Straw Poll

[Black wallnut]

Does the site really need a seperate forum for Harbor Freight Jewels and lemons? You can cast your vote so that all can see. Not that the decision will in any manner reflect the outcome of the poll. Hence the use of the word straw in the title, use care when building with straw!

[shoottx]

I got to this site because of troubles with my BT3K. I found it a great resource and community to help with information for fixing the saw. Because of the friendly nature of the site I continued to hang around.

Lately one of the questions I have been pondering is what will be the evolving role for this site. With the death of the BT3K and the only available options being offered by Sears, what direction should we encourage.

If you look back at the last few weeks worth of posts there were more posts about computer issues than BT3K saws. I am not saying computer questions are bad. There are still a number of woodworking project related discussions, but few of them are BT3K related. There are almost as more "around the coffee pot discussions" than anything else, I think in part because of sense of community around this site.

So as the site evolves where should it go and what are the options, as one person said "It is above my pay grade"

[crokett]

We don't need a separate forum, but an article detailing jewels and lemons would be nice. I volunteer to maintain said article, assuming other folks give me updates.

[ragswl4]

Tool reviews seems a great place for HF or any other tool item that is good or bad. First place I look when I am considering buying a tool. Unfortunately there are not a lot of reviews. Tool talk is also a good place for this type of info, IMHO.

[BobSch]

... as one person said "It is above my pay grade"

And look at where HE ended up!

[crokett]

Tool reviews seems a great place for HF or any other tool item that is good or bad. First place I look when I am considering buying a tool. Unfortunately there are not a lot of reviews. Tool talk is also a good place for this type of info, IMHO.

Rags, the problem is not everybody can find the reviews. I couldn't until Loring posted a link in another post. It would be handy to have a reference such as an article that lists all the various tools and what people thought of them.

[Tom Slick]

Are there other sites that evaluate HF tools as unbiased as this one? If not it might be a great way to attract new "value minded" members like ourselves.

[AusRob]

What's a harbour freight????

Rob

[leehljp]

AusRob,

HF is a cheap Taiwan tool company. Most of their tools come from manufacturers in Taiwan that make name brand tools for US, Euro and probably Aus and Canada. HF takes these patterns, skip the fine tuning (fine grinding of edges, etc.) leave the paint off and sell these copy cat tools at a cheap price. Some of the QC gets so bad that it isn't worth it. On the other hand some of the tools are as good as tools costing 4 to 5 times as much. I have a good Bosch copy jig saw and it works great, better than my Porter Cable that cost twice as much.

It is taking a chance, but they have a pretty good return policy for tools that don't work.

Some people won't buy ANYTHING there; Some won't buy any electrical/motor things there - only hand tools such as wrenches, screwdrivers etc; and a few people will buy most anything while looking at everything with caution, fear and trembling - until it is deemed workable!

http://www.harborfreight.com/

One other thing: Their local stores as well as their web site offer some name brand tools at great prices when they get them.

THANKS Mark, I appreciate you bringing this to a straw vote. I thought it at least deserved a good discussion and a vote.

[herb fellows]

Rags, the problem is not everybody can find the reviews. I couldn't until Loring posted a link in another post. It would be handy to have a reference such as an article that lists all the various tools and what people thought of them.

I agree, that's why I asked about it to begin with. It was more time consuming than necessary to find out all the info, imho. I just thought it would be nice to have it all in one easily accesible place.

[herb fellows]

AusRob,
.
HF is a cheap Taiwan tool company. Most of their tools come from manufacturers in Taiwan that make name brand tools for US, Euro and probably Aus and Canada. HF takes these patterns, skip the fine tuning (fine grinding of edges, etc.) leave the paint off and sell these copy cat tools at a cheap price. Some of the QC gets so bad that it isn't worth it. On the other hand some of the tools are as good as tools costing 4 to 5 times as much. I have a good Bosch copy jig saw and it works great, better than my Porter Cable that cost twice as much.

It is taking a chance, but they have a pretty good return policy for tools that don't work.

Some people won't buy ANYTHING there; Some won't buy any electrical/motor things there - only hand tools such as wrenches, screwdrivers etc; and a few people will buy most anything while looking at everything with caution, fear and trembling - until it is deemed workable!

http://www.harborfreight.com/

One other thing: Their local stores as well as their web site offer some name brand tools at great prices when they get them.

THANKS Mark, I appreciate you bringing this to a straw vote. I thought it at least deserved a good discussion and a vote.

Not that anything is foolproof, ,but a good review by many might just lessen the anxiety level. For instance, the one thing I heard nothing but good about was their 6 inch digital caliper. At $10, as opposed to $50-60 for a 'name brand'. I want to know about that, as well as being made aware of the real dogs out there

[poolhound]

Given all the discussion in the originating thread I DON'T think I would want a dedicated space just for HF.

When I threw my 2 cents in, early in the thread I was thinking that having some way to organize our tool related posts to make specific content easier to find could be a benefit to veteran members and newbies alike. Wether to structure by tool type or manufacturer would be a secondary question only if the members and powers that be, consider it to be worth the effort.

I do agree with some of your (Mark) comments re: increased complexity, confusing titles and more potential for incorrectly catogorized threads.

Increased effort to setup and admin time to monitor would only be worthwhile if it brought everybody a clear benefit

[cwithboat]

I don't think its a good idea to have a specific forum for a single mfg which would have no appeal to those of us who have no access to HF.

What I would like to see is a forum discussing materials, mostly wood in all its varieties. Which wood for which project? Which tools like which woods? Positive and negative experiences with purchases, etc.

[Black wallnut]

I don't think its a good idea to have a specific forum for a single mfg which would have no appeal to those of us who have no access to HF.

What I would like to see is a forum discussing materials, mostly wood in all its varieties. Which wood for which project? Which tools like which woods? Positive and negative experiences with purchases, etc.

Now come on a trip to Kent is not that far from where you live although the toll for the bridge or the ferry charge might make it expensive. Ya'll need to go visit the city every once in a while to remind yourself that its the folks that live in the shadow of the 'needle who make decisions that effect us all!

[cwithboat]

Now come on a trip to Kent is not that far from where you live although the toll for the bridge or the ferry charge might make it expensive. Ya'll need to go visit the city every once in a while to remind yourself that its the folks that live in the shadow of the 'needle who make decisions that effect us all!

There are a few reasons to go to Seattle:
1. see our grandson
2. baseball
3. symphony or play at night
4. Chinese food (associated with one of the above) see Whaler's brunch

A drive to Kent from home is 80+ miles one way over the toll bridge
Via ferry its 55 miles +$12 each way
From Magnolia where the kid is its 26 miles one way through what is rated as one of the worst traffic messes in the U.S.
baseball is a bus + ferry walk-on and walk to Safeco
If not available locally, it is always a better deal to order over the internet
The people who make the decisions are in Olympia not Seattle