Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[John_Mc]

The "stuff" expands to fit the space available.

After probably 10 years of our cars and my tractor never getting to see the inside of our garage (2 car bays and a tractor bay) with all of my wife's woodworking projects and my various projects/tools/junk taking up the space, we built a nice 24x26 shop for my wife, and I got the walk-out basement underneath it for my stuff. I think our cars saw the garage for about 3 months. The tractor never got inside. The space is all full again now (including the debris from my 16 year-old son's stop and go efforts to build a tiny house).

Within a year of these photos, it was full enough that you need to find your way through carefully.

 

[KubotainNH]

The "stuff" expands to fit the space available.

After probably 10 years of our cars and my tractor never getting to see the inside of our garage (2 car bays and a tractor bay) with all of my wife's woodworking projects and my various projects/tools/junk taking up the space, we built a nice 24x26 shop for my wife, and I got the walk-out basement underneath it for my stuff. I think our cars saw the garage for about 3 months. The tractor never got inside. The space is all full again now (including the debris from my 16 year-old son's stop and go efforts to build a tiny house).

Within a year of these photos, it was full enough that you need to find your way through carefully.

Nice but where's the good HF tools?

 

[PILOON]

Nice but where's the good HF tools?

LOL, are their really any?
OK, some are OK for the that one job but 4 sure not 'top notch professional'.

On the other hand when I read 'professional' (tool) I generally shy away.
You gotta do research to really find true 'professional tools', and they do cost more but if you are a tradesman the investment will pay off.
One trick is to find web sites that do tests and rate tools.
Not always the most hyped tool is actually the best.
The term professional quality' is my first 'turn off'.

Some brands can be relied on. Hitachi and Makita INMHO shine above the hype.

 

[dragoneggs]

Quality tools are indeed expensive... Germany has some excellent brands, Fein, Bosch, Knipex are some that I respect.

 

[4570Man]

Quality tools are indeed expensive... Germany has some excellent brands, Fein, Bosch, Knipex are some that I respect.

I paid good money for a pair of Knipex side cutters and I think they were worth it. Channel Lock brand has went to crap. I’ll never buy anything else from them. If I want good I’ll pay for Klein or Knipex. If I want cheap I’ll buy Doyle brand from HF. They’re actually pretty good and I believe them to be Klein seconds. A large percentage of my tool collection is Bosch and I generally believe them to be top notch. I’ve got the Bosch job site table saw and for a $600 piece I’m disappointed. The first one smoked a motor before the first blade was worn out. The second replacement one doesn’t sound a lot better. I don’t like the fence either. I was working construction with it so most of what I was doing was 3/4 thick and I only ripped a few pieces at a time. It certainly wasn’t overworked or the duty cycle exceeded.

 

[sixdogs]

Does anyone have a recommendation for reasonably priced flare nut wrenches? How are the HF ones? I bought some cheap ones years ago and they were junk.

I have S-K. Priced reasonable and excellent quality. Not a Snap On or Proto but close enough for me.

 

[tjkubota93]

This is about the way my stuff is done,your draws look as mine do if I didn't know better I would think I was looking into my box. I like it this way and tools get put back where they belong,goo choice.

Thanks all my stuff is that way. I worked on commission as a mechanic. So if I couldn't find something, it cost me money. Now I have to be efficient with time to make sure I can go to work, work ot, maintain everything at home and do family stuff. I find myself trying to minimize trips back and forth in the house for things.

 

[tjkubota93]

I did the same. When the new gen 2 4 drawer and 5 drawer were both out/in-stock/on coupon for $99.99 and $149.99 I said to myself that it was not worth $50 extra for the 1 more drawer.... But I did not know that it was a deeper top compartment, latching drawers and the extra drawer for that $50 up charge. So I have 2 of the 4 drawer black carts, I may give one to my freshly returned Marine and buy myself a Kuboter Orange 5 drawer tool cart if they ever go back to the $149.99 price. (That is not an accident, I call it a "Coo-Bow-Ter" all of the time to further annoy my wife).

Maybe for black Friday they will go back down for 3 days and I can score one? I should have just bought both of mine as the 5 drawer and been done with it. Stupid me.

I'm trying to not repeat that all to common mistake where I cheap out, sell or give away and then buy what I should have in the first place.

My next big move in garage stuff is a HF 72". Then... Ball joint press, all of the adapters, 20 ton shop press for pressing Dana/Spicer semi float bearings and tone rings on and off, and some other larger shop tools that I typically borrow as I am constantly busting my jeep up. Yea, the one that is broke again now.

This time I did so good that I crushed a section of the frame, tore a wire harness to the rear ABS/VSS, smashed the front unit bearing into submission and caved in the passenger door and bed side. But man.... it was one **** of a show I put on at "The Grinder" rock section!

There are nicer ball joint presses for similar money.

I have the adapter kit. It's well worth the money.

 

[California]

I paid good money ... got the Bosch job site table saw and for a $600 piece I'm disappointed. The first one smoked a motor before the first blade was worn out. The second replacement one doesn't sound a lot better. I don't like the fence either. I was working construction with it so most of what I was doing was 3/4 thick and I only ripped a few pieces at a time. It certainly wasn't overworked or the duty cycle exceeded.

Wow. I bought the HF $129 table saw (Actually the identical saw with Home Depot's 'Skil' logo on it) and spent a couple of days ripping old dry lumber to make tree props. Even hit a rusty nail occasionally which didn't slow it down nearly as much as I expected. The saw worked as I had hoped in this hard-as-iron old lumber - mostly 2x6 etc and some 4x. I didn't replace the blade during the project. The saw paid for itself in that one project. ... That should be HF's motto for their cheaper stuff!

The next project (with a new blade on it) was frames for an artist's canvases, cut with a slight bevel. It seemed to work as well as a more expensive saw would. That first abusive project hadn't hurt it any.

 

[dragoneggs]

I paid good money for a pair of Knipex side cutters and I think they were worth it. Channel Lock brand has went to crap. I’ll never buy anything else from them. If I want good I’ll pay for Klein or Knipex. If I want cheap I’ll buy Doyle brand from HF. They’re actually pretty good and I believe them to be Klein seconds. A large percentage of my tool collection is Bosch and I generally believe them to be top notch. I’ve got the Bosch job site table saw and for a $600 piece I’m disappointed. The first one smoked a motor before the first blade was worn out. The second replacement one doesn’t sound a lot better. I don’t like the fence either. I was working construction with it so most of what I was doing was 3/4 thick and I only ripped a few pieces at a time. It certainly wasn’t overworked or the duty cycle exceeded.

I can't speak for the Bosch bench tools. I absolutely love my Knipex pliers wrenches and cobra wrenches. Very expensive. These are perfect to put on your xmas list for your family members that don't have a clue on what to get you. They will raise their eyebrows but... They can buy you one each year off of amazon. That reminds me... I need to make that little list!