Harbor Freight 7" Jointer
 

Has anyone purchased one of these? Comments?? Good or Bad. My brother-in-law
purchased one of these and the quality looks good but I am a little concerned
that the 7" blade will be hard to find as a replacement. I would replace the
blade with a good set as soon a possible.

DScheffold asks:

Has anyone purchased one of these? Comments?? Good or Bad. My brother-in-law
purchased one of these and the quality looks good but I am a little concerned
that the 7" blade will be hard to find as a replacement. I would replace the
blade with a good set as soon a possible.

I can't comment on the jointer. I didn't even notice one last week in my first
trip into an HF store. But I did check, and Freud does not carry 7" knives. You
quite possibly would have to cut down 8" knives to fit, not a particularly
difficult job if you're careful.

Charlie Self
"Cabbage: A familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as large and wise as a
man's head." Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

I have one, purchased long before I knew any better (1991?). The motor
never worked. HF tech support was useless. It was months after receipt and
the thought of trying to ship the ting back just did not seem woth it. A
couple of years went by and I came across a spare motor and a built a
dust-catching mobile base. Now it performs reasonably well. The 42" bed is a
bit on the short side for 6" machines however.

The only 7" knives I have been able to find were from HF. The edges dulled
on initial impact with pine. Useless. 6" freud blades fit in the machine
just fine.

For the $159 I think that I spent on this thing, I have probably gotten more
than my money's worth.

I plan on buying an 8" machine in the spring if the tax man smiles on me.
I'll bet I can get $150 for it :-)
(1.5hp motor, mobile base, extra knife set).

Steve


Has anyone purchased one of these? Comments?? Good or Bad.

Thu, Dec 9, 2004, 12:20pm (EST+5) otforme
(Charlie=A0Self) says:
snip last week in my first trip into an HF store. snip

Well, what was your impression, Charlie? I like to look around,
even if I don't buy anything.



JOAT
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind dont
matter, and those who matter dont mind.
- Dr Seuss

JOAT asks:

snip last week in my first trip into an HF store. snip

Well, what was your impression, Charlie? I like to look around,
even if I don't buy anything.

Lotta--uh, yeah--stuff there. Some of it looked half decent, some didn't. I
didn't buy anything (but we'd mainly gone out to pick up a tool for a review).
My buddy did, but I think he's incapable of going to a tool store without
buying *something* if for no other reason than to **** off his wife.

Charlie Self
"Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to." Mark Twain

Thu, Dec 9, 2004, 9:41pm (EST+5) otforme
(Charlie=A0Self)
Lotta--uh, yeah--stuff there. Some of it looked half decent, some
didn't. snip

Yeah, there's a lot of that. Let us know what you think, when you
go back and look a bit closer.

They've got a lot of stuff, that's pretty inexpensive, and works
well enough. I've gotten several of the 3-piece "vice-grip" sets. I
have no idea what their useful life would be; they work fine, but with
two sons, they tend to have disappeared by the time I need one; so buy
another set. At about $6-7 for the set, on sale, can't beat the price.
Costs a lot more than that, for just one, in the local hardware store.

Way I figure, some of the stuff I buy there, I may not use more
than 3-4 times total (or never, see vice-gips, above). So, if it's got
a useful life of 6 uses, I figure I'm money ahead buying one, rather
then spending money on something capable of standing up to daily use.



JOAT
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind dont
matter, and those who matter dont mind.
- Dr Seuss