Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[California]

My sniffer must be out of calibration. What do these places "smell like"?

Same as a tire store. New synthetic rubber and plastics still exuding solvent fumes. With a slight twinge of lacquer-solvent fumes too.

 

[Learning to Farm]

Chopsticks make great coffee stirrers!

I went in Tractor Supply yesterday. I was immediately struck that it smelled EXACTLY like Harbor Freight!

TSC = Where suburbanites shop when they want to FEEL country.

 

[John_Mc]

Also, those tree limb cutter things are widow makers and not very effective. You have to stand right under the branch to cut and the branch will naturally swing down on top of you as it cuts through. A little safer with two people standing to opposite sides but still not a terribly effective tool. There is a good reason you never see tree surgeons use them.

IF what Crash was describing was one of those cutting chains on a rope, I agree: they are not something I'm interested in messing with. A pole saw is a much better way to go. You don't have to go with the "mini chainsaw on a stick" type if money (or weight) is an issue. Unfortunately, the Harbor Freight Pole Saw is a waste of time - not much worth getting one that only extends to 8 feet. I have a a Fiskars that probably extends to 14' and has a 15" saw blade plus a lopper. I don't use it much, but it is handy when I need it, and it works well.

 

[John_Mc]

Same as a tire store. New synthetic rubber and plastics still exuding solvent fumes. With a slight twinge of lacquer-solvent fumes too.

Sometimes with an added whiff of fish oil - or something like that. I've never been able to figure that one out.

 

[sixdogs]

My sniffer must be out of calibration. What do these places "smell like"?

Oh, this is an easy one. They smell like the inside of an inexpensive car tire. It's the blended scent of evaporating rubber and solvents. I figure that's why the car mats shrink over time. It's a very identifiable smell and a clever entrepreneur could do a musk out of it for guys in countries where it's cool. Kind of an "Old Spice" thing.

 

[KubotainNH]

Smells like Chinese rubber.

 

[California]

Sometimes with an added whiff of fish oil - or something like that.

That's the blue or silver tarps.

 

[IslandTractor]

IF what Crash was describing was one of those cutting chains on a rope, I agree: they are not something I'm interested in messing with. A pole saw is a much better way to go. You don't have to go with the "mini chainsaw on a stick" type if money (or weight) is an issue. Unfortunately, the Harbor Freight Pole Saw is a waste of time - not much worth getting one that only extends to 8 feet. I have a a Fiskars that probably extends to 14' and has a 15" saw blade plus a lopper. I don't use it much, but it is handy when I need it, and it works well.

I assumed he was talking about one of the chain and rope thingies. I have one and it is both mostly useless and certainly dangerous at least for solo use.

 

[California]

After watching a professional tree crew I concluded what works best is the long curved saw on a long lightweight pole. I have a couple of those, plus the type with a lopper included. The lopper/saw combo feels too heavy after a half hour, working all day with it would tie me in knots. Plus the combo unit more frequently gets snarled up in dense branches.

Of course the lopper is needed for small branches but again, just having one tool (lopper) up there instead of the saw/lopper combo reduces wasting time all snarled up when you could be cutting. Working overhead is tiring, for me it is worth it to have separate saw and lopper - headed poles.

 

[IslandTractor]

After watching a professional tree crew I concluded what works best is the long curved saw on a long lightweight pole. I have a couple of those, plus the type with a lopper included. The lopper/saw combo feels too heavy after a half hour, working all day with it would tie me in knots. Plus the combo unit more frequently gets snarled up in dense branches.

Of course the lopper is needed for small branches but again, just having one tool (lopper) up there instead of the saw/lopper combo reduces wasting time all snarled up when you could be cutting. Working overhead is tiring, for me it is worth it to have separate saw and lopper - headed poles.

The thing I have not mastered with those curved pole saws is how to make the undercut before trying to cut through the branch. If you don't then you invariably get a tear in the bark on the underside of the stump and that isn't healthy for the tree. I try to do it by cutting with the reversed saw from both sides of the branch but sometimes it is hard to get at both sides. Nice thing about a pole chain saw is that you can make those cuts in a second or two just before cutting the branch.