Shopsmith Forums

I've had my Craftsman jig saw for 30+ years. It's one of those that has the scrolling head on it. You can spin the blade around to any angle which comes in handy and the blade clamping mechanism lets you use just about any blade even a broken one. I probably never get rid of it.

I had a Craftsman circular saw that I used for many years only replacing power cords a couple of times. I worked it pretty hard for years. The one day I tried to use it to break down some sheet stock and discovered that the base was not square to the blade. Nothing was bent or broken and there was no adjustment. I bought a Hitachi saw and never cut anything with the Craftsman again. I tried to sell it for $10 on Craigslist complete with case and accessories. Crickets... I checked Harbor Freight and discovered that they were selling a new saw for $25. I let the ad expire after a couple of months. It went to hazardous waste disposal.

All the other Craftsman power tools I ever owned never lasted long. Lots of them died shortly after the warranty expired. My first battery operated drill came from Craftsman. I had multiple batteries so I could keep working. The charger developed a smoke leak and wasn't covered by the warranty. The replacement charger cost more than I paid for the original tool.

I have been fortunate with my Craftsman Power Tools but they ALL date back many years. However, I have heard many complaints about the more current Craftsman Power Tools. I avoid them now.

I attended a QC seminar that the 'lecturer' said: "Craftsman has never sold a first quality tool, BUT, do sell value".

That was decades ago.

I think recently the value disappeared.

dusty wrote:I have been fortunate with my Craftsman Power Tools but they ALL date back many years. However, I have heard many complaints about the more current Craftsman Power Tools. I avoid them now.

That is pretty much my case. There is of course another factor that can come into play here too. Almost "ALL" of my stuff will last a very long time... Tools, vehicles, tractors and other farm equipment.
Kind of a ramble here. It's Sunday, its raining and I just had a big meal...
Back when my father was doing some construction and was building a house for my grandparents (late 1930's and early 1940's) he was using no power tools. About 1940 as he was building their house he built a saw (I still have the complete mandrel) that was a mandrel and an electric motor on a platform that rolled on steel roller skate wheels in tracks. It functioned much like a non-adjustable RAS. He had used swing saws belonging to others in the past but didn't like them and considered them too dangerous. There are many horror stories about some of the old homemade swing saws. He used that saw mostly for framing work, trim work was mostly by hand with a miter-box.
Not only do I still have that saw mandrel but I still have that electric motor. It was one of Sears best Craftsman 1/2 HP repulsion/induction motor (the old rating, more usable power than today's motors of the same rating). In the mid 1940's he built a shop grinder using that motor and we used it until I built a new grinder about 1960. I parked that (quite heavy) motor on a shelf and it sat until a few years ago my son was doing a little concrete work at his house and he took it off of the shelf and mounted it on my concrete mixer. After doing that job he put the mixer in a barn at the west side of the farm where it is nicely holding down its pallet.
Where was I? oh, yeah. He bought his first store bought new power saw about 1952. It was a Craftsman 6 1/2" hand held circle saw in a large metal case. We put an awful lot of hours on that saw. I still have that saw and its case and it still works well. I rarely use it now but normally keep it in a small shop room at a barn down the road and it comes in handy once in a while. I haven't counted but I have maybe 8 or 10 of those saws now, some better than others. Elves carry them in at night and leave them.

Back in the early 1960's my parents bought me a small Mall brand router. I greatly appreciated the gift but it was not very good and it never got any better with age. Yes, I do still have the damn thing. I actually held it over the trash can once but it wouldn't let go.

Here is the current stable except for that small Mall router.
This is an extra heavy Craftsman version of a Roto-Zip that included a small plunge trim router attachment.

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