The end of Harbor Freight Tools????

[a1gutterman]

Harbor Freight=nothing I want to buy there.

[mickyd]

Harbor Freight=nothing I want to buy there.

Their Hershey bars are made in PA...

[Ed in Tampa]

Did you go there expecting stainless steel aircraft quality bolts or did you get what you went there for - inexpensive (aka cheap).

Dusty
I thought I would get what I paid for but I believe I paid for fair to good bolts and got poor to very poor. I visited my relatives in PA and they took me to a place where I could buy bolts, screws, nuts, etc by the pound. I got twice as many for what I paid for at HF and so far not one bolt, screw, nut has failed. There were all machine bolts and screws not wood. I took all my HF screws bolts with their plastic cases and pitched them.

I still have an assortments of "O' rings, clevis pins, cotter pins, and square keys. My better judgment is to pitch them but I am a glutton for punishment and have kept them around.

I think my visit to PA has probably given me enough stock I won't have to buy any bolt or nuts in this life time. My next trip there I will see if they have keys, clevis pins, o rings and etc and stock up on them also.
My wood screws now come from Woodcraft the Highpoint series which I love.

[shipwright]

I am quite happy to stand up and be counted as a happy customer of HF. Like Mike I've had good experiences with their stuff for the most part. I have my "real" shop here in BC. Az is really my winter getaway and I'm not about to set up that kind of shop there. It's strictly home maintenance and hobby there and the HF pricing is very welcome. I'm no babe in the woods in the field of tools and woodworking and I know that I'm not buying high quality tools there but I also don't believe it's the tools that make the craftsman. I need tools good enough to accomplish the job and when it comes to electric drills, grinders, dust collectors etc. "good enough" is actually just that - good enough. Where I need a fine edge made of good steel, well that may be a different story, but I think if you are careful which tools you buy there and don't expect ten times the quality you're paying for they fill a quite important (to me anyway) niche. I would be sad to lose them. If I never shop there again it will more likely be because of the new management's business ethics than the quality of the goods.

Paul M

[mickyd]

I'm going to impulse buy this dovetail machine right now for $21. Looks like my next project will involve using it.
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[SDSSmith]

I'm going to impulse buy this dovetail machine right now for $21. Looks like my next project will involve using it.
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Mike, If you are interested in trying a Leigh 12" dovetail jig, let me know. I picked up a 24" so the 12" I had is surplus.]

[swampgator]

Like Micky, I have the compressor which does a great job. Have had only one problem with it. They didn't have the replacement tank gauge, but found it in a hardware store down the street. I've had it for about 4 years and will drive my framing nailer plus any other thing I need it for.

If I need a power tool, normally I don't consider HF, but for hand tools such as clamps, I have had no trouble with them. But, for power tools, I also give minimal consideration to the big box stores. While those table saws and such are cheaper than a SS, they also often perform that way. Set up is sometimes difficult.

What now concerns me about this is the warranty of their tools. If this company is not structured to continue after all this legal wrangling, then does it close or become absorbed into something else?

[roy_okc]

I've had fairly good luck in my mostly selective purchases at HF, both powered and not. I've had great luck with their small strip sander/disk sander, large dust collector, multimaster copy, and just recently a random orbital sander and hand-held grinder. I've also purchased various non-powered tools that have worked fine.

I won't purchase anything that, if they break, could cause injury; e.g., I wouldn't buy a wrench set to work on a vehicle where I could have a high amount of torque, but might use for light duty use around the house.

I also generally won't buy something from HF that I know I will be using a lot (the sander was an exception, but it was cheap at $16 w/coupon and I don't know what I need/want in a quality ROS). I'm also hesitant to purchase anything where I'm seeking a high degree of accuracy, repeatability, etc., such as measuring devices (although I've had great luck with their digital caliper that I was given as a gift).

My father, at 71, considers whether an item will be a lifetime purchase for his light-use needs.

Finally, there's this thing called the interweb where I can research specific items. From this, I've learned such things as their rechargeable batteries tend to be bad, their drill bits tend to be dull, as well as things that are generally good enough for hobbyists.

[tkhudson]

My philisophy on HF is that " It isnt any good, just good enough"

I have a 4" angle grinder that runs and runs, it it dies, Im only out 20 bucks. I have an $89 wire feed welder that I used sparingly, beats having 400 bucks laying around the shop not getting used. Some of that stuff has a place and time... other items should be thrown off of a cliff immediately following purchase.

[SDSSmith]

...Finally, there's this thing called the interweb where I can research specific items. From this, I've learned such things as their rechargeable batteries tend to be bad, their drill bits tend to be dull, as well as things that are generally good enough for hobbyists.

Wow, Roy, that Interweb thing sounds really cool! Who invented that, Al Gore?]