Price drop on HD Black Friday/Christmas sets

[jsharpphoto]

Walked through HD yesterday and noticed most of the gift sets are marked down even further. I guess BF didn't make a big enough blip on their sales sheets.

Never the less, most of the sets are the normal junk, but there are a few good options.

My personal favorite was the 4 pack of Bessey Bar Clamps. 2-12" and 2-6".

Normally, I buy this style clamp from harbor freight. But with the new price of this set at $17, it's like a $1 more than buying them a la cart from HF, and the clamps are much better. Heavier overall, and a thicker bar for less warping. I picked up 5 sets last night.

 

[GortonsFisherman]

Happens every year. If one is patient, very good deals can be had.

 

[cagullett1]

Walked through HD yesterday and noticed most of the gift sets are marked down even further. I guess BF didn't make a big enough blip on their sales sheets.

Never the less, most of the sets are the normal junk, but there are a few good options.

My personal favorite was the 4 pack of Bessey Bar Clamps. 2-12" and 2-6".

Normally, I buy this style clamp from harbor freight. But with the new price of this set at $17, it's like a $1 more than buying them a la cart from HF, and the clamps are much better. Heavier overall, and a thicker bar for less warping. I picked up 5 sets last night.

Which store did you walk through? I went to 2 different stores yesterday and saw some markdowns, but not much YET

 

[jsharpphoto]

Skillman and Northwest Highway in Dallas. Markdowns also shown online. Not massive amounts, after all 10-15% of $20 isn't much. But if you were on the fence about something, or buying multiples then it adds up.

 

[djb2]

Happens every year. If one is patient, very good deals can be had.

In my experience, some years result in plenty of great deals, while other years have no worthwhile sales. They seem to alternate. Two years ago I got some great deals. Last year, nothing.

Of course this is very store specific. Even during the good years, some stores have only token post-Christmas sales.

 

[jsharpphoto]

In my experience, some years result in plenty of great deals, while other years have no worthwhile sales. They seem to alternate. Two years ago I got some great deals. Last year, nothing.



Of course this is very store specific. Even during the good years, some stores have only token post-Christmas sales.

How is it "store specific" if the price is online too?

 

[jsharpphoto]

Clutch Clamp Set (4-Piece)
http://thd.co/1nCQaTs

 

[BikerDad]

Clutch Clamp Set (4-Piece)
http://thd.co/1nCQaTs

Fake Chinese Besseys. Okay, so they aren't fake. I've looked at them, it appears that Bessey shipped their tooling to China for production. So, if you're okay with that, then, as a previous poster noted, they are a lot better than HF.

Me, I've got a fine herd of proper German Bessey's to hold me over.

I have been eyeing the DeWalt one handed 6pk. It's dropped from $25 to $19.

 

[jsharpphoto]

I agree. Not the best clamps out there, but certainly the best sub-$5 clamps out there.

 

[cagullett1]

Fake Chinese Besseys. Okay, so they aren't fake. I've looked at them, it appears that Bessey shipped their tooling to China for production. So, if you're okay with that, then, as a previous poster noted, they are a lot better than HF.

Me, I've got a fine herd of proper German Bessey's to hold me over.

I have been eyeing the DeWalt one handed 6pk. It's dropped from $25 to $19.

I agree. Not the best clamps out there, but certainly the best sub-$5 clamps out there.

I compared these to the HF ones and noticed that they are VERY similar. The bar on the Bessey is slightly thicker, but I was doing some cross flex tests and they didn't seem much stiffer. I definitely prefer the grips on the HF clamps over the Besseys, but considering my HD sold the set to me for $9, definitely worth that.

 

[jsharpphoto]

I measured one of the bar of my HF clamps with a caliper and found them to be almost 25% thinner than the Bessey. Also, no surprise but the HF didn't have uniform thickness from clamp to clamp.

I also agree that the rubberized grip on the HF ones are nicer, and wood glue doesn't stick to them. I may plasti-dip the Bessey handles

 

[77Ford]

I agree. Not the best clamps out there, but certainly the best sub-$5 clamps out there.

FYI-Single clamps were down to $2.97 today at one local HD....Cheaper then the (4) pack.

 

[jsharpphoto]

Aren't those the 4 inch clamps without the clutch?

 

[77Ford]

Aren't those the 4 inch clamps without the clutch?

You may be right, I just saw the price but left them all at the store.

 

[jsharpphoto]

Ya. Those are the 4inch clamps. That's a fair price if you need that clamp and nothing more, but they don't have a clutch release, so they are only held in place by pressure.

IMHO clamps of that size are only really useful to temporarily hold things while you position multiple items, and since they take two hands to fully engage, they aren't terrific for that purpose.

 

[Ign]

Ya. Those are the 4inch clamps. That's a fair price if you need that clamp and nothing more, but they don't have a clutch release, so they are only held in place by pressure.

IMHO clamps of that size are only really useful to temporarily hold things while you position multiple items, and since they take two hands to fully engage, they aren't terrific for that purpose.

There's more than just woodworking. They work great to clamp anodized channel on my mill table to angle plates to keep the work hanging out of the vise straight and true.

edit:w the exception of some welding clamps that have a spring on the rail to theoretically help it self-close, ALL welding F-clamps are constructed this way. There should be no need for a well-designed clamp to do anything more than bind on it's rail.

 

[jsharpphoto]

There's more than just woodworking. They work great to clamp anodized channel on my mill table to angle plates to keep the work hanging out of the vise straight and true.

edit:w the exception of some welding clamps that have a spring on the rail, ALL welding F-clamps are constructed this way. There should be no need for a well-designed clamp to to anything more than bind on it's rail.

That's a fair point. All of my clamping experience is wood-working. I never said they were useless clamps. And you are correct, friction should be enough to hold a clamp tight. The clutch is more of a quick release than anything, but I've found I can operate a clutch clamp completely with one hand while holding the work piece with the other, and a clutch-less clamp I have to use two hands.

 

[jsharpphoto]

I went back to HD today and saw the $20 Dewalt MaxFit driver bit set was marked down to $13 from $20. Picked that up as well. Those are good bits

 

[pauls_workshop]

Guys, found this 44 pc Dewalt MaxFit Driver Set DWA2SLS44HD that was down to $11 marked in store. Rang it up and came up to $3 in my store! I got a couple for gifts. Online it shows $11 now but check instore and you might get lucky. Others have apparently also got these this cheap. May be closing out this set on clearance. Only one like this I could find.

Also, those 4 pack of the Bessey clamps for $17 now is a real good buy. - Paul

 

[nicksnothereman]

Walked through HD yesterday and noticed most of the gift sets are marked down even further. I guess BF didn't make a big enough blip on their sales sheets.

Never the less, most of the sets are the normal junk, but there are a few good options.

My personal favorite was the 4 pack of Bessey Bar Clamps. 2-12" and 2-6".

Normally, I buy this style clamp from harbor freight. But with the new price of this set at $17, it's like a $1 more than buying them a la cart from HF, and the clamps are much better. Heavier overall, and a thicker bar for less warping. I picked up 5 sets last night.

Some good stuff at dropped prices.

Pistol grip pliers=7 bucks
Wrench sets (including ratcheting and bigger)=13 bucks

Will get cheaper but not sure if will last. I of course bought the pistol grips because I was gonna buy them anyway. It's all china though. I checked them out, they seem decently made to me/the purposes I would use them for.

 

[captain14]

What would be a good use of the pistol grip pliers? I was looking and considered them, but the display box was full so I have time to hold off the impulse purchase.

 

[pauls_workshop]

What would be a good use of the pistol grip pliers? I was looking and considered them, but the display box was full so I have time to hold off the impulse purchase.

http://toolguyd.com/husky-pistol-grip-pliers/

Here you go. These also looked somewhat interesting to me too but don't know if I would ever really need them. - Paul

 

[unslow1]

What would be a good use of the pistol grip pliers? I was looking and considered them, but the display box was full so I have time to hold off the impulse purchase.

They are great for pulling fuses under the dash. I don't use them too much for other things but with fuses they are first choice.

 

[Ign]

We used 'em to pull away the tangled mess of stainless "chips" at our 24" Mazak. If you've ever turned stainless you understand.