Originally Posted By: jimbrewer
Originally Posted By: spasm3
Most things at HF i don't care for at all. There is a place for some things they sell. For example, i lift a few engines , not many so i needed an engine lift. There were no name brand ones on craigslist, a commercial one is just too expensive , so the HF shop crane (i think i paid $159 years ago) has done what i needed. Another example. I was installing flooring in my down stairs and i needed to trip the moulding on several doorways. The HF multitool was $19 bucks , i only needed it for this one job, so spending over $100 for a name brand one plus the blades was not worth it.
So for some one-off jobs there is a place for SOME of their tools. the sockets and what not i don't care for at all. But if its something you can't get local like and engine lift or some odd one use tool , i shop for that.
Exactly. It's easy to say "buy the best tools you can afford" but so many things are used infrequently, that it's better to go with low expectations and something cheap. Besides, for a lot of electrical things, if they aren't defective out of the box, they go on and give you good service.
A friend of mine often says "A poor man can only afford to buy the very best of tools, as he can only afford to buy them once." I find this true for tools that will be used many times in my life. I often admire the craftsmanship of a fine tool, and consider the care that the tool designer and assemblers had to have put into it. These tools become very dear to me. If one were lost or stolen, or if I broke one, it would make me sad. Every time I did a job where I could have used it, I would again be saddened by the memory of not having my trusty tool to use. I anticipate a day when I will be able to pass them on to a grandchild. Some day when my grandson grows up, he may show these tools to a friend, who will comment that he is so fortunate to have such a beautiful tool. These tools came from Sears. Or Woodcraft. Or Lowes. None of these tools come from Harbor Freight.
I have other tools that are nothing more than a utility. They are not tools that I use often, as I enjoy a very nice tool for those. Instead, these are tools that are needed for a job, but I may use only on rare occasion. They are not a fine instrument, but only a means to an end. If one were to be lost or stolen, or break I would have no remorse, except for the inconvenience caused by being delayed on the task at hand, and having to get a replacement. Oh, and a little anger at myself for buying such a cheap piece of [censored] instead of something that I wouldn't have to replace later. I anticipate that when I die, such tools will not end up in the shop of a son or grandchild, but rather, they will be sold off at a garage sale for pennies on the dollar. Or they may end up in the landfill or at the recycle center. These tools come from Harbor Freight.
