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Favorite hand tool brands no longer available

CBI did the last big crude tank at BP just before I left......I assume they made a huge profit,but I have never seen waste like it...........the job ran massively overtime,as half their welding time was spent gouging out faulty weld........the sandblasters were supposed to have access to the job every weekend ,but CBI were always there gouging............anyhoo, at the end of the job,everything went into scrap bins,everything...and the bins picked up straight away.....the scrappies knew the goodies to be had from the bins.
 
My best friend’s father worked for Chicago Bridge and Iron (he hated the “CBI” abbreviation) in Houston. My father worked for Lummus-Crest, Bechtel, and Mustang Engineering late in his career (he retired at 86), and for Bovay long enough ago that he knew Harry by his first name. The best man at my parents’ wedding was Doug Pitcock, owner of Williams Brothers Construction, who built most of the freeways in Houston.

None of them aspired to tools any better than Craftsman. :)

Craftsman were not great tools, but they were competent and affordable. Lots of mechanics have sold their soul to tool truck operators, but those who bought tools at Sears put that money in their pockets.

When my Snapon tools were stolen in 1982, I replaced them with Craftsman—by that time I was no longer a paid mechanic and was an engineer who people assume won’t know anything about tools. In my wrenching days, we respected Cornwell as much as Snapon and thought Mac was a brand for beginners, like Sears and S+K. But then the Snapon driver owned one piece of my soul, and the Cornwell driver owned the rest.

Even the new Williams stuff, though Asian-made, is excellent. It’s now Snapon’s budget brand and it’s a good value. I have a rail of Williams 1/2” 6-point sockets and they are excellent.

I like old Utica pliers. I’m disappointed with Knipex. Crescent never was the be-all and end-all. But the ancient Plierench is awesome.

For wrenches, I still think Snapon are the best, particularly their flare-nut wrenches. I have a nice set of Stahlwille metric offset wrenches. But my Craftsman and Craftsman Industrial wrenches—all US-made and excepting the flare-nut wrenches—work fine.

My Proto cabinet screwdrivers are excellent, as are my various Wera and Wiha screwdrivers. But the 75-year-old Perfect Handle screwdrivers are still going strong, too. And that one is the only one big enough to properly fit the apron screws on my South Bend lathe.

But my favorite current brand for big mechanic stuff is Wright, which I’ve not seen mentioned yet. I have their 3/4” socket set with a ratchet handle and 24” breaker bar. They are still made in USA and are awesome (and expensive). I wish I had more. Of course, like Snapon and Gerstner, they still exist and don’t qualify for the title of this thread.

In the end, none of them will fix a bad mechanic.

Rick “don’t get me started on axes” Denney
 
Rick:

I agree with you on all counts. I think Snapon, while making/marketing good tools, does a heck of a marketing job. Getting mechanics hooked on Snapon tools with the convenience of the weekly salesman/truck visit and payment plans works wonders for their sales. At the powerplant, we had an open account with Snapon, and every mechanic on the payroll had a Snapon rolling tool chest with middle and top chest and add-on side cabinets. Seemed like if one mechanic needed crowfoot wrenches, every other mechanic ordered a set from Snapon. The Snapon salesman who serviced the powerplant account had it made. We also bought slugging wrenches and heavier industrial tools from Snapon. Snapon always seemed to have most of what we needed at the powerplant in the way of hand tools with very few exceptions.

There is something about a Snapon shiny red tool chest and the form/feel and name of their tools that draws mechanics and wannabes to them. Works great for Snapon and their sales force. Get a mechanic started, eventually he trades up for bigger chests, and never does seem to have enough Snapon tools or big enough chests. At the powerplant that the mechanics' Snapon chests were so heavy and unwieldly that I wondered when someone would put a battery and electric motor drive to the wheels under their chest. I also wondered when we'd have an on-the-job accident of someone hurt in moving their huge Snapon rolling chests. It was a status thing with the powerplant mechanics and as long as our employer was paying for the tools, the Snapon guys were only too happy to accomodate them.

Years later, in 'retirement', I was helping with repairs to a diesel locomotive. We could not get the nuts on the cylinder head studs loose with a 1" drive socket and cheater on the 'tee' handle. Tried a torque multiplier and it blew apart (literally). A buddy called his local Snapon salesman. We ordered a heavier torque multiplier and some 6 point impact sockets ( 1 1/2" drive). Snapon expedited the order and we had the tools in a very few days. As I recall, for what we got, the price was not excessive and seemed fair. Tools worked great and we still have and use them.

I am a great believer in the 'old' Craftsman mechanics' hand tools. I have some that are well over 50 years old. Craftsman was always a good buy, and used to offer a basic set of wrenches and some other tools, which, when combined with a steel tray-top tool box, came in right around 100 bucks. Now, the old gray-painted steel Craftsman boxes are considered vintage and often command a price as a collectable. Somehow, blow molded plastic boxes do not do it for me.

I got hooked up with the Mac tool guy about 40 years ago. I never got hooked on time payments, just bought a tool or two each week when the guy came to my powerplant construction site. Good tools, and I added things like flare nut wrench sets, and stuff that met specific needs for work at home.

When I started making up toolboxes for my son and two nephews, I browsed eBay and yard sales. I went for the 'original' Craftsman tools, either as NOS on eBay, or good used from there or yard sales. I added other US made hand tools like Williams adjustable wrenches, Mayhew chisels and punches, and some other good US tools. Some new, some used, and of course, some 'original' Vise Grips. Not the Irwin knockoffs.

I do not know what the story is with "Proto" tools these days. They used to be a good brand, US made. I think they were, for a time, owned by Ingersoll-Rand.
I've got some older Proto wrenches in amongst my tools. I also have some K-D larger combination end wrenches, US made, picked up used/good condition. Lesser brands include Thorsen (part of an odd lot of larger box-end wrenches from a friend's deceased father;s tools). Another lesser-known brand was "Lectrolite". My father had a few smaller box-end wrenches made by Lectrolite. Seemed like a good quality tool, but forged to a lighter pattern than Craftsman or some of the other tool brands' designs.

ANother bygone handtool maker, probably mentioned already, was PEXTO. This was a fusion of the names "Peck, Stowe, and Wilcox", I think. Connecticut based firm that made a variety of hand tools as well as sheet metal working equipment for tinsmiths and the like. I've got a Pexto framing square and some Pexto tinsnips in amongst my tools.

Probably the rarest little tool in my shop is a screwdriver bit to fit a hand brace. It was made by Winchester, and has the same stylized Winchester name on it that my Winchester firearms have on them. Chances are Dad got it ages ago, maybe in a local hardware store, maybe in a box of tools bought at a 'public administrator auction'. These are auctions held to dispose of personal property left by people who die with no will and no relatives or heirs. In one lot, Dad also got some carpenter's tools including some 'Witherby" cast steel wood chisels which I use to this day. File-makers once abounded in the USA, with names like "Kelly", "Heller", "Johnson", 'Black Diamond", and many more. Nicholson absorbed most of these file makers when they were still 'the original Nicholson' based in Providence, RI. I have plenty of good old files with these names on them. I believe Nicholson, like so many other older US tool manufacturers, was absorbed into some conglomerate and may well be just a name with the files made offshore, and nowhere near the variety of files Nicholson once offered.
 
I just overhauled my socket box, so I could take it places more easily- I filled in the sets with a number of new Proto sockets, and a few new Craftsmans. Both seem fine- though this is for the usual hand-wrenching duty. OTOH for axle nut sockets or impact I'd move up the food-chain a bit.

I do have a few odd Armstrong and Williams combo wrenches, they do have a good feel and heft. It was very nice to replace the kobalt or whatever wrenches with those on the nails next to the machines in the shop. Nowadays I go for Wright for new combo/socket/crescent wrenches.

lol, the only tool I fit and leave in my pair of brace-and-bits is a hex driver- same with the yankee screwdrivers.
 
The Snap-On rep at the powerplant was, almost certainly, working directly for Snap-On, in the Industrial Division. Those guys have, for me, been great to work with. The tool-truck guys are not SO employees, but franchisees.

The franchised dealers, in my dealings with them, have ranged from great all the way down to jerks.

The worst of the bunch was one I encountered in late 1975 or early '76, while I was still in the Air Force.

A high school and college friend had given me a new Snap-On 3/8 inch ratchet for my 19th birthday. I treasured that ratchet even though I didn't like its design or operation as much as I liked using my SK and Proto ratchets. I saved the Snap-On for clean work, and used the other two for greasy and grimy work.

Just before packing my household goods to go on active duty in 1975, the socket retainer ball popped out of that Snap-On ratchet. I didn't want to take the time to have the local Snap-On dealer who had sold the ratchet to my friend, so I packed it with my household stuff.

About six months later, I was setting up a household in South Dakota. Once I unpacked the ratchet, I out it in my car so that I'd have it when I noticed a Snap-On truck at a garage or service station.

A couple weeks later, I saw a Snap-On truck at a gas station doing tool business, not simply buying gas. I pulled into the gas station, grabbed my ratchet, and walked over to the S-O dealer. After waiting for him to finish with a paying customer, I showed him my ratchet and asked for a repair kit.

He looked me up and down, and started bitching about thieving GIs stealing government tools taking bread out of his children's mouths (or maybe it was off of his children's table, I don't remember). He flat out refused to help me in any way.

I gave that ratchet to one of the junior enlisted guys I worked with, and he called his home-town Snap-On dealer, who mailed him a repair kit.

Although I realize I'm being a hissy about one man who may have been at the end of a very bad day, I've not bought anything off of a Snap-On truck since then, and have given away almost every Snap-On tool I've owned. I think I'm down to a 5/16 inch hex-bit socket and a 3/8 inch offset screwdriver.

With that out of the way, I find that I'm appreciating my 50+ year old Proto, SK, Thorsen, Williams, and Wright ratchets more and more. Now I'm saving them for clean work and using old Japanese and newer Taiwanese ratchets for the grubby stuff.
 
The Snap-On rep at the powerplant was, almost certainly, working directly for Snap-On, in the Industrial Division. Those guys have, for me, been great to work with. The tool-truck guys are not SO employees, but franchisees.

The franchised dealers, in my dealings with them, have ranged from great all the way down to jerks.

The worst of the bunch was one I encountered in late 1975 or early '76, while I was still in the Air Force.

A high school and college friend had given me a new Snap-On 3/8 inch ratchet for my 19th birthday. I treasured that ratchet even though I didn't like its design or operation as much as I liked using my SK and Proto ratchets. I saved the Snap-On for clean work, and used the other two for greasy and grimy work.

Just before packing my household goods to go on active duty in 1975, the socket retainer ball popped out of that Snap-On ratchet. I didn't want to take the time to have the local Snap-On dealer who had sold the ratchet to my friend, so I packed it with my household stuff.

About six months later, I was setting up a household in South Dakota. Once I unpacked the ratchet, I out it in my car so that I'd have it when I noticed a Snap-On truck at a garage or service station.

A couple weeks later, I saw a Snap-On truck at a gas station doing tool business, not simply buying gas. I pulled into the gas station, grabbed my ratchet, and walked over to the S-O dealer. After waiting for him to finish with a paying customer, I showed him my ratchet and asked for a repair kit.

He looked me up and down, and started bitching about thieving GIs stealing government tools taking bread out of his children's mouths (or maybe it was off of his children's table, I don't remember). He flat out refused to help me in any way.

I gave that ratchet to one of the junior enlisted guys I worked with, and he called his home-town Snap-On dealer, who mailed him a repair kit.

Although I realize I'm being a hissy about one man who may have been at the end of a very bad day, I've not bought anything off of a Snap-On truck since then, and have given away almost every Snap-On tool I've owned. I think I'm down to a 5/16 inch hex-bit socket and a 3/8 inch offset screwdriver.

With that out of the way, I find that I'm appreciating my 50+ year old Proto, SK, Thorsen, Williams, and Wright ratchets more and more. Now I'm saving them for clean work and using old Japanese and newer Taiwanese ratchets for the grubby stuff.

Can't say as I blame you, John. I can see how that would be extremely insulting to a serviceman. *!#*;#*! that guy and the horse he rode in on. Goes to show that customer service can absolutely make or break a company. As a young man I can see how you might have let that go and walked away pissed off. As an older fella and with the atmosphere these days, I'd have been on the phone with that fellow's name, lighting his ass up to a Snap-On higher up. Things were different back then, I think maybe he was lucky he didn't walk away with a fat lip and a black eye.
 
The tool-truck model has been Snapon’s secret sauce over the years, but that coin has a flip side to those not served by a good driver.

My understanding is that Snapon now makes most of its money from software.

(The 70’s-era 36-tooth ratchets were not their best. That’s about the only Snapon tool from that era that didn’t get stolen, and I rebuilt it out of nostalgia, but I much prefer the high-tooth-count modern versions, of which I have several.)

Rick “who’d rather have a box full of Wright tools” Denney
 
Speaking of Wright, their 1970s flat flat wrenches were very nice, even if they did have V-gullet (which I don't particularly like, but several other makers, including MAC, American Vanadium -- or was it Vanadium American -- Bonney, Blue Line, and a couple others also used V-gullets) open ends. The shanks were fullered (concave), and the edges smoothly rounded. The fullering reduced the weight of a set of the wrenches enough to be appreciated.
 
Can't say as I blame you, John. I can see how that would be extremely insulting to a serviceman. *!#*;#*! that guy and the horse he rode in on. Goes to show that customer service can absolutely make or break a company. As a young man I can see how you might have let that go and walked away pissed off. As an older fella and with the atmosphere these days, I'd have been on the phone with that fellow's name, lighting his ass up to a Snap-On higher up. Things were different back then, I think maybe he was lucky he didn't walk away with a fat lip and a black eye.
Seems locally that if you didn't buy THAT tool from the Snap-On guy you talk to about repair etc, you get told to take a hike. Only the guy that sold it to you will help. Nice.

Good thing I don't particularly like Snap-On. Except for one tool. There is a small screwdriver that is exactly the right size for almost all the "euro-style" terminal blocks. I'd like to get 2 or 3 more, but, of course, they are apparently discontinued, same as most things that actually work.
 
Basically it has come down to if you want those quality old tools you have to either buy used or the occasional NOS on ebay.

Life in post industrial America I guess. We still make things but a lot less than we used to.
 
"Life in post industrial America" . Nailed it.
The days of wooden ships and iron men have long since passed; I doubt we'll see their likes again.
 
I've been in the powerplant industry (and related heavy construction during the earlier years) for over 50 years. I can remember when disputes or problems were sometimes settled with a fist fight. I can also remember, in the era before political correctness took over, when someone was out of line and made some insulting remarks, it was 'give as good as you got'. Ethnic slurs, comments about a person's physical build, wife, mother, and much else was all used in trading insults.

My own father was normally a very sweet, even tempered family man who was always a real gentleman. He made sure I knew what correct behavior was. If I was walking down a street and a lady was coming out of a store with packages, if I did not get the door for her, the old man would. He'd tip his hat (in the days when men wore felt hats) and stomp my instep in a less than obvious manner. Between his teeth, he'd growl that I should have gotten the door for the lady. On the other hand, if someone was out of line, particularly if they were abusive to another person (such as waitstaff in restaurants), Dad would often get up from the table and confront that person. Dad raised us boys not to take any lip, but he'd also say: "Most often, silence is the answer to a fool". Dad had a few quick moves to put loudmouths and out of line people back into line. Dad was a WWII veteran, on 50% veteran's disability, but he did not suffer fools, obscene language around his family or other women and children, or rudeness or abusive behavior. One of my memories of my father was the time he and I were walking on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. We each had a glass jug of Passover wine, and were walking to Katz's delicatessen to have lunch and meet Mom (who had been shopping for 'yardgoods' as material for sewing projects was known). As we walked along, a tall individual popped out and got into our path and accosted us. Dad, with one good arm, swung his glass jug of Passover wine attempting to nail the bottom of the jug against the would-be mugger's head. Dad simultaneously growled out: "No way, you bastard !" The would be mugger with two jugs of Passover wine at the ready. I was never much of a runner, and the guy was a lot taller, longer of leg, and faster. He ran away hollering: "You mother--rs are crazy". When I got back to Dad, he growled at me: "I was born down in this neighborhood, and we didn't take crap off anyone...who'd that guy think he was ?"

In another incident, on a jobsite out in Wyoming, we were in our office trailer when a site inspector /representative from the client (a power cooperative) came in. He began to make sarcastic comments and remarked that he'd just bought himself a Cadillac Eldorado (remember those cars ?). He went on as to how none of us would ever be doing well enough to own an Eldorado and similar remarks. Someone remarked an Eldorado was a 'pimp's car'. Someone else remarked that all he needed was a wide brimmed hat and leopardskin hubcaps (as we called 'wheel covers' back then). The guy went wild, sputtering mad, and said he was going out to his car to get his "hogleg" (a large caliber single-action revolver). The millwright superintendent, a tough guy and quick on his feet verbally, hollered for someone to toss him a tube of grease (as you put into a grease gun), and grabbed a half-round welder's file. He told the Eldorado owner: "you best take these with you, you're gonna need 'em if you come back in here with that piece (another term for a firearm)." The Eldorado owner was stupid enough to ask why he needed the grease and a file. The millwright super told him: "You best file the front sight off and grease up the barrel of your piece.... it'll hurt a whole lot less when we stick it up your a---". The guy left in a huff.

Another jobsite, this time in NY State. We had some linemen welders on the job, welding 10" pipe for a submarine cable crossing. These guys had their own 'rig trucks' with engine driven welders, cutting outfits and tools aboard. We were in a local bar, a normally quiet place that served a good Italian-American menu, so was popular for the fellows from out of town to have suppers there. One of the linemen-welders was a small, wiry fellow nicknamed "Mouse". Aside from his size matching his name, all resemblances ended there. The man was as mean as a snake to everyone, and had a confrontational manner most of the time. That particular evening, Mouse, probably fired up with alcohol, started an argument with one of the other lineman welders in the bar. The other fellow was a very quiet man of considerably larger build than Mouse. This other fellow was a real gentleman, kindly and had done nothing on the job or off site, to get Mouse going. Mouse did not need much, if any reason. If the other guys welded pipe joints faster, Mouse would accuse them of getting the easier joints to weld and try to start something. This particular night, Mouse was spitting mad at this other lineman welder, and challenged him to 'take it outside'. The fellow whom Mouse had called out did like arguments, obscene language or fist fights. He picked Mouse up by his shirt and shook him as a parent might shake a child to get the child to settle down (back before such things were known as 'child abuse'). Mouse did not settle down and as soon as he was free from the other man's grasp, ran out the door. He soon came back in, waving a shotgun. No one hit the floor or freaked out. No one called the law. Two local men, employees of a local excavating company and Italian immigrants, grabbed Mouse and his shotgun. Back out the door they went. A few minutes later they returned, having collared Mouse and marching him in. They threw his shotgun at him. The barrel was bent over double, hairpinned. The local guys had taken Mouse's shotgun and put it in the vise on one of the rig trucks and bent the barrel 180 degrees or close to it. They hollered at Mouse: "The next-a time you come in here waving a shotgun, you gonna need-a blacksmith to catch you breath. Now get the hell outta here and don't come back". Next morning on the jobsite and until Mouse moved on to some other site, he never had a good day. It was: "Hey Mouse.... hear you got a shotgun that shoots around corners... " "Hey Mouse.... you gonna bring a blacksmith with you if you go back to that bar ?"

Both these incidents and the way we traded insults, good naturedly or otherwise, was the time we lived and worked in. Now, the mere mention of a firearm, let alone making threats or bringing one into a jobsite or restaurant, would be a major incident. Modern firearms policies in many workplaces forbid employees from even having firearms or even fired brass cartridges in their personal vehicles, let alone inside the jobsite or buildings. Mention settling a beef by calling someone out and you likely get referred to HT, sent to 'anger management' classes, and the whole crew winds up having to sit through some presentations by HR from corporate about 'peaceful conflict resolution'. The modern day workplaces have become proverbial minefields where saying the wrong word, or making the wrong remark or offhand joke can get a person into real trouble with notations in their personal file, disciplinary action, and get them held back for promotions, raises, and similar. Plainly, I am glad I 'came up' when I did, when the workplace world was simpler, direct, and admittedly rougher. We got a lot more done with a lot less layers of complication and extraneous BS. I am glad I am 'retired' as I would not survive in the modern workplaces. We were expected to take a lot more responsibility as there was no internet and instant electronic communication between jobsites and corporate engineering. We were expected to do our jobs, and if we couldn't, there was the gate. If we did not like whom we were assigned to work with or did not like jobsite conditions, the saying was: "Don't let the gate hit you in the a--- on the way out..." Now, it seems people are coddled and less is expected of them as responsibility is spread widely and extremely thinly. So much so it is an endless ordeal to get what should be simple things decided upon and done with.


Getting back to this original thread: On a beam in my basement machine shop, there is a line of calendars which hung on my office walls in the powerplant. The first, from 1989, given me by the crew when I first came to work there, features naked ladies. As policy tightened on that sort of thing, most of the calendars featured steam locomotives, tractors, or motorcycles. One calendar that I did get and hung on the office wall (and now on that beam in my basement shop) is the last Snapon calendar with nice young ladies, clothed, holding Snapon tools. I believe this calendar may be 'collectable' as we were told by the Snapon industrial sales rep that Snapon was stopping the use of any advertising showing ladies posing with their tools. I also have a plastic mug from the Snapon tool rep, also with a nice looking young lady holding one of their wrenches. I never got any of the Ridgid calendars which also featured nice looking young ladies, clothed, holding or standing by Ridgid pipe tools. The first calendar the crew gave me was from "Binzel", a maker of welding guns for GMAW and GFCAW. It brings a smile when I look at that progression of calendars on the beam in the basement, no one to call the 'political correctness police' or HR on me.
 
One more Snap On rep comment. Although we were a large industrial plant we had for a long time an industrial rep who was neither fish nor fowl. He was a former tool truck franchisee who now did industrial accounts and I have no idea how he was paid, but I'm guessing commission because of his actions. I took over as manager of the flight facility and so dealt with him - we supplied tools for our employees. However, the Sikorsky employees on site had to furnish their own tools. As we were a DOD supplier on contract I kept after him wanting to buy the tools at the GAO government contract price - which basically priced the Snap On tools at Craftsman prices - which we were entitled to do. He had every excuse in the book - but about 6 months after I took over Snap On let him go and we got a true Snap On employee who did industrial and schools. In no time he not only got us the lower prices, everyone who wanted got their own account and could order on line, delivery in 2 or 3 days. The Sikorsky guys were the happiest as they had to pay for their own tools. As a retirement gift to myself I got a decent torque wrench and three ratchets - my last 'cheap purchases'.

I still have the original Craftsman open end wrenches and sockets I bought in high school back in the mid 60s. The boxes are filled out with all the other old names that have been mentioned that I acquired over the years, some new and some not.. A few years ago at an auction I snagged a sad looking but sound Craftsman stack from the early 50s. I also started collecting a basic load of wrenches, sockets and so on. I cleaned up and straightened out the box and gave it a fresh coat of red paint and gave it to my 13 year old grandson for Christmas last year. We then sorted through what I had accumulated and filled it with what he wanted for a starter set of tools. No huge investment but a lot of fun for both of us and I'm glad to see him using his tools and taking care of them. And all of them old American made but still capable of work.

The past few days our grandson and his sister were here with us, as well as their father. As the parents have split up many years ago but live in the same town the kids split time between two places. My grandson has lamented that at his mom's he does not have a workbench to try and build things on like he does at his dads. So we decided to recycle a solid core door I had and some plywood. Designed a simple but sturdy frame out of 2 by material that required making many mortises - as well as barrel nuts. So I had him using the Powermatic mortising machine that came from the local high school auction about 10 years ago when they did away with woodworking. I snapped a picture of him working and sent it to our one nephew. That nephew's late father was not only my sister's brother (one of 7, all older) but had also been my shop teacher in junior high school and had specified and bought that mortising machine when the new high school was built in 67. My nephew got a real kick out of not only a younger kid getting trained, but using a machine with a family connection. As Joe said much more elegantly, those connections and memories are important and we are lucky if we can pass along those connections. I'm glad my grandson seems to appreciate those connections.

Dale

And I second the movie idea. Now we just have to figure out who should play Joe!
 
I think tools are important gifts sometimes- a good friend of mine is a single mom of two young teens, the son is a bit lost wrt his father's situation- not relevant here. He recently got interested in taking apart and upgrading laptops. I had a set of Bergeon mixed flat and phillips precision screwdrivers which I gave him last time I saw them- it was really cool to see him light up when I gave him the box. Heaven knows what he had been using before- and he knew about torx screws already. He responds to being involved in things; even checking tire pressures and changing the oil on his mom's car caught his interest.
 








 
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