Ya'll, There has been some mention of Harbor Freight Tools as a good resource for commonly used tools -- This is good news!
I recently went and for $27, bought, Plane, two bar clamps on sale for $3 and seven piece forstner bit set. If you have one local, go or go online.
I know where I am going to get those "little things" I need.
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Hey Tom. Suggestion: I put on a thin piece of wood with wing nuts to 1) act as a depth stop and 2) keeps the blade rigid. Just a thought. See my blog post for the pics.
Oh and tho they are cheap (low cost), I only use mine for light sawing and fretwork. Don't wanna wear it out. In fact, get a few.
-WY
Amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic.
Tom Lanford said:
Wes is right on the money about this item. Just bought a second saw for myself yesterday. Thinking of saving it back for fret work only for the time being and using my original for box cutting. The one I got yesterday was only $6.00 with a coupon. A real steal for what you get. Like Wesley Carl, I also have a hole saw set that has proved to be invaluable. It was cheap and I'm sure, cheaply made, but it works for what we do. Allows me to do anything from .75" to 5.0" for under $10.00.
And finally, Like Ken Farmer said, I too try and just buy stuff that's hard to screw up, and if you do, it's no great loss. Just bought some new brad tip drill bits from Woodcraft yesterday. Hoping to use them for drilling tuners holes in headstocks. They were expensive (for me) at roughly $5.00 each, but are made in Germany. Have to see how they compare in the long run to the cheaper Asian stuff.
Just my 2 cents - Cheers
Wes Yates said:
The one tool you MUST get in my opinion is the Japanese Flush Cut Saw. Its just about exactly the width of the Stew Mac fret tang. Everything else is China Depot but some stuff is good.
I've seen so many testimonials from you about this saw that I believe you. :-)
I've got a thinner kerf japanese flush cut saw from years ago and I've always enjoyed using it for cutting pegs flush, etc. I just got this for cutting fret and I'm really enjoying using. Next step is to add a screw-in depth stop: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=zona+saw+14+TPI+...
It's stiff, very sharp, 14 TPI, and has a 0.02" kerf.
Wes Yates said:
The one tool you MUST get in my opinion is the Japanese Flush Cut Saw. Its just about exactly the width of the Stew Mac fret tang. Everything else is China Depot but some stuff is good.
Wes is right on the money about this item. Just bought a second saw for myself yesterday. Thinking of saving it back for fret work only for the time being and using my original for box cutting. The one I got yesterday was only $6.00 with a coupon. A real steal for what you get.
Like Wesley Carl, I also have a hole saw set that has proved to be invaluable. It was cheap and I'm sure, cheaply made, but it works for what we do. Allows me to do anything from .75" to 5.0" for under $10.00.
And finally, Like Ken Farmer said, I too try and just buy stuff that's hard to screw up, and if you do, it's no great loss. Just bought some new brad tip drill bits from Woodcraft yesterday. Hoping to use them for drilling tuners holes in headstocks. They were expensive (for me) at roughly $5.00 each, but are made in Germany. Have to see how they compare in the long run to the cheaper Asian stuff.
Just my 2 cents - Cheers
Wes Yates said:
The one tool you MUST get in my opinion is the Japanese Flush Cut Saw. Its just about exactly the width of the Stew Mac fret tang. Everything else is China Depot but some stuff is good.
The one tool you MUST get in my opinion is the Japanese Flush Cut Saw. Its just about exactly the width of the Stew Mac fret tang. Everything else is China Depot but some stuff is good.
Anything you get there is the result of short-cuts in design, materials, and manufacturing. Contributing to the trade-imbalance is just the icing on the cake.
So, if I go there (or walmart for that matter) I try to mostly just buy tools that are hard to screw up. That means no tools in which the quality of the steel is important - like a knife, chisel, screw driver, etc. Rulers and plumb bobs are hard to screw up. I bought a bunch of clamps - and most of them broke!
I suppose if time & gas are infinite resources then I could just keep trying things, returning them, etc, etc. But they aren't so when you calculate time & gas it ends up costing me more to go to Harbour Freight than to go elsewhere.
Personally, I like all the little odd, hard to find elsewhere, tools that they sell. From my personal experience I turn my nose up at any tool they sell that has an electrical plug on it. I bought a battery float charger there that melted 3 days later. Bought a HVLP paint sprayer with a built in air pump, during operation it would get so hot you couldnt even hold it. Same thing with a 4" angle grinder... too hot to hold. Took them all back for refunds!!! The only thing I currently own with a plug from HF is a 16" variable spped scroll saw, so far no complaints.
Yeah, I heard bad things bout the power tools too. Paul Doug mentioned this. Good heads up!
Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) said:
Made one foray into the HF world and will never go there again. Don't know about the hand tools but the power tools are absolute garbage. Then again, you get what you pay for, as the saying goes...
Made one foray into the HF world and will never go there again. Don't know about the hand tools but the power tools are absolute garbage. Then again, you get what you pay for, as the saying goes...
Wes, I gotta tell you I'm in HF at least once a week and its like a women's shoe store for men. LOL. I always find something I never knew I needed and they always seem to help out in the shop. I'm only 15 minutes away and I don't know whether that's good or bad!
The great part is the thickness as per the package, is .024" or .6mm. Just .001" larger than the fretwire from StewMac. I tried it and its great. You could make a depth gauge on it real easy by gluing or otherwise attaching a 1/4" piece of oak as a depth "fence" on the sides (see fret saws in StewMac pages). $8USD online. $9 at the store here.
Replies
Oh and tho they are cheap (low cost), I only use mine for light sawing and fretwork. Don't wanna wear it out. In fact, get a few.
-WY
Amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic.
Tom Lanford said:
I've got a thinner kerf japanese flush cut saw from years ago and I've always enjoyed using it for cutting pegs flush, etc. I just got this for cutting fret and I'm really enjoying using. Next step is to add a screw-in depth stop:
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=zona+saw+14+TPI+...
It's stiff, very sharp, 14 TPI, and has a 0.02" kerf.
Wes Yates said:
Like Wesley Carl, I also have a hole saw set that has proved to be invaluable. It was cheap and I'm sure, cheaply made, but it works for what we do. Allows me to do anything from .75" to 5.0" for under $10.00.
And finally, Like Ken Farmer said, I too try and just buy stuff that's hard to screw up, and if you do, it's no great loss. Just bought some new brad tip drill bits from Woodcraft yesterday. Hoping to use them for drilling tuners holes in headstocks. They were expensive (for me) at roughly $5.00 each, but are made in Germany. Have to see how they compare in the long run to the cheaper Asian stuff.
Just my 2 cents - Cheers
Wes Yates said:
-WY
So, if I go there (or walmart for that matter) I try to mostly just buy tools that are hard to screw up. That means no tools in which the quality of the steel is important - like a knife, chisel, screw driver, etc. Rulers and plumb bobs are hard to screw up. I bought a bunch of clamps - and most of them broke!
I suppose if time & gas are infinite resources then I could just keep trying things, returning them, etc, etc. But they aren't so when you calculate time & gas it ends up costing me more to go to Harbour Freight than to go elsewhere.
Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) said:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=39273
The great part is the thickness as per the package, is .024" or .6mm. Just .001" larger than the fretwire from StewMac. I tried it and its great. You could make a depth gauge on it real easy by gluing or otherwise attaching a 1/4" piece of oak as a depth "fence" on the sides (see fret saws in StewMac pages). $8USD online. $9 at the store here.
WooooT!
-Wes
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