Hazard Fraught Tools

[GBOLT]

Admit it, we have all been here.

Document1.pdf

[GBOLT]

Admit it we've all been here.

[speedwagon]

Love it!!! Guilty as charged, last trip to town I bought some packing tape cause it was cheap and it sure as heck was, but not nearly as inexpensive as it should have been. It wouldn't even stick to it's self. When will we ever learn? Am going to make a few copies and next trip to town leave them scattered about chairman mao's junk tool store if you do not mind.

[GBOLT]

Go for it

[Automoda]

I admit that my in-car tool bag is mostly harbor freight. Why? So I wont cry if it gets stolen someday.

 

I will say this though-- My mechanic is, like most mechanics, visited by the usual travelling tool salesmen. Snap-on, Cornwell, Mack. And I think you all know what that means. Fifty-percent of his tools are high quality (Expensive!) items that he'll never use in his life (But he used in his imagination when browsing the truck). His mechanic son will one day inherit them, wonder what the hell they were for, and stuff them in the back of his garage. Then his son will do the same.... and so on.

 

Sometimes cheap is what you need. That being said, my friend bought a little saber saw there to cut a fiberglass hunk out of his Europa so we could make our little improvements. Well. It broke after 18 inches. Seized up-- On fiberglass. It was a prop. On the other hand, I've had some items from them here and there that have lasted better than some name brand versions. And the main reason for Harbor Freight to exist? By far the cheapest way to buy those cheap chipper brushes that I use when doing fiberglass work!

[Off Road SHO]

Everybody sells cheap Chinese crap to one level or another; Home Depot, Sears. They have to because most Americans only purchase the lowest cost tool. In that way they can tell themselves and others, they have one. Doesn't matter that it won't last, they still have one and they feel better about themselves. Pride in ownership of a nice well built tool has been replaced by desire to just have.

 

Horror Fraught is just the place that sells ALL the cheap Chinese crap. Nowadays, Taiwan and Japan are where the nice tools are made in the Pacific Rim area, but they do not make consumer tools, they have left that to the Chinese.

 

 

Tom

[bsimon]

"cheap Chinese crap"

I prefer to think of it as "exclusive imported goods from the Far East". :jester:

 

I remember when Pier One Imports was "cheap Oriental ratan crap" You could buy half the store for a couple of Jacksons. Clever marketing has made Pier One "exclusive" and "expensive" these days. Don't think that model will work for Harbor Fright however...

[solder_guy]

I did buy their 5 drawer red tool chest for $170 and it is good quality and has held up well in my carport for several years now ..

[rikker]

Sad thing is that many of the top historic domestic tool brands have lowered quality with Chinese manufacturing, I can not see that many tools being passed down from generation to generation.

[GBOLT]

Sad thing is that many of the top historic domestic tool brands have lowered quality with Chinese manufacturing, I can not see that many tools being passed down from generation to generation.

 

Most of my stuff is my Father and Grandfathers old Craftsman stuff. Have to admit to a disc grinder that lasted exactly one Stalker build. Then I bought an old Bosch at a auction, and it will outlast me.

[DeanG]

Pretty funny! Lots of junk and some quite usable stuff. My mechanic friend (almost exclusively old Mini) has mostly HF tools. He picks and chooses carefully.

 

I have owned a set of Snap-On safety wire pliers for 30 years. They aren't even close to being broken in yet. Someday long after I'm gone someone will have a nice set of pliers.