Do we need a British HF ?

You’re probably not going to get one regardless. I worked for them 20 years ago and they were a decent employer, even had Sunday off back then.

The biggest thing is they are all managed locally and their managers have a fair amount of leeway to make it right if you’re not happy.

They also support Vo Ed programs which I think is cool

Yes, you do have to be selective in what you buy but in recent years they’ve stepped up quality and now offer different grades of tools.

I’m happy to have one just down the road from me because they have stuff you can’t get elsewhere at decent prices. But they are still family owned I think and based out of Camarillo, CA so getting one in the UK is pretty unlikely.

Maybe you could get a Princess Auto near you, I’ve been to one and it’s kinda similar.

John
 
There's a love hate relationship with HF. You can get some attractively priced merchandise there in more than a few "departments". There's also a lot of stuff that is just plain junk. If you have a discerning eye, then you can pick up a few items.

I have done well on occasion and also been burned. Wrenches and sockets were decently priced. However, HF is not a good place to buy a single socket anymore. If you need to turn a socket into a hex insert, or one of your 10mm sockets has gone into hiding, forget it. I found this out recently, trying to buy a single socket for a 1" bolt. They're phasing out having individual sockets.

I have bought several tool cabinets, (rolling tool carts with lots of sliding drawers) from HF and they are great. They're a good value.

Did get burned on their pipe theading kit. The NPT dies were wrong. I cut and hand threaded over 50 feet of 1/2" iron pipe for garage air distribution. I hung it up by the ceiling. Every pipe joint leaked terribly. Comparing the threads to a normal pipe thread showed the problem, the taper wasn't correct. No amount of pipe dope would stop the leaks. Still haven't fixed this - really took the wind out of my sails. Guess I will fix it this summer. In the meantime, I inherited some Ridgid pipe dies, even being 70 years old, still cut beautiful NPT threads, with the proper profile. The Ridgid threads require a tiny amount of dope or tape to seal. So the kit I bought from HF was worse than useless, since the dies were counterfeit. (Sold as NPT, but being nothing of the sort.) Will cost me a lot of time, and sweat to replace the piping, moving things to gain access, removing each piece from the ceiling, cutting the threaded ends, rethread, rehang and hope that I can adjust things enough since each pipe is 1.25" shorter than it was before.

Others may have similar stories. Some good, some bad.
 
WobblyHand said:
There's a love hate relationship with HF. You can get some attractively priced merchandise there in more than a few "departments". There's also a lot of stuff that is just plain junk. If you have a discerning eye, then you can pick up a few items.

I have done well on occasion and also been burned. Wrenches and sockets were decently priced. However, HF is not a good place to buy a single socket anymore. If you need to turn a socket into a hex insert, or one of your 10mm sockets has gone into hiding, forget it. I found this out recently, trying to buy a single socket for a 1" bolt. They're phasing out having individual sockets.

I have bought several tool cabinets, (rolling tool carts with lots of sliding drawers) from HF and they are great. They're a good value.

Did get burned on their pipe theading kit. The NPT dies were wrong. I cut and hand threaded over 50 feet of 1/2" iron pipe for garage air distribution. I hung it up by the ceiling. Every pipe joint leaked terribly. Comparing the threads to a normal pipe thread showed the problem, the taper wasn't correct. No amount of pipe dope would stop the leaks. Still haven't fixed this - really took the wind out of my sails. Guess I will fix it this summer. In the meantime, I inherited some Ridgid pipe dies, even being 70 years old, still cut beautiful NPT threads, with the proper profile. The Ridgid threads require a tiny amount of dope or tape to seal. So the kit I bought from HF was worse than useless, since the dies were counterfeit. (Sold as NPT, but being nothing of the sort.) Will cost me a lot of time, and sweat to replace the piping, moving things to gain access, removing each piece from the ceiling, cutting the threaded ends, rethread, rehang and hope that I can adjust things enough since each pipe is 1.25" shorter than it was before.

Others may have similar stories. Some good, some bad.
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It's not just HF. When I was overhauling our water system in 2013, I bought a special 1-1/4" brass ball valve. It was special because instead of simple NPT connections, it used a separate piece that sealed to the valve with a gasket with the outgoing end threaded to the fitting of your choice. I chose it because the effectively provided me with a union which permitted me to change out the pressure tank if/when necessary.

The NPT threads leaked with Teflon tape. They leaked with Teflon pipe dope. The only way that I got a seal was to use epoxy. This valve was from an American company the proudly displayed a "Made on USA" label on the valve.
 
There is a HF only 5 minutes from my house. I purposely avoid it because the items sold are low quality.

I have gone there when I was flat broke, & needed some grinding wheels, files, or the like just to finish one job.

In this case, the files will be consumed & thrown in the trash bin. Similarly, the grinding wheels will be a disappointment (wearing out quickly), & I am once again reminded why I *plan* to buy quality items.

Usually, *planning* to buy quality items is basically equivalent to considering where the item is manufactured, in my opinion.

Can anyone think of a country that is known for cheap price/low quality? Do we want to spend our hard earned money on flimsy materials? I will, but only as a last resort.

Of course, a good craftsman would be able to produce beautiful work with materials made in PRC.
 
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At the risk of a heated discussion
erikmannie said:
Can anyone think of a country that is known for cheap price/low quality?
Click to expand...
Yes, I can. It depends on the era. It was Japan in the 50's. Before they got their act together, they made a lot of crap. It was US cars in the 70's, lot of low quality stuff made. I experienced some awful US cars made around then. It is China nowadays for somethings as well.

As consumers, we are attracted to seeking out bargains. Perhaps it is the thrill of a score. Or feeling good because we practically stole it.

We often blind ourselves into thinking about price only, rather than value for cost. China can make products that have good value. They can also make utter junk, or counterfeit product that looks useful but is not fit for purpose.

For consumers, it has always been buyer beware, since the earliest times. Caveat emptor. Why do you think standard weights and measures were invented? To minimize cheating in the marketplace, so that consumers got everything that they paid for. The marketplace has always been a rough and tumble place, with many pitfalls. There are some sellers that try to cheat their customers by putting their thumbs on the scale, (or its equivalent,) or reducing the function or quality of the product and not disclosing that fact to the customer. Consumers need to be vigilant and ask themselves if the offered product is truly worth the asking price. If something is really inexpensive compared to what everyone else is charging, one has to ask why. It could be the product is not fit for purpose, or the producer has found a better, cheaper way to manufacture it.

If the product isn't worth the asking price, move on, don't buy it. Be more discerning the next time around. I've been burned with products made from several different countries, including the US. If you buy a domestic product you are more likely to get satisfaction, but honestly there is no guarantee of this. Your country may have some consumer protection laws, but usually they are not ironclad.

Please don't bash a whole country because there are some unscrupulous traders or business people there. Unsavory people are found all over the globe, perhaps including your own community.
 
Definitely a mix of ok, and not so much. I've had good luck with a few of their power tools, most notably the portable electric pipe threader. Bought two of them when I was running a lot of black pipe, thinking it wouldn't last at one tenth the price of a Rigid unit. It was still running fine ten years later when I sold the business, and I still have the backup. Toolboxes (US General) have good reviews. Mike
 
Just to keep things in perspective, we must think back forty years or more. Today 'mainland China', the PRC, is where Japan was way back when. Today, Mitutoyo is the 'world standard' for measuring instruments, upsetting even Starrett or Brown & Sharpes. When I was active duty military in the late '60s and early '70s, the label "Made in Japan" meant junque. Measuring tools weren't even good for carpentry work. If you showed up on a machine job, not as a machinist, just as a journeyman mechanic, Japanese tools told the boss you were a kid trying to sneak into the field.

Those who can remember 45 years ago, when most every gas station had a "GlobeMaster" 99 cents tool bin near the register. Well, today's GlobeMaster is now Harbor Freight. Mainland China is today's Japan. Some good stuff from PRC, but you ain't gonna find it at HF. Those 99 cent tools are today's $10 tool, but that's a whole 'nuther subject, taboo here. I have a lathe made in Taiwan, a Grizzly 1550. The same style machine from PRC is half the price, and not even half as good. The HF machine can be made as good as one from Taiwan, but by the time it is brought up to snuff, the cost is double that of a machine from Taiwan. Give 'em twenty or thirty years or so. . .

.
 
I feel the same in a certain way, but I think we live now of universal gaslighting because nobody seems to remember ANYTHING. First there was the laws like NAFTA and those of us who were Union KNEW what that meant. All our jobs were going to Mexico, Canada and then Korea and China. So if American co’s are fighting to bust up the laws so they can off shore then bring it back with no tariff and still sell it for what it used to be made here, or more, why in the world should I be loyal to them? Sure the ones that stayed and didn’t off shore and pay a decent wage are worth being loyal to but who is that? None of the tool makers I know of.
 
WobblyHand said:
There's a love hate relationship with HF. You can get some attractively priced merchandise there in more than a few "departments". There's also a lot of stuff that is just plain junk. If you have a discerning eye, then you can pick up a few items.

I have done well on occasion and also been burned. Wrenches and sockets were decently priced. However, HF is not a good place to buy a single socket anymore. If you need to turn a socket into a hex insert, or one of your 10mm sockets has gone into hiding, forget it. I found this out recently, trying to buy a single socket for a 1" bolt. They're phasing out having individual sockets.

I have bought several tool cabinets, (rolling tool carts with lots of sliding drawers) from HF and they are great. They're a good value.

Did get burned on their pipe theading kit. The NPT dies were wrong. I cut and hand threaded over 50 feet of 1/2" iron pipe for garage air distribution. I hung it up by the ceiling. Every pipe joint leaked terribly. Comparing the threads to a normal pipe thread showed the problem, the taper wasn't correct. No amount of pipe dope would stop the leaks. Still haven't fixed this - really took the wind out of my sails. Guess I will fix it this summer. In the meantime, I inherited some Ridgid pipe dies, even being 70 years old, still cut beautiful NPT threads, with the proper profile. The Ridgid threads require a tiny amount of dope or tape to seal. So the kit I bought from HF was worse than useless, since the dies were counterfeit. (Sold as NPT, but being nothing of the sort.) Will cost me a lot of time, and sweat to replace the piping, moving things to gain access, removing each piece from the ceiling, cutting the threaded ends, rethread, rehang and hope that I can adjust things enough since each pipe is 1.25" shorter than it was before.

Others may have similar stories. Some good, some bad.
Click to expand...
Just re-cut existing.

It may correct the error with minimal loss of length if close

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk
 
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