You'd better check the country of manufacture of those name brand tools you prefer. Many are now from China, despite being long-time American brands. My experience is different from yours. HF wrenches, including Allen keys, perform just fine, even the ratchet ones. I have screwdrivers, driver bits, a bench vise, and many other non-powered tools I've never had a problem with. Drill bits are a bit less reliable. HF bits are fine for wood and soft metals, even mild steel, but will not necessarily stand up to (normalized - not hardened) medium-carbon steel (in my limited experience). That is no surprise and no particular disappointment. I had one saber saw on which the blade-mounting lever broke. I returned it (90 day return window) and bought the next higher priced one. I had a double blade (opposite spin) circular saw fail in some manner that I forget, and they replaced it without argument. The funniest problem item was an anvil: I cut off a corner of the mounting slot in the base to make a quick-release anvil mount -- and out spilled a bunch of steel beads! The casting had a hollow I could fit my pinkie into! BTW, those anvils have very soft faces. They're useful, but not up to snuff for serious work. But grinders, welders, auto-darkening welding helmets, miscellaneous cabinets and racks, etc., etc., just end up costing half what I'd pay elsewhere and perform just fine. The cheapest HF bench grinder works, but takes a while to come up to speed as it's underpowered. The big caveat: Those battery-powered hand tools, typically 18V rechargeable drills and so forth. Either the HD batteries or the HD chargers are crap. They never last. I won't buy those anymore. Overall, however, HF is my first stop for tools. OTOH, I *never* recommend a professional buy his critical tools there. If your income depends upon the reliability of your tools, you don't want one crapping out on you in the middle of a job. Pros should buy professional-quality tools (and not just name brands because some of those are crap too). Bruce NJ On Wed, Jul 14, 2021 at 9:56 AM Sentrytv via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I have gone to Harbor freight to buy many things and aside from the free flashlights and batteries most of their tools are pretty poor quality, or at least the items that I have purchased. I ended up returning most of the items that were poor quality.
I have to admit the scan tool I bought from them, to scan codes on my car, was reasonably priced and worked well.
There is no doubt that their prices are reasonable, but I really hate buying stuff from China.
That may be my opinion but I think a lot of us feel that way.
Mike R.
Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.
On Jul 14, 2021, at 8:59 AM, Martin Flynn via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Bruce, I’m a harbor freight regular, however when working (or conserving) historic kit, I don’t want to screw it up worse than it is with a hand tool that tears up the fasteners.
Right tool at the right time was my dad’s signature line…
Martin
Sent from my iPhone
Of course, this is none of my business (as a lurker on this list) but I must point out that the hand tools at Harbor Freight are mostly of quite good quality. I use these in my shop and have little complaint. Their main claim to fame is price -- quite low, generally. It is no longer a situation like in the '60's when you'd buy a set of Allen wrenches from the $1 bin at the auto parts store and the damned thing would twist into a hexagonal screw the first time you applied any torque to it.