Posted: 11/19/2005 8:30:03 PM EDT
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We have just had a Harbor Freight tools open here. Me and my friend went in there today. I think those people who sell tools at the fleamarket go there and buy stuff then just mark it up 3 times the price and sell it. They got alot of pretty cheap stuff in there, is it decent. I did get some stuff, sandpaper for the hood Im fixing and a rope since the Boondock Saints taught me I always need a rope. It also amazing the amount of entertainment you can get from a $8 air hammer, I can spend hours destroying stuff with it. Is it decent stuff or mostly junk there |
| Disposable tools for short term use. Keep a few for backup if your good stuff craps out but don't depend on them for industrial use. I use the $59 chopsaws in my wroughtiron shop. One of those will last me about a year, cutting light material. 1/2" is about the thickest stuff that I use. I keep the dead ones for parts. |
'zactly. |
I broke a vise. If you need hardcore production grade stuff, Harbor Freight should not be on your shopping list. However, I do have a bunch of stuff from there. |
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| Good for the basics such as hand tools and stuff you wouldn't ordinarily find like steel sawhorse kits for 17$. (my last purchase) Nothing to drop big money on. The most complex thing I've ever bought there is a 5 gallon compressor for inflating trailer tires and such. (99$) Would it run air tools in a commercial enviroment? Probably, but not for very long. |
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I like the HF, good tools for the price. Wait till stuff goes on sale cuase of it is not worth the regular price. Id rather spend the money saved from buying HF tools on nicer stuff I like more like huntings,stuff for the family. Tools are one thing to me tools, not a trophy item that sits in a tool box. |
Yeah, but only if you still have the receipt unlike craftsman where you just bring it in and they give you a new one on the spot (except for rachet drivers and air tools). Your right about the borrowed or stolen part at least your not out as much $$$. One thing to NOT buy there is sawzall or hacksaw blades they might as well be made of cardboard ;( |
Yea, what he said! |
I recently bought one of their chopsaws for a job I'm on. I'm a cabinetmaker, so this is the first time, and probably last time that I needed to cut metal for a job (aluminum handrail extrusions). I figure as long as the saw lasts for the job, I'm money ahead. And with the big Harbor Freight sticker on the guard, I can leave the saw on-site without worrying about it growing legs and walking off. 
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Don't use that abraisive wheel chopsaw to cut aluminum. You'd be much better off and safer using a regular circular saw and standard wood blade. We cut 3/8" thick panels with a standard Milwaukee circular saw at work. A blade will last for a long time if you use cutting wax on it. The abraisive wheel will clog up with aluminum and explode. Don't even try it. |
Well hell, I wish I'd known that before.  I've already made probably 2-300 cuts on it, but having seen the effects of a grinding wheel disintegrating at high speeds, I'll take your advice. Thanks Pangea. |
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Most of it is crap. I go there for an occasional tool that I know I will use just once, and for the cheap screwdrivers for jobs that I can just throw away afterwards as they get messed up. They do have some cool stuff there. I got a set of letter stamp punches which are had to find at other stores. I'm considering getting a cheap vise for my workbench at home. The big tool retrieval magnets are very fun to play with  . I buy cheap solder there, it works okay. They have a good selection of air hose and fittings.
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The only thing I buy from them is a certain 1/2 drive impact wrench that they've been selling for years. It has a built-in extension. Made by Central Pneumatic, I think. Not too impressed with the rest of the stuff they sell. Being a mechanic, I see a lot of new employees come & go where I work and they don't make a good impression (with me or the customers they're working in front of) when they try to get the job done with tools bought from a Harbor Freight store. Sears/Craftsman is a better choice....when it comes to torque wrenches, I gotta have Snap-On, though. Almost all of my "around the house" tools are Craftsman. Scott |
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As said earlier.............China direct. Now if you what a cheap hammer, or low budget clamps, etc. go ahead. I have picked up such things and got what I expected. But......... I have to wonder about the fools who go there and buy something like a "Micrometer"? Seriously, if you have a need for something as precise as a micrometer do you really want one for $7.95????? |
When I did inspections we calibrated them and thier calipers, they were as good as the Starett and Browne and Sharp |
Well that 20 year old New Britan one will pry about anything |
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I've had both good and bad luck with the Chinese tools from HF. Some of the hand tools have broken the first time they were used, others are going strong after much abuse. I bought one of their small lathes, after cleaning it properly and smoothing the ways it's as nice as you're going to find in something that size that's under $1000. Bench grinders, angle grinders, belt sanders, are all fine for the home user or the shop as long as they don't mind replaceing them once a year. Auto shop tools like engine stands, hoists, jacks, transmission jacks, solvent tanks, are also ok. I own some of all this stuff. I just bought a screw powered transmission jack the other day for $70. With it I removed and reinstalled the transmission and transfer case in my Jeep. No problems, it worked fine. It will probably be a couple of years before it gets used again. But here's something I don't understand, and that's people who keep their good tools at home and the junk ones in their truck or car. If a tool breaks at home I just take another car, or a bicycle or whatever, to the store and buy another one. Or better yet, call it a day and go inside and have a beer and watch TV. If my Jeep breaks down in the middle of the desert and the tool I need to fix it breaks I'm fubar'd. In a lot of the areas I go to my cell phone won't work either. I only keep the best tools I can get in my vehicle. |
+1 A regular chop saw with a triple chip blade is the way to cut aluminum. |