[AT] OT: Harbor Freight advertising funny

[Ronald L. Cook]

Here is my take on this tool business.  Always buy the best quality you 
can afford.  I am using drills, compressors, wrenches, battery charger, 
you name it, that I paid for with big bucks.  30-40 years ago.  They are 
all still good and still working.  Some no longer have parts available I 
suppose, but if they do not fail, I don't need parts.  I feel those 
purchases of quality tools have saved me hundreds if not thousands of 
dollars.  I do have some cheap foreign and some cheap domestic tools and 
equipment also.  Usually picked up in a bucket at auctions, or bought 
when something was needed right away and no quality tool was available. 
  Those tools constantly give me problems and from time to time I pitch 
them in the junk.

Ron Cook
Salix, IA

Mike Sloane wrote:

> What you say is completely true. Here is the situation: The Chinese 
> manufacturers are capable of making products that are just as good as US 
> made products, but that is not what the use importers are looking for. 
> The US importers are looking for CHEAP products so they can compete with
> US made products, and they get what they pay for.
> 
> The reality is that many of the Chinese engineers received their 
> training at MIT and Stanford or other top schools - these aren't guys 
> working in backyard operations and no education. When they start making 
> cars for the US market, I have no doubt that they will be just as good, 
> if not better than the cars coming out of South Korea or Japan. When I 
> sold tractors for a living, we saw some of the Chinese compact tractors, 
> and they weren't all that bad - maybe not as nicely finished as the 
> Kubotas or Japanese John Deeres, but pretty close.
> 
> Mike
> 
> Indiana Robinson wrote:
> 
>>     You know, while a lot of guys have been spending a lot of time bad 
>> mouthing those Chinese tools (not just on this list) something amazing 
>> has been quietly happening... Many of those tools have been getting 
>> better and better. It is a little like what happened to Japanese stuff 
>> which was all crap when I was growing up but now they make some of the 
>> best. Then it was Korea and Taiwan then  China. As time past they all 
>> got to exporting better and better stuff. I have been seeing some 
>> really nice tools that said made in China this year... Quality stuff 
>> with good steel and nicely finished. But in the case of China it has 
>> happened rapidly, not after 3 or 4 decades.
>>     Yeah, they still send out some crap, so do we... But walk into a 
>> TSC and take an honest look at some of that stuff that says made in 
>> China. Their knock-off Vice-grips as just one example. They used to be 
>> thin, soft, crude and obviously junk. Now you have to look close to 
>> tell that they are not regular Vice-grips.
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> "farmer"
>>
>> Francis Robinson
>> Central Indiana, USA
>> robinson at svs.net
>>
>>     I have created a local Shopsmith users list for my area. It is 
>> described as follows:
>> This is to be a list for Shopsmith owners and want to be owners in the 
>> general area of Indiana. If you are across the line in OH or IL that 
>> is fine too. I don't want to draw a hard line but I hope for all 
>> members to be within a reasonable driving distance of each other. This 
>> list is for sharing woodworking tips and stories and Shopsmith tips 
>> and stories but also is to be used for the buying, selling and 
>> swapping of Shopsmith tools, accessories and parts between members of 
>> this list.
>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndianaSSlist/
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Remembering Our Friend Cecil Monson 11-4-2005
>> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>>
>>
>