I was out of town yesterday and stopped by a Harbor Freight store. Sure is full of cheap tools and such. but I picked up a little 2 inch chop saw. I figured this would be perfect for cutting down cartridge brass. Last night I made up a little jig to hold the neck of the case and as a depth stop. Tonight I'll see how it works.
There is a Harbor Freight close to us. I don't know how well those tools hold up, but they are cheap. The only thing I saw reviewed was their cheapy $9.00 survival knife. It did not hold up well when put to heavy use.
I had to start all over a few years ago after my truck and over 50k worth of tools were stolen. I had very little money since the insurance company used a loop hole to avoid paying my claim. I bought harbor freight hand tools as I needed them thinking I would add them to the cost of the job and use the profits to buy better tools. IMO, their Pittsburgh hand tools are fine as long as you use them for their designed purposes. I still have and use many of the hand tools. Their air tools suck as do their electric tools. OTOH, one of the first tools I bought from them 6 years ago was a multimeter with clamp on ammeter. I still have it and use it quite often. Then again, I got 2 uses out of the ball joint press before it stripped out on me. IMO, ymmv, their hand tools are just as good as the Craftsman brand is NOW. Not as good as Craftsman used to be.
I love my Harbor Freight. I am a paid member and love their sales. Yes some of their stuff is sketchy at best. I returned 2 Torque wrenches. One the retaining ball would not engage and the other the adjustments would not work. No hassle, even a year after purchase. For light home use, I think their tools are good and a great value. For commercial work, it is buyer beware. I watch for their sales. Both of my work benches are from Harbor Freight and have held up. I purchased the magnetic tool holder and their magnetic screw holders. There are a large number of items that make a work area better and they are affordable. Can you tell I like Harbor Freight? P.S. I do not have any financial interest in Harbor Freight. DARN IT.
I agree with Son of Liberty's views. The hand-tools are a good deal; the electric and pneumatic tools not so much. Admittedly, all of my work with tools is for doing jobs around the farm; if I were a professional I might consider otherwise. But I can think of a lot of things I'd rather spend my money on than a $50 tool to do a $10 job.
Harbor Freight, seems to have next to nothing made in America. If your need is non-heavy use, the tools are OK. Cast iron tools made like a Russian tank will likely last for a while; they're crude, but will work. Sure wouldn't trust their rope to be any sort of life-saver for me. Chinese spring steel is crap. Chinese firearms and pellet rifles are crap. Had a pellet hand-gun from China -- didn't last two months; spring broke.
that little chop saw worked great so far. I made a little oak shim and stop to support the neck of the brass. Clamped shim and saw on the table. it's a quick process but cutting cartridge brass doesn't take much
As long as you are not trying to use their electric and pneumatic tools on a daily commercial basis they are good for the price. I have a lot of them and have had good luck out of their benchtop level tools. For the weekend mechanic or home improvment hobbyist their air impacts, and nailers work pretty well if you will put an inline oiler on your compressor line. Teir tools don't hold up like the top flight brand tools do but them you don't pay that much for them. I got about 8 years of use out of a table saw that I paid 75 bucks for and have no complaints. It burned up ripping treated 4X4s. That was asking a bit much of a cheap little table saw. One thing that you can do to make them last better is to toss the 10" blade that comes with it and replace it with a good 7 1/4" blade. That is all you need for cutting and ripping wood that is under 2". The good thing about them is that for very little you can get a years warenty and if there is any problem they will give you another one. I've been well pleased with them about waranty claims.
TEX You might want to "Report" the triple post to mods. They can fix it, they have fixed mine in the past.
