Harbor Freight tools and stuff you like.

CaveCreekRay

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Re: Harbor Freight tools and stuff you like or dislike...

I bought a big roll of their .030 mig wire that was made in Spain. Works as good as the Lincoln stuff. Don't see any Spanish stuff anymore. Anyone tried their Chinese-made wire? This is the plain fluxless gas wire.
 

Lil Foot

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Re: Harbor Freight tools and stuff you like or dislike...

Question for you guys with the HF nailers...how are their nails? I have a project I'm working on with a dewalt finish nailer. Need to get some more nails...dewalt branded nails must be made of gold.
The full head nails I bought seem as good as any others, but a neighbor bought the half head nails, and you cannot pull one back out- the head just rips off.
 

North Idaho Wolfman

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Re: Harbor Freight tools and stuff you like or dislike...

Question for you guys with the HF nailers...how are their nails? I have a project I'm working on with a dewalt finish nailer. Need to get some more nails...dewalt branded nails must be made of gold.
Grip Rite nails which you can get at Home Depot or Lowes work very well in all type of guns, I have 20 different guns of all sizes, and never have a problem with them.

I've not had as good of luck with other off brand nails, and yes Dewalt anything they think it's at least gold plated! ;)
 

SidecarFlip

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Re: Harbor Freight tools and stuff you like or dislike...

Long as we are on the subject that I started....lol

I have a DeWalt cordless drill, my 3rd I think. The first 2 expired and now the batteries don't want to charge and DeWalt XR packs are stupid expensive so I'm thinking about a Earthquake or Hercules 20 volt Li-Ion cordless from HF.

Are they any good? The replacement packs are less than half the price of DeWalt.

I'd hate to buy one and find put they are junk. If they are, I'll bite the bullet and get some DeWalt XR packs.
 

SidecarFlip

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Re: Harbor Freight tools and stuff you like or dislike...

Grip Rite nails which you can get at Home Depot or Lowes work very well in all type of guns, I have 20 different guns of all sizes, and never have a problem with them.

I've not had as good of luck with other off brand nails, and yes Dewalt anything they think it's at least gold plated! ;)
I have about 20 different guns too but none of them shoot nails....:D
 

Daren Todd

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Re: Harbor Freight tools and stuff you like or dislike...

Long as we are on the subject that I started....lol

I have a DeWalt cordless drill, my 3rd I think. The first 2 expired and now the batteries don't want to charge and DeWalt XR packs are stupid expensive so I'm thinking about a Earthquake or Hercules 20 volt Li-Ion cordless from HF.

Are they any good? The replacement packs are less than half the price of DeWalt.

I'd hate to buy one and find put they are junk. If they are, I'll bite the bullet and get some DeWalt XR packs.
I have the Bauer brand screw gun from HF. It's pretty stout with a metal nose instead of plastic. Been pretty impressed with it. My only complaint about the HF screw guns, they only come with one battery. And of course the second battery costs about the same amount as the screw gun.
 

SidecarFlip

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Re: Harbor Freight tools and stuff you like or dislike...

Daren.. I have to ask, how is the battery life? My Dewalt batteries slowly fade into oblivion after a while.

Thing I don't quite get is HF has 3 distinct lines of 'quality' cordless tools (not including the cheapo Drill Master, Warrior and Chicago stuff), Bauer, Hercules, Earthquake and they all overlap which makes the choice hard.

Now they also have Titanium and Vulcan Welders too. Not in the market for one though I have a Lincoln InverTig and I'm quite satisified with it. I have a Hyper Therm plasma too. I see HF only offers a cheapo plasma cutter. Hard to beat Hyper Therm so long as your wallet can handle them.
 

Daren Todd

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Re: Harbor Freight tools and stuff you like or dislike...

Daren.. I have to ask, how is the battery life? My Dewalt batteries slowly fade into oblivion after a while.

Thing I don't quite get is HF has 3 distinct lines of 'quality' cordless tools (not including the cheapo Drill Master, Warrior and Chicago stuff), Bauer, Hercules, Earthquake and they all overlap which makes the choice hard.

Now they also have Titanium and Vulcan Welders too. Not in the market for one though I have a Lincoln InverTig and I'm quite satisified with it. I have a Hyper Therm plasma too. I see HF only offers a cheapo plasma cutter. Hard to beat Hyper Therm so long as your wallet can handle them.
Battery life seems to be pretty good on the Bauer. It's lithium ion so all of a sudden they just quit when the charge goes. Don't use it very often since I got my Mac drill driver :p
 

dlsmith

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Re: Harbor Freight tools and stuff you like or dislike...

Long as we are on the subject that I started....lol

I have a DeWalt cordless drill, my 3rd I think. The first 2 expired and now the batteries don't want to charge and DeWalt XR packs are stupid expensive so I'm thinking about a Earthquake or Hercules 20 volt Li-Ion cordless from HF.

Are they any good? The replacement packs are less than half the price of DeWalt.

I'd hate to buy one and find put they are junk. If they are, I'll bite the bullet and get some DeWalt XR packs.
Take them to a battery shop, they can replace the cells for about half of what Dewalt gets for new ones. If I remember correctly, I had my 9.6 volt packs overhauled for around $35 each.
 

Dunslandloy

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Re: Harbor Freight tools and stuff you like or dislike...

CP impact, impact sockets, extensions, electric power saw sharpener, 1/4" torque wrench, angle grinder cut-off and grinding discs and the step drills are a hidden gem.
 

SidecarFlip

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Re: Harbor Freight tools and stuff you like or dislike...

If you are referring to chainsaw sharpening, I use a file a guide or a Timberline.
 

D2Cat

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Re: Harbor Freight tools and stuff you like or dislike...

How about this thread changed to HF items you like. Then only the things you'd recommend to others will be listed and no confusion if it's a like or dislike.
 

North Idaho Wolfman

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Re: Harbor Freight tools and stuff you like or dislike...

I have about 20 different guns too but none of them shoot nails....:D
I can shoot nails out of my Mossberg shotgun too... But folks on jobs freaked out when I started framing with it. :p
 
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SidecarFlip

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Re: Harbor Freight tools and stuff you like or dislike...

How about this thread changed to HF items you like. Then only the things you'd recommend to others will be listed and no confusion if it's a like or dislike.
I said I disliked the cheap Drill Master angle grinder that I let the smoke out of pretty quick.

If Wolfman wants to change it, fine with me....

I don't like their tarp straps either. Don't last anytime and break....and they stink too.

I've also heard that their HSS twist drills will unwind but I've never bought any. I use Cleveland Twist or Triumph.

Last summer I bought a set of their straight aluminum loading ramps, great ramps. I load my quad in my pickup truck with them all the time.
 

Lil Foot

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SidecarFlip brings up a good point- all their black rubber stinks. They must still be using some old process- I've had oldtimers say all but the highest quality rubber used to smell that way back in the day.