Sears Craftsman Tools

[cody michael]

I use to love craftsman tools, but all there hand tools I could find are made in china, are much cheaper feeling then my usa stuff. Good thing I have good great deals as they clearance out there usa stuff so I don't need many more hand tools, I am not going to buy any of there China made tools.

[Bruce Wrenn]

The first tools I bought were some Craftsman sockets and a ratchet. My mom lent me twenty dollars to buy something else (1966), but I bought tools instead. Boy was she "hot" when she found out. Paid her twenty bucks back on pay day. Still have sockets and ratchet. In 1984. bought a set of power tools (table saw, band saw, radial saw, and drill press) at one time. Used them to make signs for my employer. Paid for tools, along with a Buick for my wife with those tools. When I upgraded, passed tools onto others to use till they could afford better, with condition that they too would pass them on. Own a couple Sears Industrial (B&D before DeWalt) drills, and screw guns. They are WORKHORSES. Have a thirty year old Sears air compressor, that I'm replacing (one day) with an even older Sears compressor. Have a "shoe string belt" drill press that going ino shop, along with a Model 100 RAS. Unfortunately, if Sears goes away, so does warranty on Craftsman hand tools. Many industrial distributors now sell Craftsman hand tools.

[Rick Potter]

I have a 1941 Sears tool catalog. It is sad to look at it, compared to now.

There were table saws ranging from table top size to cabinet saws, plus a series of lower priced stuff called Dunlop. There were at least 3 or 4 full size metal lathes, self feeding thread cutting and all. Band saws, scroll saws like those old PM and Delta cast iron jobs.

Tooling was fairly extensive also........

Days gone by. Gotta stop here, getting misty.

Rick Potter

[Lee Reep]

I still have my first craftsman router, a 1HP "Commercial" model bought in 1975. Has the best ergonomics of any of my routers. Nice handles, with trigger in the right handle. Clever design -- it controls a cable that opens and close a micro switch in the router body. Still works well after 40 years, although it only has a 1/4" collet so it is mostly used for trim work. I have more powerful routers -- Craftsman and Ridgid, that are dedicated for router table use. The Ridgid is slow start variable speed, but with the switch on top, it makes using it by hand a real pain, except if I take it out of its fixed base in the router table, and put it in the plunge base for handheld use.

My other Craftsman power tool from the 70s is my radial arm saw. Built back when they were built like tanks. This was my first big power tool, and I used it for 30 years for all sawing, and then bought a table saw so I could quit using the RAS for ripping. I put an oversized custom top on the RAS maybe 10 years ago, and align it maybe every 10 years or so. Beautiful tool for crosscuts. Miters were taken over by the compound miter saw a few years back.

Those two old Craftsman products, sadly, are likely to be my last Craftsman tools. But with a little TLC, I think they last me for the rest of my woodworking days. I have a lot of great memories learning to do woodworking with both of them.

I bought a Festool track saw last year and am constantly amazed at what a delight it is to use. I've got some nice older major stationary tools, like my Powermatic bandsaw, so most of my future plans are for some newer//better handheld tools. And the list is all Festool, with a Domino at the top of the list.

[Tony Haukap]

If you remember the paper catalogs you probably also remember that Sears offered 3 levels of power tools - a 'good,' 'better' and 'best' - their 'best' truly was as good as what anyone else offered at the time. I still have a circular saw, drill and router from their best line that get used occasionally.

Sears mechanics hand tools were also marketed in a similar way with 'Companion,' 'Sears' and 'Craftsman' being the three brand tiers.

Today however their power tools are junk or gimmicks, and the same can be said of their China made hand tools. I have some of their newer 'Premium Grade Professional' 84-tooth ratchets and what they now call 'Industrial' full-polish wrenches that are very nice, but they are the few remaining exceptions and are also the last of the remaining USA made Craftsman tools.

For the most part I'm done buying Craftsman tools, with the exception of some old stock USA made stuff that I might want to have duplicates of, otherwise I really have all the hand tools I need.

[Vijay Kumar]

Sears is now owned by Kmart. Enough said.

[Scott Vigder]

Let's be fair. A DeWalt drill is not as good as it once was, nor is Milwaukee, Porter-Cable, etc. I started woodworking as a hobby about 10 years ago, and have owned all brands from Grizzly to Delta to Powermatic to Fein to Harbor Freight. I've found Craftsman tools to be hit-or-miss: I recently downsized the shop due to a move...... I bought the Craftsman bench-top drill press...it works great for the money, with adequate quill travel and negligible run out. I then acquired the Craftsman bench top band saw, and after fine-tuning (ok, lots of fine tuning) it works just as well as my old 14" behemoth. I did buy the Craftsman battery powered multi-tool knockoff and it lasted about 18 minutes before the motor fried itself, so I went back to Milwaukee's version and it's been a real champ.

I don't expect Mercedes quality when I am paying Pinto prices. When shopping for new tools, my research identifies the most and least expensive and I usually throw them out and concentrate on the middle where I get the most bang for my buck. As a hobbyist with a knack for being a perfectionist, this has been a great reality-check for me.

[john davey]

I still have my wrench and sockets from the 70's. They are excellent quality. I have had to exchange the odd broken tool and they honor that fine but the new stuff is not as good. As was previously posted I sadly can say that I bought a socket set to keep in my car from Harbor Fright as it seemed as good as the new sears stuff. Nothing like my old Craftsman tools. But for the price and the fear of loosing them in the car (theft) it just makes sense to use the HF stuff for this. I miss the old Sears. I am 50 and I do remember when solid as sears was a true statement.

[Steve Baumgartner]

Back in the 80s my wife used to refer to me as a "Sears sucker" because when they had a tool sale I'd go nuts. Their list prices were inflated, but if you could wait a month or two, what you needed would almost surely go on sale, and their annual sale catalogs were gold mines.

No more. As others have noted, their hand tools still are a reasonable mid-point between cheap junk and expensive professional grade (think SnapOn). But their Craftsman brand of power tools long ago went to pot. In the meantime Emerson Electric, who used to make almost all of Sears power tools for them, bought the Ridgid name, sealed a deal with Home Depot and is still respected.

[Lee Schierer]

Up until about 25 years ago Craftsman pliers were made by Channellock. If your old Craftsman pliers have a C stamped on the back side they are a Channellock made tool using exactly the same process that regular Channellock pliers went through. Then for a time they were made by a company called Western Forge. I have no idea who makes them now.

[Curt Harms]

Sears is now owned by Kmart. Enough said.

Pretty sure both are owned by Sears Holding Corp. They do have a combo router kit which doesn't feel too bad to my hands. I'm sure they're not Bosch or Milwaukee but for the occasional user they might be fine. Parts down the road? Who knows. I imagine bearings and brushes are available from other sources.

[Jim German]

I recently bought a 3/8" ratchet from sears that was made in china. I happened to have the exact same one from ~10 years ago that was made in the US. I made a video going over the similarities and differences over on my youtube channel.

Short anwser, they are damm similar, but the china one is a little rougher around the edges.