Harbor Freight Tools - Company History & Lore

[@brianlittle3452]

Thanks for the videos. The growth of Harbor Freight was helped by the corporate suicide of Sears (Craftsman).

[@ballinator]

You're welcome! Yeah the Craftsman video will be another sad one, when I'm ready to tackle it.

[@Arkansasfestus]

​@@ballinatorhow bout Cummins tools

[@ballinator]

@Arkansasfestus They're on the list.

[@LBrawn]

@@Arkansasfestus SAY WHAT!!! NEVER HEARD OF THEM

[@Arkansasfestus]

@@LBrawn like horber freights..come around towns satup fer a day sellin out a 48'trail in parkin lots empty buildins

[@davidmiller6010]

Nice. I started buying from Harbor Freight in the 80's, when it was Harbor Freight Salvage.

[@ballinator]

Very cool. Thanks for watching!

[@d.powers3428]

I still use a drill press and a box of bits bought 46 years ago in downtown Los Angeles.

[@kevinkoepke8311]

I remember getting their envelopes with several ads in the mail. There was an ad for a Delta Unisaw for $1699. It was Deltas' best model with 220v 3hp motor. I called Harbor freight to verify, then purchased it. A couple months after receiving it, Delta called and told me the purchase came with a $150 rebate, so it ended up costing only $1449.00. Thanks for this history.

[@ballinator]

Wow, great deal! Thanks for watching!

[@PaRoughandTumble]

Sounds like the boy got a little revenge for being set too a orphanage.

[@ballinator]

Yeah, that thought ran through my head when I was reading about the lawsuit.

[@LBrawn]

that's what i'm thinking!!!!!!!!!!!!!😛😜🤪⚔⚔⚔

[@P_RO_]

In the late 80's a mechanic friend of mine told me I had to have the deep-well sockets he'd mail-ordered as they were cheap and very good. I'd gotten burned on a cheap set I'd bought recently from JC Whitney so I was hesitant but finally he said he'd buy them from me if I didn't like them. I'm still using some of them today and of course they came from Harbor Freight. Buying more from them I learned how variable their quality was. Nobody here in the eastern US knew anything about them until years later.

[@MrSloika]

I remember JC Whitney. They were another hit or miss mail order retailer. Some of the parts tools were OK. Other not so much.

[@artbennett7321]

Interesting, thanks. They have picked up their quality game quite a bit with ICON hand tools and other top of line products

[@ballinator]

You're welcome! All the Icon stuff I've looked at has been pretty nice. The exception being the wire strippers I reviewed a while ago.

[@TomHollis-y6o]

You got me with, "Hercules! Hercules!" Lol Also the depiction of 1977. Great video!

[@ballinator]

Thanks! Yeah I'd been looking for an excuse to work a disco dance number into one of these videos.

[@MarkTrades__]

lol that whole segment was funny

[@earl3358]

I still have a number of HF tools from the early 90's. They had a large supply of refurbished major brand power tools, particularly DeWalt. I purchased my first cordless drill kit, a 14v refurb Dewalt and some other corded tools there for about half the cost. The refurbs had a 'R' melted into the chassis. The drill is still going to this day on 18v lithium. I think my oldest HF tools are a set of long needle nose pliers, they were actually made quite well and still use them all the time

[@ballinator]

Very cool! They had stopped selling the refurb stuff by the time I discovered them.

[@1pcfred]

I was big into mail order HF in the early to mid 90s. I was addicted. I was an Inside Track club member and everything. I was spending like a grand a month with them. I was ordering stuff just to see what I'd get. In the catalogs they'd have the same items with slightly different item numbers multiple times and different prices. It was kind of a game. Can you find it at the cheapest price? I got turned onto them when I worked at a machine shop. They showed me a catalog and I went down the rabbit hole. Free shipping on every order over $50. Well OK then. I ordered the heavy duty mill drill. Shipping was free!

[@TheJacklwilliams]

@@1pcfredDude, my Uncle, a LEGEND. This man did everything on his own. Over the course of my life I watched a humble two story stick built farm house double in size and it truly is beautiful down to the woodwork which? He bought a router table, was over there that weekend, and send yeah, what the hell. Figured I’d learn to route and do some cool woodwork in the house… So, he was a harbor freight NUT! While the house grew his garage workshop grew as well and if the tool was what he needed, was the right price, he was on it. Anyway, I could go on forever. He introduced me to Harbor and I love it. Two stores by me. He also taught me the concept anything that needs to be done can be done by you.

[@1pcfred]

@@TheJacklwilliams I've tried to do a lot of things. I can't say I was always successful. But I've managed to do most things I set out to do acceptably enough. You never know until you give it a go.

[@TheJacklwilliams]

@ Nice! Aggreed wholeheartedly. Jack of All Trades, Master of None, is bettter than Master of one. My favorite thing is the learning that takes place and the growth as a result. It’s priceless as far as I’m concerned.

[@markmark2080]

As an old timer, I well remember their early small ads in the many magazines I subscribed to back in those great days, their stores are the replacements for the long gone Wards and Sears hardware departments...

[@ballinator]

Yeah, I miss the Sears hardware department..

[@SNMSRACING]

From another 'old timer', That's a great observation.

[@michaellindsay8934]

I'm a fan of Harbor Fright it's now my go to for anything tool related it's successfully replaced Sears in my opinion. You can't beat their warranty. Thanks for the history lesson

[@ballinator]

Good analogy, they def incorporated a lot of the things that made Sears successful originally.

[@matthetubecrowley]

I discovered the paper catalogs in the late 80's. I'd fill out the paper form from the paper catalog and mail it to Camarillo, California. At that time Harbor Freight was a great example of "you get what you pay for." I bought a box of a HUNDRED hacksaw blades. The metal was so soft that I was able to bend one into an overhand knot. Today I have several Icon and Quinn ratchet wrenches which are actually fairly good.

[@ballinator]

I bought a pack of hacksaw blades like that from the flea market years ago. Junk.

[@1pcfred]

I'd call them on the phone. That got weird. Just sitting there rattling off catalog numbers.

[@GregJohnson-qe6ns]

I have a starter impact set, still works fine.

[@Traderjoe]

I have not had many lemons from Harbor freight, so I’m pretty pleased with them. They have nice bathrooms too.

[@ballinator]

I think I've only had to return two items from Harbor Freight. One was a bolt cutter that broke the first time I used it, cutting fencing wire. The other was a propane heater that had been recalled. Never been in their restrooms.

[@DetroitDiesel671]

I haven't been in the restroom, but I think it's safe to say that the one in Harbor Freight's downtown Victorville store is probably NOT nice.

[@1pcfred]

I've gotten some absolute hot garbage from Harbor Freight. Some surprisingly good products too. It's a total crap shoot. For me it was part of the appeal. Like gambling. Wheel of Tools! Normally I don't have a gambling problem but mix it with tools and that's a dangerous combination. I'd say avoid their corded tools. But some of it is OK. I've had more losers than winners there.

[@petepeeff5807]

Fun fact the Lexington Ky. store is an old Western Auto the logo is still on the sidewalk.

[@ballinator]

Very cool.

[@gerald5344]

Can confirm, have seen it.

[@thenkgarage]

Another great video! I love all the tool history!

[@ballinator]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@markjohnson429]

Dude, you are a classic character. From the first time I watched you I felt like I knew you. I'm guessing somebody told you you were funny and that you should make videos, right? Well they were right! Good luck and I hope you keep growing!

[@ballinator]

Thanks, man. It's nice to see my sense of humor is resonating with people here.

[@justindelecki]

Great graphics as usual. Nice job😊

[@ballinator]

Thanks!

[@Sylvan_dB]

Good story! I thought I was pretty familiar with HF history, but you dug up some things I didn't know (and more details, like the actual class action settlement amounts, wow). Thanks!

[@ballinator]

You're welcome! Thanks for watching. Yeah I tried to make sure I was covering stuff that hadn't been covered in videos before.

[@xKmotx]

In the very early 80's there was a brick and mortar store (literally red brick) on Whitset and Sherman Way in North Hollywood, named "Harbor Freight Salvage" and being a newly minted aircraft mechanic I needed tools and they had to be cheap because I was poor. I bought several tools from this store over a few trips. I wonder if it was one of the original HF stores?

[@ballinator]

Likely was one of the originals.

[@3beltwesty]

In the early 90s The corporate retail store in the Corner of the giant Camarillo warehouse once sold Milwaukee tools. New and refurbished ie returns from Home Depot and Lowes ; Lumber City etc. I bought a new in the box Milwaukee Sawzall there. That store had monthly sales of odd closeout items not worth shipping to other stores too. They had a new Russian tractor on display outside they sold. They had oddball stuff like Russian monoculars bought after the ussr got broken up and goods got bought from there to be re sold in the usa.. so that monocular I bought was 5 dollars The drill presses at Ventura County dinky businesses I worked at often were Central Machinery etc ..many had usa motors after awhile since the stock ones burned up. Lol

[@ballinator]

Nice. The Russian monocular sounds interesting.

[@chaosplan]

In the early to mid 90s I used to go to the Camarillo headquarters for their parking lot sale. It was literally a parking lot full of tools. I purchased a lot of what I think were prototypes from overseas. Back then the quality was questionable, but I was able to get a bunch of tools and equipment at very low cost. I still have most of those tools to this day with only a couple of regrets. I’m so pleased with the way harbor freight is upping the quality.

[@louisriverin2295]

We don’t know each other but we clearly share a love of tools, an interest in history and we have the same « special » sense of humor! Meilleures salutations du Québec Merci beaucoup ☀️😎 🛠️

[@ballinator]

Thanks, man! Yeah I'm glad my humor is resonating with people on here.

[@toddhill3579]

I started shopping via the catalogs back in the mid-80s. Yeah, I've seen the changes both in quality and prices

[@ballinator]

I didn't start shopping there until the late '90's. Do you think the quality went up, or down?

[@Keithf1]

@@ballinator Quality has gone up but so have the prices. Bet there is a private jet(s) somewhere in the story...

[@ballinator]

@Keithf1 Not sure about the jet, but there is a 350 million dollar yacht..

[@merwinjohnston7074]

Thanks for sharing the video.

[@ballinator]

You're welcome! Thanks for watching.

[@danielkmecik6709]

US General used to be a company that sold name brand tools through their own catalogs. When did Harbor freight buy them out??

[@ballinator]

Harbor Freight registered the trademark in 2002. Don't see who owned it before them.

[@danielkmecik6709]

@@ballinator My dad used to get catalogs from US General years ago. A few years ago I saw somewhere online about Harbor Freight buying them but I cannot find any info on that now.

[@ballinator]

@danielkmecik6709 US General Supply Corp. I can't find much on them. Found an ad in a 1977 Popular Science magazine though: books.google.com/books?id=6eEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA176

[@channelview8854]

I remember buying several items from them by mail order. No idea what year it was.

[@danohstoolbox]

Hear in canada, we have princess auto the name came from the name of the street they started on

[@ballinator]

I'll add Pricness to the list to research for a future video.

[@TheDavidarlen]

Nice job.

[@ballinator]

Thanks!

[@sofjanmustopoh7232]

I live in Lexington Kentucky where the first outlet retail store opened . Have been their customer since 1990

[@ballinator]

Very cool! Thanks for watching.

[@ms1250-t7r]

"Hey look, Harbor Freight's having a sale!" has become a running joke between my friends and I... I bought some of my first "big" tools at a Harbor Freight in Southern CA in the early 1990s - a "Central Machinery" floor drill press, 8" bench grinder and a 6" x 48" belt sander, all coated in thick, green paint. I still have them and use them daily. Other HF tools bought during this time (especially hand tools and small electric tools) haven't lasted but they served their purpose - bridging the gap until better tools could be bought.

[@ballinator]

There's something to be said about entry-level tools. A lot of stuff I bought there I ended up giving to my brother-in-law after I upgraded.

[@1pcfred]

Wow you went to the original store. I'm on the east coast so I did all mail order with them. I bought some big tools off them. I have a 4x6 bandsaw and a heavy duty mill/drill. The bandsaw is a real Rong-Fu and the mill/drill is a mainland clone of a RF-32. All orders over $50 are free shipping. That mill was 732 pounds.

[@beerdrinker6452]

Nice video.

[@ballinator]

Many thanks!

[@ben501st]

A friend told me Lincoln Electric sued Harbor Freight over one of the Vulcan welders. Supposedly, HF had to stop selling it and it become a bit item in the used market. No idea if it's true.

[@ballinator]

Looks like it's true. The case was dismissed, and there's a bunch of sealed documents, so I'm guessing it was settled out of court. www.courtlistener.com/docket/6823168/lincoln-electric-company-v-harbor-freight-tools-usa-inc/

[@stephenmartini5890]

One thing I liked about Harbor Frieght was if you couldn't get s replacement tool such as a Craftsman you could buy one or two of that same too much cheaper. Sometimes buying one tool could save the day. However, Harbor Frieght must have gotten to big for itself and/or customers who bought a lot from them because now, instead of being able to purchase one wrench or 2 of same tools or screw drivers you are forced to buy a whole set. Sometimes, you need 3 half inch wrenches but not three whole sets of 5 wrenches. Not good anymore.

[@ballinator]

Yeah, selling individual sockets & wrenches would be a good move.

[@mmotodad]

It never occurred to me until you listed out the different brands but several of these are tool brands owned by other companies such as Diablo and Armstrong, surprised they haven't been sued even though they may be applying to different types of products.

[@ballinator]

Yeah, that's how they get away with it. By trademarking it in a different product category it's legal. So they can put Diablo on hoses, but if they tried to put Diablo on a saw blade they'd get sued.

[@MarkTrades__]

LOL 3:08 when the printer thing starts smoking hahahaa

[@ballinator]

Thanks for noticing!

[@lazor222]

I got 2 of the $160 gift cards from the class action lawsuit lol.

[@ballinator]

Nice!

[@unclefester4626]

I LOVE HARBOR FREIGHT!!!!! Their Hercules tool line for the most part is really good. The Hercules batteries are way better than previous brands ive owned. I used to be a milwaukee fanboy until about half of my batteries failed with less than 30 charge cycles on them. I'm done with milwaukee forever.

[@ballinator]

I've been reluctant to try out any of their cordless tools, but have heard good things about the newer stuff. Thanks for watching!

[@unclefester4626]

@ballinator give em a try. It'll mess with your head a little bit at how good they are for the price. I just bought their nibbler and double cut shears. Had fun cutting up a piece of sheet metal. Now I'm thinking a bender and spot welder. Harbor Freight is such a man's toy store!!!!😁👍

[@jeffhill3681]

Has to be other copyright lawsuits in the past. I bought some stubby aluminum handle flex spline wrenches from harbor freight that looked like a exact Mac copy.(At about 15% of the price ) Seemed to be a good quality, handy tool but when I went back for the rest a few months later they were discontinued.

[@ballinator]

There's probably more. Those were the ones I could access the full texts of. I found another one yesterday where they were sued by Lincoln welders.

[@gerald5344]

Dang, so that explains why the receipts from the store in my town say Store no. 1 -- I just thought someone hadn't bothered to update the point of sale software when it was last installed. Wow. It really was the first retail store.

[@ballinator]

Very cool.

[@gusgranrath1840]

Interesting....

[@AndyM.]

DUDEZILLA, this has nothing to do with DA HARBOR, but I had that same exact refrigerator in collage!!! HA!!!! That thing was GREAT and held A LOT of beer!

[@ballinator]

It's the perfect garage/shop fridge.

[@rodneybugher9312]

They have some decent ,inexpensive tools. The coupons and all the different brands is silly, though. And some of the stuff is still junk. A history of the Cummins truckload tool sales would be interesting. Similar to the early harbour freight.

[@ballinator]

I remember Cummins. They would set up tables at the town hall. When you picked out what you wanted you would go to a truck around back and pick it up. I'll add them to the list for a future video.

[@SquishyZoran]

Gosh that brings back so many memories! I remember (and may still have) a pellet pistol and (no longer have) refurbished paintball guns for $20 or so. I had a truck crane that got scrapped only because it was never put on a truck and somehow got buried under a pile of dirt.

[@rss608]

In the late 80's my friend worked for the phone room in SoCal. that sold HF tools over the phone. He would make calls from both the catalog list and cold calls to sell tools. That is when I first got hooked on HF tools... over the last 50 years I've used their tools to build every thing, cars, boats, houses, motorhomes and all kinds of weird stuff.... sadly when they raised their prices and started opening more local stores I had to quit buying so often from them as their prices were just to high..... yes, the quality of the electric tools was suspect and they often failed but for short term use they were perfect due to the affordable price. Today I won't buy their products due to price.

[@ballinator]

Very cool. Yeah, I've noticed the increases in price.

[@kevinmartin-xh7mq]

I remember dad buying half a dozen sets of drill bits from the salvage company in California he called it. THe bits were right hand bits, but ground as left hand bits. They were worthless but other things he bought were fine. If he was still alive he would be in the local store every day🤣

[@ballinator]

I don't think they came from Harbor Freight, but I once had a set of cheap drill bits, while drilling a pilot hole in wood, one of the bits bent itself at a 90 degree angle. They either weren't heat treated, or were made from the wrong type of steel...

[@blackflag_fishing]

How did we not get a Snap-On lore video yet?

[@ballinator]

It's coming. It's coming. That one is going to take a ton of research, and I need to dedicate a block of time for it.

[@larryjanson4011]

how could i get a 5000WATT generator foe a long term review? but over all there hand and power tools cost me about the same as a big name brand. mostly as i have to drive 45- minutes to one hr to get to a hf store. ( yes thats one way time). heavy traffic even longer. so i have to plan any trip there with “other things”. lowes is less than 1/2 hr.. hd is the farthest from home. nothing in the county i live in. but at 65 i have most of what i need for hand tools, but i do sill do buy some. was a truck driver( now retired) but i have more tools than some auto mechanics have. i build and tinker a lot.

[@ballinator]

I've had their little 2-stroke 6amp generator since 2014. Works great for running an electric pole saw. I've left it running overnight a couple times to power a sump pump during extended power outages. No experience with their larger ones. Yeah, where I'm at everything is 1/2 hour drive away, so any shopping trip is gonna be multiple stores.

[@jimhaines8370]

I obviously never went to look myself but I thought all the jacks at HF weee made in China are only the top line jacks made in Taiwan as the the others I have seen were all China

[@ballinator]

Last time I looked at their jacks they all said "made in China" on the boxes. What I "think" is happening: both Snap-On and Harbor Freight are sourcing some of the components from a single factory in Taiwan. Snap-On assembles there's here in the US, Harbor Freight has then assembled in China. This is all speculation though. There are videos comparing the Snap-On & Daytona jacks side by side, some parts look identical, some look different.

[@1pcfred]

I have an old floor jack I bought off Harbor Freight. It's a mainland China product. It don't owe me a dime today. That floor jack is like a floor jack to me. My only gripe is it is too heavy. When I have to pick it up I'm not a happy boy. It is not one of those lightweight models. When it dies I can use the back of that jack as an anvil.

[@1pcfred]

@@ballinator I bet the Harbor Freight is just as good as the Snap-on jack is. My Harbor Freight floor jack is one of the originals. It's pumpkin orange. It doesn't look like the Snap-on. It's still a hell of a floor jack.

[@Drmcclung]

Whoa whoa wait stop hold on.. who *wouldnt* buy a Big Top torque wrench?? Thats too on the bum 😆

[@merikatools568]

New in house brand name ideas......Snatch....axes and hatchets.

[@ballinator]

I'd buy one.

[@jimurrata6785]

Have you done anything on PowerMatic/Jet/Wilton? ..... and how i order replacement parts through Grizzly! 😂 How about how massive ITW has become?

[@ballinator]

No, but I'll add them to the list.

[@fixedit8689]

As a industrial mechanic, I can’t believe the new guys that were experienced mechanics with a box full HF tools. Knuckle busters I call them. Perfectly fine tools for the homeowner but as a professional working on equipment costing upwards of 3 mil.

[@ballinator]

Were they using them as 'starter tools' until they could afford to upgrade?

[@fixedit8689]

@ not really, they get paid well with overtime. I see them trying to do some precision fabrication with HF squares and levels. In the end, it’s not squared and not level. I was on vacation and they rigged a multi head weighing scale and put some HF c clamps to hold part of it. Ten feet in the air and the clamp snapped and the scale came crashing down.

[@ballinator]

Squares and C-clamps are not tools I'd trust from Harbor Freight..

[@1pcfred]

I think there's more to the Harbor Freight story. With the addition of Icon and Hercules Harbor Freight seems to be going more upscale to me. Personally I think they're getting too big for their britches. Many others seem onboard with the makeover though. I liked the bottom of the barrel selection HF had. They still have a lot of real trash. But it's just not the same.

[@ballinator]

Yeah they're def trying to take on the name brands. Not sure how that will turn out long-term.

[@1pcfred]

@@ballinator it struck me as too much too soon. I think they could have struck a better balance between quality and price. Catered to the people that need good quality but not top quality. Which you could argue HF does with their mid tier brands. But then customers are settling while they're settling. The premier brands are muddying the waters. I guess confusion has always been HF's business model though. Chigago Pneumatic? Central Pneumatic! I've heard about this CP stuff. It's a good brand, right? They have Chicago Electric in the next aisle. This store's got it all!

[@ballinator]

@1pcfred I still have to do a double-take sometimes when I see tools at the flea market "Was that a Chicago Pneumatic?" "No, it's the Harbor Freight one..."

[@1pcfred]

@@ballinator I saw a Harbor Freight socket set at the flea market today missing a socket and they wanted $15 for it. They probably paid less than that for it at a parking lot sale. It was a Pittsburgh deep impact set. I think it was metric and I didn't see what drive it was. Might have been 1/2"? They seemed like bigger size to me. I didn't look at it too closely. If I wanted it I'd have gone down the road to the Harbor Freight store and bought it. I did see that missing socket on the package rail. When stores warranty pieces they take it out of sets on the shelf then sell the incomplete set at a parking lot sale. You can order missing pieces. But that's a hassle. I did pick some treasures up though. I got a 5/8's end mill and a little Starrett parallel clamp for 50 cents each. Wow I figured those things were expensive but $95? Come on. I guess that's why I go to flea markets.

[@ballinator]

@1pcfred I've seen that too. Someone selling new in box angle grinders for $20. The ones that sold at the store for $9.99...

[@davidgold5961]

2:04 that’s a very unusual woman’s name - DORTHY. Is that Swedish?

[@ballinator]

That's an oops. Should be "Dorothy"

[@DetroitDiesel671]

All the dumb brand names are my biggest annoyance with Harbor Freight.

[@ballinator]

Yeah, especially when they try to give it a similar sounding name to an already established brand.

[@1pcfred]

Chicago Electric and Central Pneumatic will live in our hearts and minds forever!

[@sartainja]

One day Harbor Freight will implode due to opening too many stores - too fast, borrowing too much money, and the owner bleeding it white to support his lifestyle.

[@ballinator]

That's def what the father thought was happening. I'd love to get a peek into their financial books to see what's really going on.

[@sartainja]

@ Exactly.

[@MrSloika]

Trump's tariffs may be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

[@sartainja]

@ Amen.

[@LucidDreamer54321]

The sound quality in this video is terrible. I'm not going to finish this.

[@carlm2590]

Worst tools ever