4 Obscure Harbor Freight Tools You Probably Didn’t Realize Existed

When you need new tools, batteries, hardware, and equipment, there are a few stores that can deliver on almost every front. Harbor Freight is one such store, providing customers with all of the essentials to get an honest day’s work done. Of course, what makes the store so noteworthy isn’t just its selection of essentials like drills, sanders, and nailers. Looking around the Harbor Freight website and perusing the aisles of its physical stores reveals that it actually has some pretty niche and helpful tools within its expansive catalogue.

There are plenty of seldom-used and rarely-discussed tools within Harbor Freight’s offerings, most of which come from the many tool brands you may not even realize are owned by Harbor Freight. Some are intended for highly-specific jobs, hence why most haven’t added them to their tool collections, while others are designed to make certain tasks easier that could theoretically be handled with more common tools. While how truly niche they are will vary from person to person, these tools are worth highlighting for their overall obscurity to the general public. Here’s a selection of some of the most notable, yet obscure, Harbor Freight tools available that could be quite worthwhile buys for those who need them. 

Engraving definitely leans more toward an arts-and-crafts direction than a functional one, although it’s arguably a great and creative way to mark your tools for theft prevention. In the odd event it needs to be done, a standard rotary tool, the right bit, and a steady hand should be plenty enough to get the job done. Harbor Freight has plenty of such tools, with many coming from its in-house brands. However, if you want to get engraving done with something less industrial, more lightweight, and more specifically designed for this task, a tool like the Warrior cordless micro engraver could be just what you need.

Retailing for just $9.99 at Harbor Freight, Warrior’s micro engraver is small but packs a punch for engraving jobs. It’s advertised as being able to make engravings on virtually any surface, though the promotional material specifically mentions wood, metal, ceramic, and glass. Given the precision-nature of engraving, it makes sense that this engraver is much smaller and lighter than a rotary tool. It’s apparently around the same size as a fountain pen, with a contoured grip for added comfort and control. Two AAA batteries are needed for operation. At the time of publication, this is the only engraver present on the Harbor Freight website. It may not be the biggest or most versatile tool, but it should be more than suitable for engraving.

A chainsaw is one of the most common and widely-used tools out there. Perfect for everything from chopping firewood to trimming trees, these power tools have to endure a lot throughout their lifespan. While the tool itself lasts a while, the chain that does all the cutting will wear down and need replacing. Then again, you can always sharpen your chainsaw blade if you know how and have the right tools. Instead of going out and buying a whole new chain once yours gets a bit dull, Harbor Freight and Chicago Electric can help out with a contraption most aren’t likely to have in their workshop: the Chicago Electric Power Tools electric chainsaw sharpener.

This chainsaw chain sharpener runs $34.99 at Harbor Freight and is intended for all different types of chain designs and pitches. The chain vise holds it in place as the grinding wheel spins to resharpen the cutting edge of the blades, with the vise’s tension adjustable using the handle. The sharpener comes equipped with chain rotation rollers to move the chain along as you sharpen each blade, allowing you to move between blades without having to readjust the entire device. It can also be mounted to a wall or workbench, should you plan on keeping it in one spot. At the time of writing, this is the only chainsaw sharpener available through Harbor Freight.

As handy and helpful as nails, screws, and other metal fasteners are on the job, they undoubtedly have their drawbacks. For one, they’re small, with a tendency to roll around and even spill onto the ground if one isn’t careful. Then comes the annoying and time-consuming activity of picking them all up off the ground, but it doesn’t have to be this way. There’s a rather odd yet seemingly effective tool on the Harbor Freight website that makes picking up little, troublesome metal elements off the ground a quick and easy process, that tool being the $49.99 wheeled Central Machinery magnetic sweeper.

The name of this rather niche product tells you basically everything you need to know. It’s a sweeper-like tool on wheels that’s designed to roll across the ground and pick up small metal objects strewn about, saving time and effort while at work. It’s advertised as good for shop floors, carpet, and even grass, and is recommended for picking up loose screws, cleaning up small metal shavings, and more. It has 50 pounds of magnetic pull, and the head is 30 inches wide with a 7-inch diameter and 3 inches of sweep area depth. The handle is also extendable from 30 inches to 44.5 inches. As any experienced shopper will tell you, Harbor Freight is no stranger to products needed for spring cleaning. This is just one of the lesser-known entries in its wider cleanup catalogue, among a few other magnetic floor sweeper models.

Harbor Freight has more than enough screwdriver options for the average person. Whether you need long-lasting, high-quality ones or a simple starter kit for some small, one-off home renovations, the store has plenty on offer. On top of regular hand screwdrivers, Harbor Freight has some versions of these tools that are intended for more specific tasks. For example, a newer addition to the store’s website, as of this writing, is the Doyle conduit fitting and reaming screwdriver, which runs $14.99 and is a tool that electricians in particular could likely benefit from.

This tool is specifically intended for electrical wall conduits, the plastic (or metal) pipes that run along interior walls and protect electrical wiring. This screwdriver is used to enlarge and smooth 1/2-inch, 3/4-inch, and 1-inch thin-wall conduit ends, allowing fittings to attach to the ends securely. The Doyle screwdriver’s blades ream the interior and exterior of the conduits simultaneously. On top of these functions, it also has a standard flathead screwdriver, albeit with the addition of a hood, so it can be used to insert and remove flathead screws without slipping.