Craftsman Table Saws: An introduction to table saws from Sears

Once the most respected retailer in the world, Sear’s reputation has suffered in recent times but another one of its branded offerings – Craftsman Tools – continues to flourish. In the first decade of the twenty first century, Craftsman Tools continues to rank at the top of research surveys identifying “America’s Most Trusted Brands.”

Although many view Craftsman Table Saws as primarily geared towards the lower end amateur woodworker and do it yourself markets, they offer several models suitable for commercial users and professional contractors. A professional bench top model and a professional contractor model are both high quality portable table saws allowing easy transport from one jobsite to another. In addition, they have five cabinet saws and bench top, contractor, and quality portable table saws for the “weekend warrior.” Let’s look at some of their more popular and highly rated models.

The Craftsman 21828 Table Saw

Although Craftsman tags the 21828 as a professional jobsite bench top saw, it is an attractive option for all users. It has some truly unique design features, most notably the wheels and the telescoping handle. People buy bench top saws because they can be picked up and moved from one jobsite to another. Most models weigh around fifty pounds, but that’s still a load to lug around in your arms. With the six inch wheels and the pull out handle, the 21828 in effect becomes its own dolly. This saw retails for under $300 and no other saw on the market has this useful feature. The motor is powerful enough for most anything and even has higher RPMs than a comparable and more expensive DeWalt model. Included accessories all have on board storage and the saw features the newer 3 position blade guards that can be removed without tools for those special cuts. So far, this saw has been well received but Craftsman would do well to consider offering a stand as an accessory option. Many bench top saws come with stands so they can do double duty on a jobsite as well as in the shop, or they offer one as an accessory.

The Craftsman 21829 Table Saw

This model comes with a collapsible stand that allows for easy transport and storage just about anywhere. And despite its ease of portability, this portable table saw packs a lot of features. It has sliding rails both in the front and the rear of the unit that increase the rip capacity to 33 inches on the right and 30 inches on the left. Instead of an ordinary adjustable t-slotted miter gauge, the 21829 has a sliding miter table for easier and safer cross cutting. This table doubles as a router table and the saw comes with a router hook up kit. For better dust collection the saw has an external dust port that can be easily attached to a shop vac. At right around five hundred dollars, the Craftsman 21829 is well worth a look.

The Craftsman 21805 Table Saw

This saw generates a lot of discussion in the woodworking forums as to its merits. It retails for around two hundred fifty dollars but is frequently on sale for under two hundred. But even more than the price, what makes it uniquely attractive is the collapsible stand. Anyone concerned about storage in the workshop should take a look at this saw. Attaching the saw to the stand can be done without tools but there is only one leveling leg and no wheels. So while this saw can be folded and stored under a table, moving it from one jobsite to another or from place to place in your shop is not as easy as you might think. A 15 amp, 5000 RPM motor is powerful enough although noisy, and the saw comes with a dust collection bag. The 21805 has right and left sliding extensions as well as outfeed support in the rear of the saw for cutting long pieces of wood. The reviews for this model are generally positive on its convenience features but cautionary on its performance features. But if you won’t be using the saw daily and won’t be cutting large pieces of tough woods like maple and oak, and storage is you primary concern, this may be the right saw for you.