Picked up a new tool at the Flea Market this week end.

[rcmadness]

I have been using a HF portable band saw for 9 years and it has served me well until last week it developed a crack in the front handle and the main handle has been broken for years. I decided it was time to buy a new one but I was having trouble spending $300 for a new one (I wanted a Milwaukee version this time around). I went by the local flee market and low and behold there was one setting out for sale. I was nearly new, the guy let me pull the brushes and they did not look worn at all. We haggled to the point of 50% of new cost and I made the buy. If you have never used one these are great little work horses for the shop. The Milwaukee is certainly worth the extra money but the HF served me well for 9 yrs.

 

[Brass_Machine]

Nice score on the new saw.

Sometimes the HF stuff can last. My HF bandsaw is running like a champ and has been for 5 years. I put it through a lot too!

Eric

 

[Stan]

Hey fellas: You know it is against board policy to say anything good about HF tools. Lots of experts have told us that they are all Chinese crap.

 

[Stan]

Pat: I haven't bought any Milwaukee tools lately but several years ago, DeWalt started importing all their portable tools from China.

 

[rcmadness]

My HF saw was starting to come a part on me. The big concern was the cracked handles but the rubber on the wheels was also showing up in the swarf pile.
None the less the Milwaukee does a great job and it supposedly the quickest portable band saw on the market.

As far as Chinese vs US made, I don't know what or who to believe anymore. I drove a Nissan pickup to work one day many years ago and took a serious verbal assault from another union member for buying it. I took him out and showed him a little sticker in the window that said it was made by union workers is Georgia. He traded in his made in Mexico Chevy for a Nissan a couple of months later. Again who knows what is made where anymore.

Oh by the way, I am not bashing Chevys, that is where they were made at the time. :-\