Socket sets are one of the first things a new home owner adds to their tool chest. But when you first start out you need a lot for the new house all at once and cannot afford to buy the high quality you may want to have. You have been in your home for a few years. You’ve noticed the one you’ve been using looks beat up, scratched up, shows rust and is just plain old. You’ll want to start thinking about getting new a new socket set that will last you for the long haul. Here’s why.

Since most of the nuts you run into in your home are six sided, usually new home owners have bought a cheap 40 piece socket set that has your basic ratchet and 6 point (hex) sockets in inches (SAE) and metric system millimeters. These are most likely chrome plated steel. They were a good enough set to put together cribs and, furniture, and the other things you needed to assemble: but now, after a few years use, you start seeing they just are not working as well as they use to. They may still be working but they have started giving you problems. Nuts are going to begin showing ware and tare and they get damaged on their points and are harder to get off and on. Just as screws get stripped and no longer grip, your socket set will get stripped and start giving you a lot of headaches. The sharp edges inside your sockets are rounding off and they don’t fit the nuts the way they did when you first got them. If you have started seeing these sign, the answer to "Is it time for a new socket set?" is yes.

What’s happening is the metal your socket set was made from was probably cheaper softer steel and is chrome plated. What you need are sockets sets made with high grade chromium vanadium (CV) steel meant to last you for a lifetime. They do a much better job of holding their edges and don’t get loose and sloppy. Consequently they won’t damage the nuts and bolts you’re working on, and will not show the ware you’ve seen with the old socket set.

You don’t need the most expensive 40 piece hex set on the market. Many house brand socket sets in hardware stores are made from high grade chrome vanadium steel and have the same specification as those sold under expensive brand names. Internets sites are a good place to shop, and may have brands you are possibly not familiar with, but are the same ones you just saw at the hardware store under their house label. They may have exactly what you want. They often can beat the brick and mortar stores in price. Just make sure you see the CV steel or chromium vanadium steel alloy in the description and you’ll have a socket set that will last you for many many years.