Merry Christmas to me

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pittsburghracer

pittsburghracer

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
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Location
Freeport, PA.
I know I know I shouldn’t shop at Harbor freight but I can’t afford snap-on and most other higher priced tools, but I got a problem. I like having tools when I need them. I have a check on its way for a set of heads I ported and another set of Edelbrock heads and a Victor340 on standby. I got lots and lots of different types of sandpaper, gloves, 16 inch electric chainsaw, air belt sander, a stud welder (so I can pull the dents on my duster from the wheelie) 5 inch orbital sander, renewed my membership, and a few other goodies. Lots of work planned for this winter and spring. Merry Christmas everyone
 
Well I’m disappointed. I thought this was going to be another food post where we get to see something delicious.

Instead it’s about dirty old tools and such!!

Sounds like you made a good haul out of HF. Some of their stuff is a very good deal for what you get.

Merry Christmas to you!
 
MomsDuster said:
And a Merry Christmas to you! Sounds like you scored!
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Picked up a few nice deals but you gotta pay attention. That orbital sander was 39.00 and I didn’t need it that bad but I had an online coupon for 19.00 and asker her if this was the sander I grabbed. Yes it is so I bought it. Being a Harbor Freight club member wasn’t good enough as you needed the coupon. So I also had 20.00 harbor freight money and my sister gave me a 50.00 gift card. I love my sister. Lol
 
Rat Bastid said:
Well I’m disappointed. I thought this was going to be another food post where we get to see something delicious.

Instead it’s about dirty old tools and such!!

Sounds like you made a good haul out of HF. Some of their stuff is a very good deal for what you get.

Merry Christmas to you!
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I will have another food post in a few weeks. My nephews wife hooked me up with her “cheesy potatoes” recipe. I can’t wait to whip up a batch of those.
 
................They actually had all that in stock? LOL
 
I have a few tools from 'ChinaFreight' with one being a spray gun kit that I 'assembled' from no less than 6 kits to get all the best machined parts. Man, I couldn't believe how bad some of the machining was with holes drilled way offset and the like. Haven't used it much but what little I have used it, the job came out really nice. The crazy part was when I was doing the parts swapping, several employees walked by and didn't say a word!! lol.
 
Cranky said:
I have a few tools from 'ChinaFreight' with one being a spray gun kit that I 'assembled' from no less than 6 kits to get all the best machined parts. Man, I couldn't believe how bad some of the machining was with holes drilled way offset and the like. Haven't used it much but what little I have used it, the job came out really nice. The crazy part was when I was doing the parts swapping, several employees walked by and didn't say a word!! lol.
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It’s a 60 mile round trip for me so I try to research every bigger item I’m interested in. I even follow a Harbor Freight group on Facebook. I also try to buy the higher level item and not the lower shelf stuff. Example I bought the biggest drill press they offer in store as I use mine a lot. The only bad review on it was a noisy motor so I looked and I had a brand new one from my dads stock that I grabbed after he passed away. Seven years later it’s still going strong.
 
pittsburghracer said:
It’s a 60 mile round trip for me so I try to research every bigger item I’m interested in. I even follow a Harbor Freight group on Facebook. I also try to buy the higher level item and not the lower shelf stuff. Example I bought the biggest drill press they offer in store as I use mine a lot. The only bad review on it was a noisy motor so I looked and I had a brand new one from my dads stock that I grabbed after he passed away. Seven years later it’s still going strong.
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Several years ago ago I found an anvil that was made in Russia and thought about buying it (cheap) but already had a couple of rail road rails that were cut to do that I needed. I even smacked it with one of HF's big hammers and it passed the test lol. Some of their stuff is pretty good but lots of it isn't. Just gotta 'test' it I guess lol. I don't buy open end wrenches etc from them but have bought a couple of floor jacks there. Still, I'm leary so I'm careful about them....
 
Cranky said:
Several years ago ago I found an anvil that was made in Russia and thought about buying it (cheap) but already had a couple of rail road rails that were cut to do that I needed. I even smacked it with one of HF's big hammers and it passed the test lol. Some of their stuff is pretty good but lots of it isn't. Just gotta 'test' it I guess lol. I don't buy open end wrenches etc from them but have bought a couple of floor jacks there. Still, I'm leary so I'm careful about them....
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Their pittsburgh brand sockets and ratchets and now my go to stuff when I reach in the tool drawer. The sockets are marked nicely and the ratchets are finer toothed than my old craftsman and S&K stuff.
 
Being that i work on cars everyday all day, i stick with the big name brand stuff easier to warranty etc, but at home most is the same as you! Gets the job done! merry christmas buddy!
 
pittsburghracer said:
I will have another food post in a few weeks. My nephews wife hooked me up with her “cheesy potatoes” recipe. I can’t wait to whip up a batch of those.
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You'll need to share that recipe, along with whatever the hot sausage thing was you posted. The trenchermen of the forum anxiously await your guidance...
 
halfafish said:
You'll need to share that recipe, along with whatever the hot sausage thing was you posted. The trenchermen of the forum anxiously await your guidance...
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The hot sausages were nothing special. I just cut it up in approximately 3/4 inch pieces and quickly pan fry them to brown them. Then I put the in the slow cooker with a Qt of Prego traditional spaghetti sauce with sliced green peppers and onions. Then cook slowly for 36 hours so it all gets soaked in. Works great with sweet sausage too. Any leftover sauce added to spaghetti the next time you make it adds a little zing to your spaghetti.
 
Rat Bastid said:
Well I’m disappointed. I thought this was going to be another food post where we get to see something delicious.
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I'm not!

I've seen some of his other posts, that boy has some, shall we say, large appetites
 
y2swinger69 said:
Being that i work on cars everyday all day, i stick with the big name brand stuff easier to warranty etc, but at home most is the same as you! Gets the job done! merry christmas buddy!
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My high-school best friend has been a mechanic for 32 years, and has come to the same conclusion as you. His home box is Snap-On (his former work box, slightly larger than my house) but it's full of HF, Northern Tool, ATD, etc. He's never had a complaint about any of it and derides no one for using it. If it came to him on a truck that would warranty it, he might use some of it at work too. We sell Performance Tool (Wilmar) hand tools at my store and I've been surprised by its quality. I haven't warrantied much of it over the past 16 years. I have quite a bit of it myself, but I'm a hobbyist.
However, I shy away from cheap 110V handheld electric tools after a $20 HF angle grinder burst into flame in my hands. The same heat that created fire must've melted the switch: When I dropped it, it darted off. Right out the walk-through door and into the back yard she went before I stomped the extension cord and it unplugged itself. Fast little bugger, especially considering it was on fire at the time. :p In its defense, I got 8 good years out of it prior to the impromptu inferno/drag race. The next (and current) one? Makita.
 
I have a Lincoln Tig welder, and a Lincoln mig welder but I also bought a big multi welder at harbor freight so I could keep it set up with a hand held spool gun for aluminum welding.
 
I wouldn't leave any Harbor Freight electric tool plugged in when not in use.
Having a fire start in my hand is one thing, having it start in the shop when I'm sleeping is another.
But I usually hit the main breaker on the way out the door anyway.
 
NoCar340 said:
My high-school best friend has been a mechanic for 32 years, and has come to the same conclusion as you. His home box is Snap-On (his former work box, slightly larger than my house) but it's full of HF, Northern Tool, ATD, etc. He's never had a complaint about any of it and derides no one for using it. If it came to him on a truck that would warranty it, he might use some of it at work too. We sell Performance Tool (Wilmar) hand tools at my store and I've been surprised by its quality. I haven't warrantied much of it over the past 16 years. I have quite a bit of it myself, but I'm a hobbyist.
However, I shy away from cheap 110V handheld electric tools after a $20 HF angle grinder burst into flame in my hands. The same heat that created fire must've melted the switch: When I dropped it, it darted off. Right out the walk-through door and into the back yard she went before I stomped the extension cord and it unplugged itself. Fast little bugger, especially considering it was on fire at the time. :p In its defense, I got 8 good years out of it prior to the impromptu inferno/drag race. The next (and current) one? Makita.
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8 years of use and a fireworks show for $20! How can you beat that?!
 
What was funny was when I was checking out the orbital sander and grabbing an assortment of sandpaper I checked out a 38.00 1/2 inch - 16 inch belt sander. We used them a lot in the steel mill but this thing looked very cheaply made. I walked up and grabbed the 16 inch electric chainsaw and I got a call from the guy I ported the heads for and he told me he mailed out my payment. I told him about the stud welder and he said he used that belt sander I looked at to remove body panels from at least 8 cars with it and went on to say how junky it looked. Well I found a 1/2-13 inch air grinder for 27.00 so I grabbed it and some belts. He used it to grind off spot welds on body panels and said it worked great.
 
NoCar340 said:
To be honest, I was more irate that I couldn't finish what I was doing than I was about the grinder going Buddhist monk on me.
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Hahaha! I understand that frustration, my most common failure prone HF item is the shop light. When it burns out, works over. Some last 2 days, some last 2 months, but they all fail eventually.
 
Some of their stuff is actually decent with really good reviews. The purple spray gun comes to mind.
 
All of my tools are snap on, mac, s&k, some craftsman. Electric tools are dewalt. My air tools are snap on, craftsman. I've seen brake lines and fuel lines round off with the use of cheap tools. I figured that if I'm going to have a classic car, then I need quality tools to work on it. My brother in law has bought a lot of tools from HF and either wound up returning them or throwing them away because they either broke, burned up.
 
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