Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[viceprincipal]

Chicago Electric Oscillating tool. 20 bucks I think with coupon. First time I used it in a hard to get to spot it paid for itself in saved time.

[Dan Hunter]

What does suck is when harbor freight doesn't provide any additional shipping material and the original product packaging box doesn't protect the item.

I have a drill press that has decimated Styrofoam internal packaging and a big dent in the motor case where the chuck tried to penetrate it. The belt adjustment handle is broken along with other various shipping damage. The box itself wasn't damaged.

I don't understand why companies do this. The small cost of additional packing would seem inconsequential to having to replace something.

Well, the replacement arrived and did not appear to have been "spiked" by the Fed Ex fellas. It assembled in good condition and the return went well but I'll not likely puchase anything that heavy again.

[Gale Hawkins]

2 Piece 11" 20ø Offset & 45ø Angle Long Reach Needle Plier Set

This 11" plier set saved a lot of time/skin working through the fender well on the S10/Blazer tune-up.

[California]

The four-sided diamond grit 'sharpening stone' (92867) is excellent. I just bought two more, one for a Christmas gift. This is one of the first Inside Track Club specials I've used. They are $7.99 for one week.

I really recommend these. They sharpen quality cutlery easily, that was a p.i.a. on a Carborundum stone.

[deereman75]

The four-sided diamond grit 'sharpening stone' (92867) is excellent. I just bought two more, one for a Christmas gift. This is one of the first Inside Track Club specials I've used. They are $7.99 for one week.

I really recommend these. They sharpen quality cutlery easily, that was a p.i.a. on a Carborundum stone.

How fine does that one get? I know some of the cheep ones are too coarse to put much of a fine edge on something.

[Iplayfarmer]

How fine does that one get? I know some of the cheep ones are too coarse to put much of a fine edge on something.

I think that's the nature of diamond stones. I use my diamond sharpener for rough sharpening and shaping. Then I use a fine stone for the final edge and a thick piece of leather for the strop. Sometimes I'll use a chef's steel for the final edge before the strop. I do leatherwork, so sharp has a different definition for me than for most.

[deereman75]

I think that's the nature of diamond stones. I use my diamond sharpener for rough sharpening and shaping. Then I use a fine stone for the final edge and a thick piece of leather for the strop. Sometimes I'll use a chef's steel for the final edge before the strop. I do leatherwork, so sharp has a different definition for me than for most.

Well we have a diamond stone that is meant for sharpening router bits, that thing is probably about 2000 grit. If you look at the lee valley website, you will see there are some really fine diamond stones. Since I do a fair bit of wood work, I have the same definition of sharp as you. My dad can get plane irons sharp enough to shave with. His trick is 1000ish grit wet/dry sand paper on a super flat piece of granite. He uses wd40 for lube. After that, it goes to a leather strop with green honing compound. He also has a set of japanese water stones, down to probably 4000 grit. He finds the sand paper and granite better though, because it is always perfectly flat.

[Car Doc]

My latest HF purchase that didn't suck (so far anyway) was wireless driveway alarms.

I set one at my shop and one at the house and they work great they are well worth the $11.99. I hope the transmitter is waterproof is my only concern I taped the battery compartment to be safer.

And of course the $4.99 battery float chargers are always a hit especially this time of year when mowers and spare cars are sitting all winter. I got tired of replacing expensive mower battery's every year.

[California]

[re the four-sided diamond sharpening stone]
How fine does that one get? I know some of the cheep ones are too coarse to put much of a fine edge on something.

600 grit. Based on limited experience over a couple of years - three or four cycles of sharpening everything in the kitchen - I decided the finest side was unnecessary for kitchen use. The paring knives and carving knives seem to cut faster with a little 'tooth' remaining. I can cut very thin slabs of ham or turkey easily which was my goal. My wife's cooking is unrelated to cutting leather.

From the HF user comments. This seems about right to me:

All major manufacturers of cutlery - Buck, Benchmade, Gerber, Case, Henckles and all finer cutlery makers only use 250 to 400 grit for their final sharpening. 600 on fine specialized woodworking (chisels,gouges etc), scalpels rarely use any finer than 1200 grit which is not much more than a polishing grit. Its not so much the grit as it is the correct angle and consistency - this from 55 years of sharpening. I have sharpened over 700 different items on ONE of these four sided beauties and its just starting to get broken in !!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE NUTS IF YOU DON"T BUY AT LEAST 2 - a friend will want one, make someone else happy!

For shop use, shaping metal, the 200 grit removes metal easier and with better flatness than anything else I've tried. My most recent project was to slightly cut down an old Stanley screwdriver bit, the kind used in an old brace-and-bit, for a precise tight fit in some large wood screws. I got the faces as flat as new and a perfect tight fit to those screws, in little time.

As I said, highly recommended.

[Baby Grand]

I'll have to try the 4 sided diamond sharpeners. I am a big fan of the DMT "Diafold" style sharpeners. I bought my first, a red one (600), with my Swiss Army knife at Tucson Mall in 1987. Still have and use them both. Liked it so much I got the black (220), blue (325) and green (1200) ones.

On my Santa list: Silver (120), White (2200) & Tan (8000).

I'd like to get the HF beaters to keep one in the knife drawer and one for my toolbox. It will be interesting to see how they hold up compared to the top quality DMT tools.