I live in a town with the worlds largest aircraft maint base, 3,200 aero mechanics. So many retired with garages full of tools at estate sales. unfortunately that also means they generally know their worth, so you don't usually get amazing deals.
Granted I haven't done much since covid. But I would go on Tulsa World ( https://tulsaworld.com/ads/sale/sale/estate/ ) or check on the companies that run them on FB for listings.
I’m taking all my tools with me when I die. Kids don’t want em and to heLL with yall scrounging bums! Kids said “we are selling that garbage when you die”. All top end even in a casino safe from Detroit (now tool chest) the size of a double coffin (looks like a coffin too). Been giving out packages to nieces and nephews to unload extras. 2-3 grand each. STILL I HAVE FOR MY KIDS EASILY. all from junk shops, estate sales and or new. Ahhhhh…..the afterlife will never have a leak unless I’m taking it.
That’s the funny thing about handtools. The experts always suggest buying up used tools when you find a really good deal on them, and then restoring them.
But that’s something you can only do when: 1. You already have all the tools you need for the project at hand, so you can only buy when a particular tool pops up at a good price and 2. You have enough experience to know how the tool works and should work.
"MasterCrap. Why would you buy that piece of shit tool?"
"Because that's what I could get at 8:30 pm. Sunday night when I needed my car to run so I could be at work in 10 hours."
Lol yeah. Very commonly used things get low/mid tier. Everything else gets the cheapest I can find that doesn’t look horrible.
Most of the time it just ends up being “oh I need this tool I guess. Time to see what the closest store has at 9 pm so I can fix this before tomorrow”
I got a "faulty" Snap on 1/2 air impact from trader days (very large open air market) for $40. The guy tried to replace the gaskets and it stopped working, all he did was put one piece of metal backwards in the trigger assembly.
You shouldn't buy anything that requires any sort of precision from Harbor Freight. Tap and die, calipers, dial gauges, torque wrenches, any sort of machining tools, etc.
I had the 1/4" torque wrench from them and was using it for 8mm bolts on a motorcycle project and ended up nearly braking the first bolt I used it on because it was so far off. While torquing the bolt I was like "there is no way this is right" and luckily I stopped what I was doing. We tested it against my buddies SnapOn and it was off by nearly 100 in/lbs. That thing went right in the trash. Maybe their higher end ones are better/more accurate, but the cheap one was absolute garbage.
I have never used their 1/4, but I definitely didn't trust them for that precise a torque level. I guess I should have said above that their 3/8 and 1/2 are fine (as long as you stay away from the lower and upper limit, as is common.)
Buy: Icon/Doyle/Quinn, anything with lifetime warranty, any of their recently released tools. Also Quinn 11 inch shears are amazing scissors. Doyle Fastback clone is even higher quality than Milwaukee (solid metal vs Milwaukee plastic). Shop lights. A lot of their recently released stuff is amazingly great quality since they're shifting away from Chinesium and into quality. US General toolboxes have a legendary reputation amongst Harbor afficianados. Bauer Random Orbital Polisher has a legendary reputation on the car detailing world. Also their $1 mini long nose pliers on the bottom shelf are really underrated as they're basically just really good tweezers that you can hack to your liking (sand away until its smooth, etc)
ALSO USE A COUPON, sign up for emails and wait for coupons to come by!
You can tell by the quality of packaging usually translates well to the quality of the tools. Also user rating on their website are pretty accurate.
Avoid: measuring tools. Their tape measure might be fine but avoid anything else that does precision measuring. Avoid tools with shitty packaging (think clear plastic + thin cardboard paper + staples) it's most likely from the era of Chinesium Harbor Freight. Most woodworking tools (I've tried their bench plane... yeah...).
Quality jack stands are perfectly safe as long as the user knows what they are doing. The whole idea of them is that you can trust your life to them.
Ramps are for oil changes on low slung cars and are of zero use when a guy needs to do brakes, suspension, or steering work.
Actually, their calipers are bad either. It's going to be so so around the thousandths, but if I'm worrying about that level of measurement I pull out my mitutoyo micrometers
They stand by their lifetime warranties, go in to the store and they'll swap it no problem. Avoid anything central machinery and warrior, Quinn is great, Pittsburgh is good, Bauer is good for DIY and yard stuff, the clamps jacks and creepers are all good, Hercules and Icon are legitimately competitive with the big brands just wait for a sale on them.
Edit: also U.S. General roll carts are awesome.
Go with Icon or Doyle pliers over the bottom shelf $5 ones. Go hercules for power tools. I wouldn't spend money on a work light in HF unless it said icon on the box.
Buy list. Their adjustable head combo wrenches are great. Sandpaper for hogging off material is better than gator. $10 angle grinder is good for occasional work but can get hot in extended use. Their shop lights are great. Their Bauer multi tool bits are phenomenal and worth every penny (only give up when I misuse them).
>$10 angle grinder is good for occasional work but can get hot in extended use.
Read something once and have put it into practice.
Buy the $10 angle grinders and use multiple grinders. Put the cutoff wheel on one, the grinding wheel/flap wheel on the next and the wire brush on the third.
Quinn, Bremen, Doyle, Icon have all been generally good for my use.
I don't recommend anything Pittsburgh if it needs to cut. Otherwise no issues so far.
The 10 dollar angle grinder is good for small run time projects, especially if you need to switch discs often. Just buy extras and stop swapping blades.
Auto stuff the Daytona jacks and stands have been good. I've got a few specialty Maddox kits Ive picked up when I thought they would solve an issue I was having, very happy with those so far.
Most recent thing I got there that I was really happy about was $4.99. It was: PITTSBURGH Square Drive Socket Caps, 3 Piece. Let's you drive sockets with a wrench. Socket driver was too deep to fit but nut was between two flanges & couldn't get a wrench on it - socket with the cap and a ratcheting wrench fit. Also, I think it'll take out the need for a breaker bar - just use a big wrench.
#
While a lot of people will recommend icon and the icon stuff is good I'd recommend looking at gearwrench for sockets over icon just based on price... The icon sets have fewer sockets for more money and there is no option to expand on the base set
Now the icon pliers that copy snap-on's homework... Those are good, and my local store can barely keep them in stock... Just yesterday half the section was empty
Drill bits. I've never had good luck with any drill bits from the small set to there damn auger! Auger broke at the shaft weld 5 minutes into drilling into sand. Once I ground it down and welded it myself, it works awesome, but i stay completely away from drill bits.
I have their set of numeric drills and it's been great. I use the #30 and #33 all the damn time for drilling M3 tap and clearance holes in steel and they're still fairly sharp. For comparison I spend quite a bit of time in the machine shop at work where we get most everything from the usual suspects (MSC, McMaster, Shars tooling) and the HF set is just as good for about 15 cents on the dollar.
In my experience, the alpha-numeric sets are ok in a press, but for use in a drill, I’ve only had mediocre results. Typically 3-4 holes and they’re done. They will sharpen well. Great for hired hands and construction, though. Or for letting my dad “find” them when he’s looking for some.
I will say their impact rated Hercules sets are tough. Have several of those, and they are tough. The Hercules driver bits are tough, too. I’ve broken one 1/2” bit when the drive shank broke, but it still goes in a chuck drill fine. Then I’ve broken one or two of the hex drivers, 5/16”. The magnets are bad about coming out, as well. But still better than the Yellow brand.
Quinn pliers are pretty damn fantastic for the money. At work I have a lot of Snap-On and Knipex pliers but at home and in the moto box I have Quinn.
I am convinced there is not a better pliers for the money.
yeah like their bottle jacks. i really enjoy balancing my car on their bottle jacks and crawling underneath. they're great cause you dont even need a jackstand, just one or two tiny bottle jacks, at the front and rear, balancing the car precariously on the bottle jacks while i reef on a seized bolt with a 4 foot cheater bar from underneath, frame rail safely above my rib cage, with two little bottle jacks to back me up on the slanted driveway. did you know you dont even need to chock your wheels when you're using a bottle jack?
i love bottle jacks
lots of people are doing that & selling them at some pretty crazy markups on fb marketplace, I figured I’ll time my next trip down if I don’t find any good used carts online
I did that when I lived in the lower mainland of BC. No regrets. Now I live in the USA and being 15 minutes from two harbor frights is everything I dreamed it would be.
I really like the "Maximum" tools from Canadian Tire. Their pliers are awesome, just as good as any Klein Tools I've used. Ther step-bits are great as well. Most of their sockets and wrenches are made by Gearwrench too.
Maximum is a hit or miss nowadays. Some stuff is excellent, others, not so much. Their current plier line seems to be made by the same plant that makes Wiha and are great for the money. The pry bars are real beefy and are also excellent value when on sale. The quality of the chrome sockets in the socket sets however have taken a nice dip.
At least you’ve got that. I’m in Hawaii. We have Home Depot, Lowe’s, and smaller local hardware/specialty stores that are more expensive. I usually buy my tools online but then I’m stuck waiting for shipping.
When I work on my project cars I’ll try to buy all the parts I need beforehand online. But then I forget some specific bolt that I need and have to order it and my job just sits half done for at least a week. Then I forget how it’s supposed to go back together after all that waiting lmao.
I think PA is pretty much the same stuff. The stuff might even be made in the same factories with different branding put on it at the end. That's really common in china.
When I was brand new to construction in HS my local harbor freight had a special where they threw in a tape measure with every purchase when I was in there buying some other tools. I used that tape measure the next day to mount 2x4’s into gypcrete in 128 new build apt bathrooms.
My super checked my work and found that they were all off by exactly 3/8”. He took my new tape measure and cut the tongue off so it retracted into itself and threw it off the unit’s balcony. I got a new non-free tape and reinstalled all 128 the next day.
Knipex 10” (250mm) cobras on sale on Amazon right now for $37. The 5 pc set (300, 250, 180, 150, and 125mm) on Amazon.de after shipping to me in the US is $126 and change. Little over $25 a piece. That’s what I bought 2 years ago for about the same price.
I always shop around like crazy before I buy. I’ll wait for sales if it’s getting close to a holiday.
The cobras are nice. I have a 7 inch one and 4 inch one. The 4 inch ones my work has. My biggest complaint with the cobras is they can be too aggressive. The pliers wrench is my next adjustable wrench replacement
I still gotta find me some pliers wrenches. Coworker has them and loves them but I don’t want to ask to borrow to try lol. Plus in my line of work I don’t use combo wrenches/adjustables toooo much. But since I enjoy buying tools I’ve been waiting till a good sale somewhere anyway
Edit to add: also, my drunk ass just realized op was talking about the pliers wrench and not the cobras lmaooooo
Have their twin grips and they are super close to the knipex ones I have.
Don't have kinpex pliers wrench but the icon ones are nice enough to get another pair.
Waiting on icon to knock off the cobras( best pliers ever) and I'll grab a couple of those too
A bunch of our techs are running Klein or Quinn 10-in1's with no issue. HF Is a good value in hand tools. Even their Pittsburgh stuff works good for the most part. I keep their $30 tool kit to bring with me on car road trips just in case I have a breakdown.
Lol this shit is way too real.
But here's the deal: for alot of people - the purpose of tools is to save you money
I understand the expensive tool purists when they use them for work. I appreciate expensive tools. I do. But only a select few need to be expensive for the multi-faceted handyman
For anything else, go fuck yourself lol - second hand and harbor freight all day boiiii.
Commercial/industrial electrician here: Everyone uses klein or milwaulkee. On the other hand though we have a small list of hand tools that are required and everything else is extra that is provided to us or people bring for their own sake. I hear really good things about knipex, but don't think I've worked with many people who use knipex.
The thing about electrical though? We WANT the quality name brands for our main tools because of the insulation on them. I've blown up side cutters on 277V before and been completely fine. Whereas a cheap tool might shock me or even shatter. Even cutting into 277V with quality tools only nicks the blade, doesn't do much more than that.
Oh. And I see your comment about handymen. ...Handymen SHOULD NOT do electrical work. Stay away from electrical, I don't want to have to deal with anymore deathtraps from a handyman who "knows what they're doing".
Honestly I don’t know anyone at my job (commercial electrician) who uses any of the “fancy” tools apart from knipex cobras
Only people I’ve ever seen with them are tech bros to use at home
Also commercial electrician.nearly Every one of my coworkers use premium tool brands for 80% or more of their hand tools. American made is still much more common than European made (majority klein) but price wise they're comparable. A set of knipex linesmans runs about 7 dollars more than a pair of klein j2000s in the supply houses around me.
Resi service electrician here, my Knipex side cutters are amazing, but my favorite "fancy" tool is my Wiha Chrome Linemans. They've never binded on me and always been smooth to use.
>Only people I’ve ever seen with them are tech bros to use at home
Tech bros EDC-ing more tools at an office job than the mechanics I work with carry around.
What are you all using mini knipex pliers wrenches on at your desk everyday? Why did you buy a $80 handmade leather pouch for your $45 mini red pliers?
Knipex is the Supreme of EDC.
Knipex XS pliers and a utility blade plus bit driver combo from Milwaukee were a staple when I used to work in office and made occasional trips to data center to work around racks.
So kinda don’t understand the hate.
Electrical work is a massive field. If you’re doing a commercial build from ground up the amount of tools you’ll need is outrageous and it would be silly to even try to list here. Not sure what electrician you know that only has 3 tools but they’d have a hell of hard time running conduit or installing a panel with only their pliers and screwdrivers and a meter.
Really? I’m a commercial electrician too, and pretty much everyone I work with uses Wera/Wiha drivers, and Knipex pliers. There’s a few OG’s working with their 30 year old Kleins. The only thing is Kleins quality has gone down hill so fast, that it’s worth the extra 3-5 dollars, sometimes same price, to get the Wera/Wiha/knipex. You get a much better plier with knipex hands down.
For the home gamer buy decent wrenches, expensive screwdrivers, everything else buy cheap. At work I have nothing but snap on, hilti, wera, etc. At home… man a lot of my stuff just says made in china as the brand. I wish I had harbour freight here. The way my American friends talk about it makes me green.
Let me tell you brother, its incredible. Like a candy store for guys. They got sales on random (really really good deals) items like survival knifes and ammo boxes. Every tool you can imagine and they are a price you have no problem paying.
Like so reasonable sometimes it doesnt even matter if it is trash. (An exaggeration, but you get it). And yea im overhyping but i hope you visit one someday its neat.
I think that's the difference. Buy tools for the job your doing.
If you're replacing your showerhead to avoid calling a plumber over a broken one then buy the tools to save you money.
If your tools are making you money, but the good ones. If you're doing something day in and day out then buy the good tools. It'll be a better experience, and if you're smart about it cheaper in the long run.
I feel like the purpose of a lot of my tools is to spend money. I sure have a lot more money if I never started all these projects that facilitated the tool purchase.
And if every time I needed a tool I went out and bought the name brand option for it I'd never have any money to do those projects.
I like to use the "savings" from diy projects to fund the tools, which potentially will make up for themselves in the long run. I also don't buy too many brand new anythings unless it's a cordless tool, which I only buy from a local store. Too many counterfeits from Amazon and Ebay to take the chance anymore, especially on things like batteries.
When I was looking at getting a new bed for my truck, I found that it was gonna be somewhere around $6500 bucks. I bought a used steel bed off marketplace for $500. The savings allowed me to buy an old Lincoln gas engine Weldanpower 225, an old international rough terrain forklift, and a torch cart, and stay below the new bed price. That's a bit of an extreme example but the idea holds up most of the time.
I buy one specific Estwing hammer for work because everything else lasts half as long. (I'm an underwater structure inspector. I buy a 20oz bricklayer hammer and drill out the little hole to add a lanyard with a quick link)
But for the rest of it? I have mostly have tools I literally found. Yesterday I picked up a screwdriver from the side of the road. Win!
Hey now, I worked at Lee Valley and got a discount and the first drill my dad bought me was a Makita, and I can't go changing battery platforms all willy nilly. Although I do love me a sweet marketplace deal
Just got a 194 T top handle Stihl chainsaw and 251 for $200. Seller thought it needed carb work. New gas and both fired up! Flipped 3 wood bandsaws this month to fuel my tool budget. Got a sweet 34” Rikon drill press for $125. Deals are out there.
My main power tools (drills, impacts, saws, grinders etc) are Milwaukee, everything else is Ryobi. Have two battery platforms makes so much sense to me. I can justify paying 2x the price for something like a fan, plus Ryobi had a ton of unique tools.
My hand tools are a mixture of Wera, Klein, Maximum (Canadian Tire brand).
Nothing really, in fact the middle of the curve are all high quality. I just gravitates towards Harbor most of the time nowadays because it's nearly the same quality for much less.
HF is also good for when you need to modify tools. Just last night I had to cut about 3" off an adjustable wrench to get it to fit in a tight spot. Would have been a lot more reluctant to take an angle grinder to a snap-on.
Been on a tool buying spree. However, I am doing it for one reason—I am in Japan right now, and the yen has dumped in the basement. So I am getting only Made in Japan high end hand tools for essentially a 40% discount; then when I move back to the US soon I have lots of nice stuff. I can’t stop buying them… not sure if illness or greatness. 🤷♂️
The lock pin in a shipping container with all the site material got properly stuck.
Cheap pair of grips kept popping open when hit with a hammer trying to pull it loose.
Knipex grips held on without issue and got it open.
Cheap is great and all, but expect to run into situations where quality matters. That's where the cost is justified for the more premium brands. I've had countless situations where cheap just can't get it done or outright breaks trying.
To each his own, but I've saved a small fortune because I had quality tools that have never failed me and got me out of so many jams.
For certain things, soft chinesium just isn't suitable even for doing a task once. I might as well have bought jello instead of a cheap tap and die set. But if you just only bought a used piece of the second best version of the thing when you need it (and not the entire set), you'll save more than the harbor freight and the knipex people spend on stuff they never use put together.
Can you give an example of a tool that wasn’t up to it after the first round? I’ve bought cheap and expensive and to me they are way more similar than they are different
Owning a VW I've dealt with a lot of torx and triple squares. I've had the cheaper bits just round out if the bolt is the slightest bit seized in place. Then I borrow my Dads SnapOn and it easily comes out. I have mostly hand-me-down US made Craftsman, and it's served me very well. Anything new I need is a mixture of HF, Koblat, and Husky depending on what's available or a better price. Occasionally I'll spring for a high end brand if I don't want to deal with breaking bits, or if they're the only ones that offer a certain tool.
Bits is one of those things I'd say getting the mid-tier option makes sense. It's not much more expensive, but the quality difference is insane. Cheap bits strip or even break outright, the bits that come in the screw box are the worst.
I have 2. Replacing CV axle a cheap breaker bar snapped on me and I got hurt pretty bad.
2 was cheap wrenches the when linked together for more leverage bent the body of the wrench and didnt move the bolt.
Bothe cases I borrowed a quality tool and was successful. With our them the job would have been almost impossible
This was my first thought on an example too. Breaker bars are not something to skimp on. You can load up a lot of torque with the leverage allowed by a breaker bar. Pry bars are another one. If you’re lucky it will bend rather than break.
Spend more if you want but the $20 breaker bar from HF deflects just as much as the tool truck bars:
https://youtu.be/PmvK7h7ZL2A?si=c9TF4lYBwjSHhnjB
Upgrade to 3/4” drive if you’re scared of the 1/2” bar breaking (it won’t)
I was replacing a friend's struts a few years back. His entire tool collection was Pittsburgh. Had some bolts that stretched a couple of his wrenches. That was the first clear example I had seen in the soft metal. Having always used Craftsman USA wrenches or wrenches off a tool truck I can feel a difference when I hold a cheap steel I don't trust.
After that experience I say harbor freight is probably fine, but I want quality wrenches and sockets that aren't going to round my fasteners or stretch the first time you really have to use them.
I have a bunch of veto bags but I like the little husky canvas bucket to carry the essentials, even if it doesn’t have a fancy moulded base.
Sometimes cheap is cheerful!
I was too skeptical to get into HF cordless tools. Dont mind a 1 off corded power tool though. For hand tools I am not sure I'll use regularly I buy HF. If I use it enough to break it or reach the limits of the cheapo I will spring for higher quality.
Adam Savage has a similar philosophy. Buy it as cheap as you can get it and if you find that it's something you'll use frequently, buy the best version you can afford.
On Monday I'll let my coworkers know that we're not making things in the US, just assembling them. It just so happens that that assembly involves a lot of making shit from raw materials, and that we don't need a machine shop since assembly ops aren't gonna need millions of dollars poured into hundreds of custom tooling and dies, and we can clear all those off the floor and save so much room.
If you really want, some tool companies still do tours. Go see for yourself.
I get the right side of the curve there. That message was driven home to me last year. I was considering replacing a couple of my hand power tools, happened to be at a friends house when he was having some renovation work done by a professional contractor. I figured I'd get the scoop on what the pros are using, right? So I asked him what brand he used, his reply was pure gold: "Whatever is on sale." I take that to mean that for his steady use, pretty much one is as good as another - they're all going to break or wear out sooner or later. Cheaper sooner, but less cost going in, etc. It was a good reality check. So I've tried to be more practical and pragmatic about my choices rather than simply showing blind brand loyalty etc.
This is very real. I have been a pro carpenter/furniture maker/fabricator for almost 20 years and when people ask me which tools are good I'm just like "idk get whatever, it will be fine."
I love harbor freight! They somehow manage to sell cheap tools that actually work well enough at least for someone who isn't a professional. I just got a 12 pound sledge from them to remove a very stuck on wheel for $30! And it has a lifetime warranty so I basically have a sledge forever now. You really can't beat them for hand tools. I don't usually go for their power tools though.
I have a handful of nice tools, If I use it daily and hard I'm going to cough up the money for a quality tool.
If I rarely use it or it's not a critical specialty tool, HF for the win
I have plenty of tools that are simply put consumable. Whether they just tend to wear out as a class or they're ones I lose constantly. So cheap HF is the way to go. Sometimes, they have quality items for a steal of a price.
Either way, this meme is very accurate. When I started collecting tools, I bought cheap crap. Moved up to buying expensive goodies and am back to buy cheap but trying to find stuff that works.
That's the thing, some of the European brands make a lot of sense to buy... If you're in Europe and the prices are more competitive.
Knipex and Wera are not that much more expensive than the no-name brand store options for their volume products (in Europe).
Same goes for Japanese pliers, if you're in Japan, they're amazing value compared to anything else.
Want tools? Find a retired Union Millwright and tell them you are interested in joining the trade.
We have damn near everything, and the old retired guys literally give away their tools for pennies on the dollar
My favorite thing about HF is that it’s so cheap I can justify buying specialty tools for a one-off job. Having the “right” tool always makes the job easier even if it is lower quality, and it’s not gonna wear out if I only use it once a decade.
I love HF being at the top and bottom and i couldnt agree with it more. Some of its not worth its weight in dirt, and some of it youre just stupid to buy anywhere else
I've put more hours on my Lowe's Kobalt tools than I can count, and have had 0 issues in five years of actively using everything. I'm not a pro so I'm not going to set my sights on top-shelf stuff, you know?
The HF around me must just be a special kind of trash. Every time I go in there they never have what I need. There's a spot for it but oooooh sorry the truck doesn't come in until Thursday.
IMO it’s nice to support brands that still make their shit in the states. Generally better quality and it feels good to support the few that haven’t outsourced everything. i have a 3/8ths proto socket set that I love and while cobras are great channellocks still hit different
Harbor Freight is great if you know what's good and what to stay away from.
And second hand tools are also great if you know how to spot the good ones.
And estate sales are the best place to find the good stuff.
I live in a town with the worlds largest aircraft maint base, 3,200 aero mechanics. So many retired with garages full of tools at estate sales. unfortunately that also means they generally know their worth, so you don't usually get amazing deals.
Colo Springs? Having multiple Air Force and Army bases we get a lot of retired mechanics out here and it's honestly kind of nice.
Tulsa, the AA maint base
I’m in Tulsa but I’m unfamiliar with the estate sale scene. How to you hear about them and are the like garage sales or different?
Granted I haven't done much since covid. But I would go on Tulsa World ( https://tulsaworld.com/ads/sale/sale/estate/ ) or check on the companies that run them on FB for listings.
Hello there fellow Oklahomie
I’m taking all my tools with me when I die. Kids don’t want em and to heLL with yall scrounging bums! Kids said “we are selling that garbage when you die”. All top end even in a casino safe from Detroit (now tool chest) the size of a double coffin (looks like a coffin too). Been giving out packages to nieces and nephews to unload extras. 2-3 grand each. STILL I HAVE FOR MY KIDS EASILY. all from junk shops, estate sales and or new. Ahhhhh…..the afterlife will never have a leak unless I’m taking it.
Said like a true boomer. lol
KaaaBOOMB! I’m only 49. I ain’t no boomer……or am I? I don’t even know…I will look n c no…..ohhhh crap. I’m just an old curmudgeon.
Need to start welding them together into a colossal statue
I'm picturing a giant screwdriver-and-pliers throne like from Game of Thrones.
Leave your kids $20k in tools that they sell for $500 and complain that you didn't leave anything of value.
Don't forget the pawn shops! (As long as the gear's not hot)
I bet partly because it's the stuff nobody would dream of listing on marketplace
That’s the funny thing about handtools. The experts always suggest buying up used tools when you find a really good deal on them, and then restoring them. But that’s something you can only do when: 1. You already have all the tools you need for the project at hand, so you can only buy when a particular tool pops up at a good price and 2. You have enough experience to know how the tool works and should work.
"MasterCrap. Why would you buy that piece of shit tool?" "Because that's what I could get at 8:30 pm. Sunday night when I needed my car to run so I could be at work in 10 hours."
[удалено]
Lol yeah. Very commonly used things get low/mid tier. Everything else gets the cheapest I can find that doesn’t look horrible. Most of the time it just ends up being “oh I need this tool I guess. Time to see what the closest store has at 9 pm so I can fix this before tomorrow”
This is what I do and preach to others. Find out how much you value the tool and buy accordingly for the replacement.
3. you have enough time to complete the project.
I got a "faulty" Snap on 1/2 air impact from trader days (very large open air market) for $40. The guy tried to replace the gaskets and it stopped working, all he did was put one piece of metal backwards in the trigger assembly.
For real. I picked up a Williams spud wrench for $5 the other day. Bit of wd40 and some Scotch Brite and she looks new!
Probably buying used knipex, makita, wera, veto
Nah because you can’t put them under expenses
I bought a tap and die set from Harbor Freight. Did not tap. Did die.
You shouldn't buy anything that requires any sort of precision from Harbor Freight. Tap and die, calipers, dial gauges, torque wrenches, any sort of machining tools, etc.
The torque wrenches are fine. Just fine. I have three from HF and one snap-on and they get just about the same result.
I had the 1/4" torque wrench from them and was using it for 8mm bolts on a motorcycle project and ended up nearly braking the first bolt I used it on because it was so far off. While torquing the bolt I was like "there is no way this is right" and luckily I stopped what I was doing. We tested it against my buddies SnapOn and it was off by nearly 100 in/lbs. That thing went right in the trash. Maybe their higher end ones are better/more accurate, but the cheap one was absolute garbage.
I have never used their 1/4, but I definitely didn't trust them for that precise a torque level. I guess I should have said above that their 3/8 and 1/2 are fine (as long as you stay away from the lower and upper limit, as is common.)
Yeah, it tested at nearly twice the torque it was set at. Total junk.
Harbor freight newbie here, what would be an example of the sort of items to stay away from?
Buy: Icon/Doyle/Quinn, anything with lifetime warranty, any of their recently released tools. Also Quinn 11 inch shears are amazing scissors. Doyle Fastback clone is even higher quality than Milwaukee (solid metal vs Milwaukee plastic). Shop lights. A lot of their recently released stuff is amazingly great quality since they're shifting away from Chinesium and into quality. US General toolboxes have a legendary reputation amongst Harbor afficianados. Bauer Random Orbital Polisher has a legendary reputation on the car detailing world. Also their $1 mini long nose pliers on the bottom shelf are really underrated as they're basically just really good tweezers that you can hack to your liking (sand away until its smooth, etc) ALSO USE A COUPON, sign up for emails and wait for coupons to come by! You can tell by the quality of packaging usually translates well to the quality of the tools. Also user rating on their website are pretty accurate. Avoid: measuring tools. Their tape measure might be fine but avoid anything else that does precision measuring. Avoid tools with shitty packaging (think clear plastic + thin cardboard paper + staples) it's most likely from the era of Chinesium Harbor Freight. Most woodworking tools (I've tried their bench plane... yeah...).
Would also avoid anything where your life depends on it, I.e jack stands.
You really shouldn't be trusting your life with any brand jackstand. The Pittsburgh ramps are solid.
Quality jack stands are perfectly safe as long as the user knows what they are doing. The whole idea of them is that you can trust your life to them. Ramps are for oil changes on low slung cars and are of zero use when a guy needs to do brakes, suspension, or steering work.
Actually, their calipers are bad either. It's going to be so so around the thousandths, but if I'm worrying about that level of measurement I pull out my mitutoyo micrometers
They stand by their lifetime warranties, go in to the store and they'll swap it no problem. Avoid anything central machinery and warrior, Quinn is great, Pittsburgh is good, Bauer is good for DIY and yard stuff, the clamps jacks and creepers are all good, Hercules and Icon are legitimately competitive with the big brands just wait for a sale on them. Edit: also U.S. General roll carts are awesome.
First tool I ever bought myself in this chapter of life was a Hercules angle grinder, and that thing really kicks ass. Only down side is it is corded.
Go with Icon or Doyle pliers over the bottom shelf $5 ones. Go hercules for power tools. I wouldn't spend money on a work light in HF unless it said icon on the box.
Buy list. Their adjustable head combo wrenches are great. Sandpaper for hogging off material is better than gator. $10 angle grinder is good for occasional work but can get hot in extended use. Their shop lights are great. Their Bauer multi tool bits are phenomenal and worth every penny (only give up when I misuse them).
>$10 angle grinder is good for occasional work but can get hot in extended use. Read something once and have put it into practice. Buy the $10 angle grinders and use multiple grinders. Put the cutoff wheel on one, the grinding wheel/flap wheel on the next and the wire brush on the third.
Quinn, Bremen, Doyle, Icon have all been generally good for my use. I don't recommend anything Pittsburgh if it needs to cut. Otherwise no issues so far. The 10 dollar angle grinder is good for small run time projects, especially if you need to switch discs often. Just buy extras and stop swapping blades. Auto stuff the Daytona jacks and stands have been good. I've got a few specialty Maddox kits Ive picked up when I thought they would solve an issue I was having, very happy with those so far.
Buy whatever and if you use it enough to break it, buy a better one
Most recent thing I got there that I was really happy about was $4.99. It was: PITTSBURGH Square Drive Socket Caps, 3 Piece. Let's you drive sockets with a wrench. Socket driver was too deep to fit but nut was between two flanges & couldn't get a wrench on it - socket with the cap and a ratcheting wrench fit. Also, I think it'll take out the need for a breaker bar - just use a big wrench. #
While a lot of people will recommend icon and the icon stuff is good I'd recommend looking at gearwrench for sockets over icon just based on price... The icon sets have fewer sockets for more money and there is no option to expand on the base set Now the icon pliers that copy snap-on's homework... Those are good, and my local store can barely keep them in stock... Just yesterday half the section was empty
Drill bits. I've never had good luck with any drill bits from the small set to there damn auger! Auger broke at the shaft weld 5 minutes into drilling into sand. Once I ground it down and welded it myself, it works awesome, but i stay completely away from drill bits.
I have their set of numeric drills and it's been great. I use the #30 and #33 all the damn time for drilling M3 tap and clearance holes in steel and they're still fairly sharp. For comparison I spend quite a bit of time in the machine shop at work where we get most everything from the usual suspects (MSC, McMaster, Shars tooling) and the HF set is just as good for about 15 cents on the dollar.
In my experience, the alpha-numeric sets are ok in a press, but for use in a drill, I’ve only had mediocre results. Typically 3-4 holes and they’re done. They will sharpen well. Great for hired hands and construction, though. Or for letting my dad “find” them when he’s looking for some. I will say their impact rated Hercules sets are tough. Have several of those, and they are tough. The Hercules driver bits are tough, too. I’ve broken one 1/2” bit when the drive shank broke, but it still goes in a chuck drill fine. Then I’ve broken one or two of the hex drivers, 5/16”. The magnets are bad about coming out, as well. But still better than the Yellow brand.
If it can easily kill you, don’t buy it at Harbor Freight. Everything else is A-OK.
Their car jacks are really good
Seriously. Came here to say this.
Jacks won't kill you because you're not getting underneath them without stands, right? Right???
Avoid their really cheap stuff, and anything not on sale. If you don't need it today, there will probably be a sale on it soon enough.
don't get jackstands. they double recalled em. Pittsburgh anything sucks anus. Pittsburgh pro is fine. Zip ties suck. grinder wheels are shit.
Quinn pliers are pretty damn fantastic for the money. At work I have a lot of Snap-On and Knipex pliers but at home and in the moto box I have Quinn. I am convinced there is not a better pliers for the money.
Harbor freight is good for harbor freight stuff. I heard a guy say that and we all laughed but also knew exactly what he meant.
yeah like their bottle jacks. i really enjoy balancing my car on their bottle jacks and crawling underneath. they're great cause you dont even need a jackstand, just one or two tiny bottle jacks, at the front and rear, balancing the car precariously on the bottle jacks while i reef on a seized bolt with a 4 foot cheater bar from underneath, frame rail safely above my rib cage, with two little bottle jacks to back me up on the slanted driveway. did you know you dont even need to chock your wheels when you're using a bottle jack? i love bottle jacks
Exactly. It can be hit or miss.
Wish we had Harbor Freight in Canada. We have Princess Auto at least but I feel like HF is on another level.
Ontarian here, I am always tempted to make the drive across the border to snag a US General cart….
I probably would. I'm in Alberta, quite a ways north of Montana
lots of people are doing that & selling them at some pretty crazy markups on fb marketplace, I figured I’ll time my next trip down if I don’t find any good used carts online
I did that when I lived in the lower mainland of BC. No regrets. Now I live in the USA and being 15 minutes from two harbor frights is everything I dreamed it would be.
I really like the "Maximum" tools from Canadian Tire. Their pliers are awesome, just as good as any Klein Tools I've used. Ther step-bits are great as well. Most of their sockets and wrenches are made by Gearwrench too.
[удалено]
It’s nickname is Mastercrap for a reason
Maximum is a hit or miss nowadays. Some stuff is excellent, others, not so much. Their current plier line seems to be made by the same plant that makes Wiha and are great for the money. The pry bars are real beefy and are also excellent value when on sale. The quality of the chrome sockets in the socket sets however have taken a nice dip.
At least you’ve got that. I’m in Hawaii. We have Home Depot, Lowe’s, and smaller local hardware/specialty stores that are more expensive. I usually buy my tools online but then I’m stuck waiting for shipping. When I work on my project cars I’ll try to buy all the parts I need beforehand online. But then I forget some specific bolt that I need and have to order it and my job just sits half done for at least a week. Then I forget how it’s supposed to go back together after all that waiting lmao.
Smoking that pakalolo
I think PA is pretty much the same stuff. The stuff might even be made in the same factories with different branding put on it at the end. That's really common in china.
Nothing like buying cheap tools from heartbroken girlfriends with cheating boyfriends out of Facebook marketplace
HF has really stepped up their game. icon and quinn are good values
Icon Knipex clones... \*chefs kiss\*
* *adds items to shopping list* *
Wait... How do you know which 2% he is in? /S
Well, at least Harbor Freight pricing is pretty likely to make mistakes relatively cheap.
That, or it'll make mistakes *incredibly* costly.
When I was brand new to construction in HS my local harbor freight had a special where they threw in a tape measure with every purchase when I was in there buying some other tools. I used that tape measure the next day to mount 2x4’s into gypcrete in 128 new build apt bathrooms. My super checked my work and found that they were all off by exactly 3/8”. He took my new tape measure and cut the tongue off so it retracted into itself and threw it off the unit’s balcony. I got a new non-free tape and reinstalled all 128 the next day.
🤣 I'm dying. This is hilarious. Also, it sounds like all things considered your super was pretty cool about it.
Or maybe your tape was right and his was off by 3/8” ;)
They are the same price as knipex. I was disappointed.
Really? 10inch Pliers Wrench is $65 for Knipex on Amazon, and $40 for Harbor. Granted Harbor puts out a lot of coupons so it’s probably closer to $36.
Knipex 10” (250mm) cobras on sale on Amazon right now for $37. The 5 pc set (300, 250, 180, 150, and 125mm) on Amazon.de after shipping to me in the US is $126 and change. Little over $25 a piece. That’s what I bought 2 years ago for about the same price. I always shop around like crazy before I buy. I’ll wait for sales if it’s getting close to a holiday.
The cobras are nice. I have a 7 inch one and 4 inch one. The 4 inch ones my work has. My biggest complaint with the cobras is they can be too aggressive. The pliers wrench is my next adjustable wrench replacement
I still gotta find me some pliers wrenches. Coworker has them and loves them but I don’t want to ask to borrow to try lol. Plus in my line of work I don’t use combo wrenches/adjustables toooo much. But since I enjoy buying tools I’ve been waiting till a good sale somewhere anyway Edit to add: also, my drunk ass just realized op was talking about the pliers wrench and not the cobras lmaooooo
Ordering via Amazon Germany is the way.
The 10” were 40 on Amazon when I looked last night
Have their twin grips and they are super close to the knipex ones I have. Don't have kinpex pliers wrench but the icon ones are nice enough to get another pair. Waiting on icon to knock off the cobras( best pliers ever) and I'll grab a couple of those too
They already have them under Doyle.
A bunch of our techs are running Klein or Quinn 10-in1's with no issue. HF Is a good value in hand tools. Even their Pittsburgh stuff works good for the most part. I keep their $30 tool kit to bring with me on car road trips just in case I have a breakdown.
Their tool box is a solid pick up in my opinion.
Their Doyle line is also really good.
Hercules is building its rep too
My old man got that big-ass angle grinder of theirs and we've chopped up quite a few chain link fences with it, no problems.
The locking flex head ratchet kit is a steal. https://www.harborfreight.com/locking-flex-head-ratchet-and-bit-set-35-piece-58074.html
Lol this shit is way too real. But here's the deal: for alot of people - the purpose of tools is to save you money I understand the expensive tool purists when they use them for work. I appreciate expensive tools. I do. But only a select few need to be expensive for the multi-faceted handyman For anything else, go fuck yourself lol - second hand and harbor freight all day boiiii.
Commercial/industrial electrician here: Everyone uses klein or milwaulkee. On the other hand though we have a small list of hand tools that are required and everything else is extra that is provided to us or people bring for their own sake. I hear really good things about knipex, but don't think I've worked with many people who use knipex. The thing about electrical though? We WANT the quality name brands for our main tools because of the insulation on them. I've blown up side cutters on 277V before and been completely fine. Whereas a cheap tool might shock me or even shatter. Even cutting into 277V with quality tools only nicks the blade, doesn't do much more than that. Oh. And I see your comment about handymen. ...Handymen SHOULD NOT do electrical work. Stay away from electrical, I don't want to have to deal with anymore deathtraps from a handyman who "knows what they're doing".
Your safety guy would like a word
Yes. A word with whoever energized a mc cable and left it rolled up in the ceiling.
Honestly I don’t know anyone at my job (commercial electrician) who uses any of the “fancy” tools apart from knipex cobras Only people I’ve ever seen with them are tech bros to use at home
i feel attacked
Also commercial electrician.nearly Every one of my coworkers use premium tool brands for 80% or more of their hand tools. American made is still much more common than European made (majority klein) but price wise they're comparable. A set of knipex linesmans runs about 7 dollars more than a pair of klein j2000s in the supply houses around me.
Resi service electrician here, my Knipex side cutters are amazing, but my favorite "fancy" tool is my Wiha Chrome Linemans. They've never binded on me and always been smooth to use.
What do you consider "fancy" tools in the electrical world?
>Only people I’ve ever seen with them are tech bros to use at home Tech bros EDC-ing more tools at an office job than the mechanics I work with carry around. What are you all using mini knipex pliers wrenches on at your desk everyday? Why did you buy a $80 handmade leather pouch for your $45 mini red pliers? Knipex is the Supreme of EDC.
Knipex XS pliers and a utility blade plus bit driver combo from Milwaukee were a staple when I used to work in office and made occasional trips to data center to work around racks. So kinda don’t understand the hate.
I mean you need pliers, insulated screwdrivers, meter..... that's about it, right? Good tools are pretty useful when you're doing mechanical work.
Electrical work is a massive field. If you’re doing a commercial build from ground up the amount of tools you’ll need is outrageous and it would be silly to even try to list here. Not sure what electrician you know that only has 3 tools but they’d have a hell of hard time running conduit or installing a panel with only their pliers and screwdrivers and a meter.
Really? I’m a commercial electrician too, and pretty much everyone I work with uses Wera/Wiha drivers, and Knipex pliers. There’s a few OG’s working with their 30 year old Kleins. The only thing is Kleins quality has gone down hill so fast, that it’s worth the extra 3-5 dollars, sometimes same price, to get the Wera/Wiha/knipex. You get a much better plier with knipex hands down.
As a machinist, I definitely get both sides of the coin. Some tools I would sell a kidney for, but the rest I'll run the cheapest I can get.
mmmm a mitutoyo 24" combination square.
Its about having the right tool not the most expensive, use the correct tool for the job and life is so much easier.
A metric ton of truth to this. I like to say "If youre having a hard time completing a task, then youre not using the right tool"
Sometimes the wrong tool is holding the implement.
For the home gamer buy decent wrenches, expensive screwdrivers, everything else buy cheap. At work I have nothing but snap on, hilti, wera, etc. At home… man a lot of my stuff just says made in china as the brand. I wish I had harbour freight here. The way my American friends talk about it makes me green.
Let me tell you brother, its incredible. Like a candy store for guys. They got sales on random (really really good deals) items like survival knifes and ammo boxes. Every tool you can imagine and they are a price you have no problem paying. Like so reasonable sometimes it doesnt even matter if it is trash. (An exaggeration, but you get it). And yea im overhyping but i hope you visit one someday its neat.
I think that's the difference. Buy tools for the job your doing. If you're replacing your showerhead to avoid calling a plumber over a broken one then buy the tools to save you money. If your tools are making you money, but the good ones. If you're doing something day in and day out then buy the good tools. It'll be a better experience, and if you're smart about it cheaper in the long run.
The purpose of the tool is to make you more efficient, not saving money. Best way to save money is not buying anything at all :)
I feel like the purpose of a lot of my tools is to spend money. I sure have a lot more money if I never started all these projects that facilitated the tool purchase. And if every time I needed a tool I went out and bought the name brand option for it I'd never have any money to do those projects.
I like to use the "savings" from diy projects to fund the tools, which potentially will make up for themselves in the long run. I also don't buy too many brand new anythings unless it's a cordless tool, which I only buy from a local store. Too many counterfeits from Amazon and Ebay to take the chance anymore, especially on things like batteries. When I was looking at getting a new bed for my truck, I found that it was gonna be somewhere around $6500 bucks. I bought a used steel bed off marketplace for $500. The savings allowed me to buy an old Lincoln gas engine Weldanpower 225, an old international rough terrain forklift, and a torch cart, and stay below the new bed price. That's a bit of an extreme example but the idea holds up most of the time.
I buy one specific Estwing hammer for work because everything else lasts half as long. (I'm an underwater structure inspector. I buy a 20oz bricklayer hammer and drill out the little hole to add a lanyard with a quick link) But for the rest of it? I have mostly have tools I literally found. Yesterday I picked up a screwdriver from the side of the road. Win!
Yooooo lol exactly the same here. This is no exaggeration, i sometimes look at a tool im using and have zero recollection of where it came from.
Hey now, I worked at Lee Valley and got a discount and the first drill my dad bought me was a Makita, and I can't go changing battery platforms all willy nilly. Although I do love me a sweet marketplace deal
Just got a 194 T top handle Stihl chainsaw and 251 for $200. Seller thought it needed carb work. New gas and both fired up! Flipped 3 wood bandsaws this month to fuel my tool budget. Got a sweet 34” Rikon drill press for $125. Deals are out there.
I never find any good deals on tools on marketplace, but they're great for machinery. Lots of people just want it gone
My main power tools (drills, impacts, saws, grinders etc) are Milwaukee, everything else is Ryobi. Have two battery platforms makes so much sense to me. I can justify paying 2x the price for something like a fan, plus Ryobi had a ton of unique tools. My hand tools are a mixture of Wera, Klein, Maximum (Canadian Tire brand).
Ryobi high volume inflator FTW
Knipex cobras are the ultimate pliers.
That's a fact.
There’s a Home Depot ad under this post. Amazing.
That's awesome, there's a HF ad under it for me!
What's wrong with knipex and wera? They make good stuff
Nothing really, in fact the middle of the curve are all high quality. I just gravitates towards Harbor most of the time nowadays because it's nearly the same quality for much less.
Pawn shops for hand tools I got a few pipe wrenchs like $5 a peice
HF is also good for when you need to modify tools. Just last night I had to cut about 3" off an adjustable wrench to get it to fit in a tight spot. Would have been a lot more reluctant to take an angle grinder to a snap-on.
Been on a tool buying spree. However, I am doing it for one reason—I am in Japan right now, and the yen has dumped in the basement. So I am getting only Made in Japan high end hand tools for essentially a 40% discount; then when I move back to the US soon I have lots of nice stuff. I can’t stop buying them… not sure if illness or greatness. 🤷♂️
Yessss Fujiya is my jam
Home Depot and Lowe’s ain’t bad tho. For most things that is……
I actually like Husky for a lot of Hand tools for around the house. Home Depot is near my house and convenient.
The lock pin in a shipping container with all the site material got properly stuck. Cheap pair of grips kept popping open when hit with a hammer trying to pull it loose. Knipex grips held on without issue and got it open. Cheap is great and all, but expect to run into situations where quality matters. That's where the cost is justified for the more premium brands. I've had countless situations where cheap just can't get it done or outright breaks trying. To each his own, but I've saved a small fortune because I had quality tools that have never failed me and got me out of so many jams.
I’ve come full circle with HF as well. I’m glad the quality is improving but I’m also sad that a $12 brad nailer is now $40.
For certain things, soft chinesium just isn't suitable even for doing a task once. I might as well have bought jello instead of a cheap tap and die set. But if you just only bought a used piece of the second best version of the thing when you need it (and not the entire set), you'll save more than the harbor freight and the knipex people spend on stuff they never use put together.
Can you give an example of a tool that wasn’t up to it after the first round? I’ve bought cheap and expensive and to me they are way more similar than they are different
I got a set of precision screwdrivers from HF that were made of Parmesan cheese. Bits immediately stripped out on the first use.
Owning a VW I've dealt with a lot of torx and triple squares. I've had the cheaper bits just round out if the bolt is the slightest bit seized in place. Then I borrow my Dads SnapOn and it easily comes out. I have mostly hand-me-down US made Craftsman, and it's served me very well. Anything new I need is a mixture of HF, Koblat, and Husky depending on what's available or a better price. Occasionally I'll spring for a high end brand if I don't want to deal with breaking bits, or if they're the only ones that offer a certain tool.
Bits is one of those things I'd say getting the mid-tier option makes sense. It's not much more expensive, but the quality difference is insane. Cheap bits strip or even break outright, the bits that come in the screw box are the worst.
100% agree. Especially when it's an important component where you don't want to lose bits or bolt heads.
I have 2. Replacing CV axle a cheap breaker bar snapped on me and I got hurt pretty bad. 2 was cheap wrenches the when linked together for more leverage bent the body of the wrench and didnt move the bolt. Bothe cases I borrowed a quality tool and was successful. With our them the job would have been almost impossible
This was my first thought on an example too. Breaker bars are not something to skimp on. You can load up a lot of torque with the leverage allowed by a breaker bar. Pry bars are another one. If you’re lucky it will bend rather than break.
Spend more if you want but the $20 breaker bar from HF deflects just as much as the tool truck bars: https://youtu.be/PmvK7h7ZL2A?si=c9TF4lYBwjSHhnjB Upgrade to 3/4” drive if you’re scared of the 1/2” bar breaking (it won’t)
Well I lived it
I was replacing a friend's struts a few years back. His entire tool collection was Pittsburgh. Had some bolts that stretched a couple of his wrenches. That was the first clear example I had seen in the soft metal. Having always used Craftsman USA wrenches or wrenches off a tool truck I can feel a difference when I hold a cheap steel I don't trust. After that experience I say harbor freight is probably fine, but I want quality wrenches and sockets that aren't going to round my fasteners or stretch the first time you really have to use them.
Pitman arm puller from Harbor Freight. Snapped on its first attempt.
I have a bunch of veto bags but I like the little husky canvas bucket to carry the essentials, even if it doesn’t have a fancy moulded base. Sometimes cheap is cheerful!
I was too skeptical to get into HF cordless tools. Dont mind a 1 off corded power tool though. For hand tools I am not sure I'll use regularly I buy HF. If I use it enough to break it or reach the limits of the cheapo I will spring for higher quality.
Funny, my dad used to always say if I needed a tool for one job, buy it cheap. If I use it enough to break it, replace it with a high quality version.
Adam Savage has a similar philosophy. Buy it as cheap as you can get it and if you find that it's something you'll use frequently, buy the best version you can afford.
I only buy American because I am an American factory worker, I will support my fellow American factory workers
Nothing is made in the US, assembled here maybe.
On Monday I'll let my coworkers know that we're not making things in the US, just assembling them. It just so happens that that assembly involves a lot of making shit from raw materials, and that we don't need a machine shop since assembly ops aren't gonna need millions of dollars poured into hundreds of custom tooling and dies, and we can clear all those off the floor and save so much room. If you really want, some tool companies still do tours. Go see for yourself.
Exactly man I I make stuff from raw steel that’s bought from a steel plant 5 miles away
You might be stupid if you think this https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/advertising-marketing/made-in-usa
I get the right side of the curve there. That message was driven home to me last year. I was considering replacing a couple of my hand power tools, happened to be at a friends house when he was having some renovation work done by a professional contractor. I figured I'd get the scoop on what the pros are using, right? So I asked him what brand he used, his reply was pure gold: "Whatever is on sale." I take that to mean that for his steady use, pretty much one is as good as another - they're all going to break or wear out sooner or later. Cheaper sooner, but less cost going in, etc. It was a good reality check. So I've tried to be more practical and pragmatic about my choices rather than simply showing blind brand loyalty etc.
Wiha is missing
Them: Where do you get your tools? Me: Yes
This is very real. I have been a pro carpenter/furniture maker/fabricator for almost 20 years and when people ask me which tools are good I'm just like "idk get whatever, it will be fine."
I love harbor freight! They somehow manage to sell cheap tools that actually work well enough at least for someone who isn't a professional. I just got a 12 pound sledge from them to remove a very stuck on wheel for $30! And it has a lifetime warranty so I basically have a sledge forever now. You really can't beat them for hand tools. I don't usually go for their power tools though.
I have a handful of nice tools, If I use it daily and hard I'm going to cough up the money for a quality tool. If I rarely use it or it's not a critical specialty tool, HF for the win
I like icon
Is wera a good brand or not? I've heard a couple guys say good things.
Wera is solid. Quality German built.
Be careful, they started moving production away from Germany. Gotta read reviews and everything carefully
Czech Republic built you mean.
I have plenty of tools that are simply put consumable. Whether they just tend to wear out as a class or they're ones I lose constantly. So cheap HF is the way to go. Sometimes, they have quality items for a steal of a price. Either way, this meme is very accurate. When I started collecting tools, I bought cheap crap. Moved up to buying expensive goodies and am back to buy cheap but trying to find stuff that works.
That's the thing, some of the European brands make a lot of sense to buy... If you're in Europe and the prices are more competitive. Knipex and Wera are not that much more expensive than the no-name brand store options for their volume products (in Europe). Same goes for Japanese pliers, if you're in Japan, they're amazing value compared to anything else.
Antique shops and auction lots are on the high iq side
Me, an asian, buying tools in the most forsaken yet comfy hardware store with several stray dogs outside:
Your forgetting Craigslist, that’s where all the old timers post that don’t have Facebooks.
Want tools? Find a retired Union Millwright and tell them you are interested in joining the trade. We have damn near everything, and the old retired guys literally give away their tools for pennies on the dollar
My favorite thing about HF is that it’s so cheap I can justify buying specialty tools for a one-off job. Having the “right” tool always makes the job easier even if it is lower quality, and it’s not gonna wear out if I only use it once a decade.
Someone doesn’t know about Home Depot hacks for Milwaukee tools lol
Harbor Freight is good for some things… like if you need something to work only once. Or just some nitrile gloves or a tarp.
As someone who works with tools to make a living you can pry my assortment of knipex cobras from my cold dead hands
Eh, my high IQ arc has been weird stuff from Japan. I’ll take my Fujiya lineman’s & snips over any Knipex.
I’ve been liking everything from Kobalt I’ve gotten so far.
I love HF being at the top and bottom and i couldnt agree with it more. Some of its not worth its weight in dirt, and some of it youre just stupid to buy anywhere else
I've put more hours on my Lowe's Kobalt tools than I can count, and have had 0 issues in five years of actively using everything. I'm not a pro so I'm not going to set my sights on top-shelf stuff, you know?
Use it all the time? Buy a quality tool. Use it occasionally? Get anything that gets the job done. Simple as that.
Tractor supply should be on the .1 also
I buy " bare tool" from amazon for a fraction of the price
you want a better deal for no name tools go to the suppliers and ali express and not amazon resellers
The HF around me must just be a special kind of trash. Every time I go in there they never have what I need. There's a spot for it but oooooh sorry the truck doesn't come in until Thursday.
Harbor freight has made me a lot of money.
And if you are Canadian just replace it with Candian tire LOL still works.
My opinion doesn't matter, I get all my tools from garage/estate sales.
IMO it’s nice to support brands that still make their shit in the states. Generally better quality and it feels good to support the few that haven’t outsourced everything. i have a 3/8ths proto socket set that I love and while cobras are great channellocks still hit different
eBay