Harbor Freight

No but I will take a look this coming week….

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

The $39 dovetail jig is the perennial cheap one under every machine color and label imaginable. Stand in line with those throwing it out after you try it a few times and give up in frustration and wasted time.

-- Regards, Steve2

That’s why I didn’t buy it without checking with the experts here.

-- Joe

2nd the moilly comment. I had one, file 13. bought an omnijig on ebay.

actually sold it to a sucker at a garage sale for $30. Ha Ha

I have a number of HF tools, and I feel their level of quality/price has its place. I’ve been quite satisfied with most of my purchases from them, but I avoid buying anything there which requires much precision, such as a dovetail jig.

Can you imagine what a nightmare their $250, 7” jointer must be?!?

Dan

Like Dan says, I can’t imagine buying large power tools from HF.

Still, I love going in there. It’s sort of like dumpster diving…. most of what’s in there is garbage, but you can find some useful gems for next to nothing sometimes.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Charlie – I hear you.
This time they had 0-1 inch dial indicators for $14.00. Would a bought that except I bought a more expensive one several months ago.

-- Joe

The only thing I have purchased with satisfaction from H/F has been the basic f-type clamps….. I have to agree with DanM on this one…

-- Chris

HF has some good values if you shop carefully. brads,nails, staples for my small size pneumatic tools fine, at thier price a good value. Would i buy 5000 for my framing gun? not on a bet. vinyl gloves for finishing, electric ties, chear hammers (for the missus) other throw aways fine. I wouldn’t but any mechanical tool of any type at any price, same for any thing in which you expect exactness including drill bits. If you think of it as a dollar store and buy essentially throw away stuff you will probably be ok. as for the dovetail jig the price alone should be a dead give away.

-- RTB. "dumb animals are not stupid they simply can't talk "

Well I actually bought one of those cheap ones. I think I spend $40 on it. I got it to work fine.
It took a while to get it set up right but it worked pretty good.

I now have a good Leigh jig.

HF does have great deals on C-Clamps. Kinda hard to screw up a C-Clamp. I think the last time I was there I got 10 5” clamps for $20. They work great.

I did the drawers for this project with the cheap one.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

I bought a little tile saw there. It lasted just long enough to tile the bathroom. At least it’s not taking up space in the shop now LOL.

-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net

Yeah – I couldn’t believe all the various models of tile saws they had. Is that a new fad or what? Surely no pros are going to buy there.

-- Joe

I know a couple of pro’s that use some tools from their. They mainly buy the tools they may only needs to use once or twice a year, and tools that burn up quickly under heavy use anyway (aka rotozip type tools). I like the air compressor stuff that HF carries.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

Interesting comments. I have quite a number of their clamps and some hand tools, like a huge 14” pair of nippers I use all the time for pulling/cutting nails, etc, as well as a pancake compressor, several air tools (nailers, ratchets) a side cabinet for my rollaway which is especially nice, a 120v impact wrench which is terrific for lug nuts, a 1” SDS hammer drill, and a 16 speed 3/4hp drill press. All of these have performed very well, though some, such as the impact wrench & hammer drill, have seen only minimal use. On the other hand, I use the drill press all the time. Given that these items are often “on sale”, and that you can usually also apply one of the 15% discount coupons they dole out liberally, I really do think they CAN be a very good value. And it’s not that I just buy low priced crap. My TS & jointer for example are both Powermatics. I like to think that in saving on these tools of lesser use/accuracy requirements, I can spend more on the machines that really do require higher quality. Like any other supplier, patronize them for what they do best.

Dan

I have one, a cheapo. It works OK but I do need to be careful with it. Once you get used to using it you can do some good joinery.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python