Very true! Emerson Electric now manufactures the Rigid line for HD
(although I hope to better standards and specifications) At least
they did a good job with the new contractor's saw.

Sears went searching for a new supplier. The found Ryobi. I'll leave
the quality discussion up to you.

SS



On Mon, 10 Oct 2005 23:01:32 GMT, "World Traveler"
wrote:

A few years ago, an article in Forbes magazine said that Home Depot had
out-maneuvered Sears and started used the Craftsman OEM (Emerson) to
manufacture tools, putting them under the Ridgid logo. The Ridgid tablesaw
that I bought at that time sure looked like the earlier Craftsman items --
in fact, HD was giving a $100 trade-in to everyone who turned in a Sears
tablesaw and bought a Ridgid. This forced Sears to go to a new supplier.

The Ridgid line of tools uses the name from Ridge Road plumbing supplies,
with HD manipulating things behind the scenes. (HD did a similar operation
for a couple of years in the '90s, when they started to market lawn tractors
built by John Deere, under the "Scotts" logo.)

So the "new" Ridgid came from the manufacturer of the "old" Craftsman . . .
or so I've read -- Regards --

"SBO" wrote in message
news
I look for a 14' bandsaw. I saw that Craftman professional and Ridgid seem
to be the same. Is this the same thing?

S.B.