Good brand of tap and die sets?

Title says it all.  I have a cheap Vermont American set and a HF set.  Both suck.  I have budgeted $100 for a good SAE tap and die set.

Irwin. Hands down some of the best when it comes to drills, taps, and dies. 

I also have a big set from Harbor Freight that has worked very well and allowed me to afford most sizes of taps and dies all the way up to 1". I wouldn't want to use them for production work but for the home shop they are fine. 

And use a good high-sulphur tapping oil to make it even easier.

I know you've budgeted $100...

But Snap-On Blue Point sets are about double that. When you realise that they warranty broken / dull taps and dies, it works out cheaper in the long run.

SkinnyG said:

And use a good high-sulphur tapping oil to make it even easier.

I have some cutting oil that smells like it has a ton of sulphur in it but I'll try to find specs.

Thanks y'all.  I splurged.  114-piece Irwin metric and SAE for $159

Good call.

I teach high school shop, and while I cheap out on a lot of things, cheap drills and cheap taps are not them.

Most of the drill bits in my shop are cheap.  I get a couple uses out of them and then they go in a drawer labeled "rotary smoke generators"

Threaded some aluminum today.  Butter.  Gave me a little chub.

I have an older Craftsman set, which I believe were made by Irwin?  Bought in 1999 after I tried tapping a hole in a new titanium bike frame I bought. The H-F set I had wouldn't even grab the material. The Craftsman tap went in so easily I was stunned. And the H-F sets went right into the trash.

I also did a smart thing.  Since I know this thing will likely be assembled all the time by volunteers who will cross thread my aluminum, I bored out the first 1/4" of the hole to 5/16" before tapping with the 5/16" tap.   That will greatly increase the chances of the bolt being straight when they screw it in.  I figure if they manage to mess up the threads I can always helicoil it later.

Last night I had to show SWMBO my new toy so I gave her a bucket of 3/8" bolts that all had some little burrs right at the end and chucked up the 3/8" die.  She cleaned up the whole bucket and with a big smile on her face.  I think she might have drooled

So, Irwin still the go to for taps?  Are there different levels of Irwin?

I have Irwin because that's what  McMaster-Carr carries. I buy the three tap set.

Note that if you're looking to repair/clean threads, you're better off with a rethreading kit. Fixes threads instead of trying to cut new ones. 

Something like this. 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B014VY3SHW/

In reply to Mr_Asa :

No personal experience, but I recall seeing in the HF Pass/Fail thread that the cheap HF tap set was a huge fail and the expensive one a Pass. 

My Snap On set has been cutting threads for 25 years. Best arm and 1/4 leg I've ever spent. 

WillG80 said:

In reply to Mr_Asa :

No personal experience, but I recall seeing in the HF Pass/Fail thread that the cheap HF tap set was a huge fail and the expensive one a Pass. 

Generally a fair assessment of the majority of HF stuff.  I'll take a look at it. 

It's likely too late, but the Gearwrench kit has a ratcheting tap handle that's maybe the best thing to happen to tapping.

No innuendo.

Keith Tanner said:

Note that if you're looking to repair/clean threads, you're better off with a rethreading kit. Fixes threads instead of trying to cut new ones. 

Something like this. 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B014VY3SHW/

I use a lisle set like that and it might be the most used thing in my shop. Anytime something doesn't feel like it is threading smoothly it gets hit with that. If I'm waiting on parts or just hanging out in the shop I run all the hardware through them. Definitely on the list of tools I wish I had purchased earlier.

The hot ticket used to be the made in Poland stuff from msc.