Took my wife to a newly enlarge JoAnn Fabric Store this afternoon and found that it's next door neighbor will soon be Harbor Freight.
Within an approx. five Miles' radius we have Two HDs, a Lowes, two Cummins Tools, Costco, Woodcraft and Aces Hardware and not too far off we have Paxton Liberty Hardwood and Schutte Lumber.
If woodcraft is your hobby or profession, it's like paradise.... Maybe Lee Valley might even open a store here in the not too distance future (just kidding)?
Not bad huh?
Kansas City and the next nearest Harbor Freight is in Independent, MO about 21 miles away.
Well, having a Harbor Freight nearby is nice. They carry a few hard-to-find items. But, you really need to be careful about quality. I have bought very few "woodworking" tools from Harbor Freight, and none are "motorized" items.
In my experience you need to be VERY selective as to what you get at Harbor Freight. I will admit that it is a GREAT place to visit for tool junkies but I have probably replaced about one third of the tools and virtually all of the power tools I've gotten from Harbor Freight. I have concluded that they are ok for general purpose, hack around hand tools but if you do serious woodworking their tools are a liability more than a cost savings. I can't see saving $100 on a tool that could potentially ruin that fine piece of figured Cherry you are trying to mortise.
I have found their tools to be insufficiently hardened, wrong alloys, or are poorly machined and might be out of square or have easily stripped threads, etc. You need a hammer? Great, maybe they can supply a useful one. You want some cheap furniture pads to transport your finished work? HF is a bargain. You need a smoothing plane? Get a good one - it will last a lifetime and every cut will be satisfying rather than curse generating.
TWS
I live near a Harbor Freight and they never seem to have what I want when I want it.. always had to get "rain checks"..
I gave up and just use their web site now..
Since they ship free with a purchase of $50 or more, I just add things to my wish list until the total is over $50 and throw all those "can't resist buying that, it's so cheap" items in the shopping cart..
I think that the thing to keep in mind at harbor freight is that you get what you pay for... don't expect quality at prices that low..
They're great for sanding disks and belts, chip brushes, vices (free shipping), etc... but I wouldn't buy a table saw there and expect the same quality or precision of a delta..
Mac
I've had orders shipped with out of stock items that dropped the total below $50, but they still did not charge for shipping. Are you ordering by phone or from their website? I've ben using the website for years, can't remember the last time I phoned in an order.
On Mon, 13 Sep 2004 23:21:34 GMT, Larry Kraus wrote: hmm.. never had that happen, larry..
I order from their web site almost every month and I think I've only had 1 back ordered item in the year or so I've been using the web site.. I checked the site last night and my wish list is about $70.. time to fill the shopping cart with more "gotta havits"..
Mac
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