50 Harbor Freight TOOLS I Actually Use

50 Harbor Freight Tools and Items I Actually Use and Would Buy Again.
Bonus, most of these items are in the Parking Lot Sale This Weekend!
You know where to pick them up!
1- Vulcan 220, Titanium 200, Chicago Electric 125. Don't Forget a helmet and wire
2- Air compressor
3- Allen Wrench / Hex Key Set
4- Zip Ties
5- Predator Generator
6- Socket ¼” and 3/8” (The cheap ones)
7- Extendable Ratchet
8- 1.5 Ton Automotive Lift Jack
9- 1/2” Socket Earthquake Impact
10- Air Hose Reel and Accessory kit.
11- Organizers
12- Hammer
13- Levels
14- Painter knife
15- Angle Grinders
16- Bar and C Clamps
17- Hercules impact
18- Hercules drill
19- Hercules Angle Grinder
20- Screwdriver set
21- Shop Lights
22- Nitrile Gloves
23- TIG Welding Gloves
24- Welding Pliers
25- Open End Wrench
26- Framing Nailer Nail Gun
27- Impact Sockets
28- Drill Bits
29- Torque Wrench
30- Impact Socket Adapter and Bits
31- Calipers
32- Framing Speed Square
33- Utility Knife and don’ Forget the Mini
34- Moving Blanket (For some reason my video cut this one out….sorry)
35- Hercules band saw
36- Universal band saw stand
37- Ratchet Straps
38- Clamp Multi Meter
39- Predator Engine
40- Spring Assortment Kit
41- Plug Tester and Non Contact Pen Tester
42- Roofing Nailer, Nail Gun
43- 10 AWG Extension Cord
44- Shop Stool
45- Casters
46- Teflon Tape
47- Safety Glasses
48- Paint Sprayer
49- Heat Gun
50- Titanium 125 and Titanium Welding Table

Here are some video links to others detailed videos:

[jessiestrickland]

Cutting the side of the zip tie bag is genius. Thanks for the idea!

[gardenfork]

Set your audio levels higher, when YT plays a commercial, it’s much louder. Great HF info. 😀 Eric.

[davidpatriot]

i have almost all of these and highly recommend them all also
I HATE calling a "professional" for anything that doesnt involve the roof, and even then ill go up there to check it out at least first
when a plumber costs 350 to switch out a valve, its far smarter to invest in the tools at freight and do it yourself
same with an electrician 350 to troubleshoot an outlet
just get the meters, watch a few videos, gain a bit of knowledge and fix it yourself
often times, its even less time consuming than having to sit at home during the day waiting around for a repairman to show up

[jdubb]

Buy the HF nailer but don't buy the nails. Get name brand nails from Lowes or Home Depot.

[wildbillc]

I wish they still sold those Chicago Electric 4" angle grinders, I've had mine for about 18 years, it still works great.

I have the Earthquake 1200ftlb impact, works great, plenty of torque for many DIY projects.

Those organizer boxes are great, I wish they would lock to each other though to make moving them around easier.

I do the same thing with my angle grinders. I keep different cutting/grinding wheels on them so I'm not swapping wheels all the time.

I have a few Bauer and Hercules tools, both seem to be just fine for my needs for DIY projects and homeowner stuff.

The framing nailer I got has the adjustable magazine so you can adjust for different nail angles....not sure why there are so many different nail angles for nail guns, but there are like 4 or 5 I think. I also have the coil roofing nailer, pin nailer, wide crown and narrow crown staplers, brad nailer, and finish nailer. They all work great, and my brad nailer has got to be around 20 years old, it was the first tool I bought from Harbor Freight. It still works great.

The Central Pneumatic Gravity Feed HVLP spray gun works great, and many people have videos painting their cars with them, with great success. I painted my garden trailer with one a few weeks ago and it turned out great. The biggest issue is people don't take the time to do all the prep work before painting stuff, they automatically blame the paint application device, rather than their lack of time spent prepping the area to be painted, and not properly setting up the paint gun is another common problem.

I haven't picked up one of those portable bandsaws, or the mount they have yet, but its on my list.

I have the Hercules 12" dual bevel sliding compound miter saw and the Hercules 12-1/2" thickness planer. Both work extremely well. The miter saw didn't require any adjustments out of the box, and the thickness planer uses 3 knives rather than 2 like many other more common name models.

I have a Bauer 6 gallon wet/dry vac, and it works just as well as my Shop Vacs have....and you can get bags for the Bauer vacuums as well as replacement filters.

[NikolozKobakhidze]

I live in Georgia(not US state, it is small country), and sometimes I desperately wish to have something like Harbor Freight in my small country, why you will ask me? Because shops that we have here are expensive as hell and sell low quality stuff in some of them, like if those impacts in video costs like 100 buck, here in my country it will cost like 150-200, so it is really pain in our ass.

[-DIYPRO-]

Parking Lot Sale this weekend! Most of these tools are in the sale, like the Titanium 125 for $129!!

[Kevin-xnoj]

Funny how you say we’re not building houses with those hammers. Well they certainly do well at building a house

[willb]

Years back I got a cheapo HF $10 grinder for $5 on sale. I couldn't see how I could lose. Still using it. It was limit one or I would have bought a couple.

[grunwode]

Splurge on yourself and convert old fluorescent lighting to some ballastless type B LED lighting. You can use the same fixtures by looking at rewiring guides, and adding in a 1 amp linear fuse in case someone tries to install the wrong thing in them later on. It'll be the last ballast you ever have to change. We did it in our shop, and the cost was practically the cost of new bulbs, about $7 each, and it's paying for itself in lower electric costs. Extension cords will always be a safety weak point.

[beardo_M.D.]

6ft box level for $18 (15 years ago) was my favorite Harbor freight tool. Hole saws and sawzall blades will save you $ too

[arfreeman]

I've got the Titanium 125 and love it.
I've had a 23 gallon air compressor for more than 10 years. I don't think they make it anymore, but I'd definitely buy a similar model.
My jack is about 10 years old and still working great with frequent use.
Last I knew, that Earthquake impact is just an IR 2235 and if you need to rebuild it, you can order all the parts from IR.
I've got three different angle grinders from HF and they gave me a free one last week, so even if they aren't the most amazing grinders, they all work well enough and I've only hit the price of one name brand tool.
My 1/2 in drive impact sockets held me through 12 years of being a professional mechanic and I only managed to break the 19mm.
I have those folding utility knives all over the place. I have a few of the minis from next to the register in tool boxes, junk drawer, and cars. They're just handy.
I have several sets of those ratchet straps. Can't complain.
I did some automotive paint with the $15 HPLV sprayer. Can't complain. I didn't bother cleaning it after doing clear coat and just threw it away. Next time I do automotive paint, I'll probably do the same. It's the kind of thing I do so rarely that I don't want to store the supplies.

[katnerd]

The Hercules Impact is pretty good. I work on cars for a living and bought it to replace my stolen Dewalt. Pretty satisfied with it. Apparently it's just a Milwaukee with a different battery plug :P

[davidpatriot]

the shop stool is the only thing I would say for me was too small, I wish I bought a taller one

[firewaterforgeofarizona]

With all their welders, replace the ground clamp with a high quality one. It will make your welding experience 90% better.

[williamhaines]

Lineman's and diagonal cutting pliers. The brands to use are Doyle and Quinn

[MarcS-mpje]

Those angle grinders are great. I use mine at least a few times per week and I’m only on my second one. The first one lasted over 10 years.

[logangiller]

love the video! as a note on the paint guns, that one is not great for automotive but I have seen some AMAZING paint jobs come from that purple black widow gun

[SLO-Ride]

Well, there goes the savings account....again. 🤣

I'm a DeWalt fan-boi, so I go there instead of the Hercules or Bauer. However, the Hercules battery bandsaw is on the list of "gotta gets", as is a larger air compressor. I have a full set of older Craftsman tools (screwdrivers, sockets etc), but also have a more than full set of Pittsburg and Quinn that I use much more often, including the big 1/2" Quinn torque wrench, which was used heavily when I rebuilt the Harley. After that chore, I had it calibrated at my old job, and it was still well within military specs (26 years Army. I still know a lot of guys in the shops).

'Ol Harbor Freight has come a long way since their "disposable" tools selection. It's now my first choice when a glitch in the project arises.

[fcschoenthal]

Admittedly, I own most of these. Some real bargains to be had. - Chris