Went to a Harbor Freight retail store today

Gossman Knives

Gossman Knives

Edged Toolmaker
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Apr 9, 2004
Messages
9,430
I was down in Baltimore today to run some arrands. There was a Harbor Freight store close by so I stopped to check out what they had. I was disappointed at the amount of cheaply made tools and machinery. I really can't comment on how the equipment works since I don't own any. I'm just going by cheaply made equipment and tools I've had that is similar to what they sell. Some of it may be fine, I would just be leary of buying something that could fail and cause an accident. I did purchase a face shield and metal dust pan while I was there. :)
Scott
 
Scott-

The first time I went to one I was like a kid in a candy store... TOOLS TOOLS TOOLS. But then when you start looking at the quality, it is quite dissapointing.

We've got a real nice one in WA, but most of the stuff is crap. I do buy things there like casters for when I build equipment... you can get heavy duty casters for like $4 each.

I wouldn't waste the money on anything serious there, like a drill press or lathe.

-Nick-
 
In the defense of Harbor Freight I disagree with you. I have used there $50 drill press for 16 years with no problems period, but I do need to replace the belt. I have a combo wood/steel 14" band saw for 10 years I just replaced the tires on the wheels I don't think that too bad and thy even had parts for a 10 year old machine. I have there Motor on my Coote grinder all I ever did is replace the toggle switch not bad for a 16 year old motor that is used every day. I have a metal band saw the one that can be used ether vertical or horizontal, been around for 6 or 7 years last year I put a new motor on it. I could not ask for better service no matter how much I paid for them. I bought a Lathe from them last year and have no complaints.
The only thing I have had trouble with is the Motor that comes with the machine thy are not the best but thy replaced several no questions asked.
If you do some research you will find that there machinery is made by the same company as a lot of other import tools are and the other receivers repaint the tools and put there name on them and charge more money for the tool.
I have used one of there ball pien hammers to forge a Hawk and a Proto hammer and could not see ANY difference in ether the forging the Hawk or the tests thy went through, thy were the same.
I guess if you have a lot of money to spend then go by the more expensive tools that may be the same thing. Gib
 
Was that the one off of Perring Parkway, or Ritchie highway? I have yet to stop in, their tools are cheap, but I don't know if that means cheap quality. My father and uncles have bought tools at that store, beaten the heck out of them and they still last. I've gotten tools for my truck at stores like WalMart and
 
I'll agree they sell a lot of crap ... a whole heck of a lot of crap.

But there's a few power tools they sell that have enough quality where it counts to get by. I'm in Gib's camp.

The most notable is the $169 bandsaw they sell. Untold millions of knife makers own that thing. The legs are el cheapo. So's the ... well lots of things. But it keeps on tickin'

I've seen the same tools sold with consumer 'name' brands for a whole heck of a lot more.

You can't compare them with real machine shop tools, but .....

Steve
 
Okay, you've got me on the el cheapo drill press. I use one of the $40 models and it works great for drilling indexing pin holes, and holes in sheaths.

But I wouldn't buy one of their big floor models.

I have a 9" angle grinder from them that's pretty crappy, but for $40 I can't/won't complain.

I have a lot of stuff in my shop that came from there, like my swiveling head bench vise... I guess I just don't have much faith in their "precision" equipment. Sorry, should have made that more clear. :)

-Nick-
 
WE finally got a HF store here in town and I must agree with Nick -- a lot of their stuff looks "cheap". BUT. I bought a 14" chop saw about a year ago and it still works great. The best part is it was less than $50 :D I also bought some "bar" clamps that work just as good as the Craftsman clamps my son bought for 5 or 6 times as much :rolleyes: Only thing so far that didn't work was one of those gagets for filling tires -- goes on the end of an air hose - has a big gauge with a trigger -- you know the one. I plugged it in and no air came out. I took it apart and found the packing nut at the trigger screwed right accross the main air passage :grumpy: I fixed it but shouldn't have had to.
 
Their stuff is okay on a general basis. It won't be top shelf and neither is the price.

RL
 
HF shtuff, for the most part, is made in China. That sends up a red (no pun intended) flag for me.
About 10 years ago the company I was working for sent several of our maintenance people and engineers to China to build a processing plant for McDonalds (french fries).
When these guys came back they brought with them some of the garbage that China calls tools. Most notable were the objects that resembled drill bits and files. You could put them in a vise and bend them to over 90 degrees with out breaking them! They were so soft that you couldn't even drill/file mild steel with them.
In order to get the plant built they had import power tools, nuts, bolts hand tools, etc (mostly from Taiwan and Japan) to get the quality materials they needed.
The Chinese seemed to have absolutely no concept of metalurgy or heat treatment.
Every time I get tempted to buy something that has made in China on it I can't help but think of this. I suppose that they have to have gotten better in the past several years, but the doubts do linger.

Mike
 
I won't buy hand tools that I'm going to use a lot there, but for the single use, or rarely used too that doesn't need to be precision, it's a great place. I have one about a mile from the house, and their So Cal distribution center about 20 minutes drive from here. I've bought a lot of stuff there and usually get what I expect. One of the cool things that most guys miss is a banding tool kit and supplies. I'm not sure I'd use the nylon strapping to hold a Bridgeport shipping crate together, but I've used it to hold a bulky $150.00 lb $15,000.00 speaker to a pallet and it held just fine.

They've got lots of stuff that you'd have to search hard or pay a lot for to get name brand stuff. My boss is a licensed plumber even though he owns a sales rep agency. He maintains his license for S&G but hasn't worked as a plumber in nearly 30 years. But once in a while he'll takle a home improvement project. Part of this involved adding a gas line in a grandmother apt. in his home. He searched far and wide for a pipe threading solution and ended up with a HF portable power threading machine. He paid $150.00 at HF. The Rigid version is over $1000.00. He was very happy with the tool as it did it's job well. He might never need it again, but in his Neighborhood, it probablly would have been at least a grand for what he did with it if a plumber had to be called.

John
 
Like most are saying....You get what you pay for. There is some stuff in my shop from there. Works fine for what I need. Wait for deals if you can.
 
Well I often jokingly say that I have the largest collection of HF tools this side of the Mississippi River... :D You certainly do get what you pay for, and being a cheap human I tend to buy good stuff when I need it and can afford it because often cheap stuff is a false economy. But I have seldom been disappointed in what I've bought from HF. This is probably because I'm pretty selective about what I get there.

I have the standard range of knifemaker's tools - bandsaw, diamond burrs for the Dremel, hammers of all kinds, buffer - and have been completely satisfied. I did buy a 55 lb anvil that makes a great shelf for my unfinished 5 foot diameter platen...but it looks cool anyway. I have the standard 7 X 10 lathe and a 3-in1 mill/drill/lathe. The latter isn't great but I do get some use out of it. It'd be much better if I new how to use machine tools but I'm just fumbling around in the dark with mittens on when it comes to machining anything. :rolleyes: Maybe I'd be more particular if I knew what I was doing.

I buy gloves, files, pliers, all kinds of disposable stuff there that I feel I'd just be throwing money away on elsewhere. If it werent for cheap HF files I would not have the huge collection of special-purpose tools that I do. And they're cheap enough to ditch if they become dull, which none have so far. Because of the heat treat issue I don't buy screw drivers there, or utility knife blades. Their abrasives suck eggs.

Most recently I bought a sandblast cabinet, and after the standard rebuilding phase it has been working great. Yes, it took some reengineering to get it to work its best but we're all good at that, I think. ;) I also bought a cheapo "optivisor" there for $5 that works great! It probably won't last long but so far it's been invaluable for me and for $5 I can replace it fairly often and still be ahead. In fact, over my lifetime I will have still saved "significant" money because I won't replace it that often.

All in all, I'd hate not to have HF to go to on a rainy Sunday afternoon. It's better than a candy store for a five year old!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top