spot on, harbor freight

[dlundblad]

Originally Posted By: Rand
In today's world more likely the grandson would hock them for 5$ on craiglist unfortunately.
(in general not saying anything personally about you or your family)



This is true.

Similar story.. I am ashamed of this, but a small 1/4" SK socket set was given to me by my grandmother when I was around 8 years old. She said it belonged to my grandfather who passed away when my mom was in elementary school. IIRC, it was standard sizes (metric annoyed me back then because I was taught in school that "I'd never use it.") I lost the green metal box it came in along with the sockets. Looking back, I was too young to appreciate the tools and must have just sit them aside somewhere. Perhaps she should have given the tools to my mom or dad for them to pass it on, but it all could have gotten lost in the process too.

I still have the ratchet and use it quite often. I have a few other tools, another favorite being a 32 oz Channellock ball peen, that belonged to him, but that ratchet is by far the most sentimental.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: dlundblad
Originally Posted By: Rand
In today's world more likely the grandson would hock them for 5$ on craiglist unfortunately.
(in general not saying anything personally about you or your family)



This is true.

Similar story.. I am ashamed of this, but a small 1/4" SK socket set was given to me by my grandmother when I was around 8 years old. She said it belonged to my grandfather who passed away when my mom was in elementary school. IIRC, it was standard sizes (metric annoyed me back then because I was taught in school that "I'd never use it.") I lost the green metal box it came in along with the sockets. Looking back, I was too young to appreciate the tools and must have just sit them aside somewhere. Perhaps she should have given the tools to my mom or dad for them to pass it on, but it all could have gotten lost in the process too.

I still have the ratchet and use it quite often. I have a few other tools, another favorite being a 32 oz Channellock ball peen, that belonged to him, but that ratchet is by far the most sentimental.




Yep. I have no idea just how many SK and Craftsman tools my brothers and I managed to lose for my father. He used to have a nice set; by the time we moved out, it was wiped out. Early on I took great pride in buying my first toolkit from Ames, a $30 special (1988 vintage?), obviously cheap tools. But I tried to get my own at an early age, so I like to blame my brothers for losing dad's tools.

I suspect most of my stuff will go into the dustbin, good or not, when I kick it. Cleaned out a couple estates in the family already; it's just how it is.

 

[leeharvey418]

I'm failing to see the problem with the socket in the OP. So what if the through hole is off center? All you're ever doing with it is poking something through it to push out a stuck nut or something. Now that I think about it, having it centered would make pushing out a stuck nut even harder.

 

[cptbarkey]

adding the pitman arm puller to the junk list. online reviews are good. it worked okay for me for the 3 or 4 times i needed it the last few years, but the arm is now bent and useless. i am making a rule now (as a hobbyist) to replace any broken HF tools with much better ones rather than buying another HF one, OTC 6497 on the way.

 

[SubLGT]

I didn't want to spend $65 on a single pro quality step drill bit, so I bought the 2-pak (of the larger size) at HF for $16. Has good customer reviews, and I expect it will work well for my uses.

 

[sprite1741]

I buy all my tools at HF now. I never liked Sears because of the sales people and they closed down here anyway. I still have a lot of Craftsman but the HF stuff works fine for home users. I have about 15 of those free 9 led flashlights, several free digital meters, screwdriver sets, LED shop lights,batteries, and more freebies than I can count. Just bought one of their $2.99 moving blankets for a rear seat cover for my yellow lab who thinks he has to go with me everywhere and got a nice blue tarp for free.

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted By: BHopkins
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.


I don't apply such romantic sentimentality to a tool. My HF [censored] works just fine and continues to amaze me the value they provide.

 

[dlundblad]

Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
adding the pitman arm puller to the junk list. online reviews are good. it worked okay for me for the 3 or 4 times i needed it the last few years, but the arm is now bent and useless. i am making a rule now (as a hobbyist) to replace any broken HF tools with much better ones rather than buying another HF one, OTC 6497 on the way.


This is the lifespan I would expect from a HF tool. I am assuming you bought it at the last minute and out of convenience for a project you had going that needed done.

I'd say it paid for itself within those 3-4 uses.

 

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: SubLGT
I didn't want to spend $65 on a single pro quality step drill bit, so I bought the 2-pak (of the larger size) at HF for $16. Has good customer reviews, and I expect it will work well for my uses.


They work okay for mild steel and thin aluminum. Drilling a pilot hole helps a lot with those bits. Use some oil and clear the shavings. The hole isn't perfectly round, but it's round enough for my non-precision uses.

HF stuff works decently for the most part. If it's all coming from the same factory across the Pacific anyhow, might as well not pay the middleman more than needed.

 

[bchannell]

I've been pretty darn happy with HF tools. Their electric and cordless impact wrenches work great. The PP screwdrivers are very good. Heck I'm more worried about Craftsman quality. There are some tools I won't buy at HF, and some you need to carefully inspect, but heck that goes for all tools. I work in hvac, and have lots of $$ in expensive tools, so it's not like I don't have a mix of them all.
On a funny note I use insulated screwdrivers on electrical work, so I bought some weha, ideal and wire, trashed them all when I spent $10 on a set of HF PP insulated screwdrivers.