Harbor Freight Wood Turning Tools Surprise-NOT Pittsburgh or Windsor

I couldn't get any pages of the woodworker's choice to work other than the main page, but the HF chisel set that I've used for about a year and a half sounds nearly identical - the only variation being the variety of chisels, I got one skew and two scrapers. Because the two scrapers were identical, I ground one to a different profile. Overall, I've considered them to be perfectly adequate for my needs. Harbor Freight isn't completely useless, just mostly so.

steve

I am also a HF skeptic and I too bought the same set of turning tools. Being new to turning, and not having much spare cash after buying the lathe, I thought these would be a great cheap starter set to learn how to turn and sharpen without fear of destroying an expensive set. Although I have nothing to compare them to, I really have no complaints about them thus far. They are sized well, comfortable to use and they seem to hold an edge well. On the other hand, whenever I decide to purchase a good set, I have a cheap set to regrind into other profiles. While I was at HF I also grabbed several 50 yd. rolls of 1" emery cloth in assorted grits for I think $3or$4 a roll. This cloth is nice for finish sanding spindles while still in the lathe. -dave

I have a completely different view of HF.. I love it... IMHO, you get what you pay for, and a lot of the stuff I buy doesn't need to be 1st class... Though I agree that I wouldn't buy lathe chisels, precision tools, or things like that there, I'm often online ordering their sanding disks and belts, bench clamps, etc..... If you are looking for supplies of seldom used stuff, and expect to get what you pay for (there ARE no free lunches *g*) it's a great place to shop and they ship free if you spend $50... and it's hard NOT to spend $50 there.. YMMV (and probably will)

When these appeared a few years ago, there was a discussion of them on the woodturning newsgroup. The consensus was that they were well worth the money, but experienced turners would probably want to turn a new set of handles.

I bought a set (on sale, when else) and am ashamed to admit I've never gotten around to trying them. Too much other stuff to have time for woodturning.

As mentioned in the OP, these are not the tools that appear in the HF catalogs. The handles are these are almost identical to the crown handles, albeit not real rosewood. I've seen the Windsor sets previously discussed, and the handles are thick and natural colored. These are profiled completely differently and stained a rosewood color. Perhaps they read the wreck and altered the handle profiles?

I understand completely. I'm getting to spend some time in the shop because SWMBO is off visiting friends and family in CA. Last winter, I didn't get a chance to do ANYTHING in the shop. This year is gonna be different - yea right... ;-)

Greg G.

You're right. AFAIK, they've never been in the catalog. The original appearance I was talking about was on their web site and the handles were "rosewood" even then.

IIRC, I got them at the local HF store, not the web site. But I'm not sure, it's been several years.

the windsor turning tools come in clear finished handles and dark reddish brown finished handles. mine are the dark ones.

Mostly... ;-)

Actually, I went back and bought another set so I would have spares and could practice/experiment with regrinding different profiles on something that didn't cost me $95.00. I turned a lidded vessel yesterday, and I am quite pleased with their performance - especially for the price! I can fill in the holes with better/pricier units. My biggest disappointment was the lack of a bowl gouge. I was thinking of altering the 3/8" gouge in the set with a steep side bevel and other mods for this purpose. But from what I now understand, most bowl gouges are apparently made from rod steel and flex more than the hard, brittle HSS used in these gouges. I'm no expert, however...

Greg G.

My sentiments exactly.

Greg G.

I am a little leery of their motorized things that spin at high RPM. I did see a set of electric "haircutting" shears that I almost bought to shave the dog with... I was afraid they would just entangle the hair and stall, leaving us with a dog with a huge bald spot from where we had to cut the Chinese POS from her coat... ;-)

What bothers me the most about the place is that almost everything is "imported". As it getting to be in Wal-Mart, Target, and

Gee, and I thought I was getting something special... ;-)

I've looked for them anywhere else. I've not found them on the HF web site or in their catalog. Whatever - they do work, and seem a pretty good deal. I can't quite justify $350 for Sorby tools just yet...

Greg G.

Out of curiosity, I Googled rec.crafts.woodturning and found a mention of the HSS set from Harbor Freight in 1999. So they've been around at least that long.

BTW, they were $39 then. What are they now?

Same thing - $39.95. No inflation here...

Greg G.

I understand - I have some "cheap" tools myself. I just don't talk about them in public. ;-) Several are rather crude - but they did the job I bought them for.

I used to own a lot of Sears tools, bought in the seventies - they were made pretty well, and the one lone survivor of a fire still works great. But I generally avoid them anymore.

Greg G.

I, as many previous posters, have not been a big HF fan. This is especially true of their heavier machinery. However, I have had a couple of things come up that have swayed me (a little).

1) A couple of years ago I purchased one of their mortisers just because I needed one for a job, and it was on sale at what seemed a rediculous price. I had just returned a Delta drill press kit because it didn't fit my older drill press. The HF machine came with a set of 4 mortise cutters that looked almost identical to the returned Delta cutters, the machine was quiet, had good power, some of the metal seems a bit soft and the hold down mechanism sucked. After getting over the hold down shortcoming I gave it some test runs and lo-and-behold it cut square holes! It fact it does so quite well. I have used the machine on quite a few projects and have more than gotten my $99 worth. I am planning a future project that will improve the hold down capability with home-made hardware but for now we are gettting along fairly well.

2) An acquaintance, laid off from aircraft manufacturing 2-3 years ago, was getting himself into finish carpentry. Short of cash, he purchased a couple of HF's nailers: a finish nailer and a brad nailer. Both were bought at VERY low prices. He told me he always intended to upgrade after he got on his feet and the "cheap" HF nailers wore out. He told me a couple of months ago that he is doing well with his business but those ^&#)@ nailers won't wear out. He also said if they do, he'll probably replace them with the same tools, if available. He also said he is surprised at the number of old-timer's using the same tools. They keep their Delta and PC nailer cases in the back of their trailers for folks to see and beat the HF machines up on the job.

Further proof that brand snobbery is probably a bad thing - You need to research your purchases and touch each tool before you buy.

RonB

my wife reminded me last night of the meat slicer that we bought at HF a few years ago... (how's that for OT?)

We thought that e might use one, but didn't want a $75 - $100 appliance laying around if we ended up not liking it..

Bought the HF cheapie for $19.95 (magic tv number!!!) and us the hell out if it... no need to replace it, as it does a great job..

If you look closely at many name brand tools, you will find they are just about twins of each other, with a few cosmetic changes. It seems that these days a lot of tools are made to the same design, probably in the same overseas factory. I have a hard time believing that having a specific brand name on a product makes it work any better.

OTOH, there are times when you get what you pay for.

Bob Peterson woke up and had the following to say....:

I am a big fan of their Pitsburg 6,12, and 18" clamps. I proably have 2 dozen in the shop and will buy more once they go on sale.