Harbor Freight?

[Don Eddard]

Dead blow hammer, nitrile gloves. 2hp dust collector, casters, Forstner bits (cheap but they served me well for quite a few years), and 4 wheel furniture dollies have been good for me.

Air tools, regulators, compressors, and power hand tools have not been good for me.

YMMV.

[Frank Trinkle]

I purchase a lot of smalls from HF. I recently bought a tool stand for my Ridgid Oscillating sander, and it is great... once you decipher the assembly instructions!

I buy $.99 2-part epoxy a lot. (When you have a toddler around the house, you tend to repair a LOT of little items!)

Pipe clamps, hobby knife sets, gloves, misc clamps, and disposables. I haven't been very impressed with any of the power tools I've purchased there... but they are so cheap, they are considered disposable as well. All my hardwood wood screw clamps are from HF and work great. (Got them on one of their sales with the 12"'ers as low as $7.99)

Watch their sales...and flyers. Some great deals often.

[Bob Aquino]

I've got a couple of their smaller air nailers, an 18 gauge and 23 gauge. Both work well especially for the price. When they dont work, I'll chuck em.

[glenn bradley]

I do not advise buying taps and dies from HF. You will end up with a broken off tap in something you wish you had used a better tap on. Chinese HSS is usually TOO HARD,and TOO BRITTLE which is what you do not want in a tap. If the tap turns out to be soft as butter,you will be in an equal amount of trouble.

I'm with George. The tap thread count is off enough to make the fasteners bind. The short term cure was to run the HF die up and down the bolts and get a loose but useable fit until I could rebuild the item using quality inserts.

[Gene E Miller]

Greetings & Salutations,

I get the nitrate gloves all the time keep 3 or 4 boxes on hand and they do a good job.

I also have their oscillating spindle sander that I got on sale for $79 and am very happy with that.

I have the 21 gallon air compressor that I got on sale for $129.00 that is great to use outside and has wheels so its easy to move. Will keep my framing nailer going without running too much also.

Spring clamps are not bad but the bar clamp squeeze handle will break with just a moderate amount of hand pressure don't know how many of them I have hand to throw out.

I will go thru and browse every time I get near the store in Jonesboro or Memphis just to see what I can find. If you take your time you can find some bargins that will come in handy in the shop.

Gene

[Ray Phillips]

I have a HF floor drill press I bought over 20 years ago and it has done everything I wanted it to do. I am a casual woodworker and the press has not been used every day but it has been used alot over the 20 years and I have had no problems with it at all. I can't speak about the current models but the old ones were good.

[Don Dorn]

I have a HF less than a mile from my house so I'm a regular. That said, the major machinery in my shop is not HF, except the Dust Collector which is the $179 model. It works perfectly and has plenty of power.

I have many clamps, storage solutions, some air nailers, drill press table, gloves, pry bars, measuring tools, etc. Haven't been dissapointed with anything other than hole saws which lasted about 12 seconds.

If you have the need for something, go ahead and most often you'll be fine, but if it is something you know are going to use allot, then I'd spend the extra dimes and get a name brand tool.

[Chris Tsutsui]

Harbor freight is sort of addicting.

Put one of the best professional contractors near a harbor freight and i will gaurantee you that they will have some HF stuff in their shop because the prices makes things nearly disposable and almost everything there does what it's supposed to (Otherwise HF will take it back with their great return policy or warranty)

I got the extended warranty on their 2HP DC because I have some plans for it.

[dennis thompson]

I have their benchtop drill press & 2hp dust collector, both work fine. I bought their impact drill, it broke quickly, I brought it back & they exchanged it with no questions asked. I bought a couple of ratchet bar clamps, they were cheap but not very good at all, brought them back, again no questions asked & I got a refund. For the most part their stuff is ...some good..... some bad. I have to admit I love walking thru there
Dennis

[scott spencer]

...
So...what would be good from Harbor Freight versus, say Lee Valley or Woodcrafters?

I am looking at a near term purchase of a drill press among other things.

...

Clamps...the Pittsburg bar clamps are a bonafide inexpensive and functional bargain.

I've got the 38142 13" DP, and have been surprisingly impressed with it. One problem with HF machines is quality control, which means another 38142 may not be the same, so make sure any tool is returnable.

[Brad Wood]

Just don't buy their sandpaper - worst crap I've ever seen

other than that, I think I pretty much agree with everyone else. HF serves a great niche and its nice to have them around. Sort of like Radio Shack, I rarely go in there, but I'd hate it if they went out of biz.

[Tom O'Ryan]

I like the glue brushes,some of their clamps,their casters if you need some that aren't real heavy duty otherwise get them from Hartville tool.The 99 cent countersinks are alright. For the price the die grinders are ok