12190carpenter Posted July 30, 2012 Report Share Posted July 30, 2012 When i first started carpentry work part time around 14 i took 35 dallors i earned at 7$ and hour and bought a skil jigsaw.I tried every brand of blade in that jig saw and everytime id be half way through a cut the blad would fall out.Whenever i would cut hard would(with a new blade) the motor would smoke all the way through the cut. I ended up donating to goodwill.If i had an enemy i would even recommend a skil jigsaw to them.And as far as harbor freight tools go i can only recommend buying zip ties and biscut jointer biscuts from them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wayneburgess Posted July 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2012 Thank you for the post.Keep them coming folks, these are very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemdale Posted November 5, 2015 Report Share Posted November 5, 2015 Years ago, at my gf's place: she asked me to help her out with nailing a few frames on the wall. Showed me her hammer she had (but didn't use much). The hammer did the job but freaked me out. The worst POS ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemdale Posted November 5, 2015 Report Share Posted November 5, 2015 In my previous job (won't tell you what job I was doing), this was my boss' hammer. I got seriously blamed the day after for "bad tools management". [emoji29] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comp56 Posted November 5, 2015 Report Share Posted November 5, 2015 Years ago, at my gf's place: Showed me her hammer she had (but didn't use much).The hammer did the job but freaked me out. The worst POS ever. well it's a good thing it wasn't the other way around.......lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
optimistspencer Posted November 5, 2015 Report Share Posted November 5, 2015 Definitely the Milwaukee gen 2 fuel drill XD in all seriousness tho, my worst tool was probably my. HF 3gal air compressor. Literally takes about forty minutes to fill up, and the thing is only 0.4 scfm at full capacity. I still have it, but it's on its side on the floor of the shop. If my nail gun (18ga) can only fire five shots till it dies, I'm just gonna use a hammer.Sent from my One M8 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nordraw Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 No such thing as a cheap tool. They will all cost you in the long run. Buy cheap and you will buy again and again. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Argyropoulos Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 I can't really say I had any bad tools myself. I grew up with a dad who was a contractor, so my approach to buying tools was educated in the context of professional needs. My grandfather had a whole shed full of shitty tools like that broken hammer up above and trying to help him out using his tools was a nightmare. The crappiest power tool I've seen in the last 10 years was a DeWalt recip saw that a friend brought over to see if I could fix for him. When I took it apart, even he realized there was nothing worth fixing in that piece of shit. I've had some interesting tools over the years, especially when I lived in Poland where there were TONS of shitty tools available. One interesting tool was a Russian made 3/4-inch ratchet driver that only ratcheted in one direction. To reverse it, the 3/4-inch square pushed through the ratchet mechanism. It was, like some Soviet/Russian tools, built to withstand WWIII. I still have my Russian micrometer, which is very basic and is only designed to be accurate down to tenths of a millimeter. The worst of the power tools I owned while living there was a Polish made version of an obsolete green Bosch 1/2-inch drill, which was their homeowner's range of power tools (vs. the blue series for pros). It only survived one remodel project I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rrich1 Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Ryobi string trimmer. Thing would never start. Total pile of junk, I ended up smashing it against a tree. My ryobi blower has been great and it was bought the exact same time as the trimmer. Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Jass Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Dewalt 20v flood light. Ordered one from CPO, came out of the box wouldn't turn on. Sent it back for another and out of the box, turns it's self off at random intervals. I just accepted the fact it sucks and moved on... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarbatche Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 I wanted a mig welder in high school and only had enough money for the cheap harbor freight deal. I never got it to lay down a bead. Wire always kinked in the hose, etc... Ended up giving it away on a Jeep forum just to get it out of my folks' garage. An old Lincoln buzz box that cost $50 off of Craigslist gave better service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conductor562 Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 Without question my worst power tool was a compound miter from HF.Total piece of shit. Gave it away after 2 uses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comp56 Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 didn't own it but when I was a kid my father had a guy try to sell him a .........wait for it.......a riding jack hammer......I must add this was in the 60's stupidest thing they ever saw.......can't remember who made it or what it was called but he never bought it........what he did do was laugh at him when it went right off the edge of a third floor building they were working on....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimboS1ice Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 didn't own it but when I was a kid my father had a guy try to sell him a .........wait for it.......a riding jack hammer......I must add this was in the 60's stupidest thing they ever saw.......can't remember who made it or what it was called but he never bought it........what he did do was laugh at him when it went right off the edge of a third floor building they were working on.......The only thing I could picture was looney tunes with a jack hammer lolJimboSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comp56 Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 funny thing was the salesman was boasting how it saves time, ect ect ...my dad said well by the time you get that thing up to the 5th floor that we are starting tomorrow morning I will have a guy have 3/4 of the job done by then....lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheng Liu Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 Anything from Harbor Freight is awful. I've heard people say they've managed to get something there that turned out to be descent, but I've never had such luck.That really depends on what you get. From my experience they are really hit or miss. Some of the hits have been the metal gasoline can, the tent stakes, framing hammer and dual action polisher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheng Liu Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 That really depends on what you get. From my experience they are really hit or miss. Some of the hits have been the metal gasoline can, the tent stakes, framing hammer and dual action polisher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheng Liu Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 In my previous job (won't tell you what job I was doing), this was my boss' hammer. I got seriously blamed the day after for "bad tools management". [emoji29]This is why I prefer my hammers to be made from one piece of metal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheng Liu Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 Ryobi string trimmer. Thing would never start. Total pile of junk, I ended up smashing it against a tree. My ryobi blower has been great and it was bought the exact same time as the trimmer.Sent from my XT1254 using TapatalkWas it gas or battery? I have there 40v trimmer and it has worked great. The thing I love most about electric tools is how easy it is to start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rrich1 Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 Gas. Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hemdale Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 Hmmm...just noticed that my chinese Torx scredrivers are a bit odd: T10 blade tip is bigger than regular Festool T10 bits and T15 blade is smaller than Festool T15 bits. You've guessed it: my chinese T10 and T15 are identical !I'm buying Wiha blades as we speak. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73SLA Posted December 6, 2015 Report Share Posted December 6, 2015 Horror Fright is the worst. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtieman Posted January 3, 2016 Report Share Posted January 3, 2016 I'm totally with you guys. I cannot believe how Harbor Freight can take the simplest things and make them so poorly that they fall apart so fast or never work in the first place. I needed a simple pair of diagonal cutters one day. Dulled after 2 cuts of soft copper wire. Threw them right against a brick wall I was so mad. Made the rivet joint completely wobbly. What a joke. Went right in the trash. I had a buddy with me that had a cheap Chinese pair from Walmart that were cutting fine after years of use. Unbelievable.Needed some long bell hanger type metal cutting drill bits in a pinch. Grabbed a 3 piece HF set for one time use. Went through all 3 making 1 hole in a wall above a commercial door frame we were wiring for an electric strike. What a joke. Same thing, right in the trash.It's like they make something that looks as close to the real tool as possible, and say screw it when it comes to the important stuff like heat treating the steel. Devil's in the details.Runner up are Kobalt tools from Lowes. I've broken every Kobalt tool, except sockets and a drywall saw, that I have purchased. When I go to exchange them, they usually don't even make that model of whatever it happens to be either. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtieman Posted January 3, 2016 Report Share Posted January 3, 2016 Oops, you said 'power tool' oh well... I honestly havent had a very bad power tool, yet. I stick with the big brands and so far so good.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Millerzconstruction Posted January 3, 2016 Report Share Posted January 3, 2016 The worst power tool I had was the ridged saws all and drill combo from 2011. It was good for a while but after one day of some abuse it wouldn't run or like hold a charge and just had trouble with it all the time. It was when they were fairly new too. So I traded in on a new dewalt drill and impact this summer. My do it best store was doing a promotion where you trade in any battery powered tool working or not. And they gave 20 or 25 percent off the dewalt battery tools. Never made a better buy with the dewalt xr 20v or what ever they are now. I don't keep up with names and stuff. I just want it to work. LolSent from my LGAS995 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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