Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Paul Doug on November 9, 2009 at 6:19am

Just my opinion, I'd steer clear of their power hand tools and any other power tools that you haven't seen highly recommended. I had one of their small drill presses, I gave it away. Their 2hp dust collector is a great buy when on sale, but the bags that come with it leave something to be desired. I added a canister filter to mine. They sale a wood lathe that is highly recommended when on the sale price, this one http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=34706. I paid $179 on sale, used it about 3 years and sold it for $150 (I upgraded). If you go to a good wood working forum like Sawmill Creek and ask, you will receive honest answers. Just ask around and only buy what is highly recommended of their tools. I have some of their tools and they are fine, but I asked around before I bought a particular item. I have lots of their clamps.

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on November 13, 2009 at 4:43pm

Here is a great tool that I picked up today at HF (China Depot -- Good one Mort).

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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Permalink Reply by Al Allen (Hangten) on November 13, 2009 at 6:50pm

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!

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Permalink Reply by Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) on November 13, 2009 at 8:28pm

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...

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on November 14, 2009 at 10:04am

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...

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Permalink Reply by Tracy Kennedy on April 18, 2010 at 1:50am

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.

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Permalink Reply by ken farmer on April 18, 2010 at 4:30am

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.

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on April 18, 2010 at 5:50am

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.

-WY

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Permalink Reply by Tom Lanford on April 18, 2010 at 7:19am

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.

-WY

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Permalink Reply by ken farmer on April 18, 2010 at 8:33am

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.

-WY

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on April 18, 2010 at 2:59pm

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.

-WY

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