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The Black Friday ad has leaked for Harbor Freight http://www.blackfridayad.net/harborfreight-black-friday-ad/ if you're looking for tools and want to save a few bucks, you might wanna check it out.

Oh, good, now I can get an air compressor to replace the non-functional, 6mo old one that I got at Harbor Freight.

Ooh, $13 torque wrench. :) That's about a third of Sears' price.

If your expectations are low, they have good stuff.

I've had good success with some of their products. The bar clamps are decent.

My favorite find at Harbor Freight and on sale for 10.99 this month, a real bargain.

Collapsible trunk-organizer (http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/interior-auto-accessories/trunk-organizer-65178.html)

I also have had mixed experiences with HFT products. Don't bother with the Asian socket sets, rachet extensions, and similar. They are made with a high proportion of tofu :)

One anecdote suggesting that people on this side of the world know qwuality in tools. I have on my desk a Grainger catalog. I bet many of you know exactly what that is. But mine is in Chinese...

USA does sell some stuff to China, as it turns out.

DAS

I would be watchful of HFT quality and especially black Friday deals. It is well know that many companies offer stripped down versions or their products to get tp those fantastic prices.

DAS:

I know Graingers well. Check out: http://www.mcmaster.com/ Especially before the internet they were the to go to.

OK- what is Black Friday, and why is it black? What is black(bad??) about it?

I bought magnetic part holding dishes from HF-they are ok.

There stuff is crude, but cheap. I generally use decent-Craftsman, snap on(but only used snap on-new they are absurdly prices) Matco(same story ebay used) hand tools.The Chinese and Indian stuff is crude-too crude.

Black Friday is when retailers books start heading into positive territory after struggling all year since the last Christmas Holiday. The day after Thanksgiving through Christmas is when retailers make their biggest profits.

This 18V cordless drill (http://www.harborfreight.com/power-tools/drills/18-volt-cordless-drill-driver-kit-with-3-8-eighth-inch-keyless-chuck-44849.html) amazed me. 5 years of heavy work, and I only recently replaced it due to degraded batteries. I've been renovating my old house, down to bare studs and in some cases down to the floor beams. That means much drywall work and screwing down new subfloor. I also built a 2-car sized workshop.

http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/thumbnail/68x68/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_8653.jpg

ALS
Ahh, so they hope to get into the black by virtue of selling lots of stuff. Thanks

Andrew- once you become an expert builder re modeler you take a trip to NOLA with your drill to repair my roof( original builders used main beams that were too short, so they just cut a V point on one 2x12 and a V-notch in the other and nailed them together-instant 25-30 ft beam). They didn't scab/reinforce them on either side they just pounded a few nails in the "joint" and called it a day.
Well 50 years later they are sagging-badly-and it shows from outside. My roof-singles etc- is 24 years old and leaks like heck also!!

Yeah,I'll give that drill a workout!
I have a $20 4.5" electric grinder-HF- that is my multipurpose cut anything tool. Best $20 tool I've ever had. With a ceramic wheel it will cut anything-steel, aluminum, plexiglas, acrylic -anything-Crude but effective!

My house had the kitchen-dining wall opened up to a 10-foot span. It's the central load-bearing wall of the house, with the secondary rafter/truss members bearing the load down on top of it. They reinforced the new span with... a pair of 2x4's! :eek: I've since added a double 2x10.

Yeah- it sure is spooky when you dig into your house and find all these less than optimal '"cheapouts"!! Like what GM or Ford would routinely do 40 years ago--Pintos and Vegas of the building industry.