What HF Stuff Is In Your Shop?

[Dave Lehnert]

Some people seem to take great pride in not owning Harbor Freight stuff. Thats fine, Nothing wrong with that. I just think when shopping, you should not discount any store just because of name. I own some Harbor Freight stuff and it has worked well for my needs. Why spend $80 for a name brand Heat Gun when the Harbor Freight $10 gun works very well, Again for my needs. For a painter it may be junk. But for me to heat some shrink tubing, doing small electrical projects on my car or lawn equipment, it's just the ticket.
I purchased a Harbor Freight gear type wrench for the arbor nut on my JET cabinet saw. $14 and it seems to be very good quality. Anyone that wants to spend the big $$$ for a Snap-On for the same purpose, knock yourself out. I just rather spend the money I saved on something for the family like dinner out or a movie.

[hank dekeyser]

Lots and lots - well OK not that much. When I want to wreck it or don't "need" a good tool I buy HF - I'm a cheap skate and the money I save on the tools I don't use often enough , goes to the tools I depend on to make a living. My favorite HF tool is the 1/2" corded impact gun , looks exactly like my buds Matco gun - It's been driving lag bolts and stuff for building decks for 3-1/2 seasons now with no problems. If you know what you need and how you're going to use it, it doesnt matter where you buy your tools. If I buy a HF tool and decide its a POS - I just return it.

[Robert Strebler]

I've got a HF 2hp DC. The dust collector works awesome - especially for the $150 I paid for it on sale. I also have the 8" jointer which isn't going to make any woodworkers jealous, but does the job well.

Some cheap stuff.
A bunch of F clamps which are OK, but not on par with the name brands.
Some hammers and a deadblow which are a bargain.
A 23 gauge pinner.

[Tom Godley]

I have a HF near a client of mine -- I stop in every couple of months. It is a fun 1/2 hour just to walk around and I have noticed that some items are the same as sold by other retailers.

The small hand grinder that I bought for $16.00 to do a small job has been great and they sell the same Norton offshore wheels that everybody else does for twice the price.

Mostly, I have purchased a lot of small "I may use" items -- and end up using them.

Like the 2' long screwdrivers that I picked up for $5.00 -- They came in handy when I needed to replace a screw for the power seat in my car.

The dollies for $10.00 each and the $30.00 hand truck have been used a lot as have the bun-gee cords/ straps and furniture tarps for picking up and then moving/ protecting the new tools I have purchased.

I have bought a couple of the $10.00 magnetic lights to light up my band saw and drill press as well the $29.00 articulated fluorescent magnifying light for one of my benches.

I tend to pick up the items "on sale" -- some are hard to pass up. Like the $5.00 12v auto test light with a 5 foot cord.

The stuff is not Snap-on quality and obviously will not hold up like it but many of the items have been handy to have and most have performed as expected.

The other day I was in the store and happened to look at a drill press -- I was surprised what you can get for $225.00. The quality of press was better than before.

I like to purchase US made products -- I never go to Walmart because I do not wish to support that kind of retailer -- but we have long ago lost the battle on the stuff that HF sells.

[Dan Gill]

The 2HP dust collector, a small compressor, and a few clamps.

[Stephen Edwards]

I've got a HF 2hp DC. The dust collector works awesome - especially for the $150 I paid for it on sale. I also have the 8" jointer which isn't going to make any woodworkers jealous, but does the job well.

Robert......I have the same HF 2HP DC that you got for $150. I think I paid $160 for mine on sale and with a coupon. I looked at a couple of name brand ones that sell for considerably more and look identical to the HF DC except for the color scheme. My guess is that they came off the same assembly line. Mine, too, is awesome. It provides all the DC that I need in a shop.

A while back I put together a home made separator for the DC unit. One of these days, when I get "around to it", I'm gonna try one of the Phil Thien baffles on the separator. Even without the baffle, it has made the chore of emptying the bag much less of a hassle because I don't have to do that as often. You can see the separator that I rigged up for less than $20 in fittings at this page:

http://stephenedisonedwards.com/dust...seperator.html

Like so many others in this thread have said......There are some good tools and some bad tools at HF. Their 2HP DC unit provides all the DC that I need or want in my shop.

[Paul Johnstone]

Good stuff I have gotten there:
acid brushes used for applying glue
An air powered cutoff wheel that uses an excessive amount of air, but for occasional use it is fine.
A cast iron grinder stand that is excellent.
Two steel framing hammers that are fine.
3/4" pipe clamps.. these were hit and miss, but most were adequate.

Bad stuff:
Adjustable wrenches
Pittsburg pliers set.. the wire cutters dull quick, the closing action on the plyers is bad. IMO, it's worth the extra $$ for Channel locks.
I tossed a few blades I got from them.

I had a HF angle grinder which vibrated a lot and did not last very long (maybe 10-15 hours). It was cheap though.

I have not been in that store for many years. I think there's a few gems there, but quality is very spotty. In the long run, I don't think you save money after you throw away the bad drill bits, jig saw blades, etc. Also, it adds a lot of aggravation when something does fail on you. That far outweighes the occasional gem for me.

[Rod Sheridan]

Being Canadian, I don't have any HF stuff.

We do have a store which is similar, called Princess Auto, they have aisle after aisle of Chinese "stuff".

I've been there a couple of times, bought a couple of disposable items, and haven't been back.

A cow-orker purchased an angle grinder from them, their house brand is "Power Fist". It apparently lasted about 10 minutes before catching fire.

I don't think he shops there any longer.

I guess I try to not buy Chinese stuff, and try to buy North American tools as much as possible.

I have to admit however that I may be going away from North American machinery in favour of Austrian machinery.


Regards, Rod.

[Todd Crawford]

We have those Cummins Tool sales that come around a couple of times a year selling stuff very similar to Harbour Frieght. I bought a dremel type tool from them when I first became interested in wood and I think it lasted 3 or 4 minutes. At least it came with enough attachments that I could still use when I bought a decent one that it wasn't a total loss. But it was not a real good experience.

[Jerry Booher]

I had a HF 14" abrasive cut-off saw. The blade could not be adjusted to be 90 degrees to the base so I sold it for $30 on CL. I replaced it with a $180 Bosch made in Germany. It arrived in a nice Bosch box with "Made in China" on it. It is identical, really identical to the HF and obviously was made in the same factory.

However, it cuts 90 degrees.

Jerry

[Mike Buelow]

$20 1/4" chuck mini router. Switch fell apart in first hour of use. Replaced the switch and now I use it 10x more often than my big Hitachi plunger, which retails for 15x.

[Eric Schniewind]

I think this has been a very interesting post, if I can say so.

So based on what I read here and my young shop needs, I bought the following the other day:

1 9" Quick Release WW vise - on sale for $54.95

2 10" Wood screw clamps - $5.99 each

2 3" Spring clamps - $1.99 each

1 Wooden Bench Brush - $1.99

And I nearly picked up a corded drill but couldn't pull the trigger at the last minute. I also need to go back and pick up a drill guide to make my bench dog holes in the budget workbench I'm building.

I'm currently wrestling with the concept of buying only what I need for whatever project I'm working on. But also with the idea that being in the middle of putting something together and suddenly having to go out and buy something to get it done is frustrating.

Anyway, cheers all and thanks for all the responses.

Happy New Year.

[John Towns]

I was reading through this post with interest...so much so that I drove over to the local HF store this afternoon. I picked up a few items, none of them electric. I got a 48" level. They had some glass coasters which seemed a bit out of place in the store. I do have a brad nailer from HF that has worked well for me. I have used it when I installed hardwood floors in our house.

[Greg Hines, MD]

The only HF I have is some el-cheapo chisels that I use for rough work.

Doc

[Alan DuBoff]

I was looking around and can't spot anything from HF. Oddly, I have been to their site many times, and have some similar tools, like a Grizzly mini-mill that is like their mini-mill with a different spindle taper.

Kinda proud of myself that I don't have any of their tools...