Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[stuckmotor]

I still have bins of unused tools I bought on my HF runs before one came to our town. On my first trips to the local one, I had to fight myself not to buy more than I needed. The stocking up habit is hard to break.

 

[PILOON]

Yeah but you guys have Canadian Tire and Princess Auto.

We have Harbor Freight and Northern Tool.

In Quebec Canadian Tire rules as Princess refuses to settle here, or so it seems.
Closest Princess is Ottawa which is too far and Canada post kills mail shopping. ($10.00 shipping for a $10.00 item)

 

[CreekyB]

In Quebec Canadian Tire rules as Princess refuses to settle here, or so it seems.
Closest Princess is Ottawa which is too far and Canada post kills mail shopping. ($10.00 shipping for a $10.00 item)

I do a lot of international shipping in a hobby of mine. Regularly mailing small packages to over 13 countries I can honestly say that Canada Post is the one postal service in the entire world that is at least as bad as the US Postal Service. Regularly gives a good showing for the second worse postal service in existence. Russian Post holds the worlds worse service title for a national postal service.

 

[CreekyB]

I still have bins of unused tools I bought on my HF runs before one came to our town. On my first trips to the local one, I had to fight myself not to buy more than I needed. The stocking up habit is hard to break.

I learned a long time ago to limit my "oh that's neat maybe I could use that" purchases to one per trip. Interestingly enough some of my most used HF items and maybe even some of the most useful in my tool box of their type are my collection of odd ratchets from HF. Most of them were hesitant purchases due to the lack of quality but they have reached fasteners that I literally could not have gotten any other way other than to make a custom wrench of some kind or stack a frustrating amount of knuckle buster joints. Speaking of that I have a box that I keep well stocked with really cheap HF wrenches, the longer the better. Nothing better other than garage sale wrenches to take a torch to for that special wrench.

 

[jack707]

Hey is about 30 miles away maybe I'll go there one day and look around

 

[aczlan]

I learned a long time ago to limit my "oh that's neat maybe I could use that" purchases to one per trip. Interestingly enough some of my most used HF items and maybe even some of the most useful in my tool box of their type are my collection of odd ratchets from HF. Most of them were hesitant purchases due to the lack of quality but they have reached fasteners that I literally could not have gotten any other way other than to make a custom wrench of some kind or stack a frustrating amount of knuckle buster joints. Speaking of that I have a box that I keep well stocked with really cheap HF wrenches, the longer the better. Nothing better other than garage sale wrenches to take a torch to for that special wrench.

Speaking of odd ratchets, I picked up one of these a while back: 3/8" Heavy Duty Flexible Ratchet

It paid for itself the other day getting at some fasteners on the golf cart.

Aaron Z

 

[TomSeller]

I here ya. HF is an hours drive each way.

That is not far enough away. I went in one last week (been about a year) and still didn't find anything I would spend money on. Someone told me their saw chain sharpener was as good as my Oregon 511AX. I will ask them if they need to borrow my glasses next time.

I am glad people find equipment they like there and it is a good value for them. Just not for me... Nice to have choices.

 

[Midniteoyl]

I bought a better version of these, SAE/Metric marked Red/Blue when they went on clearance a few years back for ~$19. Really high quality and time saver. Came with a drawer organizer for them. Use them all the time:

Ones I got:




Ones they have now:

 

[CreekyB]

That is not far enough away. I went in one last week (been about a year) and still didn't find anything I would spend money on. Someone told me their saw chain sharpener was as good as my Oregon 511AX. I will ask them if they need to borrow my glasses next time.

I am glad people find equipment they like there and it is a good value for them. Just not for me... Nice to have choices.

Exactly.

I do not know that I would buy a chainsaw sharpener there. I really needed big wrenches. Snapon truck had the set I needed for 1900$ Matco had their version of the set for 1700$ Harbor Freight had the set I needed which at the time were under 100$ for 10 wrenches going from 1 3/8" to 2 1/2". Are they the same quality? Nope, but they work, I can put 8 foot cheater bars on them and they have paid the mortage for a lot less money up front They fit tight, have not stripped anything off and like I said. Paid the mortgage for years.

No shame, my Chinese tools live right along side my "USA" tools in my overpriced USA tool storage devices

There is a ton of value there. I would not buy HF screwdrivers for much more than emergency use or chisels. Not stripping fastners out is the key determination there. I turned a lot of screwdrivers and wrenches before desk job.

I also beat every one of my nice chisels and punches with Harbor Freight hammers, their deadblows are a fantastic buy as well.

 

[CreekyB]

Speaking of odd ratchets, I picked up one of these a while back: 3/8" Heavy Duty Flexible Ratchet
View attachment 474252
It paid for itself the other day getting at some fasteners on the golf cart.

Aaron Z

I have that ratchet

I bought a better version of these, SAE/Metric marked Red/Blue when they went on clearance a few years back for ~$19. Really high quality and time saver. Came with a drawer organizer for them. Use them all the time:

Ones I got:

View attachment 474269


Ones they have now:

View attachment 474267

Love those, not needed everyday but for the times you need them they are an amazing time saver.