Why premium products prove a wise investment

TOOL CHOICE is a careful consideration for any engineer or maintenance technician; an inadequate tool could affect safety, it could compromise the finish, or it could lead to downtime and an unforecasted replacement purchase. And if the tool choice was a recommendation from the supplier then they fall short on the basic requirement of any transaction - trust. 

While there will always be the industry need to utilise 'good, better, best' options, investing in premium hand tools can really make a difference in both the short and long-term. But what does premium really mean?

What defines a premium hand tool? 

There are several elements that contribute to the 'premium' factor: the R&D process; the source of the materials; the engineering and manufacturing procedures; to the quality control and accreditation.

When it comes to research and development, at C.K Tools we utilise a panel of professionals to not only find solutions to problems, but to also find the existing product evolutions that will make the job that much more efficient. From there, our NPD team go into design and consider the aesthetics, the ergonomics, and of course the materials. There’s no product without a clear rationale; each one is meticulously planned, CAD designed, prototyped and tested.

Material choice is of great importance to C.K Tools. In the most part we procure our steel from and manufacture our products in Germany, in particular the North Rhine. The region's steel has varying levels and mixes of chromium, which has excellent corrosion resistance, vanadium, which works as a deoxidiser and reduces wear, and molybdenum, which when combined with chromium gives greater strength and impact resistance. 

C.K Tools has been working with its current manufacturing partners since 1904 and there’s a good reason for it. Precision engineering requires a number of inputs and with hand tool manufacturing that starts with the quality of the die - the item used to stamp the shape of the tool in the steel. Utilising a mixture of CAD and CNC, dies can be cut to within a tolerance the equivalent of a human hair, delivering a near perfect product with every stamp.

Independently safety tested solutions

Other engineering techniques are then used to ensure our products live up to the premium tag. Induction hardening is a process we use to ensure that parts of products - such as the jaws on pliers - are hardened to withstand heavy usage and ensure long-term performance. It involves electromagnetically heating up the steel and then rapidly cooling it to maintain the desired properties. 

The precision engineering techniques don't stop at the steel; hand tools have to be inherently comfortable and safe to handle. To ensure this, every single screwdriver handle is injection moulded directly to the steel, giving the ultimate torsion-proof bond for increased reliability, durability, control, and comfort.

A premium product isn’t just premium because a brand says it is; when other bodies endorse a product you know it sits above the rest. Across certain lines, C.K Tools’ products are VDE certified, which is the highest form of independent safety testing in the electrical trade, while the majority achieve GS (Gepruefte Sicherheit) and DIN (Deutsche Institut) accreditation, which are German standards that indicate performance and quality.

So, as you can see, there’s a reason why German engineered products come with a premium, but rest assured, they'll be the best investments you’ll make. 

Brinley Buckley-Roberts is brand manager at Carl Kammerling International

For more information: 

www.ck-tools.com

Tel: 01758 701070