Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[Baby Grand]

What he said= Thatsa BIG YUP! But it's my 12-gauge you really oughta be worry'in 'bout!

That reminded me of a line from Neuromancer:
"Some man in China say th' truth comes out this," he said, unwrapping an ancient, oilslick Remington automatic shotgun, its barrel chopped off a few millimeters in front of the battered forestock.

HF 25% off coupon July 4 only.

<snip>

I recently got their paddle-switch model that is now my favorite.

I have the dark blue one with the paddle switch. It's getting lots of use. My DeWalt grows jealous.

 

[TheRumpledOne]

The old ones were gray colored. The new ones are orange/black. But I don't remember any stubby fingered ones. Maybe they had a bad batch and gave them away. Did you get kid size gloves by mistake?

 

[sixdogs]

The old ones were gray colored. The new ones are orange/black. But I don't remember any stubby fingered ones. Maybe they had a bad batch and gave them away. Did you get kid size gloves by mistake?

Don't remember but it's been discussed here before and others have had the same problem. They must have fixed it?
Anyway, the old stubby fingered gloves were sort of comical.
That's apparently the way it goes with HF, sometimes good and sometimes not so good.

 

[California]

Those free orange gloves are one of the few things from HF that I decided were unusable junk. There was so much excess fabric inside the fingers that my fingers wouldn't go in all the way. The gray leather/fabric gloves (5 pair/$6) also seemed pretty cheap but would be fine for shovelling or handling firewood etc. I buy the cowhide roping gloves (yellow / red trim) when they are on sale as these fit like a second skin and are tough enough to grab and tug on blackberry vines - my main need for gloves. I can't use cloth-backed gloves for that.

 

[PhysAssist]

That reminded me of a line from Neuromancer:
"Some man in China say th' truth comes out this," he said, unwrapping an ancient, oilslick Remington automatic shotgun, its barrel chopped off a few millimeters in front of the battered forestock.




I have the dark blue one with the paddle switch. It's getting lots of use. My DeWalt grows jealous.

Gibson sure can write, can't he!

Occasionally, I have to stop and think about what he writes, but he can paint a word picture when he's at his best.

Have you read any Charlie Stross?

He's a Brit, and has a dry humor in most of his work.

I loved his "Laundry" series, and just finished the Iron Sunrise and Singularity Sky- they're less humorous, but no less engaging.

Enough thread-napping, I'm buying HF's wire-flux welder on coupon for 99$ and will try to use my regular 20% off coupon on it too.

The 25% off specifically says no welders, but I would try that if I wasn't going to be working tomorrow.

Any body have any opinions re: that welder?

I figure since I suck at welding anyway, why waste money on a better unit until I get better at it....

 

[California]

The 90 amp welder? It is occasionally on its own coupon at $89. Forget compounding a 20% coupon upon another coupon, at least where I live.

I have a previous version of that welder. The first one I took home was not usable due to bad wire. Later I bought another, and use it with .035 FC wire from Tractor Supply which works better than HF's wire. The welder runs but does low-end quality work, it is only AC while DC is needed to run Flux Core wire decently. All of HF's FC wire is labelled DC ONLY and they push it for use with your 90A AC welder - to illustrate how much they care.

My HF FC welder does passable farm repairs. My last project was to strengthen the tongue of my HF 40x48 inch trailer. The trailer is rated 900 lbs and I'm carrying 2600 lbs over rough ground; with an orchard watering tank on the little trailer. I straightened the bent tongue and boxed it with bedframe angle iron welded full length down the tongue. I expect it will hold up now. (my recent post about this, with picture of the trailer). I wouldn't try to weld anything that needs to look elegant, however.

 

[crazyal]

HF seams to be pushing shopping at stores as of late. The 20% off coupons seam to only be "in-store". I was going to pick up one of the small pressurized sand blasters (out of stock on-line) but couldn't fine a coupon. The closest store is too far from me to just go to.

 

[chopped]

Yes crazy I noticed that as well.I looked forward to catalogs and ordering But I havent ordered in over a year now.They send me a few small catalogs but its a store sale, and they threaten to stop them if i dont have the label 'scanned' at the store.The local store that take me 1 1/2 hour one way to get to.:laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing:
Hope they get good business from the stoes, as I bet the mail order is taking a hit..

 

[sixdogs]

I can tell you the stores are packed. Lots of older and wiser crowd but legions of pilgrims. Seems everything is at a better price and then there are some really good prices on popular things. For the first time in maybe 15 years, HF is actually be run like a competitive business looking to aggressively expand it's market. And, at the same time Chinese stuff is getting to be better quality. Well, most of it. Just my two cents.

 

[crazyal]

At three hours each way I'm not going to make a special trip to save 25%. I got a feeling with the $6.99 shipping the store owners were loosing sales and got mad.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

The HF electric angle grinder for $20 or less is one of the most handy tools to have in a shop/garage.

Yup, I bought one recently, and it's been great so far. :thumbsup:

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Note to others--there seem to be differnt kinds of free gloves and some have unusually stubby fingers and you can't wear them. Best freebie seems to be the tape measure followed by the screwdrivers and then maybe the flashlights. Some guys have complained the flashlights bottom falls off but I have only seen that on one of my many freebies.

My local store never has the flashlights in stock...

 

[CompactTractorFan]

I haven't had any problems with the gloves other than sometimes they run out before I can get my pair...LOL!

The tape measure does seem to be good. Used mine the other day. It's very readable!! But if they allowed us to pick which freebie, I would take the gloves almost every time unless I needed another flashlight or screwdriver set.

I never get the gloves. The fall apart as soon as you use them. If you like dotted gloves, order a free FarmTek catalog. You get a free pair with every catalog request. :thumbsup:

 

[CompactTractorFan]

I haven't had any problems with the gloves other than sometimes they run out before I can get my pair...LOL!


The tape measure does seem to be good. Used mine the other day. It's very readable!! But if they allowed us to pick which freebie, I would take the gloves almost every time unless I needed another flashlight or screwdriver set.

Those free orange gloves are one of the few things from HF that I decided were unusable junk.

I never get the gloves. The fall apart as soon as you use them.

If you like dotted gloves, order a free FarmTek catalog. You get a free pair with every catalog request. :thumbsup:

 

[JDeereman]

My local store never has the flashlights in stock...

Ditto!

Theo

 

[BigE_]

My local store stocks the flashlights behind the counter. You have to know to ask for them.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

My local store stocks the flashlights behind the counter. You have to know to ask for them.

Maybe I'll have to try that...:thumbsup:

 

[Pixguy]

My local store stocks the flashlights behind the counter. You have to know to ask for them.

Yea, I asked whre they kept them and I was told just to ask for them at the register. Pretty good for the price.:dance1:

 

[rswyan]

Picked up the ATV, Golfcart, & Mini Tire Changer today that I mentioned in another thread - normally $49.99 but the 25% coupon brought it down $37.50:

ATV, Golfcart, & Mini Tire Changer

I have three small tires to do soon (two on the tow-behind spreader, and one on a caster wheel on the ZTR) and I'll report back on how it works out.

Also grabbed the Circular Saw Blade Sharpener which was on sale for $49.99 (reg. $69.99)

120 Volt Circular Saw Blade Sharpener

From reading the reviews this one may require a little tweaking and modification to get it set up properly. I have numerous blades (7 1/4" circular saw, double blade counter-rotating metal saw, 10" cutoff saw, brush blade for my Stihl brushcutter) so if I can get it setup and functioning it ought to be worthwhile.

 

[TheRumpledOne]

I never get the gloves. The fall apart as soon as you use them. If you like dotted gloves, order a free FarmTek catalog. You get a free pair with every catalog request. :thumbsup:

Thanks for the info... I ordered a catalog.