Do you remember the old Craftsman table saw your Dad had.  The one he always said “they just don’t make a saw like this anymore”  Sears has just introduced the Craftsman 10 in. Table Saw w/ Leg Set  .  The saw features an updated riving knife, a usable blade guard, kickback pawls that go on and off easily and a laser cut guide.  It looks to me like Sears designed this new saw to directly replace the old tabletop belt-drive saw everyone had back in the 1960’s.  These old Craftsman saws made by Emerson Electric Corp (Manufacture No. 113) were popular because they could be used on a stand or mounted on a bench. They were accurate enough for general home repair and many owners used them as their primary saw for finer woodworking.  The saws were well built and many are still around.  This new table saw easily replaces the old stand by and includes many new safety features that are both practical and useful. 

 

 

Main Features:

Workable Riving Knife.  The new riving knife is part of the saw, not an add-on like most other saws.  It is easily adjustable and you DO NOT need to remove it for dado cuts.  It’s the first riving knife on a craftsman that is not only safe but practical to use.

Easily Removable Kickback Pawl.  Just lift a small lever and the kickback pawl releases from the riving knife.  You can easiy remove it when crosscutting or when you don’t want to scratch your work.

Easily Removable Blade Guard.  If you need to remove the blade guard for fine detail cutting it releases with just the push of a button.  The guard is also designed to easily slide up over the workpiece and protect you from flying debris.  It is not quite as nice as the blade guard on the Bosch Contractor Saw, but is is very useable.  Leave this guard on and you will soon get used to it.

LASER CUT GUIDE.

Gear Drive.  This is NOT a direct drive or belt drive saw, but a gear drive.  The gear drive puts more power to the blade than the old belt drive systems and has a lot more torque than the cheap direct drive saws.  The gear drive makes the saw more compact than a belt drive and allows you to easily build a cabinet around it if you want to make it part of a permanent table system.

Expandable Work Surface.  The table side extensions are fairly solid and expand the table so you can cut large sheets of plywood and longer boards than the contractor saws.

Extend-able Rip Support.  The rear table extension pulls out for supporting long boards when ripping.  I would still suggest buying a Multi-action Roller Stand or two though for ripping boards longer than 4 feet.

Easily Movable.  The saw and stand only weigh 65 lbs.  You can easily lift one end and move it around on the supplied leg rollers.  You can easily remove it from the stand to break it down for transport in your truck, van, or hatchback.

Accepts a Dado Blade.  The saw will accept up to a 1/2 inch STACKED dado blade.  The manual states you should not use a wobble blade on this saw.

Fully adjustable alignments.  You can adjust the positive stops for 90 degrees, 45 degrees, rip fence, rip fence indicator, blade tilt pointer, blade parallel to miter slot, table blade insert, and laser line indicator. 

Dust Bag Collection. When I first heard about this saw I personally hoped that this saw had a dust port like the Craftman Portable Contractor Saw instead of the drop bag  I personally like a dust port so I can easily attach a shop vac to collect the sawdust.  But for most of you who will be using this saw in your garage or outside so this will not be a problem. 

Portable. A big advantage of this saw is it’s portability.  Fully assembled it weighs only 65 lbs and the saw can easily be removed from the leg set by releasing the four base snaps.

The manual includes instructions for mounting the saw in a table.  It shows the hole spacings and the cutout needed for the sawdust to fall through.

In summary, Would I buy this saw?  No, but I know hundreds of homeowners that could use this saw.   I already have a good cast iron table saw so this is not the saw for me but if I was looking for a general purpose table saw that is portable and has usable safety features I would definitely consider this saw.  It is a good value at $299.00.  I expect it to be on sale in the $275 range.  You can buy the saw by clicking here and pick it up at your local Sears store.  You can also have it shipped directly to your house.

If you are looking for other new and used Craftsman Tools don’t forget to visit www.toolboxhero.com for the best selection of Craftsman tools on the web.

 

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