# What about Shars Tools?



## Janderso (Jun 23, 2021)

Anyone know anything about Shars tools?
If you are looking for a lathe chuck or dividing head, forget about it.
Some of the more popular items on this forum has been their lathe chucks, especially the 6 jaw.
Discontinued and back ordered.


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## devils4ever (Jun 23, 2021)

I just ordered a 6" digital caliper and 2" dial indicator and I got it in a few days. I guess it depends on what you order.


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## jwmay (Jun 23, 2021)

Anything? I know that I've been happy with everything I bought from them.  And I would rate their shipping as top notch. I know I hate the colors of paint they use on their milling vises and it has actually kept me from buying one.


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## Janderso (Jun 23, 2021)

I've been happy with their products and service.
When I ordered my CBN wheels for the surface grinder most sizes were on back order. The tooling seems to be aplenty.
Strange.


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## NCjeeper (Jun 23, 2021)

It has been a minute since I ordered anything from Shars. But everything I did order I have been happy with.


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## rabler (Jun 23, 2021)

I've ordered a lot from Shars.  Not the highest quality but a good price/quality point for most stuff.  
Recently they do seem to be discontinued or backordered on a lot of stuff, almost like they're not restocking.  Shipping issues?  Tariffs?  Not sure ...


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## Chewy (Jun 23, 2021)

I have a good amount of Shars stuff.  Everything is of good quality or I wouldn't keep buying. 1" digital mic and 6" digital calipers are my go-to measuring devices all day long.  When in comes to press fits in .001 or tighter then I use Starrett and gauge blocks,  Almost all Shars comes to NC in 3-4 days. no matter how shipped. 

General Shipping update.  I keep track of shipping, Covid and political stuff for my the place where my wife works.  They get chair parts from China and Taiwan, leather from Italy, Brazil, Argentina, etc.  The deep freeze in Texas nearly killed us.  The chair parts guy last week informed us that a shipping container was $5000, last year.  It is now $17000 now and as of now can not tell us when his inventory will arrive.  It used to be 2 months or less and 1 week from him to us.  No order date at all and he is tying to work out with his customers on how to add additional costs.


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## Aaron_W (Jun 23, 2021)

The only thing negative I have to say about Shars is their shipping is on the expensive side compared to most other vendors I've used. I haven't bought a lot from them, but no complaints on anything I have received.


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## Aukai (Jun 23, 2021)

For CBN wheels I went with Woodturners wonders.








						CBN Wheels | Woodturning Grinding Wheels for Sale – Wood Turners Wonders
					

All woodturning tools will dull quickly over time. Invest in a CNB wheel, and you won’t have to deal with the dust and lack of efficiency of stone wheels.




					woodturnerswonders.com


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## Tio Loco (Jun 23, 2021)

It won't help with out-of-stock items, but quite often you can purchase from them on ebay (discount_machine is Shars) for less than buying the same tool on the Shars web site.


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## DavidR8 (Jun 23, 2021)

I had a lousy experience with Shars when I bought my 4-jaw. I bought their 1.5-8 threaded backplate chuck package. The backplate mounting holes were too far outboard and the counterbores were exposed when the backplate diameter was turned to size. 
Shars initially denied there was a problem and said the backplate was not designed to be turned to match the chuck diameter. I told them it was 6.5" in diameter for a 6" chuck. 
They sent me a new backplate which fit perfectly but they charged me for shipping the replacement and duty because they didn't complete the customs form correctly. 
And they only ship UPS to Canada which is a non-starter for me.


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## MikeWi (Jun 23, 2021)

I like their tools so far. Never had any trouble.


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## markba633csi (Jun 23, 2021)

I too had a chuck issue with them- the standard jaw set was fine, but the external clamping jaw set was awful- looked like the steps were done by hand by a drunk person- not even perpendicular
Lot of back and forth before I got it resolved and they sent a good set.  Beware.  Cheap and good is not always in the same box.
-Mark


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## Janderso (Jun 23, 2021)

You guys are right, the more I look the more I see that are available. It must have been just those items I was looking for.
This is a heck of a deal if it's decent. Compare this to a Gator or Bison.





						10" 4 Jaw Independent Lathe Chuck
					

Shars Tool




					www.shars.com


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## WobblyHand (Jun 23, 2021)

I recently bought a 6" digital height finder from discount-machine (Shars on eBay).  The received product did not match the description.  It was supposed to have a carbide scriber (and it didn't) and some sort of 3 point test report (none in package).  When I sent them an email through eBay noting that, and saying it was overpriced for the reduced features, they apologized and said their description had not been updated correctly.  They have since sent me a shipping label to return the product at no cost to me.  Of course I still get boned for shipping.

I've bought stuff from them before and it was good.  But this "bait and switch" is not a good thing.  Gives me a sour taste, not to mention that bait and switch is a crime in many states.  I have no idea if it was intentional or not, all I know is I received an inferior product compared to what I ordered.


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## hman (Jun 23, 2021)

jwmay said:


> I know I hate the colors of paint they use on their milling vises and it has actually kept me from buying one.


Durn!  Too bad you don't like the color.  I've bought one of their Tegara 6" mill vises and LOVE it.  

PS to @Janderso - I just received some end mills I'd ordered not too many days ago.  No problems with out-of-stock on these (9/16" diameter).


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## jwmay (Jun 23, 2021)

hman said:


> Durn! Too bad you don't like the color.


What can I say? I feel silly it's even an issue. I could repaint it after all. Glad you're liking yours! Maybe someday I'll get over it. Lol


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## Winegrower (Jun 23, 2021)

Shars has been a reliable vendor for me.


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## SLK001 (Jun 23, 2021)

jwmay said:


> ...Maybe someday I'll get over it. Lol



Or, you can buy a can of paint in the color that you like!


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## Zack (Jun 23, 2021)

Tio Loco said:


> It won't help with out-of-stock items, but quite often you can purchase from them on ebay (discount_machine is Shars) for less than buying the same tool on the Shars web site.


Yep.    They're on Amazon too.    I got no problem with Shars.    Buy a lot of perishables from them; drill bits,  end mills,  lathe cutting tools: that sort of thing.    They ship Fedex with a $12 dollar minimum.  What I mean is, you pay 12 dollars even for a few low dollar  light items.      Collect stuff in your account 'saved items' and order when you've got 50 or 75  bucks worth.  Lessens shipping that way.  
If you're an Amazon Prime member you can do pretty good.    Lots of  Shars stuff on Amazon is Prime.    So, free shipping and you get it in a couple of days.   Their import stuff is OK.  As good or better than Grizzly IMO.    I've  had one of their dial calipers for years and it's a quality tool.     Shar's has a lot of USA made items to choose from also.


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## devils4ever (Jun 24, 2021)

Besides the 6" caliper I just bought from them, I have their 12" digital caliper. It is really, really nice. The jaw is _very _smooth moving. It's not quite a Starrett or Mitutoyo, but it's very close.

So far, I'm impressed with everything I've bought from them. I place them in between the low-end Chinese stuff and the high-end Starrett and Mitutoyo stuff, but much nearer to the high-end.


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## Al 1 (Jun 27, 2021)

Tio Loco said:


> It won't help with out-of-stock items, but quite often you can purchase from them on ebay (discount_machine is Shars) for less than buying the same tool on the Shars web site.


I have done the same.  Better price when purchased from Ebay.  , same product.


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## rabler (Jun 27, 2021)

I’ve been watching for their Tegara 690V vise to come back into stock


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## Jake P (Jun 27, 2021)

I bought a Shars DTI a few months back and recently bumped it hard enough that it's now erratic in it's readings.  Looking into having it repaired I came to the conclusion that it was not worth it and the best was to just get another one.  This was a .0005 resolution DTI.

I got my second this past Friday and promptly went to put it in my Noga arm on the mill and it would not fit in the dovetail holder.  Upon inspection all three of the dovetails are oversized enough that it will not fit in either of my three Noga arms.  The first one fits just fine.  The two adapters that came with it for other mounting options are both milled oversized to fit the DTI.  And the adapters from the first one (the one that fits the Noga's just fine) also will not fit on the new DTI.

I've sent an email to Shars, so I'm very curious to see what they have to say about it.


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## pineyfolks (Jun 28, 2021)

I have some of their toolholders and they were fine. Lately I've been finding a lot of offshore items out of stock or on backorder. I was looking at a harbor freight toolbox and they won't be in until November.


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## Jake P (Jun 28, 2021)

Jake P said:


> I bought a Shars DTI a few months back and recently bumped it hard enough that it's now erratic in it's readings.  Looking into having it repaired I came to the conclusion that it was not worth it and the best was to just get another one.  This was a .0005 resolution DTI.
> 
> I got my second this past Friday and promptly went to put it in my Noga arm on the mill and it would not fit in the dovetail holder.  Upon inspection all three of the dovetails are oversized enough that it will not fit in either of my three Noga arms.  The first one fits just fine.  The two adapters that came with it for other mounting options are both milled oversized to fit the DTI.  And the adapters from the first one (then one that fits the Noga's just fine) also will not fit on the new DTI.
> 
> I've sent an email to Shars, so I'm very curious to see what they have to say about it.


I got an email from Shars at 0700 my time (pacific), so they were on the case first thing this morning.  They told me that they would try to get replacement out right away with return for the one in my possession now.

So that's a great response in a very timely manner!  It's my first time dealing with any issue from Shars.  I've only made three purchases from them do far and they have shipped very quickly each time.


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## macardoso (Jun 28, 2021)

I have been buying from Shars for years and consider them more or less my one stop shop for hobby machining supplies.

They are more expensive than a lot of bottom-of-the-barrel import vendors, but their quality and service is quite a bit better. On the few rare occasions where I got a product with an issue, they made it right.

Shipping is comparable to "normal" shipping costs such as Grainger or McMaster Carr. It isn't the free shipping we are used to but it is fine. Makes me plan a bit more for when I want to place an order.

They have an ebay store "Discount Machine" that sells a subset of their website items, sometimes at reduced prices or free shipping.

I highly recommend Shars.


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## macardoso (Jun 28, 2021)

I'll add one more comment. There seems to be different quality levels on shars.  Thinking back almost 10 years ago they used to sell some really cheap stuff that was poor quality (I'm thinking about indexable tools and vises specifically). Then they started offering some nicer vises and newer indexable tool holders with nice laser engraved data - higher cost obviously. Now they carry some high end name brands too, and some of the cheapest stuff is discontinued. Looks like they are slowly climbing the ladder of quality, with prices climbing as well. I bet this is true for a lot of their products.

The indexable tool holders I've received lately are superb in fit and finish, especially compared to the exact same SKU purchased years earlier.


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## Janderso (Jun 28, 2021)

Jake P said:


> it would not fit in the dovetail holder


I have had that problem as well. =cheap Ebay DTI


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## WobblyHand (Jun 30, 2021)

Since this thread is still active, wanted to report that Shars (discount-machine) refunded my money for the digital height tool, including shipping! They admitted their listing mistake (new stock no longer matched their description) and made good.  Will buy from them again.


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## Jake P (Jul 4, 2021)

Follow up on the DTI dovetail issue.

I received a replacement from Shars for the DTI that would not fit in my 3 Noga holders.  The replacement fits, but barely. 

They also provided a postage paid USPS priority envelope for the return of the oversized unit.  That's pretty handy as I can put it in my mailbox and don't have to make a trip to town.  I live rurally and town is not far but still not as convenient as my mailbox and I have no worries where I live with mailbox theft.

So the bottom line on the three DTI's that I ended up with in hand at the same time (the first that I knocked out of whack, the second that replaced it but would not fit and the third that replaced the second) is that they all measure differently on the width of the dovetails.

The original measures .2335, the one that would not fit is .2485 and the newest one which I can just squeeze into the holder is .2420. 

There appears to be a good bit of variation in the manufacturing process of the dovetails for whatever reason. 

But at least Shars came through and stood behind the product!  So I will not hesitate to order from them again.


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## NCjeeper (Jul 4, 2021)

Thanks for the update.


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