In June I
made a trip down to the new Harbor Freight store in Auburn, Maine.
I have
bought other tools from Harbor Freight through the mail, and find them good enough
for my amateur DIY (do it yourself.)
Granted, you get what you pay for and Harbor Freight tools are cheap;
but they come with a ninety-day guarantee and they replace defective tools with
no question. I have had their table saw
for fifteen years.
I had
downloaded a sales chit for an oscillating tool: a normally $39 tool on sale
for $24.
I felt guilty buying the tool
wondering how much I would actually use it; but I needed to install cedar siding
after having done some sill work and thought the tool might be useful in that instance.
As it turns
out, I have used the hell out of this tool since I have had it: cutting tricky
pieces of siding to fit, installing a dead bolt lock and cutting pipe while doing
some plumbing work (I HATE PLUMBING!)
This video
is of a Makita oscillating power tool that cost about $150 – the Harbor freight
tool serves my needs and is affordable.
The problem is that I inadvertently bought the tool that is battery operated. No problem with the battery but when I wanted to use the tool yesterday the charger wouldn’t work. A new charger cost $12 with $7 shipping and I can buy another oscillating tool for only five dollars more (plus shipping.) I am going to buy another one, but this time, one with a power cord. I find battery operated tools a pain in the ass. The battery always needs charging when I need to use the tool.
the Ol’Buzzard
David buys most of his toys at Harbor but the bigger (arr arr more power) toys he buys at Home Desperate. That's usually when he's buying a fixture for plumbing. The trick with battery powered toys is to always buy an extra battery and battery charger.
ReplyDeleteTools I didn't know what I did without... The miter saw fit that category for me.
ReplyDeleteI like Harbor freight and have had good luck with most everything but I do not mail order from them any more.
For those prices, you can't go wrong!
ReplyDeleteHarbor Freight. . . just reading the name evokes their ambience with that lovely cheap Chinese plastic smell. . . When we were in Grand Junction, Colorado, last spring we were only a few blocks from Harbor Freight. The S.O. was there every day using up a stash of coupons my brother-in-law gave him for free stuff. We now have a gazillion little LED flashlights, none of which will be findable when we actually need one.
ReplyDeleteWhich is a good case for only buying battery tools that come with two batteries. To me, getting rid of that damn cord and looking for outlets makes sense.
ReplyDeleteOh hell yes, I agree about plumbing. There is no such thing as a simple plumbing job. EVER!
I miss all my tools..when I moved into the apts I either gave or sold all my tools.
ReplyDelete