Big fan of the carpenter dredel.

I think the handiest thing I found at HF was a set of needle files for $9.  I just keep them in my living room and have used them for all kinds of things almost every other day.

I also like my 115-piece 135 degree split point Cobalt drill bit set.  That thing has all the sizes.   Lowes ain't got anything like it.

The 1x30 belt sander I use the piss out of for knife sharpening.  I got two years out of my first one before it quit, which is excellent since I am a knife fanatic and use it 2-3x a week.  
PS- I buy all my 1x30 belts at trugrit.com

Front differentials and transfer caseson 4wds and some transmissions come to mind.

LOL

I'm in for the trolling train wreck.


HF has some decent stuff, and they are open until 9 pm. If you don't check the Garage Journal thread before buying stuff, you done goofed.

Yep - I have my tools and a milk crate of common HF tools that I loan to neighbors.

I'd be pissed if they burned up my Dewalt, Bosch, or Milwaukee tools, but if they smoke a HF drill or circular saw, meh...  

I bought mine to yank the pilot bearing out the end of the crankshaft on an LS1 engine.  It has a freeze plug behind the pilot bearing, so you don't want to do the old pound it out with grease trick and chance knocking that freeze plug into the crankshaft.  Very popular tool for LSx pilot bearings.

Very hit n miss anymore.  I bought a grinder one time swore it was junk after awhile, posted here about it and someone suggested I replace the grease in the gear box (what grease) did that fixed the issue, its not the greatest but its good to have to switch between when the other 2 get hot.  Got one of those portable band saws, for the $59 I paid its been working great and that so called wood-only bandsaw blade is bullshit, I'm still cutting CRS, HRS, and other hardened steels with the original wood only blade, cut up a bunch of hardened milling vise jaws and it sliced thru those like butter.

I went there to buy one of those large angle grinders but the display showed a model with a rotating handle the ones in the boxes were something different, I didnt buy.  Will save my $ for a name brand that is lighter and has vibration reduction built in.

I could on -n- on about good vs bad,  I think the first post nailed the disposable vs worthy to try it out.

I bought a water pump at Lowes for $100. They had the same thing (actually works better) for $35. I returned the one from Lowes.

happens everywhere here
you would think I learned to check stuff but nope
lowes and home depot both got me several times
if its not something used its somebody robbing parts

my latest was somebody stole the .02 cents worth of special screws out of a $5 item
I had to make a hour extra round trip because some asshole stole .02 cents worth of screws

HF's 3-ton low profile jack can be had for $80 with coupon and is good quality. Their $20 sawzall is also surprisingly decent for the few small jobs a year I need one.

I used to stay away from their power tools until one day I dropped my Makita cordless drill and it split the case open.  I bought one of the $14.99 HF cordless drills just to finish the job I was doing and wound up completing that job and two more just like it before I finally dropped it and broke it too.  I wound up buying a Ridgid to get one with a better clutch, spare battery and charger, but I'm still amazed at how many screws I drove and holes I drilled with that $14.99 driver.