Clearance on some Craftsman Tools

[Bob Weisner]

Hi:

I was looking at the Sears website and I noticed that they have some tools on clearance. One tool was the Sears Craftsman mortising Chisel machine that was going for about $179.00 The 2nd tool was the Sears Craftsman Professional 1 1/2 hp. Professional Dust Collector. The dust collector was priced at about $270.00.

Anyone got any opinions on these tools? Anyone know what company made those tools?

thanks,

Bob

[Tyler Howell]

It's a Cman! Nuff said!

[Chris Padilla]

Bob, since you don't post much, I'll translate Tyler's post: He don't like Craftsman woodworking tools very much.

Craftsman may be on the upswing with their new/spiffy looking cabinet and contractor table saws, however, I wouldn't look long at their DC or mortising machine....

[Bart Leetch]

I would have to say if you purchase from Sears your very very brave.. It's taken me the last 10 years to come to this conclusion. What I purchased would wear out to soon or break & Sears either didn't have the parts or knowledge to repair it or wouldn't honor their warranty. This included house hold appliances as well as shop tools. I have declared Sears off limits for my house hold. :eek:

[Kurt Aebi]

Bob,
Thanks for the heads-up! I am not a tool snob and have quite a few Craftsman tools and have not had any non-user created issues with them. If you are picky and look over the tool closely, you can get good stuff from them, just like you can from Grizzly, Jet or some other import. I have had more trouble with my Delta tools than my Craftsman ones. I will be looking into these clearances here in my local area for some decent deals.

Again, thanks for the heads-up!

[aurelio alarcon]

Thanks for the info! I have to agree with Kurt. I haven't had any problems with my Craftsman tools either. I want a mortiser, but can't justify purchasing it at this time. But maybe I can....just maybe....hmmmm

[Ted Shrader]

Bob -

Why do you suppose it is on clearance? My guess is they didn't move well - no suprise there - or they are replacing it with an even cheaper line.

My experience w/ closeouts at Sears involves other brands that they are discontinuing - DeWalt, Porter Cable, Milwaukee, etc. Those you can buy with confidence, if the price is right.

Ted

[Tom LaRussa]

Hi:

I was looking at the Sears website and I noticed that they have some tools on clearance. One tool was the Sears Craftsman mortising Chisel machine that was going for about $179.00 The 2nd tool was the Sears Craftsman Professional 1 1/2 hp. Professional Dust Collector. The dust collector was priced at about $270.00.
Anyone got any opinions on these tools? Anyone know what company made those tools?

Bob, you can often tell who made a craftsman tool by looking at the first three digits of the model number. Unfortunately, Sears does not seem to post these particular model numbers on its website, so you may need to go to a Sears store and look at the unit directly.

The following info comes from the Wikiwood web site, http://www.wikiwood.com/index.php?title=Mfg


<H3>Sears

Sears sells their tools under the Craftsman label. This is a rebadging of existing product lines from other manufactuers with minor cosmetic changes, if any. The Sears part number (123.xxxxxx) can tell you who made what tool, based on the following partial list:

113: Emerson (parent company of Ridgid Tools)
136: Toro
253: Frigidaire
271: Echo
315, 316: Ryobi
358: Makita
472: Dremel
</H3>

[JayStPeter]

I'm not anti-craftsman. But, I'll give my HO. That price for either machine isn't that impressive to me. Each seems to be around $20 less than the Jet/Delta equivalents. After sales tax at Sears, free shipping from Amazon will get you the machines that tend to do much better in the magazine comparos for around the same price. I know that the Craftsman mortiser is easily bested in most of those comparos by the Jet that is $199 at amazon.
In my opinion, a 2 bag DC is a 2 bag DC. The exception being some that come with nicer bags (like PSI). There are less expensive options out there, but the C'man unit is probably decent. The Jet/Delta versions from Amazon are around $299 I think.

Jay

[Chris Padilla]

Bob,
Thanks for the heads-up! I am not a tool snob and have quite a few Craftsman tools and have not had any non-user created issues with them. If you are picky and look over the tool closely, you can get good stuff from them, just like you can from Grizzly, Jet or some other import. I have had more trouble with my Delta tools than my Craftsman ones. I will be looking into these clearances here in my local area for some decent deals.

Again, thanks for the heads-up!
Kurt,

I don't think this has anything to do with being a tool snob or not...I speak from experience as does Bart and I am allowed to give my opinion on here whether you think it's snobbish or not. There is no justification for name-calling or labeling. I'm glad you have had good service from your Craftman tools...I have tons of their sockets and wrenches in my Sears toolchest and they are fantastic. I just won't buy anymore ww'ing tools from them although I do hope their new line of table saws works its way into other tools they sell for ww'ing. Have a good weekend.

[Bob Weisner]

I have a Sears Craftsman 15 inch wood lathe and I think that it is a good lathe. I had my choice at the time between the Sears and the Jet. The Sears lathe is no comparision to a Jet, but I think it runs good. I also have the Sears 10" contractors tablesaw and the Sears 6 1/8" jointer.

Now , If I had to go out and buy new tools, I would definity look into a jet or a Grizzly jointer. I have been having a hard time trying to keep the jointer set up right. Another minus to the Sears jointer is that there is no dust collection hookup for it.

The tablesaw is another tool that I would also consider replacing with something other than Sears if their new professional tablesaw was not what I was looking for. My Sears tablesaw just does not have the power to saw through the thick boards that I sometimes cut.

The only problem that I had with the lathe from Sears was actually getting it delivered. Took 4 MONTHS from the time I placed the order till the time it actually arrived in the store.

The Sears Craftsman line of hand tools are excellent.

Bob

[Tyler Howell]

As I've said before " it's the hands not the tool that make the work of art." Most of us started on the Cman. I have 3 rehabbed houses and a couple garages to show for it. Many of my Cman tools aren't doing what I ask them to, so I want and am finally able to upgrade in some areas.
Posted this sight before. The Cman does good work in the hands of a master. Some names here I recognize. Note the diclaimer on the web sight. it ain't all Cman tools;) .
http://www.newwoodworker.com/shocasedir.html

[Joe Mioux]

Tyler, you are a thinking man when you say "it's the hands, not the tools". I grew up across the street from a carpenter. I would guess that his one and only saw that I have known is a Craftsmen contractor style saw. The one with that waffled cast iron table extension. I'm guessing, but he has had probably had that saw for over 40 years! I can't tell you how many times as a kid that I saw him load that saw up into his vehicle for a job. He has long since retired as a carpenter, but his retirement life is spent making some of the nicest wood toys, birdhouses that you could ever find. He truly is a master craftsman! The moral of the story is .... what Tyler has already said.

Joe

addendum: The Sears of 1950's/1960's is probably not the Sears of Y2K.

[Wes Bischel]

Bob,

Check your local Lowes - some have the Delta mortiser on sale for $129. I took note while I was there getting my new planer! :D

Wes

[David Klug]

For the first 10 yrs. of my woodworking my saw was a Cman RAS. I used it to make several 100 ft of molding (something that I don't recomend). It was the only saw that I had to work with so that was what I used. There are a lot of neat things you can do with a RAS and a molding cutter,when you do it VERY CAREFULLY. After I got a Cman tablesaw with the waffle iron extentions, I rarely use the RAS except for crosscutting.

DK

[aurelio alarcon]

I am not anti-Craftsman. As a matter of fact, I seem to be the only pro-Craftsman person on this site. But that is ok. I've been called worse. Seriously, I have had nothing but excellent experience with my Craftsman woodworking tools. Really, I can't say anything bad because my experience has been more than satisfying. I have said before and will say it again, I know that in some cases there are better tools out there. I can't say anything bad about any of my other tools either. In fact, none my tools have been disappointing when it comes to their performance. I guess you could then call me a pro-any brand tool person. I would support what Kurt said earlier--" you can get good stuff from them, just like you can from Grizzly, Jet or some other import". And I, in my opinion, have gotten good stuff from them". I'm sure that when I get a bum tool from them, you will all hear about it. But you can bet your bottem dollar that one bum tool won't influence my opinion that much. But really, how could it when I have so many Craftsman tools among others that have given me excellent performance and experiences--not to mention all the fine projects that they have helped me to complete. Again, I don't knock any other brand of tools either because I don't have enough information to blast any of them. They too have performed for me quite capably. If I did blast them, I would do this for it's informative value and not just for the sake of blasting them--not to suggest that anyone has here on this site. Someone's anecdotal evidence might peak my interest. And I do respect other's opinions. That's evidenced by my inquiries here from time to time concerning the future purchase of tools (by the way thanks guys). I would take that information along with my own research and experience with tools and then make a well informed decision. I haven't seen any repeated evidence to support any statement that tool companies out there are, on a daily basis, deliberately manufacturing lemons. Given the fact that some tools will be out performed is easily explained. Some tools are not manufactured to be used on a daily basis. There are consumer models that I wouldn't put a dime forth on. Craftsman does sell these types of tools, but they are not the ones that I am buying. I buy their Pro line of power tools. And I have found these tools to be comparable to others like Ridgid, Porter Cable, Bosch, Makita, Delta, etc.. I don't know how reputable Popular Woodworking is but their research showed that the 12 volt EX model out performed many of the "professional" grade models that they tested. Just to be sure, I purchased the 14.4 volt EX. Go figure...

[Bart Leetch]

Sears didn't honor their hand tool warranty for me either. I took in a socket wrench that had the button release to release the socket from the wrench. They tried to give me a Shorter smaller sized wrench with no button release & said oh it's the same part number & wouldn't change it to the proper wrench. :eek: I told them to keep it that I would go out in town & purchase a good wrench from someone else. :p Do to this & 2 double VCR's that were under warranty less than 1 year old that they didn't know how to repair & couldn't get parts for :( & a full sized contractors table-saw with a arbor that is less then 5/8" & the statement that all table-saws are this way :rolleyes: & ya-da ya-da ya-da general abuse & stupidity from Sears I won't purchase anything from Sears anymore. :(

I had a new arbor turned for the Table-saw so it works ok now.

There has been several things like this happen to me over the last 10 years & this is the reason I've put Sears off limits for my household. :(

My Major shop tools over the years are about 1/2 Craftsman & 1/2 Grizzly a little Milwaukee & Makita & Porter Cable & ShopFox. A whole Craftsman mechanics set as prescribed for the heavy duty diesel course I took.

The LOML read awhile ago about 2 big store chains namely Penney's & Sears where they said one was doing great & that they expect that the other would be going away before to many years, then went on to make several good comments about Penney's.
Draw your own conclusion....

[Bob Weisner]

Bart:
I also had a problem with a warrenty from Sears. I bought a convertable jet pump for my water well. Needed to replaced the old pump that burned out after 37 years . The pump from Sears was supposed to be Sears best pump . Well, after 16 months, the pump blew and needed to be fixed. I called Sears to tell them about the problem. I got transferred to many different people trying to get Sears to cover warrenty. At one point, They wanted to send someone out to verify that the pump was broke and needed repairing. They wanted to charge me either $55.00 or $85.00 just to have the man come out and tell me that yes, the pump was broke!! I told them no. In the end, they told me that the warrenty was good only for 1 year. I then said should I expect to have to replace the well pump every 16 months?, The person on the phone said that it could be possible. I called a plumber the same day and they replaced the well pump with a Goulds sp? convertable jet well pump. I have not had any problems after that.

Bob

[Kurt Aebi]

I guess, I must apologize for my "Tool Snob" comment, all I meant was exactly what Tyler said - "it's the hands not the tool that make the work of art". I wasn't trying to name-call or put anybody's opinions down, I was just trying to let people know that it is not the name of the tool as much as how you are going to use it and how hard you are going to use it, that should determine which one you buy. I for one, respect the opinions of those on this forum - they have helped me a great deal and there is a whole lot of knowledge out there. My advice to anybody buying a tool is to get the best one you can afford at the time whatever that brand may be (I have both a 2-speed old olive green Black & Decker and an electronic variable speed barrel grip Bosch Jig saw - both have served me well over the years and both still work fine). Just respect the manufacturers enough not to overlook a particular brand because someone has had a bad experience with it (nobody is deliberately selling complete garbage tools, just differing levels of quality and durablilty - even Harbor Freight has some good stuff, you just have to be careful). Log their bad experience in your mind when you get ready to make your final decision. If service after the sale has been the issue, then you are now an informed consumer and can check that out before you buy. If the problem with the product is that it doesn't stand up to a contractor's heavy use, but if used occaisionally would have been fine - Log that too.

Again, sorry if I ruffled any feathers, it was not my intention!