I wanted a 10 inch bench grinder and none of the usual suspects carried them. They are avail from pro shops special order for big $$$. I special ordered one at a very nice price from HF and it is definitely a keeper. Smooth but not overpowered - meets my minimum requirements.
I bought an 8 inch bench grinder (two speed) from the wood working boutique, Woodcraft, and its wheels wobbled. I had a house guest with a MS in Mech eng and 35 years hands-on experience doing precision work in support of the Navy's deep diving research submarine (Dolphin AKA 555) stationed at the lab where I used to work. He exhausted his ideas and I returned the grinder as a design or mfg failure and cruised by HF to get an 8 inch (single speed only) grinder. It is for a dedicated sharpening station in my shop. It works super with low run-out and vibration. When you turn it off it seems to take FOREVER to coast to a stop, longer than I am used to waiting which is a tribute to its good bearings.
I had been tiring of running extension cords from my shop to get power outside so I installed a couple duplex outlets outside (in outdoor damp location enclosures - sort of...)
Note: the enclosures typically found at the big box stores are only for damp locations WITH THE COVERS SHUT!!! There are some plastic enclosures that shed rain pretty good with things plugged in but are not universally available.
Anyway, I wanted to use a HF el cheapo battery minder, wall wart type, on my tractor this winter (I have at least 6 of these and they all work fine, never overcharge and are kind to the electrolyte levels. I didn't want to run an extension cord so...
I brought out my handy dandy HF ride-on 9 hp trencher and dug a 50 ft trench to bury the conduit run out to my overhead diesel tank where I usually park the tractor. Didn't need to worry about frost depth, just deep enough to not be bothered by traffic, sometimes HEAVY traffic so about 10 inches to a foot deep. No big deal you say? You could do this in a couple hours with a shovel? Well the trench was 90% through packed gravel on hard clay during a drought and this gravel has been well compacted for well over 5 years. Good ole HF trencher got 'er done in a couple hours (including breaks.)
I made a weather cover/roof over the two outlets so things can be plugged in during a rain without "popping" the GFCI upstream of the two outlets.
I was leery of a recoil start for the trencher but it has been easy starting under all circumstances. As the fuel tank and carb have a bunch of anti-smog equipment (makes it OK for California, LIKE I REALLY CARE in South Central Oklahoma) ) I did have one little hiccup. The tank vent didn't for a little while and it pulled a vacuum on the tank and starved the engine for fuel. I just loosened the cap (non venting) and then put it back on and it fired up easily. No further problems but I'll be alert for the symptoms and will either "re-engineer or fix their smog system, vent the cap, or whatever is needed.
The grinder dedicated to a sharpening station is used well over half the time to sharpen HF wood lathe tools (lathe and tools are HF) A set of 8 lathe tools is a tad under $20 at HF. I pay over 3 times that for one similar tool made in Sheffield England and have tools way more expensive than that. I use them interchangeably and find the high dollar tools to not be any better steel than the HF tools. The high dollar tools do not hold take or hold an edge any better/longer than the HF tools. The HF tools have shorter handles that are not quite as robust but du-uh I can easily turn a better handle on the lathe if I feel the need.
I have at least 3 different kinds of wood chisels from HF. All are good enough but some of them are inferior to some of my more expensive old made in the USA chisels. Given my nice USA Work Sharp machine I can easily sharpen the HF stuff 3 times for every one or two sharpenings of the USA chisels I have. No big deal. The HF chisel sets are so cheap I have several and if I'm doing a lot of wood removal I just set aside any that get dull and pick up another sharp one. You can buy 3-5 HF chisels for the price of 1 good american chisel so HF takes 3 out of 5 rounds and wins the decision.
I am currently hollowing out logs (that have been ripped in half lengthwise) to reassemble around square steel tube columns and I have tried several approaches but still end up doing at least part of the work with a mallet and some chisels, HF chisels.
Patrick
