Create a review for a woodworking tool that you are familiar with (Shopsmith brand or Non-Shopsmith) or just post your opinion on a specific tool. Head to head comparisons welcome too.
I live near a harbor freight and frankly I would never buy anything it there that I didn't expect it to break and throw away. Yes I own some harbor freight tools, a air stapler and some other hand tools.
Do they work? Yes so far but they are inferior in construction and material to the same tool bought elsewhere.
I had experience with a guy that bought Harbor Freight stuff and I was trying to build something for him using those tools. He has a biscuit cutter and Kreg Pocket Hole clone and something else. My opinion they would have made a fine anchor but for building something with them, had they been mine I would have pitched them and got the real thing or did without.
I bought a screw assortment, in fact a number of different small part assortments from Harbor Freight and frankly I very disappointed. After making myself more problems than it was worth by having the screws break and strip I finally natched them all up and tossed them in the trash. And I don't throw things away!
My opinion I would never buy something with a motor or any real mechanics from Harbor Freight.
One other thing I have more than once beat Harbor Freights prices on named brand items that they sale. Example a Dewalt 703 power miter saw, the Harbor Freight price was nearly $50 higher and when I bought mine elsewhere they gave me a 1/4 sander extra in the box.
curiousgeorge wrote:I would venture a guess that the Grizzly and the HF are made in the same plant in China. Slap a different paint job and brand name on it and Viola...
I've heard tell, or maybe it was just conjecture, that they are made at the same plant. What ends up going to HF are the Grizzly "rejects" - the units that were lacking in Grizzly quality in one way or another. What's worse? Cheap Chinese power tools, or rejected cheap Chinese power tools? But again, that could have just been conjecture.
Heath
Central Louisiana
-10ER - SN 13927, Born 1949, Acquired October 2008, Restored November, 2008
-10ER - SN 35630, Born 1950, Acquired April 2009, Restored May 2009, A34 Jigsaw
-Mark V - SN 212052, Born 1986, Acquired Sept 2009, Restored March 2010, Bandsaw
-10ER - SN 39722, Born 1950, Acquired March 2011, awaiting restoration
I think what give this some credit is a woodworker owns and have used each. He has taken the tool apart and has found the exact same marking on parts and castings. He even went as far to say the Harbor Freight had a slightly better fit and finish. One woodworker on another forum in response to a question like "The Grizzly may have better bearings" said "If that is fact, one could buy better bearings than the Grizzly and install and be way ahead in $$$"
I have been involved in retail buying for over 20 years. believe me we are aware of the saying "You get what you pay for" (a buyer just loves that saying)and have taken the opportunity to charge extra where we could. SOMETIMES an item you see in one store for less is exactly the same in another for much more.
Yes, there are Shopsmith clones and a major difference in quality BUT......we know that a Shopsmith is made by the manufacture in Dayton Ohio but a clone is not. Grizzly is not a manufacture. They are an importer.
This may be the biggest pile of trash on the market, Who knows. This may be an excellent way for someone on a budget get a bandsaw. Thats why you have to be the judge. Who's to say Grizzly just buys the same unit as HF, paint it green and charge more???????? Fact is no one knows.
There seems to be alot of Harbor Freight bashing (which seems to be mostly by union members) and that's somewhat unfair. You do get what you paid for in some circustances but not all. For the important stuff you can't beat the best tools money can buy, with that being said sometimes you just need a tool to get a job done and after you may not use it again for awhile, Harbor Freight fills that bill quite well. I needed a pin nailer to put up some trim and some furniture, I choose to spend $20 instead of $200 + for one I have used a few times which filled the bill.
Some of Harbor Freight stuff is pure junk but you can find that at Name your Store specials (Lowes, Home Depot, Costco) drill bits, power tools. I have done business with Chinese companies and quality is only as good as what you are willing to accept when importing products, I for one have strict standards for how my parts are manufactered and reject anything of lesser quality.
The government of this country is to blame for pushing manufacturing to other countries by passing laws based on flawed enviromental and or health studies that promote a political agenda rather than fact based science. Put blame where it belongs starting with your elected officials, union thugs and special intrest groups with putting more and more (fee's) taxes --- IT's REGULATIONS ..... cut these and America will return to produce the best like it always has.
IF I were interested (but I'm not) in buying that Grizzly bandsaw, G0513, and Harbor Freight was selling item 3179 at one of its stores, I'd have no problem buying the HF saw and pocketing the difference. At $850 for the Grizzly and and IF you could buy the HF for $479, you'd have to really like green paint to lay out that much more for what likely is the same machine. However, the price I saw for the HF saw was $799 in one of their catalogs a while back. At that price in a store, with one of their 20 percent off coupon, you'd still be getting a good deal.
I'm not a big fan of either place, but I own several HF and Grizzly stationary tools and they've given me decent service over the years.
In a number of cases that I'm aware of, there is no difference between some items sold by Harbor Freight and Grizzly, and by the looks of the two bandsaws, I'd have to conclude they are the same, especially since one guy owns both.
On the metal-working side, the HF Mini Milling Machine (item 44991) is identical to the Grizzly G8689, except that the former uses an R8 spindle and the latter a Morse Taper #3. The 7x12 Mini Metal Lathes (G8688 and HF 93799), likewise are the same, although Grizzly provides more accessories for the higher price it charges for this lathe. Metal lathes -- G4000 and HF 45861 -- are also the same, with a few different accessories. The fact that they're the same is well documented on some of the Yahoo group forums.
What you get with Grizzly is much superior service and parts availability, as well as better documentation. But, if you buy Harbor Freight, you can always get parts from Grizzly. Problems do develop if you buy HF and the item arrives defective, as you likely will wait quite a while to get the needed replacement parts or make an exchange. On the other hand, if you buy it at an HF store, you can exchange whatever they sell without a hassle.
It's not bad for what it is, but you have to go into it with your eyes open. I have bought several things there, but generally, they are only the "cruder" machines and tools (engine crane, jacks, spring compressors, etc...). On many of their things, they are not as tight on tolerances and fit/finish. You do get what you pay for. On someting like a hydraulic jack or a compressor, maybe not such a big deal. But a bandsaw, drill press, table saw, router spinning at 18,000 RPM... you may want to look closely, compare with a tool from a brand known for quality, and see if you are really OK with what they deliver.
Couple of real-world examples for Harbor Freight tools in a manufacturing environment...
We started purchasing their paint guns to use for glue applications in our upholstery process. Our previous guns were DeVilbiss, I think, costing $300. Rebuild kits for the DV guns were $40 versus a new cheapo gun from HF ($14 for the gun). We justified the trial by thinking if we got close to as much use out of the HF, we could throw it away and buy another versus purchasing the rebuild kit. Turns out we were wrong in our assumption... We got about three times as long of use out of the HF guns as the DV guns. Not only that, the guns are easier to rebuild than the DV items. This is in an application that goes 8 to 10 hours per day in 13 assembly cells.
After that first success, we began trying them out for air tools, mainly grinders. Same story - at least as long a life as name brand tools for substantially less money.
Again, just a couple examples where the Harbor Freight products are standing up to an industrial level of use and abuse. Everyone may not have the same experience, but when I'm challenged to lower our maintenance expenses, HF is one of the first areas I look at for "general" type parts.
Lost count, over a dozen rebuilt/repaired/restored
Personal equipment: 510 made in 1993, belt sander, jig saw, band saw, planer and jointer
