Went to HF today in Indianapolis and saw 24" cast iron and steel clamps on sale for $4.99 and the 6" ones for $2.99. Looked like really good quality for the money. I think Lew mentioned them to me the first time. I am only mentioning this because I did not see the sale advertised in their fliers. I picked up 4 and 6 of them, respectively. I hope that will be enough to get me started. Following someone else's suggestion I looked them all over carefully, so I didn't bring home any that were bent or ill-fitting.
I have felt drawn to C-clamp vise-grips lately (for the sake of fastening a
2 or 3 inch high board/fence to my band saw). Is this an appropriate use for those clamps (the ones with the flat faces). Anyone experience major quality issues concerning different makers of these? From what I've read, I notice some open to 4" or so and I suppose those are the ones I would get.
Now... come on... sometimes you do. And if you weren't looking to, why post something like that instead of staying on topic? Did you think we were waiting to see if you were actually going to buy them? Didn't you just want to get your dig in about China?
I hope in your case of Sinophobia you will take your computer out and smash it, since not doubt all or 98% of the parts were made offshore, mostly in China, Taiwan, or Malaysia. Same with your cell phone and television.
Unless you are a full time professional woodworker, your tools take only a small part of your money, and are used proportionally very little compared to the aforementioned devices. So why be upset about tool origins? Shouldn't you extend your personal beliefs across all of your possesions?
Using the country origin as the reason to own/not own tools, you will probably want to rid yourself of your DeWalt tools, Porter Cable tools, Milwaukee tools, Makita tools, Hitachi tools, Jet tools, Powermatic tools, Grizzly tools and on an on. Start with the Chinese first.
And unless you are a Geotard =AE, you will remember that Taiwan is actually, "Taiwan, Republic of China". So make sure you take your Taiwanese stuff out and give it "what for" as well.
But please, while you are striking a blow for America, take out those stinking German tools as well. They took manufacturing jobs away from us as well, right? And they charge prices that exceed American built prices of the same tools! Wow, how is that for an "in your face" style of marketing?
And any argument you could make to use Fein, Festool, Metabo, some Bosch tools, etc., could be used against you since theoretically they manufactured here as well. It's all about jobs, right? A person of high moral fiber wouldn't see and actual race, nation, or group, just the fact that they "took" jobs.
Sure glad my computer or the Internet doesn't run on Chinese rubber ... damn that stuff stinks!
Bought hard rubber wheels at HF to replace the pneumatic ones on one of those Chinese, Sam's special hand carts ... you know, the ones that hold air for only five minutes ... and had to air out the shop for three years!
;)
... Just kidding.
The best of products, from horseshoes to houses, all have one thing in common, and it's not country of origin:
I got a huge laugh out of that one. About 7-8 years ago I bought a "rubber" hose for my paint gun since my vinyl hoses were too stiff to use in the winter.
This was HF brand, not Goodyear.
Those damn hoses stunk so much you could smell them in the open air in the bed of the truck!
Worse, (I honestly think they may have been uncured) they stretched like a rubber band, and were so soft they caught on everything.
Worse than that, they were so soft they left black marks on the floor inside a house when you stepped on them! I always step on the hoses... I have a size 13 shoe...
I hadn't thought of that POS in years! in less than a year that hose had disintegrated to the point of unusable.
BUT.... it was less than 1/3 of the price of the Goodyear!
Actually, a bad deal at any price.
Amen, brother.
With that in mind, you should make your company motto (now seriously... think of this on your business card ;^) ) "it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that Swing!"
On Sun, 28 Feb 2010 06:57:30 -0500, the infamous eclipsme scrawled the following:
I've toyed with Bessey clamps (at stores and in friends' shops) and they're OK, but I have never seen the need to spend more for a tool than I need to and have always bought HFs, always on sale.
All my clamps are cheapies and, other than the occasional mark left when I used too thin a pad, I've had no problems with them. Bar, C, quickclamps (one early HF model was bogus, so one got tossed), pipe. All are imports and all work as stated. Spray a bit of lube on the threads, run them up and down half a dozen times to get the burrs off, and you're good to go for years. Not a prob.
With about 50 clamps, compared to Besseys, I'm easily $1,000 ahead. ($1.50-$5 each vs. $25 each) That's a lot of tools-worth.
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