That Harbor Freight smell. - Page 2

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - That Harbor Freight smell. (Page 2 of 2)

Posted: 3/9/2013 9:32:48 PM EDT

[#1]

Quoted:
Probably the rendered fat of dead Chinese people used as a preservative/ rust preventative

Chinese oil is PEOPLE!!!!

Posted: 3/9/2013 9:44:45 PM EDT

[#2]

I like the smell. I dont know why. Its like the smell of guns shops and tire stores

Posted: 3/9/2013 9:45:04 PM EDT

[#3]

Yes I have smelled it. I thought it might be some kind of oil used to machine some of the parts.

Posted: 3/9/2013 9:49:57 PM EDT

[#4]

I wonder if its harmful?

Posted: 3/9/2013 9:53:37 PM EDT

[#5]

vulcanized rubber

Posted: 3/9/2013 9:55:32 PM EDT

[#6]

Do not buy their rubber gloves!!!!!!!

Posted: 3/9/2013 9:56:52 PM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:

Quoted:

Probably the rendered fat of dead Chinese people used as a preservative/ rust preventative

Chinese oil is PEOPLE!!!!

Liposuction residue. You never see many fat china people, do you? They let nothing go to waste.

Posted: 3/9/2013 11:09:15 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
I wonder if its harmful?

'course it's harmful. People are all worried about chemtrails, genetically modified grain, fluorine, dioxin, mercury and lead...

Meanwhile, the Chinese are slowly but surely poisoning, us with their deadly Chicomosmoline.

Actually, it's the only logical explanation for how our Country went down the shitter so fast.

Posted: 3/10/2013 6:04:44 AM EDT

[#9]

It smells like Sears. Ever notice its the same smell?

Posted: 3/10/2013 6:09:27 AM EDT

[#10]

Sort of like the smell of any milsurp store... Cosmoline.

Posted: 3/10/2013 6:11:36 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
I know of what you speak. I always thought it was the poorly refined crude protectant/lubricant they coat everything with, the stuff that soaks into the brown paper everything is wrapped in.

My thought too. And yeah, all 3 of the local HFs have the same exact smell.

Posted: 3/10/2013 6:13:31 AM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Yeah the cheap oil smell. Say what you will about HF but I bought an electric impact gun and it rips off lug nuts like a champ. The aluminum racing jack I bought there is also fantastic.

I concur.

I have a strong aversion to anything from HF that's intended to support a heavy object over head.

But what are we going to do? The only alternative is to hunt for old tools made in the US.

Posted: 3/10/2013 6:20:17 AM EDT

[#13]

The smell of crappy tools

No clue, I never really paid attention to it before.

Posted: 3/10/2013 6:21:49 AM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Yeah the cheap oil smell. Say what you will about HF but I bought an electric impact gun and it rips off lug nuts like a champ. The aluminum racing jack I bought there is also fantastic.

I concur.

I have a strong aversion to anything from HF that's intended to support a heavy object over head.

But what are we going to do? The only alternative is to hunt for old tools made in the US.

Time machine, bring back tons of good tools and sell-profits.

Posted: 3/10/2013 6:22:57 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
I know of what you speak. I always thought it was the poorly refined crude protectant/lubricant they coat everything with, the stuff that soaks into the brown paper everything is wrapped in.

This.

Kind of like how Hyundais used to stink from the cheap mold release compound the Koreans used on their injection molded interior plastics.

Posted: 3/10/2013 6:24:15 AM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
China has a distinct aroma. And every once in a while you get a hit of feces.

In Korea the stench of human hole products is continuous.

Posted: 3/10/2013 6:24:41 AM EDT

[#17]

Their version of cheap rubber. Their cheap tires, just like those from Northern Tool. Those stink.

Posted: 3/10/2013 6:25:35 AM EDT

[#18]

It's the oil.

Next time you're in a Walmart, go to sporting goods and check out the weight lifting stuff like the dumb bells.

I was looking for ammo one day, walked by the weights and thought, "Harbor Freight?"

Posted: 3/10/2013 6:25:43 AM EDT

[#19]

The scent of your new lord and master.

Posted: 3/10/2013 6:26:26 AM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:
Their version of cheap rubber. Their cheap tires, just like those from Northern Tool. Those stink.

Asia is possibly the only region where natural rubber is still widely used.

In the rest of the world it's mostly BRC.

Posted: 3/10/2013 6:27:37 AM EDT

[#21]

I bought some 13" wagon tires because I am making a monster wagon for a friend.
Those damned things stunk up my whole shop. I finally put them outside for a couple weeks.

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Posted: 3/10/2013 6:37:59 AM EDT

[#22]

You must not have bought an SKS in the 80s or 90s.

Posted: 3/10/2013 7:01:13 AM EDT

[#23]

My first question is to why you even walked into the china outlet store.
Next I guess you will drive down the street with your window open throwing money out as well.

Posted: 3/10/2013 7:17:41 AM EDT

[#24]

combination of cigarette smoke and BO absorbed from their customers

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Posted: 3/10/2013 7:38:54 AM EDT

[#25]

I just bought a rubber mallet from there. I swear the smell from the store comes from those things. Smells like yugo burn outs

Posted: 3/10/2013 8:32:34 AM EDT

[#26]

Thats the smell of disappointment.

Thats what you will be with what ever you buy...

Posted: 3/10/2013 8:39:31 AM EDT

[#27]

Smells like debt money

Posted: 3/10/2013 4:57:02 PM EDT

[#28]

Quoted:

combination of cigarette smoke and BO absorbed from their customers

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Posted: 3/10/2013 5:08:17 PM EDT

[#29]

Quoted:

Quoted:

Their version of cheap rubber. Their cheap tires, just like those from Northern Tool. Those stink.

Asia is possibly the only region where natural rubber is still widely used.

In the rest of the world it's mostly BRC.

Natural rubber is still used. Most tires contain multiple alloys of rubber, two at least.

The key to most rubber vulcanization is sulfur, this causes irreversible cross-linking but can also cause embrittlement as tires age (vulcanization is a time-temperature process). That smell is excess sulfur that reacted to other compounds in the tire, some put there to prevent brittle aging. Excess sulfur is used to enable full cure without excessive mold time. Basically, a cost saving measure.

DOT rated tires cannot tolerate this as these sulfur-stench compounds will cause tire failure. But for non-highway service tires which won't get hot, it is fine.

Posted: 3/10/2013 5:16:13 PM EDT

[#30]

yeah it's the smell of failure.

Posted: 3/10/2013 5:16:23 PM EDT

[#31]

Quoted:

The sweat and toil of hard working Chinese toddlers. They're kind of like Santa's elves, only they're three years old and Chinese.

...and smell like petrochemicals.

Posted: 3/10/2013 5:42:53 PM EDT

[#32]

Just out of curiosity, you guys who are just too cool and tactical to soil yourselves by going to HF--how do you know what the place smells like? You been creepin'?

Posted: 3/10/2013 5:48:37 PM EDT

[#33]

Quoted:

My first question is to why you even walked into the china outlet store.

Next I guess you will drive down the street with your window open throwing money out as well.

^^^^^^^Well said^^^^^^^

Posted: 3/10/2013 5:54:20 PM EDT

[#34]

Dunno but I was at Northern Tool yesterday and picked up a floor jack. It had a distinctive smell.

Posted: 3/10/2013 5:59:57 PM EDT

[#35]

Quoted:

Quoted:
My first question is to why you even walked into the china outlet store.
Next I guess you will drive down the street with your window open throwing money out as well.

^^^^^^^Well said^^^^^^^

You seem... familiar to HF.

Posted: 3/10/2013 6:04:17 PM EDT

[#36]

Quoted:

Just out of curiosity, you guys who are just too cool and tactical to soil yourselves by going to HF--how do you know what the place smells like? You been creepin'?

All non-highway service tires from China smell like that. The pressure washer I BOUGHT from Northern Tool last year have that smell, the only Chinese parts on it. Italian pump, Honda (Taiwan) engine, frame made in USA. Even Goodyear hose.

4 GPM, 4000 PSI. Cuts wood. Etches concrete. Removes paint from automobiles. Even strips rust. I have to store it in the truck as it stinks like a polecat.

Like I stated, they use excess sulfur in the rubber mix so the tires don't need to cook long in the vulcanization process. Highway (DOT) tires cannot as the excess sulfur would cause the rubber to get brittle since highway tires spend time at elevated temperatures.

Posted: 3/10/2013 6:16:09 PM EDT

[#37]

Nothing says you don't take pride in your work like using harbor freight tools.

Posted: 3/10/2013 6:51:00 PM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:

Quoted:

Just out of curiosity, you guys who are just too cool and tactical to soil yourselves by going to HF--how do you know what the place smells like? You been creepin'?

All non-highway service tires from China smell like that. The pressure washer I BOUGHT from Northern Tool last year have that smell, the only Chinese parts on it. Italian pump, Honda (Taiwan) engine, frame made in USA. Even Goodyear hose.

4 GPM, 4000 PSI. Cuts wood. Etches concrete. Removes paint from automobiles. Even strips rust. I have to store it in the truck as it stinks like a polecat.

Like I stated, they use excess sulfur in the rubber mix so the tires don't need to cook long in the vulcanization process. Highway (DOT) tires cannot as the excess sulfur would cause the rubber to get brittle since highway tires spend time at elevated temperatures.

There is something in new rubber products that drives my cat crazy, producing the same effects a catnip.

If I leave a rubber band out, the cat will go nuts playing with it and then try to eat it. The cat rubs its head on the rubber covers on the bottom of metal chair legs. I just bought a chinese hand cart, and it came with those cheap rubber tires that smell bad. While I had the tires on the floor putting the cart together, the cat starts rubbing its head on the new tires, tries to nibble on them, and then rolls around on the floor.

Posted: 3/10/2013 6:52:25 PM EDT

[#39]

Quoted:
I recently got a HF StormCat 900w generator and it smells like 'win'.

Chris

So its a nice smoke and noise machine?

Posted: 3/10/2013 6:58:14 PM EDT

[#40]

Rubber and plastic

Posted: 3/10/2013 7:14:24 PM EDT

[#41]

I like to think of HF as a little China. I get in big trouble there.

Posted: 3/10/2013 7:19:32 PM EDT

[#42]

I like the smell.

It smells the same as every Army clothing issue facility I have ever been in.

Posted: 3/11/2013 12:23:25 PM EDT

[#43]

Quoted:

Yes I have smelled it. I thought it might be some kind of oil used to machine some of the parts.

I was in a HF store 2 hours ago to look at tool chests. I can still smell it on my clothes.

Posted: 3/11/2013 12:34:22 PM EDT

[#44]

I don't know the Harbor Freight smell. Is it like the smell of the MAK 90 I bought in...the 90's? That sucked. Stank 'till I sold it.

Posted: 3/11/2013 6:52:47 PM EDT

[#45]

Quoted:
I don't know the Harbor Freight smell. Is it like the smell of the MAK 90 I bought in...the 90's? That sucked. Stank 'till I sold it.

Yes it is.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - That Harbor Freight smell. (Page 2 of 2)

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