Harbor Freight Tools vs. China Bashing

[Joe K]

BOY ! bitch/bitch/BITCH... Don't you just get SICK of the woooh is me poeboy blue haired bs , regarding 'one time use' tool bs

and

Harbor freight fills a niche that's for sure.

Just different niches.

The garage journal reference is worthy - thanks!

Joe K

[Tinker]

Thanks for the link montanafordman.

[hardtimes]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

I like a guy who looks on the bright side.

BTW, my brother bought a cigarette lighter air compressor for his bike tires, and it also went up in smoke the first time he tried to use it.


It's fun to zap flies with their electronic fly swatters.

Hey Tom,
Hm, what a coincidence, put one to use on a very recent outdoors/camping trip. Best in the world to use on meateater/yellowjackets ! I bought this many years ago in...Alaska ! I'll have to say that it is not HF , but built to last , as those squitos in Alaska are numerous/huge. Anyway , not used for years, until this trip. A buddy made the 'mistake' of messing with it , after I showed him how it worded. He couldn't believe that the battery(s) would work after sitting half dozen years. Yup, he put his finger against and yelped like one of the nearby coyotes.. within a millisecond.
But, he's one of those who has to put finger in wound to believe ,eh

[ronn]

BTW, my brother bought a cigarette lighter air compressor for his bike tires, and it also went up in smoke the first time he tried to use it.

just bought one 2 weeks ago and it works great!

[DougVieyra]

Remember (well you OLD guys might) when we used to trash 'Cheap Jap Junk". Well, now, 40 or so years later, Japan is the epitomy of extreme quality, forcing the American slackers to beef up their own quality standards.

Ofcourse there is a bunch of years in between the junk and the quality. Just how well China will fare is any ones guess. Mean while, even though China is working hard to displace American on a number of fronts, we Americans will always continue to lean toward the cheaper 'price point'. China will continue to thrive and we will continue to bitch (and keep buying the 'junk').

[28RPU]

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I just thought I would add my 2¢ to the HF bashing. I bought one of their new collapsible engine hoists a couple of years back. I used it twice the first year, thats a total of about going up and down 4 or 5 times. I got it back out this past summer to lift an old Desoto bare engine block and the thing would not go up past 90° then it would leak down and not pump at all. Four times and its shot. Now you can move the ram in and out with your hand. Some quality. I would fix it but I don't trust it. Think I will try to find a good American made hydraulic cylinder for the framework.

[Tom Wesenberg]

28RPU, have you checked the oil level? I've read that cylinders should always be stored with the cylinder fully in and the valve closed.

Try the oil level first, but as you say, it might be junk.

[28RPU]

Yes Tom, I checked that and stored it upright with the ram in and valve closed.
Its junk.

[Karl]

Don't bash the Chinese they can and will if asked make tools of superb quality. However if a US company goes to them and says I want 100,000 grinders landed in the US at 5 bucks a pop they will do that as well-quality won't be good and they know that as does the US importer but is prepared to accept this as enough of us will buy the junk for them to make a large profit .The only way to change things is not to buy the junk tools. The importer won't make any money and will import better tools next time . The down side is that they will be more expensive!

[28RPU]

Originally Posted by Karl

Don't bash the Chinese they can and will if asked make tools of superb quality. However if a US company goes to them and says I want 100,000 grinders landed in the US at 5 bucks a pop they will do that as well-quality won't be good and they know that as does the US importer but is prepared to accept this as enough of us will buy the junk for them to make a large profit .The only way to change things is not to buy the junk tools. The importer won't make any money and will import better tools next time . The down side is that they will be more expensive!

I have heard this before but have yet to see any examples of well made Chinese tools. Do you know where I could see a sample of such an animal?

[marc hildebrant]

Milwaukee Tools are currently made in China. Some people consider them well-made.

Marc

[Joe K]

I have heard this before but have yet to see any examples of well made Chinese tools. Do you know where I could see a sample of such an animal?

Stihl Chain Saw parts are currently made for Stihl in China - available at about 1/4 the stealership price on Ebay bought direct from China.

The Honda Clone "Predator" engine I have mentioned. Not mentioned is that Honda probably avails the manufacturer of Predator for themselves.

Wiedeke boiler tools are made now in China - and sell for about $750 for a boiler tube expander. Can be bought directly from the Chinese importer for about 1/4 the money on Ebay.

About 80 percent of the high pressure steam valves purchased for the Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactor are from a Chinese provider.

I'm sure the Chinese sources for these items factor in the fact that they don't have the "name cachet" that namebrand has. And the prices reflect this.

But give them time. And marketing...

Joe K

[ericr]

Originally Posted by Joe K

Stihl Chain Saw parts are currently made for Stihl in China - available at about 1/4 the stealership price on Ebay bought direct from China.

The Honda Clone "Predator" engine I have mentioned. Not mentioned is that Honda probably avails the manufacturer of Predator for themselves.

Wiedeke boiler tools are made now in China - and sell for about $750 for a boiler tube expander. Can be bought directly from the Chinese importer for about 1/4 the money on Ebay.

About 80 percent of the high pressure steam valves purchased for the Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactor are from a Chinese provider.

I'm sure the Chinese sources for these items factor in the fact that they don't have the "name cachet" that namebrand has. And the prices reflect this.

But give them time. And marketing...

Joe K

we have no easy way of knowing exactly where the non-USA made Model A parts come from....is it China, Korea, or where. We are assuming China, maybe that is correct. If they are, why don't they have the quality of Stihl, Honda, Westinghouse nuclear reactor valves, etc.?

[Joe K]

Originally Posted by ericr

we have no easy way of knowing exactly where the non-USA made Model A parts come from....is it China, Korea, or where. We are assuming China, maybe that is correct. If they are, why don't they have the quality of Stihl, Honda, Westinghouse nuclear reactor valves, etc.?

I think because they don't have the name brand impetus (and quality assurance overheads) that go with making quality.

ANd otherwise make the cheapest crap (thinking those CC pickup rubber door straps here) that the market will accept.

Wouldn't it be interesting for Ford to take all their treasured/protected drawings for Model A components and go to China and get quotes - so Ford could make a re-entry into the parts market/support for historical product?

Well, they're hugging the drawings close to their legal chest for some reason, aren't they?

Yunno. I wouldn't mind seeing that one bit.

Joe K

[Russell in Tulsa]

Originally Posted by nhusa

I spend a lot of time in China and can tell you that most Chineese don't have a clue about how to use a tool never mind what the quality is. What I find funny is that when the chineese visit the US they purchase a bunch of brandname stuff becuse they can be sure it is real instead of a knock off. As for me I love to buy knock off stuff in china. I get Rolex watches for $10 that work for few weeks and Tumi luggage that is Ok as long as I carry on.

I'll bet they are taking the items to copy and sell back to us. A few years ago a large plumbing, mechanical, electrical supply house in the state would send Kohler, Delta and other American manufactured items overseas and have them change something so as to not be identical and they bought shiploads of product. One item comes to mind, a direct copy of a Delta kitchen faucet, you may have a Delta now on your kitchen sink. The one that has a ball on the end of the lever, well the one sold in many states has a wooden ball instead of the all metal handle of the Delta brand. And to top it off all of genuine Delta parts fit and work OK.
And while my mind is on this subject,(what little is left of it) our plumbing fittings and tubing has to meet Federal guidelines as to the amount of lead and cadmium that is allowed in the manufacture of these items and I would guess there were a lot of these foreign items that were off the scale.

[Tinker]

Originally Posted by Karl

Don't bash the Chinese they can and will if asked make tools of superb quality. However if a US company goes to them and says I want 100,000 grinders landed in the US at 5 bucks a pop they will do that as well-quality won't be good and they know that as does the US importer but is prepared to accept this as enough of us will buy the junk for them to make a large profit .The only way to change things is not to buy the junk tools. The importer won't make any money and will import better tools next time . The down side is that they will be more expensive!

True. You get what you ask for.. Sometimes

I might be so bold to say that sometimes things fall off the truck and find their way to market. Ebay buck knives that cost $10 dollars shipped straight from china. Change the name and sell the same product... Starbucks or starbeaks... Apple stores or epple stores...

I think Henry had it right in the 20s. Higher pay to employees means they can buy the products you produce. But i'm sure there was always a few guys in the parking lot with a chevy!!! ha ha :]

[Karl]

Originally Posted by 28RPU

I have heard this before but have yet to see any examples of well made Chinese tools. Do you know where I could see a sample of such an animal?

I don't think we know exactly where things come from. I suspect there are many high quality tools that are made in China (or part made in China and finished elsewhere) but this fact is not made obvious to the buyer for the very same reason we are having this discussion.

I have also brought some real junk with "Made in USA" stamped on it.