Rose Marie,
perhaps you may find it interesting to know most things sold in most
retail outlets in america are made in China, united arab emirates,
dubai, jordan, pakistan, former soviet block countries, etc…do you
read labels? even grocery items are increasingly made in china, or
produced there, shipped somewhere else and repacked under US branded
names that were formerly produced here too… Interestingly I do send
my students that are beginners, not certain if they are going to
stick with jewelry making as a full time profession orthose that are
are poor to harbor freight for very specific things…the shears are
trash. they ruin metals period…as is out of the box…the rolling
mills acceptable and affordable and with interchangeable rollers,
some patterened! I don’t work for HF, but do know people from all
spectra of the socio-economic picture
however: the HF sold crucibles of graphite are as good as others (and
they are made in Russia) the winches made in mexico are as good as
any others and make a great homemade drawbench they have a small
bench grinder polisher that must be stress tested upon purchase but
works just grand (once you insure the bearings are correctly
installed, greased etc.) and has a crappy but usable for some things
flexshaft attachment that has a small footprint on a bench for
finishing operations… the nitrile gloves in bulk are cheapest there
their gentec torches are the same as sold by every other supplier
selling gentec- and cheaper than any other - particularly if you want
the oxy/acetylene set up
as far as your son. the number one agency that assists in helping
people - just like your son transition to new careers is Vocaational
Rehabilitation, there are Pell grants etc that would have helped with
tuition if he doesn’t want VR assistance (which also pays for
housing, bills, etc…), and many schools have all sorts of financial
aid, grants and scholarships in engineering, and fields related to
machinists applications- not to mention the fairly untapped world of
apprenticeships to master machinists, if he was truly interested in
continuing on in that valuable trade…
I find it hard to believe that HF, solely put his company out of
business (in fact i find it virtually impossible)…Walmart is the
single largest importer of wares from china in the US…harbor
freight…probably in the 200th range.of retailers selling Chinese
manufactured products…<>…I think harbor freight sells some junk
tools, some very usable ones, some the same as you get in other
retailers and jewelers suppliers establishments (anvils for
instance: same dist. as 2 major hardware retailers coast to coast
selling 200 lb. cast anvils, gentec little torches, windsor
woodworking planes and mallets,Dow chemical co. products, ryobi
hammer drill, gorilla adhesives, and occassionally other aftermarket
products by a number of branded items)…so… before blaming one
company on your sons lot in life…look at the whole picture and
supply chain… and your wallet…and the receipts from target, or wal
mart, or kmart, or pier one, or bed, bath and beyond, or…or…or…