Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[ultrarunner]

My complaint there is they all keep changing batteries every couple years so new tools aren’t compatable with tools from a couple years ago! I have Makita and Dewalt and two different batteries for my 2 Dewalts but will most likely go Dewalt, not sure if Makita has a string trimmer

I've been wrong before but with the price of the Stihl professional AP series I think it will around for a long time...

My Stihl battery chain saw continues to impress... had storm fall large Oak fall across the fire trail... grabbed the Battery Stihl and made quick work of all the large limbs... one had to be cut from two sides because the diameter is larger than the chain bar is long.

It is a real shame what is happening to small carb engines of the past... growing up we never had issues... the saws, mower, generator... etc... had original carbs for decades.

 

[California]

A gas chain saw hazard we didn't expect:

Cal/OSHA officials are investigating a firefighter injury while they were using a chainsaw to conduct Kincade Fire firefighting operations when the fuel cap came off and splashed their pants with fuel, which set on fire and resulted in second and third degree burns. The worker was taken to the UC Davis Medical Center Burn Unit.

That specialty clinic 100 miles away is for the most severe burns.

 

[NTG]

It is a real shame what is happening to small carb engines of the past... growing up we never had issues... the saws, mower, generator... etc... had original carbs for decades.

That being said, I've had good luck with the $12 Chinese carbs off eBay with free shipping. I never tinker with them any more, just replace it.

 

[NTG]

The Bauer and Hercules tools @ HF look pretty decent quality wise. I too am heavily invested in Ryobi and have had OUTSTANDING results with them or I'd be looking at one of the HF lines. I do have one of the Bauer corded portable band saws that is awesome and I've used it a pretty good bit over the last 6 months. Even though the quality of the Hercules stuff looks good, the only thing of theirs I've purchased is their hole saw kit and not only was the mandrel crooked causing the saw to wobble, I knocked a couple teeth off the saw blade trying to get a 2" hole through a 1/4" piece of steel. Maybe that was because of the wobble and possible side-ways motion on the teeth, I don't know. Thankfully they took it back. Over the years I've come to realize that even if you buy "top of the line" stuff, sometimes you get a bad piece of equipment and it's not worth getting worked up over. I've had good luck with HF making things good, so they're my "go to" place, especially if I'm buying a tool I'm not sure I'll use a whole lot and if I wear it out, I might buy something better. Oh yeah, I do have one of the corded Chicago Electric oscillating multi-tools that I've had for YEARS and seriously abused it and it's still going strong. I just noticed that Walmart is carrying blades for multi-tools now that are about as cheap as the beaters I've been buying off eBay, so I'll try some of those out next time.

 

[hunt4570]

I've been wrong before but with the price of the Stihl professional AP series I think it will around for a long time...

My Stihl battery chain saw continues to impress... had storm fall large Oak fall across the fire trail... grabbed the Battery Stihl and made quick work of all the large limbs... one had to be cut from two sides because the diameter is larger than the chain bar is long.

It is a real shame what is happening to small carb engines of the past... growing up we never had issues... the saws, mower, generator... etc... had original carbs for decades.

So what is the bar length on that battery saw.. and what do they cost?

 

[John_Mc]

My favorite brush cutting blade on the heavier trimmers are the ones with a section of chain saw chain sandwiched between steel discs.
They have been getting harder to find the last few years.

I tired one of them and didn't like it all that much. It takes more power to drive it as compared to some of the other options.

I eventually settled on a Maxi blade, at the recommendation from someone on a forestry forum who does thinning professionally. The Maxi is one of those blades that looks a lot like a circular saw blade, but cuts a whole lot better and holds up a lot better than the similar-looking blade that came with my saw. Maxi blades are labeled Husqvarna, Windsor, Carlton, Oregon, and possible others, but are all made by the same manufacturer in Sweden. (one example of a Maxi blade. There are other diameters and bore sizes: make sure you have the correct size for your saw before ordering.) It sharpens easily with a 7/32" round file (same file that fits a full-sized 3/8" pitch chainsaw chain).

It looks similar to what Husqvarna sells as the "Scarlett" blade. (Other manufacturers also sell similar blades.) In my experience, the Scarlet type blades don't hold up nearly as well as the Maxi blades.

One blade I've found absolutely no good use for is Stihl's Scratcher Tooth blade. They say it's intended for "brush, vines, and saplings", but larger saplings work better with the maxi. Anything small enough to work well with the scratcher seems to work much better with one of the 3-pointed blades. They say the Scratcher blade also needs to be professionally sharpened. I didn't keep mine long enough to find out.

 

[Threepoint]

It has a special chain and an internal stone that sharpens the chain when you depress a lever and all kinds of neat sparks shoot out the end, like a kids toy (of old)!

Apparently, the Oregon Rep, comes and shows how the saw cuts in large lumber, then proceeds to cut a cinder block, and shows how the saw won't cut. Then, some cool sparks and the saw cuts like new.

I carry the saw on my E-Gator for emergencies only, like stuff fallen across a trail.

Nice to have friends in the business though. Saw was at employee pricing and trimmer got thrown in for free, as it wasn't well accepted by the scraper community.

Very interesting. About 40 years ago, my first chainsaw was a Sears Craftsman 14" with a self-sharpening mechanism like you describe. The saw was made for Sears by Poulon, and had what was called a "barracuda chain". The sharpening mechanism actually worked well, although the sharpening stone wore down fairly quickly, and it tended to remove a lot of steel. The chain teeth had a tall scythe-like design, very aggressive. Probably a consumer-safety nightmare by our standards today. I eventually started using standard chains and didn't bother with the onboard sharpener. That saw kept going for decades!

 

[DMax82]

Well, I think I'm going to buy a Predator generator today. Probably the 4375 watt model. I have a coupon that makes it $330. Excited because I need it, but a little apprehensive.

 

[Imold]

I take this with me when I go out cutting limbs and trees to sharpen my chain, it痴 faster then using the file but not as good as filing.

 

[hunt4570]

Well, I think I'm going to buy a Predator generator today. Probably the 4375 watt model. I have a coupon that makes it $330. Excited because I need it, but a little apprehensive.

I have the larger one, I think 8700 watts, Had it about 3 years now with no issues at all. I don't use it too often (normally power outages) but it always fires right up and does the job as intended.