Harbor Freight goes the extra mile!

Needed a roofing nailer. Called both Harbor Freight stores in the area, one had none, the other had one 11 gage, which, near as anybody can tell, doesn't work with standard nails of the kind you get at Home Despot or Lowes or Bradco or the rest.

Well, I was checking my credit card balance preparatory to biting the bullet and getting a Bostich, when the manager at Harbor Freight called and told me that he had found two of the 10 gage magnesium nailers, so he's holding one for me.

I really didn't expect him to do that.

Reply to
J. Clarke
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I have a HF 6:1 nailer that I've never really used. It would take Hercules to lift the thing all day (and it likes to double-nail). It's huge! I've been looking for another nailer but can't decide (looking at DeWalt, PC, and Hitachi). Seems everyone has an opinion (both good and bad) about all of them. Sometimes too much research doesn't pay. ;-)

I bought a Bostich siding nailer off the eBay. It leaked a little air but worked long enough, well enough, to side the garage two years ago. I bought an O-ring kit but never got a round-tuit. I was going to put it on eBay with a half a case of SS nails, but again, no tuits of any shape.

Like anywhere else, it really depends on the individuals. Some like what they're doing.

Reply to
krw

SNIP

They must be working on their image and service. I was in the store here a couple of weeks ago to buy some of those leather work gloves they sell by the dozen and some nitrile gloves.

The store was really clean... I thought I was in the wrong place! The people there were friendly, which is important as I still can't figure out the store layout.

Who knows; HF, HD, and others may meet somewhere in the middle. As the quality of tools at the box stores continues to inch downward and the overall quality of the tools at HF seem to be going up, it could make things interesting.

Every once in a while the HF here has refurb Porter Cable and DeWalt tools. They don't sell them discounted enough to make you buy something you don't need, but it was a surprise to see some DeWalt hand tools there.

The whole store still smells like uncured rubber, though.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

FWIW, so far I've had good luck with HF air tools. I don't use them in a production shop and so can't say how they'll hold up in heavy use though.

Reply to
J. Clarke

I hope you post some results. They could make an interesting alternative to the main nailing equipment. A couple of sales ago, I spotted an interesting 15 ga, magnesium bodied angle finish nailer. The sales price was $79, regular price was $119. That same nailer now is $79 all the time.

Comparing it to one of my friend's Grip Rite (jobbed out no doubt - they are nail and screw sellers) which sells for $169, it is the same. Same head, same trigger, same magazine. He took his back and bought the HF gun for $79 and bought a three year store exchange warranty for $7.99, and couldn't be happier.

As a donation to one of our financially challenged school, I bought them some brad nailers when they had them at the famous HF sidewalk sale. I paid a whopping $7 each for them. There were three; one broke from being dropped so much, one was stolen at the end of the year but worked fine for a whole school year of abuse, and the other one is still getting the snot beat out of it but working fine.

Like I said, at least on some products, the line is fuzzier and fuzzier on what the price/quality offerings are.

On a different note, we just had the semi annual HF sidewalk sale here. It looked like a flea market of old tools they were getting rid of to make room for new stuff.

I checked out their 10" and 12" sliding compound miter saw. Wow... it was like driving a truck without suspension down an old country road. Rough doesn't cover it; it felt like I was grinding metal.

Yet the manager told me he sells a lot of them, sometimes two - three at a time. He sells to deck builders and wood playground equipment guys, flooring installers and to the folks that put up those outdoor wooden sheds/shops. The saws are a very affordable $149 for the 10" and $199 for the 12", and that's the regular price. According to him, no complaints from the guys that use them for that kind of work.

Although they they are sold as SCMS tools, I sure couldn't see them being used for that! I don't think you could sneak up on a mark as rough as those were. On the other other hand, the 12" has a laser sight for that price!

At any rate, I do hope you post some results. I wouldn't mind a backup gun that was pretty reliable. My Bostitch dealer that worked on my guns free (if I bought his nails) is gone. So the next best guys will work on their products only, which is Hitachi, and a could of others. They don't handle Bostitch, which makes up about 8 of my main nailers.

If I take them my Bostitch guns to work on, they have a $65 bench fee, they charge $39 for an "O" ring overhaul kit, and any hard parts are extra.

In a hard comparison, the HF 93253 looks an awful lot like one of my older Bostitch guns. So it begs the question; replace the gun entirely for $79, or rebuild the old mule for $104?

Like I said, I do hope you post results.

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

Also had good luck with 3/8" pneumatic drill used with sanding flap wheels.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

Between the very late start and dinking with the air pressure, I only got one bundle down before dark yesterday. At 80 psi it was doubling on me almost every time, at 100 it's working a treat. Shooting Grip Rite 1-1/4" nails in 5/8 OSB with Prestique 40s, once I got the air presure adjusted it put the nail exactly flush every time.

Don't have a lot to do with it, half a roof at this point, so won't be giving it a very thorough workout.

My feeling would be, since you have several guns, risk the 79 bucks and if it lasts 3/4 as long as the rebuild would you're golden, and if it dies young, well, these days 80 bucks isn't all that much money.

Reply to
J. Clarke

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