harbor freight saw blade Tools, Tips and Techniques Discuss harbor freight saw blade in the Pizza Oven Design and Installation forums; Hmmm, well, I just bought one (HF) but haven't even opened it. I don't expect to get to that point ...

[kebwi]

Hmmm, well, I just bought one (HF) but haven't even opened it. I don't expect to get to that point in my build for several weeks.

I guess I'll just have to see how it goes.

[cecilB]

you say you returned your HF wet saw? After how many uses? What did they say/do?
When you say to raise the saw head up using the thing on the left - yes, that's for the whole head - not the guard only, right?

I only have to do a few diagonal bricks for the tops of the soldiers - had I known all this, I would have stuck to small - half bricks from the bottom up, instead of starting with full length soldiers. hmmmm - and then just used the brick cutter (manual).

I did have my 12 year old cutting bricks in half the other day - that's fine - but some would just break all the way through after only one smack. A lot of waste!

Cecelia

[RTflorida]

I'm all about quality in tools...but the Felker 10" is a bit pricey for the average DIYer. Isn't it $600+? Considering the lack of precision needed for an oven build, really overkill.
If you know you have several other big projects, by all means, it makes sense and is REALLY a great saw.

Maybe I am one of the lucky ones with the HF saw and blade, honestly the best $200 I have ever spent on a power tool and my FIRST Chinese tool (and I have more than a few - a little over $20,000 invested).

RT

[christo]

I've bought a few chinese tools and most are no longer with me. I bought them for low precision/one time use and most of them died before their intended use was complete.

I've noticed that there is a farily wide range of quality from lot to lot. Maybe a few of us got lucky and ended up with saws that were set up paralell with the rails and had higher than standard blades.

My blade still had over 1/8 of an inch of edge on it when I quit using it. It just wouldn't cut easily anymore.

I bet there is some tuning you could do if the ralis are not running paralell to the blade.

Christo

[fxpose]

Originally Posted by cecilB

yep! I held up the old blade to the new one and it's a total of a half inch difference.

That's because the old blade has worn down. They actually get smaller as they wear down.

[KINGRIUS]

I've had a 10 yr old skil saw that I bought a $15 hitachi diamond blade for. I figure I've done about 3 times the cutting I would have done if I'd used new clean firebricks as opposed to my old used ones. Having to clean them all off with the saw blade and then cut them in half has worn it down. I just had to buy my second diamond blade. But the cheap old skil saw is still kicking! I am within about 4 chains from closing the oven and figure I might have to get one more blade before I'm done with the project. That'll be $45 in blades and my saw might still work when I'm done with the build.

[cecilB]

Good news! My 17 year old son was home on his lunch break and grabbed the new blade and put it on and it is fine! A friend of ours had put it on and got something wrong on there. Funny!
I know my son is LOVING the fact that he was right - but I didn't say much - just laughed!

We put a few rings up today. I don't know if I'm thrilled with it, we ended up putting wedge shaped bricks on top of the soldiers - they were half bricks cut in half again, diagonally. The thing is is the back ends of them stick out a bit. Oh well, it'll be covered up, right.

I'm just so glad that the blade actually did work!

Cecelia

[splatgirl]

yay!
to answer your question, I did return my HF after about a week. They didn't seem to have a problem with that, but it was kind of a PITA to clean it up, repack it and haul it across town again.

I definitely agree with the comment that there seems to be quality differences from lot to lot with the cheap Chinese tools. And I certainly don't knock the stuff, because I've abused the crap out of several other HF tools over the last 5+ years and they're all still just fine for the price paid. And I actually thought the design of the HF saw tray and stand was superior to what I got with the Felker.

IIRC, I was close to having about $400 into the HF saw between it, the stand and the two blades I had to buy, so at that point, it made the $589 including shipping I paid for the Felker (blade included) look like a bargain. That said, I will use the Felker for at least two more projects in the immediate future plus who knows how many others.

[ThisOldGarageNJ]

I've bought a few chinese tools and most are no longer with me. I bought them for low precision/one time use and most of them died before their intended use was complete.

hey christo, these are exactly the things i buy at HF.... sometimes you get lucky and they last,, they a 4 inch angle grinder on sale now for 14.99, i bought a spare for that price and keep it on the shelf as a backup

[RTflorida]

I am all for buying dirt cheap Chinese (HF) for a project I know will abuse the hell out of a tool. Usually those projects are few and far between so I don't feel bad about spending $15, $20, or even $50 bucks for a tool I will trash in a day or two.....but I won't do that to a $200 or $250 Bosch. Even the best, most expensive tools will fail quickly if you get too 'creative' with there use. My Bosch tools are my day to day 'normal' project tools that I treat to last for years.

RT