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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on January 27, 2010 at 4:21am

Noooooooooo. I wouldn't buy any power tools from HF (some may disagree). Hand tools and so forth. Sure. Power tools. No.

$.10

-WY

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Permalink Reply by Bob Harrison on January 27, 2010 at 4:24am

My shop is packed with Harbor Freight tools. You can't beat their guarantee and price. I have only returned a few items over the years. But on sandpaper, sanding belts and metal cutting files, I buy made in the USA only. It has been my experance the made in USA, to be specific Norton brand abrasives have lasted and cut the best. Abrasives from China have not proven to be a great value for me.

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Permalink Reply by Randy Webb on January 27, 2010 at 4:26am

If I was gonna use it all the time for heavy duty stuff, then I'd spend $140 bucks and get a small one at Lowes or Home Depot.

For $30 tho, I can round enough necks to pay for the better one before it breaks down..... I hope. lol

I understand where your coming from tho. Bought a cheap drill once and it wobbled right out of the box. haha



Wes Yates said:

Noooooooooo. I wouldn't buy any power tools from HF (some may disagree). Hand tools and so forth. Sure. Power tools. No.

$.10

-WY

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Permalink Reply by Jason Hitesman on January 27, 2010 at 5:58am

I have to vote for the opposite of what Wes said. I wouldn't touch the hand tools from HF, lifetime warranty or not, but most of the power tools are incredible deals. The $20 angle grinders take a beating like no other, mine is 10 years old and still on the original brushes despite lots of abuse - my friends miluwakee costs more than that for new brushes...and he goes through brushes about once a year with less use than my HF grinder.

I actually have a friends belt/disc sander from HF on loan right now and it works great. I just pick up good belts for it instead of the cheapies at HF. I'll agree with Bob about Norton abrasives (though having worked for a competitor of theirs I shouldn't...but the competitor doesn't sell to the public) on the consumer level the Norton stuff is tough to beat. I spent a few years doing metal work and would go through 2-3 belts a day deburring cut tubing until we switched to Norton belts - they'd last at least a week and sometimes almost two weeks. Cut faster for the same grit too. They may have cost more but they ended up saving us money.

I wouldn't buy anything you want high precision from at HF. I have one of their mini drill presses and it was horrible - though after some re-working it's now quite good for about 98% of the things I want a drill press for.

But the hand tools from HF? Never had a good experience. Chisels were dull and don't take an edge. Screwdrivers and wrenches aren't well sized and strip heads. Same for sockets. Socket wrenches explode with very little pressure on them. T handles bend. Yeah, they replace them free but so what if you just get another tool back that won't do the job it was designed to do?

Thinking about it now though I guess I did have 2 good experiences with hand tools. A set of jewelers screwdrivers that are the best I've ever had. And a torque wrench. Had a friend who works at the local marine base take the torque wrench in to check it's calibration in their shop and it was dead on - my "old trusty" Craftsman torque wrench I had trusted more than the HF cheapie turned out to be pretty far off.

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on January 27, 2010 at 5:58am

I think someone called Harbor Freight "China Depot". I still shop there and will buy hand tools there. Drill bits, hammers, etc.

-WY

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Permalink Reply by RL Mott on January 27, 2010 at 6:16am

Great sandpaper (quality & price compared to Norton) ....
http://www.woodworkingshop.com/

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Permalink Reply by O-DAD on January 27, 2010 at 5:42pm

i have a 1"belt sander from harbor and it has worked fine now for a year,plus at that price i feel like i got my moneys worth if it just lasted 1 year,cheap tools gotta luv em!

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