians, and mechanics, Fujiya tools don’t just look great, they’re functional and durable, and will take the beating that those tough industries often provide.
If you're looking for cable cutters, lineman pliers, adjustable monkey wrenches, nippers, or wire strippers, look no further than Fujiya.
Godhand
Godhand is a brand that is globally known and loved within certain hobbies and niches. For those who love to build plastic models like Warhammer, Gunpla, or model aircraft, these nippers are the best on the market.
Known for their special design that features a single, ultra-thin blade that shaves through plastic - rather than pinching it between two blades - the result is a super clean cut without white, stressed plastic or burrs.
Gyokucho
Gyokucho was founded in the 1960s in Miki City, a region well-known for its tool-making industry. Their flagship brand, Razorsaw, contains a variety of quality Japanese pull saws - saws that cut on the pull stroke, rather than the push. Pull saws are less physically demanding, and more accurate than the push saws we're used to in the west.
Gyokucho's range includes woodworking saws, pruning saws, and specialist saws for raw wood, fruit trees, bamboo and more. They have saws in the traditional shape and style, with bamboo handles, and more modern folding saws with rubber grips.
Hounen Kihan
Hounen Kihan is another popular toolmaker from Miki City. They specialize in bladed tools such as sickles, pruning shears, and nata hatchets.
They use Japan's finest high-carbon steel, yasugi aogami, for many of their blades, ensuring they're incredibly sharp. They also produce hardened steel and stainless steel bladed tools, such as their stainless steel sickles, for a more day-to-day option that is resistant to rust and other elemental damage.
Their tools are trusted by gardeners and farmers alike for their high quality and durability.
Kakuri
Kakuri was founded in 1946, and had their first hit product just a few years later. Their Carpentry Tool Set, a wooden box full of various useful tools such as hammers, planes, and chisels, was just what Japan needed during the post-war reconstruction.
It was so popular that it spurred a DIY boom in Japan, and was even selected as a New Year Prize in the annual Japanese Postal Service giveaway in 1959, 1963, and 1981. The popularity of the set is a testament to the quality of Kakuri's tools.
Not only are their planes, kiridashi carving knives, and chisels extremely sharp, all of their tools, from hammers to saws, are made from quality, yet simple materials. They're easy to use, easy to maintain, and quite affordable too. Because of this, Kakuri's tools have a great reputation among professional Japanese carpenters.
Keiba
Keiba has 100 years of history producing tools, and it really shows in the quality of their products and the respect their brand carries. Keiba was one of the earlier tool brands founded in Sanjo City, which is now one of the world's major hubs for toolmaking and blacksmithing. Their range of nippers are their most popular tools, and they've been selling across the world with great success.
Keiba plastic nippers are not only popular with electricians and other tradespeople, but a huge hit with hobbyists too. They're a great choice for people who build plastic models, do 3D printing, or otherwise work with soft plastics. Their linesman pliers and hobby pliers are also among their most popular products.
Koken
If you work in the automotive industry, or like working on cars and bikes as a hobby, Koken is a brand that won't need any introduction for you. Perhaps the most popular Japanese professional automotive tool company, Koken's wrenches and sockets are lauded around the world for being made to the highest standards of quality, durability and comfort.
Founded in 1946, Koken got off to a great start, securing certifications, awards, and contracts from the Japanese Ministry of Trade, Japan Airlines, the United States Military Procurement Agency in Japan and more. Today, Koken is the leading Japanese brand for professional mechanics, and their Z-Series (Z-Eal) sockets and socket wrenches, their flagship products, are extremely sought-after in the US and other countries.
KTC
KTC, or Kyoto Tool Co, is another very well-respected automotive tool brand. During the war years, KTC existed as another company, providing tools for aircraft maintenance. After the war, this company was forced to shut down, but a few years later, in 1950, they were able to re-open as an automotive tool manufacturer.
In the same year of its founding, KTC tools were adopted as the standard for Toyota Motor Corporation, and the next year they began selling their tools to the public. Thanks to its relationship with Toyota, in the 1960s KTC became the top performing toolmaker in Japan, with a market share of over 10%. Their relationship with Toyota continues strong to this day, as they continue to supply Toyota, Gazoo Racing, and the Toyota F1 team with KTC tools, and their professional line "Nepros" hand tools.
KTC tools are a great choice for anyone who likes working on cars, and would like to use the same tools the professionals use.
Mitutoyo
In 1934, when micrometers used in Japan were all imported from abroad, the founder of Mitutoyo took the first step to creating domestically-produced micrometers. Two years later, in 1936, Mitutoyo had the capacity to develop a single lot of 100 Japan-made micrometers for the first time - and 17 of these still exist to this day, in perfect working order!
Now Mitutoyo's micrometers, calipers, gauges, microscopes, and other measuring tools and machines are known to many as the best, and most accurate in the world. Mitutoyo prides itself on its accurate measuring, and produced cutting-edge measuring machines for a variety of niche industries, such as roundness measuring machines, and roughness measuring machines.
However, it's their hand tools that are most well-known. Mitutoyo micrometers and calipers are the gold-standard for mechanical engineering and machining.
Mokuba
Mokuba's motto is "The best work starts with the best tools", and this has helped guide them to becoming a leading construction and demolition tool company. Founded in 1933 in Miki City, Mokuba joins the long list of renowned tool companies from the city.
They started by exclusively making chisels for carpentry, but have since expanded their range to include crowbars, scrapers, metal and rock chisels, punches, and rebar bending tools. If you work in construction or demolition, there are probably a few Mokuba tools that would go perfect in your kit. Their crowbars and pry bars in particular are extremely tough and durable.
Nonaka
Nonaka is one of the oldest companies on our list, as it was founded over 100 years ago in 1908 as a sewing machine company.
In 1972 they began developing their most popular product, the Screw Punch, a hole punch for fabric and leather that could be used quietly, without causing excess damage to the material around the hole.
Now the company is managed by the grandson of the founder, and the Screw Punch and its various blades are the only tool they continue to produce. For anyone interested in leatherwork, bookbinding, or other crafts that require clean holes to be cut through tough fabrics, the Screw Punch is a fantastic choice!
Olfa
Olfa's story is one of the most interesting on this list. In 1945, when Yoshio Okada was 13 years old, he lost his family home to an air raid. At the time, he decided to drop out of junior high to support his family by working. He began working as an electrical engineer, and then got a job at a printing company.
At the printing company Yoshio was tasked with cutting segments of paper with a razor blade. When the blade became dull, it had to be thrown away. Around this time, while Yoshio was eating some chocolate, he realized that the segments of chocolate could easily be snapped off, and was inspired to create a razor blade that could do the same.
In 1956, when he was in his early 20s, Yoshio developed a utility knife with a segmented blade, that could be snapped off when dull, to reveal a new, sharp razor. It was the first of its kind, and it was a huge success.
Since then, Olfa has made many other advancements, such as developing the world’s first rotary cutter, which is now a standard tool in dressmaking and other textile-related industries. Today, Olfa’s utility knives, cutter knives, rotary cutters, and other bladed tools are lauded as among the world’s finest.
TONE
Tone is a fastening tool manufacturer founded and mostly based in Osaka, Japan. Their large range of fastening tools covers everything required from the home hobbyist to professional race team mechanics when it comes to torque control and bolt tightening.
Their wrenches are some of the best from Japan, particularly their lightweight monkey wrenches, which weigh significantly less than others on the market. In addition, they make a wide variety of ratchets, screwdrivers, allen wrenches, pipe wrenches and more.
They don't limit themselves to just hand tools though, as they also manufacture professional power tools and air tools like nutrunners, shear wrenches, impact wrenches and more.
Tajima
Tajima Tool has, by far, the widest variety of hand tools out of any company on this list. While they have a heavy focus on measuring and surveying tools, their range covers pretty much everything. For example:
- tape measures
- spirit levels
- rangefinders
- rulers
- telescopic scales
- safety glasses
- harnesses
- flashlights
- knives
- wire strippers
- scrapers
- tool belts
- drill bits
- sockets
- circular saw blades
- grinding wheels
- hand saws
- pruning saws
- utility knives
- caulking guns
- wood files
- marking tools
- stud finders
And much, much more. It’s hard to pick just one industry or hobby for which Tajima is a good choice. If you’re looking for a particular tool, and you want one designed and made by a company with a great reputation, Tajima probably has it.
Tohnichi
Tohnichi's corporate mission sits on one important goal: safety. The technology we rely on in our day-to-day lives is often held together by small parts. Heavy machinery, aircraft, cars, buses, and even bicycles - all held together by screws, nuts, and bolts. If just one fastener is improperly tightened the consequences could be dire: aircraft accidents, plant explosions, gas and oil leaks. By producing industry-leading torque control tools, Tohnichi wants to help prevent some of these accidents, by ensuring that every screw, every nut, and every bolt is tightened with absolute precision - never too tight, and never too loose.
Tohnichi’s torque wrenches and torque screwdrivers are expertly calibrated in Japan, and each comes with a calibration certificate. These tools allow you to tighten fasteners to precise levels of torque, to avoid damage or gradual loosening. If you work with any machinery that has standard levels of torque laid out in the manual (vehicles, aircraft, air conditioning units, factory machinery, heavy machinery etc.) then a Tohnichi torque wrench is perfect for you.
Tonkachi
Tonkachi Susa, another tool manufacturer located in Sanjo City, specializes in demolition tools. One feature that sets Tonkachi apart from their competitors is that they favor premium materials, often choosing white oak for handles, and premium chrome-plated steel for heads.
Tonkachi Susa produces six popular brands of hand tools, with two leading the pack, namely: Osho and Magnum. Tonkachi's Osho brand, in particular, is extremely high quality, with their chrome-plated pry bars, shock-resistant sledge hammers, and other tools all standing out on the shelf.
Tonkachi focuses not only on using quality materials but also on producing tools with high usability and comfort. So their heads are heavy, their blades are sharp, their handles are lightweight and non-slip, and everything looks fantastic!
Vessel
Vessel is an Osaka-based fastening tool manufacturer that prides itself on making quality tools to Japanese Industrial Standards.
Founded in 1916, Vessel was one of Japan's first companies to mass-produce screwdrivers, and while it took them some time to get started, by 1933 they had developed Japan's first domestically-produced screwdriver, and experienced rapid growth in the decades to come.
In the 1960s they sought to expand, and came up with the idea that any tool with the name "driver" would be produced by Vessel. At this point they began producing more screwdrivers, drill bits, wrenches, and even air tools such as impact wrenches, which helped them secure a foothold as Japan's leading manufacturer of fastening tools.
Today, Vessel's tools, particularly their Megadora range of non-slip JIS screwdrivers that grip into the screw head, and their Woody range of wood-composite handled screwdrivers and wrenches, are loved around the world for meeting JIS standards, and international standards of quality, durability and comfort.
There you have it, the ultimate guide to the world’s top hand tool brands. Have you tried tools from any of the brands on the list? Which one is your favorite?
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