Big Lots Stores

["DoubleAction"]

......I don't know if everyone else has a Big Lots Store in your area, but if you do, you can find the small file sets, punches, even a bench vise for hardly nothing, compared to what you would spend elsewhere. I paid $10. for a bench vise and used the same vise to break the Factory Barrel Nut on my Colt HBAR. That little file set is a good one, and they seem to out last many others.

...The vise has already paid for itself :

[MLB]

I hadn't considered Big Lots for tools. We do have a Harbor Freight, which is a good resource for cheap (both in price and quality) tools.

[blueglass]

We call them Big Box stores here and have lots of them it seems in the last few years. Usually so big we need a Golf cart to get all the way thru them , of course I'm a older guy and use one when I can in these stores if they have them.

[TMan]

We have one and I must have gone by it thousands of times, but never checked it out. I'll have to stop in and see what all they have.

[5ontarget]

If there is some tool that I need to complete a job, and won't hardly use that tool again, I'll buy from Harbor Freight or Big Lots. They don't seem to hold up all that well for me, but for a tool that gets used a couple/few times a year, they work ok.

[TMan]

In my younger days I bought a cheap screwdriver set from J.C. Whitney. "People are crazy to spend so much money on S-K tools". Moron!!!

Then I was working on the dishwasher and stripping the heads on the screws. My company issued screwdriver set didn't have phillips because they didn't use them in their equipment.

I was discussing the "cheap screws" that Sears put in their top-of-the-line dishwasher with one of the guys at work, and he asked me what screwdrivers I was using. Turned out they they stripped rather quickly, which caused the heads of the screws to strip. If I had a good screwdriver to start with, I wouldn't have had a problem.

Note: I still don't have S-K, but I do like Craftsman hand tools. A little larger and bulkier than S-K, but they hold up well enough for my purposes. (Not for working on guns though).

[blueglass]

I prefer either Snap-On or Mac brand tools myself. Yes they are expensive but the lifetime warranty and NO stripped heads does pay me back in the long run. S-K do make some nice stuff as well as I do have some of them in my roll-a-round tool box. Not many dealers of them up here at this time it seems.

["DoubleAction"]

.....I don't make a habit of purchasing tools from Big Lots, but, I was browsing for something at their store about 18 years ago and found a few items. The filed set has lasted me until this day, and so has the bench vise.

.....My own Rule # 1 : Buy Channel Locks by the "Channel Lock" brand name, and buy Vise Grips by the "Vise Grips" brand name. I buy Pliers made by Klien.

[TMan]

I'll second Klien, everything I've bought from them is high quality.

My 20 ton hydraulic press was from Harbor Freight at least 30 years ago. I go years without using, but when you need it, there is no substitution for a press. It had been around 15 years since I last used it, but then last year I rebuilt the motor for the swimming pool pump and used the press for both removing and installing the bearings.

Speaking of bearings: I bought the bearings from a swimming pool company on the internet for about 1/3 of what they would have cost me at NAPA, but the NAPA bearings are much higher quality.

When my son was over 2 years ago, the circulation pump (1 H.P.) for the streams had seized up. These are dry sump submersible pumps at cost of $1K. We took it apart, got the bearings from NAPA, put it back together and it ran like new. "This pumps are not serviceable". Yeah right.

["DoubleAction"]

.....TMan; When you replaced the bearings on your motor, did you have to use a bearing puller to get the old bearings off ?

[5ontarget]

just to derail this fine thread a bit more...

[TMan]

I like the umbrella. It reminded me of last year at the Dead Sea. This good looking girl with a skimpy bathing suit got in the water with an umbrella.

You can't swim in the Dead Sea - you will drown. You can only float on your back; well, you could swim on your back.

So it was a windy day, and the girl's idea was to use the umbrella to catch the wind. It was a good idea, but a cheap umbrella that kept turning inside out. It provided us guys with a diversion and reason to stare at her without getting in trouble with our wives.

[MLB]

Some of those Hazard Fraught Tools ads are right on. That's terrific.

["DoubleAction"]

....Loan out my Vise Grips to a neighbor ( about 6 pair ), and he never brought them back. He was good at this, and if ever borrowed a tool from him, I would return it, and 2 months later he would ask when I would be returning his tool back. He was good friends but, I learned very fast how he obtained he collection of tools.

......To cut the the chase; My wife brought me a set of Made in China Vise Grips for my Christmas Stocking. This is when I learned about tools made in China; Clothes Pins would have done a much better job. The Grip Teeth just grinds off when touched to steel.

[TMan]

DA, those vise-grips were 'export-quality'. You should see the junk that they sell for the people in China.

["DoubleAction"]

Nov 30, 2012 2:24:15 GMT -5 TMan said:

DA, those vise-grips were 'export-quality'. You should see the junk that they sell for the people in China.

......Tell this to my wife ;D

.....If I want Channel Locks ( Knuckle Busters ), I buy from the Channel Lock company, not the brand made by Sears.

[blueglass]

Same here as I want my moneys worth when I buy tools so I spend the extra and buy the best that I can get. It does pay in the long run as I usually build my own engines for my vehicles when needed and do have a use for professional tools. They usually pay for them selves the 1st time you use them anyways. You usually get a lifetime warranty with them which does make it worthwhile as well.