On Sun, 10 Oct 2004 12:14:33 -0400, "J. Clarke"
wrote:

Eugene wrote:

Herb Robinson wrote:

I too believe Craftsman tools often get an unfair knock. My first table
saw was a Craftsman and it served me well for many years as I was
learning my woodworking skills -- particularly after I added a Biesemeyer
home shop
fence to it. I believe if you start out with these moderately priced
tools, once you are ready to upgrade, you have a much better idea of what
you want/need.

I have used crapsman tools for a few years but after replacing the first
one with a real tool I was then kind of mad at myself for wasting the
money on the craftsman when I could have spent a bit more on better tools
and saved a few pieces of wood and some frustration when the tools didn't
perform as well as they should.
In the short term the cheaper craftsman tools look like a good deal but
looking at the long term, I've had to replace each one so I'm out both the
money of the good tool and the money spent on the craftsman. The cost of
a couple craftsman tools that had to be replaced was enough to buy
something better in the first place.
Of course its not just craftsman, I have a worthless Black and Decker
jigsaw and threw away and old skil circular saw a few years ago because I
bought
cheap. But I have learned that buying cheaper tools doesn't save any $
because you have to re-buy them again. I have bought my father three
different cordless drills over the last few years and still have and use
and abuse my 9.6V Makita from 1995. So when he needed another cordless
drill (4th one now) I picked up a Makita and now instead of buying a new
drill every couple years I buy him something else to go along with the one
he has because it actually lasts more than a couple years.
My point is if you don't start with the cheap stuff then you don't need to
upgrade as soon.

While what you say about cheap tools is in general true, it is true of all
brands of cheap tool and not only of Craftsman. And there are many high
quality tools sold under the Craftsman brand at prices similar to those
charged for the same tool under the manufacturer's brand.

Not to mention the fact that some of the good tool companies have some
cheap crap as well. I usually buy Delta, and I'm almost always very
happy with their tools- but then you get something like a benchmaster
disc/belt sander combo, and while it is good for the price, it's
hardly an impressive tool. Ditto for the small band saws- the big
ones may be wonderful (I don't know) but the little one I've got is
barely worth the deeply discounted price I paid for it.

On the other hand, their customer service kicks ass!