Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[MoArk Willy]

Another kind of tumbler - I bought HF's smaller cement mixer hoping to knock the hulls off of walnuts..

And somewhere there is a guy with a nutcracker trying to mix concrete.

 

[California]

Yeah. That was an experiment that turned out to be a waste of time.

 

[zoedog2012]

When I was very young Mom put freshly picked gooseberries in the dryer to de-stem them, remember eating lots of gooseberry jam!

 

[MoArk Willy]

Yeah. That was an experiment that turned out to be a waste of time.

Nonsense. Edison failed nearly 100 times before he perfected the light bulb.
Failures are not wastes of time if you learn from them.

 

[California]

Nonsense. Edison failed nearly 100 times before he perfected the light bulb.
Failures are not wastes of time if you learn from them.

Well yeah. I was raised on Tom Swift, I have some of that Edison curiosity.

 

[bigtiller]

Another kind of tumbler - I bought HF's smaller cement mixer hoping to knock the hulls off of walnuts. Since the final output is food I used bolts for the abrasive, to not leave any residue.

Nothing I tried worked.

I sold the mixer.

What size bolts did you use?
I use rocks about softball size or bigger.
5 gallon of black walnuts, half gallon ~ of water, 6 rocks and let it spin maybe 15 minutes.

 

[California]

What size bolts did you use?
I use rocks about softball size or bigger.
5 gallon of black walnuts, half gallon ~ of water, 6 rocks and let it spin maybe 15 minutes.

I didn't use anything that large, maybe half inch by 6 inch bolts up to a little larger. The hulls were like sponges in absorbing abrasion. An hour run didn't do much.

I don't have the climate to effectively dry them in the sun before tumbling. Often fog or at least wet grass until 11am. I'm a few miles inland from the ocean. I don't think they were dry enough.

That was the second year, the first year I stripped them by hand scraping on expanded metal mesh and that was more productive than tumbling them. After this I haven't tried anything else, there's too much going on in the summer to put time into this project. Now the walnuts are left for the squirrels.

 

[Travelover]

..............That was the second year, the first year I stripped them by hand scraping on expanded metal mesh and that was more productive than tumbling them. After this I haven't tried anything else, there's too much going on in the summer to put time into this project. Now the walnuts are left for the squirrels.

For two years in a row, we've used a pressure washer to take off the hulls. Use a milk crate to hold them while blasting. Then put them in the attic to dry out.

 

[hunt4570]

I already have the leveler. What I'm looking to do it modify the legs so I can lift heavy (up to 1000lbs) woodworking equipment.

That's what your FEL is for..

 

[Handloader109]

to remove walnut hucks you need to find an old corn sheller. has teeth that removed dried corn from the cob. works great to remove the husks especially when they are getting dry.

 

[newbury]

Subject - Rolling tool cabinets
I've only a couple, (see pic) but I missed the sales when HF decided to clear out the the narrower 20" cabinets and moved up to the 22" deep cabinets
Now for example the 26" base costs as much as the base plus top chest used to.
Now I see the "Icon" brand being sold at 5 times the price!!
Are they going to clear out the US General?
What makes the Icon toolbox worth 5 of the US General?
/edit - also what's the YUKON 46", 9 DRAWER MOBILE STORAGE CABINET WITH SOLID WOOD TOP like? (besides cheap)

 

[Rock Crawler]

I went and looked at all the new icon boxes, and to me they're really not much different from the old US general. I believe what they're doing is using a change in naming convention and change in the style that the boxes are being built to copy so that they can justify the pricing.

I completely feel that the US general 4 and 5 drawer carts are still a pretty good bargain out there, and honestly the Harbor Freight US general 72 inch base tool box on sale for $999 is still an amazing value. I have the US general 4 drawer cart, and the 72 inch base with the 54 inch topper oh, and I don't think that the icon series is really a worthy step up for the immense money that it would take to do it.

I have the 72 inch base width 54 inch top and a left and a right hang on side attachment 1 being the shelved wardrobe in the other being the tool drawer thing. I have under $2,000 total invested in mine buying when they were on sale. you cannot buy the icon bottom box for under $2,000 or even near that.

As an at-home shop user who works 3 days a week in my garage with my tools I imagine that the US general tool boxes will last me for the rest of my life. maybe the plastic drawer latches will break, and that would not bother me at all. My box is stationary in the back of the shop and I'm never going to roll it around.

I think the icon series boxes to look neat and they have some features that are desirable and make me slightly jealous, but not to the point that I want to sell my $2,000 worth of boxes and replace them with $10,500 worth of equivalent icon boxes. when I was at the store I looked at the prices on the icon stuff to recreate what I have in my shop now and it would move me literally from $2,000 cost to $10,500 cost. And that's the wrong that I'm not able to get past. there is absolutely no way you'll ever convince me that it's worth $8,500 to move up to the icon boxes. Or any other brand of box you want to suggest for $10,000, because again I work on my seven vehicles that I own plus my friends and family vehicles and my equipment for my property. I don't get paid to work on anyting, I paid for the parts that I spend my time. A ten-thousand-dollar toolbox doesn't do anything for me.

 

[crazyal]

That's what your FEL is for..

My woodworking shop is 16x30 built on piers. There's no way to get the tractor inside. But if I can mount a quick attach to the engine lift mount to the loader it'll reach into the door. Since it's the folding style I can lift the legs up.

 

[hunt4570]

My woodworking shop is 16x30 built on piers. There's no way to get the tractor inside. But if I can mount a quick attach to the engine lift mount to the loader it'll reach into the door. Since it's the folding style I can lift the legs up.

Just curious, why do you need to lift that big woodworking equipment? And whatcha got that weighs 1000 pounds, big planer or something? All my woodworking equipment is on mobile bases but I don't think I have anything that heavy. I think my 16" planer is my heaviest and about 450 I think.

 

[Diggin It]

Why do they call their 4 pound hand sledge an 'engineer's hammer'? That would be a mechanic's hammer. Mechanics get bigger hammers. Engineers get sharper pencils.

 

[California]

For driving surveyor's stakes.

 

[stuckmotor]

I think I read that in the days of steam, engineers was the term for what we now call mechanics. I think the source was a publication I bought from Lindsay Publications, possibly Echoes from the Oil Country.

 

[dragoneggs]

Just curious, why do you need to lift that big woodworking equipment? And whatcha got that weighs 1000 pounds, big planer or something? All my woodworking equipment is on mobile bases but I don't think I have anything that heavy. I think my 16" planer is my heaviest and about 450 I think.

Kind of wondering the same. I have several tools and a solid workbench that are in the 400lb range. Still nice to have an engine lift to move stuff around occasionally. I too try to have most everything on wheels due to the limited shop space.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Kind of wondering the same. I have several tools and a solid workbench that are in the 400lb range. Still nice to have an engine lift to move stuff around occasionally. I too try to have most everything on wheels due to the limited shop space.

I used my HF portable crane to lift my HF 20 ton press. I built a mobile base for the press so, was going to lift it up, onto the mobile base. I decided, while it was in the air, to remove the angle iron bases and drill them on my HF 13" drill press.



The press frame hung on the crane overnight and I was pleased that it didn't drop a bit hanging that long.







I'll get it all put back together next day or two.