List tools have you found worthwhile or junk from HF?

I'd had pretty good luck with two of their tools I bought second-hand, a half-ton truck crane that I had to replace a valve on, and their 12-ton pipe bender. On the strength of that experience I bought their mortiser for my wife's furniture-making shop. Pure garbage. the worst excuse for a tool I have ever had the misfortune to try to use, and I have used many in the past 63 years. I took it back despite fearing I would be getting some poor slave executed. Everything about it was just pitiful, from the motor cap that could not withstand the impact when the poorly-packed tool slid inside the box as someone must have turned it on end, and thus jammed the fan seizing the motor, to the crapola bits and chisels that appeared to me to have been cast, not forged and hardened. Fixed the cap, freed the motor-- and found iIt would not so much as make a dent in soft pine much less cut a 1/4-inch mortise. Two days shot driving back and forth the 360 miles plus the gas. Never again HF!! And,while I know they can make some good stuff over there when they put their minds to it, you can't tell in advance, and so, if it says China, I am not buying it from here on.
 
I have their cordless 18V drill. Got it for Christmas 4 years ago. It's still going strong after driving over 2 buckets worth of deck screws into my 10x24 porch and 12x16 shed.

Stay away from any of their ratcheting wood clamps or C clamps. Every single one of them has cracked on me.
 
Their wet tile saw is well worth the $$$.

Cuts man made handle material like a dream.

Mine is 3 years old, and I figured if I got 1 year out of it, I would be ahead of the curve.
 
HF is a mixed bag. I do have a 10 inch hard rock dual grinder that has been a gem. 'has a heavy cast iron housing that acts a hear sink for the motor, much like a Baldour in appearance. I did have to replace the switch after a few years, no biggie. I have hogged many a profile on it, til it stalls. I suspect the HP rating is a bit over optimistic, but a great work horse. The small 6 inch bench grinders are doo doo.
 
coleslaw, how did that 4x36 HF sander workout? I am new to knife making and was debating HF's 1x30 or the 4x36 for profiling a knife. Everything I have seen thus far shows people using a 1x30 but they are very close in price now..?
 
It has been years since I bought anything from HF. And we have a great old style hardware store here in Mooresville, so I expect it will be years more before I buy any of that Chinese "product".

I've bought three of the little horizontal bandsaws. Two worked out very well, one was hopeless.

I has given a HF angle grinder that gave up the smoke in a few minutes of light use.

I own, and still have in my shop a cheap ass 12X36 HF lathe that has paid for its sorry self many times. When this poor abused lathe dies I'll buy another just like it in a minute. They had two styles in this size - this was the ugly one that was a tad more spendy.

A very useful thing they had was a "micro bit grab bag" box of 50 carbide circuit board bits for about $5. I bought two and wish I'da bought 20. The drills work with wood or plastic better than anything I've ever used, and the little miniature endmills are good in plastic and aluminum, and the rotary files (burrs) are good in a die grinder. Each individual bit is worth the cost of the entire box.

The ratchet straps are useful, but do break. Same can be said for the cheap zip ties.

I have a 6x48 belt\ disk sander that I use to sharpen my tungstens. Underpowered, but it has been a real trooper.

The Harbor Freight endmills are very versatile and can be used as fishing line weights, chess pieces, leaky dam plugs, and chucked at cars. In a pinch you might try cutting something with one, but I wouldn't recommend it.
 
I believe they go by Power Fist here in Canada, I have the portable bandsaw and it works great for me. I rigged up a base and power switch for it and it has cut a number of blanks out. So much easier than my jigsaw. I also picked up some clayworking tools, some of them bend with the slightest pressure but at least half of them are fine for clay and light leather work. Got them, the bandsaw and an extra blade for under $90, so it was worth it to me.
 
I have a 4 1/2" angle grinder that has worked well for several years, same with their 1/4" air die grinder. I just bought an air sheet metal sheer and one of the housing bolts snapped after 15 minutes. I exchanged it and plan to replace the bots with good ones before using it again. My $40 bench drill press works ok, but I abuse it by putting sanding drums in it and profile finger grooves, so now it drills triangular looking holes :) I use their smaller parts washer as a quench tank, which works but if you fill it too full, it leaks out the side where the wiring comes in for the pump. The punch and chisel set I got was soft and had to be re-heat treated. I bought a 2hp 1750 rpm motor which drives my 50 Lb. LG, and it has worked for light use, but I did over heat it the other day trying to forge a 1 1/4" dia. load shaft down to 1/4" bar stock.
 
Most of the stuff I've bought from HF has been pretty good. I use their bandsaw and dust collector almost daily with no issues. The only drill bits I buy come from HF; never had a problem with them. Cheap enough to just throw away after a while.

Never buy a bandsaw blade from HF. Absolute junk!
 
I have the 12 speed benchtop drill press and 4.5" grinder. So far both are working just fine but are nothing to write home about.

A note on the 4x36 belt machines, the platen area starts bending really fast so figure out a solution, like a glass or tile backer, early. I think it is too late for mine, I wouldn't trust it to bond properly and am adding a 2x42 craftsman anyway so that will get the glass platen face right off the bat. My 4x36 is the Hitachi, and it's a great machine, but that platen issue and the relatively limited selection of belts make it less than optimal overall. I'll probably keep using it for general profiling and wood working duties but nothing that must be perfectly flat and straight.
 
Their taps are terrible. Their air tools don't last. I did buy an angle drill that has worked well.
 
4-1/2" angle grinder (orange one) is pretty darn good and for the price it can't be beat. Just stay away from the HF grinding discs and other accessories, they suck! Also, the blue mechanics gloves are great substitutes for more expensive gloves though I don't use them much for knife making. Be careful though since they run large.
 
Have a bunch of stuff I bought from HF. 3 die grinders going strong after 10 years, full set of transfer punches, dust collector, blast cabinet, 4, 4.5, 7, 9 inch angle grinders all doing well. They do burn up after a while but cheap enough to replace 5 times for the cost of a Makita that burned up right after first use. and probably the best purchase was the 7x12" horiz vert band saw. I have made thousands of cuts with this thing. It is still true and going strong. I have even had their inexpensive measuring tools. They got me through Machine Shop training just as well as the guys using the more expensive tools. Plus I sold them for what I paid for them once I got my Starrett's and Mititoyo's. Plus when I dropped one I did not cry like when i drop one of my Satrrett's.
 
C-clamps - you can never have enough. The HF ones work pretty well.

Pry bars are alright, although hammering on the plastic handle will eventually crack and break it. After that, they become pretty good fire pokers.

I have a HF 4x6 bandsaw that this is the shiznit. Had the motor capacitor fail, so I solved it by putting in a real 1/2 HP farm duty motor. I also replaced the "gear oil" with real gear oil. That thing runs like a top now.

4 1/2 grinders are hit and miss. I bought two a couple years ago and the first one lasted about a year or so. The second one died within about an hour's use. Oh well, at $6 +/-, it was worth it. I have one now ($15 or so) that's still good after a couple years.
 
update on the metal chop saw since this thread is back, it burned up on the second cut I made with it. Motor smoking. I took it back for a refund. On the second cut that smoked the motor (1 inch square mild stock!) it also vivrated enough that it cracked the plastic parts taht should have been metal and were painted to look metal.

-Page
 
I used to live near one of the original HFs about 20 yrs ago. Everything I bought back then is still going strong, the rumor back then was that all the tools were name brand without the badging. Everything I've recently bought has had to be returned. :thumbdn:
 
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