Best of Harbor Freight!

My HF hole saw set was rubbish. Broke on first use.

+1 on the jackstands, for sure. Also the 1/2" torque wrench, which I bought to take to the track so I could leave my "good" Craftsman one at home. Said "good" Craftsman tool broke less than a year later, and the HF one is still going strong after almost 10 years.

About 5 years ago I bought a 12" compound-sliding miter saw with a laser guide there for $120. I have ended up using it way more than I ever thought I would, and it's about done now, the angle adjustment thing is broken, the safety guard is stuck, the laser hasn't worked in years, etc. Still runs fine, though.

It's a great place to buy fittings for air tools, various sizes of tarps, gloves, things like carts and stands, and other things that are pretty hard to mess up.

This turned out better than expected, great stuff here though, interesting to see some discrepancies on sockets especially.

I did join the inside track club, and immediately had buyers remorse, so i am glad some of you guys suggest it!

ThePhranc wrote:

1988RedT2 wrote: How could I have forgotten? My cheap HF sandblaster (with Black Beauty as the abrasive, of course) is doing a fine job of stripping some rusty parts for me. In fact, I've got some black sand-like material falling out of my hair at this very moment.

What sandblaster did you get? I have the red hopper gravity feed one and it sucks.

Heck I dunno.

Wait! This one!

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-liter-abrasive-blast-gun-92857.html

No fancy schmancy cabinets for me. I'm using an old cardboard box that my powered home subwoofer came in. How's that for grassroots?

Donebrokeit wrote: They also have a long handle 1/2" breaker bar that seems to be well unbreakable, and trust me I have tried real hard (think fence pipe) and its even on sale this week for $9.99 (might have to make a trip to HF today). http://www.harborfreight.com/interests/automotive/12-drive-25-breaker-bar-67933.html Paul B

I will be buying this tomorrow! mine disappeared about a month ago at work

joey48442 wrote: We have there metal band saw. It's awesome. So far it's cut all the metal for the 7 brilliantly. I also love my breaker bar. Put a piece of pipe on it and actually lifted the rear of my Miata off the jackstand tryin to break a lugnut loose the tire guy put on with an impact, and the bar was fine. Joey

I have the 3/8 breaker bar in my junkyard bag, used it Sunday to pry a trunk up enough to unbolt it in order to access the trunk on a Miata (it was locked and already damaged) it lifted the car off the stand it was on. Not bad for under $10.

Love their solid rubber wheel chocks @ ~$5 each. Orange jackstands and rubber mallet have been serving me well for years. Broke one of their impact sockets but they're cheap enough and the rest of the set are still in service. Picked up their pass through socket set and a torque wrench recently since I didn't have one that went to 5lbs, both did the trick. I'll pick up their nitrile gloves any time they get down to $5. Heat gun was priced right on sale with a coupon, but the little square plug in hand sander is garbage. Went through 3 of them.

Did buy and promptly return their electric impact wrench. Weaksauce.

I also have bought their super heavy duty black rubber gloves, I think in a 50ct pack, and they were fantastic. pretty damn durable. I think they were $12 though, so now I just wash my hands after every job.

corytate wrote: I also have bought their super heavy duty black rubber gloves, I think in a 50ct pack, and they were fantastic. pretty damn durable. I think they were $12 though, so now I just wash my hands after every job.

I got those too and they're great.

Good buys

Tool cabinet (on sale for 330ish) Cabinet . Combination wrenches, flare nut wrench. 3 ton steel floor jack. jack stands, aluminum race jack.

Crap drill bits, taps

Osterkraut wrote:

J308 wrote: This is a great idea for discussion for GRM'ers, but I just want to add that garagejournal has a huge HF pass/fail thread going on over there.

I was about to say half the forums I'm a member of have a Harbor Freight thread, GJ included.

Yep... I still think GJ is the one to beat though... Although, it is nice having one here, because the usage on GRM is highly relevant to my interests.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: +1 to Inside Track club. The coupons are hit or miss, though... You'll go a few weeks with a bunch of crap you don't care about, then BAM!!!! This week's comes out and you need EVERYTHING ON THERE. And then you buy it. Buy it all.

Aw snap I need to join it.... or do I? (see below)

EvanR wrote: They are in the process of opening a new store within walking distance of my house. This could have bad ramifications to my bank balance.

Yeah you're berkeleyed.

Anyone tried their ceramic chef's knives? Every time I see them on sale I think about picking up one for the wife, but when I get in the store I seem to get distracted by all the cool tools and forget.

Oh yeah, and I usually get a couple pairs of the mechanics gloves when they ho on sale for $4. That way I have a pair close to anywhere I may be, and I don't mind if I have to toss them after a dozen uses.

I've been happy with their step drill bits. Have abused several. Modified one for opening up the center in a urethane shock busing to fit the Mopar rear shock studs. Worked great.

The free LED flashlights are all over the place here at home and at work.

Picked up the air powered cutoff wheel the other day. The Craftsman one had the valve blow out and I needed to finish what I was working on. It's not great, but worked and was on sale for $9.95 or something like that.

The $10 hearing aid worked every bit as good as the $1500 one my father-in-law had. When the pricey one bought the farm we got him the $10 one. He loves it. Doesn't use it as often as he should though...

Just picked up a couple shop tools from there. I'll report back after I get to use them for a while.

I've bought several different HF tools over the years, but the one that impressed me most was their electric chain saw. I was expecting it to only last for one small tree, but I've cut about a dozen trees and few about 14-16" diameter.

they have a sale going on now 50% so i guess this thread is about as well timed as ever.

http://widgets.harborfreight.com/wswidgets/common/displayCoupon.do?hdr=mag&week=0412&campaign=b&page=0412b_retail.html&cust=33017999392&keycode=1002

just thought id pass the deal along. I cant think of anything i need though! :(

Their little air hammer chisel -

http://www.harborfreight.com/super-duty-air-hammer-with-chisels-47868.html

Saved me alot of time when replacing the rear upper mount bolts on my Cherokee.

went there today to buy the 25" breaker bar, came back to work with a 5 pc ratchet wrench set, 6 socket rails, the breaker bar, a set of picks, and a set of 3 u-joint extensions (1/4 3/8 and 1/2)
still only spent $37

Just to clarify, this: http://www.harborfreight.com/horizontal-vertical-metal-cutting-bandsaw-93762.html

is the band saw we have.

It was good enough for the guy who built this: http://palmbeachprodigy.com/BloodDragShow/2010/11/need-for-speed/ (and it is a driver, 1957 body, sorta, on a 2000 chassis sorta. Mallet donated the engine to the project) he recommended the band saw to me.

If its good enough for him, its good enough for my humble 7.

Joey

The crappy lil $10 12v air compressor I have is still going... It can be a little cantankerous when starting out, but it filled up 4 trailer tires to 45psi before saying enough the first time I used it.

Hey guys I desperately need (really want!) a HF Online Coupon TOOOODAAAYYYYY!!!!

Something I've been watching is at the lowest price I've seen it (still more expensive than others have paid for it but I digress...).

I've tried some of the expired 20%'ers out there but not all. And SPRING10 is not working, even though it doesn't say Chicago Electric is exluded, so can't figure that one out. But if any of their super-secret club members could pass along a coupon code, preferrably for 20% (or more ), I'd be grateful.

P.S. I'll also share with the forum the said item I've been watching, although most will probably not be as interested as I am.

checked a few magazines, but the 20% off coupons did not have an online code

The paper coupons I got in the mail yesterday did not have an on line code, sorry.

+1 on consumables, gloves, zip ties, wires, etc.

Torque wrenches (both 1/2 and 1/4) have served me well. I have multiples of anything free.

Love my jack stands (4 of them) and my 2.5 ton jack, it even works (lifts high enough) for my Jeep.

I agree on the magnetic trays.. those things are great!

As for corded tools.. I have an HF reciperacating saw that I got there last year.. I chopped up a Saab 900 with it.. and I am still on the original blade. The thing just refuses to die.

Not only did I cut the nose off of my old saab to get the engine out, but I also cut springs, engine mounts, and a million other metal bits

I'm about to make another run in about an hour. Gathering coupons now!

PS: Menards has a 100-piece screwdriver/bit/driver set for $15. Comes with a soft carrying case.

Quality doesn't seem to be AWESOME, per se... but it's a crapload of screwdrivers and stuff for $15.

I will be going to get a dayglow orange 20 ton press one of these days.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I will be going to get a dayglow orange 20 ton press one of these days.

When you do, pull off the jack that comes on it and install this sucker

http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/bottle-jacks/20-ton-air-over-hydraulic-jack-95553.html

Then thank me any time you have the opportunity to use it. I did this at work 4 years ago and it was worth every penny of 20% off whatever I paid.