WAHOO!!!!
Just saw in the local paper Harbor Freight is opening a new store on the Naperville-Aurora border, about 1.2 miles from home. No more driving 30 minutes to the next nearest store.
Now I am going to have to discipline myself to not go there more than
2x a month unless I leave my cash and credit cards at home. Just wish they had been open 45 years ago when I bought this house.
I live about 50 miles from corporate HQ, yet I'd never been to a store in my life until 3 months ago. It was just a bunch of junk. I've bought
3-4 items from them "mail order," and been disappointed every time. Think about that: You expect junk, and the quality is so bad that you're still disappointed. Beats the hell out of me why everyone raves about them. I'd rather have 1 good tool than 100 shitty ones.
Pretty much agree, but they do have the occasional "good enough" tool at reasonable price. It all depends on your needs. Recently, I bought two digital readout micrometers for $10 each. Would I use them as a machinist? Hell no. Would I use the to see of a rod is 10 mm or
12 mm? Certainly, that is what I bought them for. Nor do I get upset if one of the setup guys drops them.Do I need .001 accuracy? Sometimes, and then I pull out the good mic in my desk drawer.
When to comes to hand tools, even simple stuff like a hammer and screwdrivers, I get the best brands and appreciate the difference.
There is a store about 5 blocks away from me. Plenty of decent tools at great prices. Really great when you need some weird tool that HD sells for 3 or 4 times the HF price, like that strap wrench I bought for $4 (for 2) and HD had for $15. Worked just fine.
Your setup guys don't own their own tools?
Most, but I provide them with some. Like the 120 mm open end wrench that gets used maybe once every two or three years.
I won't buy most sockets, cordless drills, other common and easily stolen tools.
Harbor Freight is a good source for "loaner" tools. A fellow wants to borrow my DVM, I hand him a $6.95 HF meter and say "That will be ten bucks and you can keep it." ^_^
TDD
You must be reading my mind. I bought a few of their garbage items. They wont be seeing me or my money again. It's the same crap all the stores are selling now for stocking stuffers. Cheap made in China crap, that generally breaks within it's first months use.
So, you might have one GOOD hammer and are confronted with cutting a board. What do you do?
Every tool, EVERY SINGLE TOOL, I've bought from HF has been acceptable and did an acceptable, if not perfect, job.
I recall the old saying: "It's a poor workman that blames the tool."
Lots of people seem to think of Harbor Freight in the same manner as they think of lauan and poplar; i.e., unuseable junk. I'm not one of those people, like all three. I really miss the ability to go buy nice lauan boards for whatever.
Regarding HF tools, I occasionally have the need to drill holes in concrete. When I have that urge I use my $31 HF hammer drill. I could have bought a "good" one for $100 - $150 but why?
Every decade or so I have had a need to step down an area of concrete. When I do I use a HF angle grinder with a diamond blade to make close together scores so I can break them out. The whole works cost me $15. I do have a better angle grinder but I particularly like the HF one because it has an accessory foot - like a circular saw - so that the depths of all cuts is the same. It can get pretty hot but if I burn it out I can replace it cheaply if I need to.
I have a HF lathe. Works fine. So do the HF chisels. In fact, they work just like some better ones I have.
I have some nice German bar clamps. I hate them. I also have a bunch of HF bar clamps. I like them fine.
Et cetera.
Ojala que viva Harbor Freight.
I'm not talking about ratchet clamps, I am talking about steel bar clamps like this. They have none of your problems.
I agree. Some of what they have is real junk. But they have a lot of the kind of tools that a typical homeowner might need once in 5 or 10 years at cheap prices. Some recent examples are pipe strap wrenches and a tailpipe expander. They also have things like cable ties, heat shrink tubing, at a fraction of the cost that you would pay at HD. I bought a complete portable sandblaster for like $80. I used it on my stamped concrete patio and it did the job. I could not even find anyone else selling one locally.
Now, if I wanted say an air compressor that I was going to use frequently, like a contractor, would I buy that at HF? Hell no. You just have to be a smart shopper, selective and use some common sense.
Yup.
Per snipped-for-privacy@home.com:
But if it's only going to see a few days or weeks of use...
I go out and buy a good saw. Now I have two good tools.
I don't want a shitty tool any more than I want a shitty firearm or a shitty bottle of liquor. It isn't worth the annoyance.
Like my friend lying under his dismantled car engine when his shitty socket broke said, "This shitty tool came with a lifetime warranty, but I don't want a lifetime warranty right now, I want a socket that isn't broken in half."
When the vacuum cleaner sales man pointed out that theirs has a fifteen year warranty, I retorted that if I buy fifteen "normal" vacuums with one-year warranties, I'd be saving money.
My sentiments exactly. If I expect a tool to be a one-time use, I'll go for the best price and just to check that it wll be adequate for that one use. But if I was buying a hammer that gets used at least monthly, then I'll look at long-term quailty vs cost.
Per SMS:
Or the lifetime of the company that sold it.... -)
I had (still have, in fact) a set of Craftsman taps and dies - maybe a hundred little pieces.
FWIW, an essential part of such a set is the box that they come in that organizes them.
With mine, the plastic in the box somehow degraded over time and the whole thing just sort of disintegrated.
Took it back to Sears and "Sorry, we only guarantee tools, not the containers...".
Oh well...
Per dadiOH:
Sure does look an awful like the ones Home Depot sells for fifteen bucks under "Jorgensen Bar Clamp".
Snap-on has lifetime warranty and their tools are first quality. Craftsman lifetime tools are decent tools, but not in the same league.
-- Doug
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.