J. Clarke wrote:

Eugene wrote:

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.

Very true, however is the newbie going to be able to tell which crasftman
tools are good?

He looks for the "Craftsman Professional" or "Craftsman Industrial" label.

The craftsman router I had was labeled a professional but was anything but.

Thats one of the marketing reasons of a brand, if it
meets
or exceeds your expectations then it gets known as a good brand. If 9
out of 10 of the brands products are junk then that hurts the brand name
over all even if they happen to make a good product every now and then.
There are plenty of other brands that may make a good tool or two but
allow
their line to have so many bad ones that you would never know it. I have
a worthless black and decker jigsaw sitting in my garage because their
name once stood for quality but no longer does.

When did their name stand for quality? It was considered to be crap when
I was a kid and and that was going on half a century ago.

My father still has and uses a corded B&D drill that he bought 30 years ago,
and upgraded the chuck to 1/2" from 3/8" and even has some bigher than 1/2"
bits that he turned the shank down on to fit in the 1/2" chuck. Drills
holes in old truck frames when they turn them into hay wagons and that
drill still runs fine.