Harbor freight fills a niche that's for sure. There are some gems there but for hand tools I like to buy U.S. made quality myself. That doesn't mean just because its U.S. made its quality and some of the stuff made in Taiwan for HF isn't actually pretty good, especially for the price! I take pride in many of the tools I buy though and some of that comes from knowing someone here built it. I'm a huge SK tools fan and also have some proto tools (many of which I inherited) and some U.S. made craftsman and a smattering of Snap-on. Sure in some peoples eyes I paid stupid money for some of my Snap-on and SK sockets and ratchets but I bought them for life and enjoy using them and keep dollars on our shore that way. Each to his own.
As for the blasting cabinet discussion:
This is one tool that has been on my bucket list to buy for quite a while. I probably won't be buying one too soon but when I do I think I'll spend some more money for a U.S. made cabinet that seals better, has better lighting, and a better gun and all around setup.
The HF cabinet is a decent value as long as you are aware of the limitations and potential upgrades you can do to it. I got an education learning about dust separators, vacuum setups and regulators that are basically an essential component of a good blasting cabinet setup which are not included with the HF blasting cabinet. Fordbarn's sister website garagejournal.com has an excellent thread about how to upgrade a HF cabinet and highlights where some of the value lies and the limitations of the HF cabinet. After reading the thread and looking at some of the links provided I think when the time comes I'll spend more and buy a better quality starting point that is U.S. made but my mind could change on that subject too but that's where my thinking is right now. Here is a link to that article:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/s...last&showall=1
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