That Harbor Freight smell (Page 1 of 3)

I've never been inside a Harbor Freight (there are none around here), so I can only imagine the what this stink must be like, however it does make me glad that I stick with Craftsman, any stink there is all American.

I always figured it was lead.  Possibly mixed with arsenic.

Then why does the manual stink worse than any product I've bought from them?

Not anymore. I've got a set of Craftsman combination wrenches that have kind of a universal-tooth design on the box end (looks like a spline drive) and those are all cast with "China" on the back side of the handle. From looking at their drill presses, I'd be really surprised if some of those aren't coming out of China too.

I believe ALL drill presses are made in China regardless of brand.  Craftsman, Husky, Jet, etc. are all imported.  Same goes for most large shop equipment. 

It used to be that I would return broken Craftsman tools on a monthly basis, but over the past ten years, I will use them as long as possible because I know the replacement will be a bigger POS than the one I broke.  It's a downward spiral and eventually every Craftsman tool in the toolbox will have been replaced and will be no better than Harbor Freight quality.  The warranty becomes useless.

Craftsman POWER tools have never had a lifetime warranty.  I remember buying a Craftsman branded Dremel about 25 years ago when they first came out and the motor burned out after about 6 months of mild use.  The box clearly stated "If this Craftsman power tool fails to give complete satisfaction, return it to any Sears store within 1 year for a replacement".  I returned to the Sears store with the tool in the original box and they tried to tell me since it was over 30 days old I had to take it to the Sears Warranty Center to get repaired.  I argued with the associate, but he refused to give me a new one.  I then asked to see the manager and he too said the same thing.  I made him read the back of the box out loud and asked him where in that statement did it say anything about a Warranty Center or repair?  I calmly stated that he had better be bringing a replacement tool up to the counter or I would begin yelling very loudly at him.  He got all pissed-off, but he did return with a replacement tool.

Yeah the Companion/Evolve brands is the cheaper low quality stuff, and while it has a lifetime warranty, you need a receipt to get one exchanged. The real Craftsman and above still has the no questions asked return/exchange lifetime warranty in place, but it doesn't apply to power tools or things like torque wrenches. A lot of my tools are Crafstman handmedowns from my dad and grandpa that are at minimum 40 years old, but they still work just fine. Anytime I do buy a new hand tool from them I make sure it has "Made In the U.S.A." stamped in the handle.

Q: Did you know that HF comes with a lifetime warranty on hand tools as well?
Unless you use these tools to make you living (I don't), I don't mind starting at the bottom of the quality curve for some of these hand tools as I know that if I break them, I can always swap it out on my next trip there. There are still some tools (like the ratchets) which I absolutely prefer the Craftsman or better quality on; I could care less about my impact sockets though.

-g

Sorry, but I'm a tool snob and can't stand to hold junk tools in my hand.  I learned a long time ago that quality tools (Snap-On, Mac, etc) work better, feel better, and tend not to round off fasteners.  The majority of my tools are 30-40 year old Craftsman, but I have some Snap-On wrench sets, impact sockets and torque wrenches.  A teammate of mine has a toolbox full of HF junk and the majority of it simply doesn't work well.  My power tools are DeWalt, Milwaukee, IR, etc.  I really don't even like Craftsman power tools.  The balance and weighting sucks and they are almost all bigger than they need to be.  I will buy HF locking pliers to use for welding and I like the HF vinyl gloves.  Otherwise, I stay away from HF.

I agree on the power/air tools.  I won't buy anything (again) from HF that plugs into an outlet or air hose.

And I would also agree regarding old hand tools, when they were made in the USA and made to last.  Nowadays, hold a Craftsman chrome box wrench in one hand and a HF chrome in the other, I'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference without the names etched on them (to my amateur mechanic's eye, anyway). 

In my experience, Craftsman's gone cheap and their tools just aren't what they used to be.  I've broken more of their tools than HF in recent years; good thing they have a good warranty.

Again, if I were a professional mechanic I might have a different opinion...

We used a HF spring compressor, we may have bought the more expensive one,  and found that if we let the spring become fully uncompressed we were not able to compress it enough to get it back on the strut. 

Though it did work well enough, if you didn't uncompress the spring before putting it on the new strut.

That was the day we found a shady mechanics shop that let us use their strut compressor, and had a chance to buy some bootleg movies when the guys brother stopped by.