I like to buy my tools by the pound….

And I got money’s worth with the Craftsman Contractor Table Saw, model 21833. One of the benefits to being out of work is that I can shop endlessly on Craigslist- I saw someone selling this good looking table saw for $450.00, checked the reviews on Lumberjocks and decided this might fit my needs. As luck would have it, there were 2 available at the Sears Outlet Store. One was in Minneapolis, 1,500 miles away and one at the store just 25 miles away. I hustled on over, paid $330.00 before tax which works out to just over a dollar a pound as this thing is listed at 288 pounds and it seems heavier! The big discount on this new saw was due to the box missing the top. Everything was there except the box top but I guess that made it a no-go for the retail store.
It pretty much filled the bed of my pickup truck and the neighbors will be talking about me unloading it by myself for years to come!
For my time and trouble I got a belt driven, 1.75 HP motor and a beefy cast iron table, which can double as helicopter landing pad. The main compliant from our other reviewers was the poor instruction book and alignment issues. I guess my tool was built on a Wednesday after the workers got an extra bit of pork or chicken in their rice ball as this thing was tight, straight, parallel and all the nuts, bolts and screws were in their correct amount and delivery bags. The fence got a little tap with the mallet and it is dead nuts on. The saw passed the nickel test with flying colors (note upright nickel in picture three) and the riving knife, miter gage and push stick all seem up to code. It took about 3.5 hours for myself and a detail oriented associate to put it all together- I though the directions flowed pretty good, with only a slight hiccup towards the end but all in all, this saw will fill my needs for quite a while and I’m giving it two thumbs up!

An added bonus- the casters are velvet smooth and it rolls easily around the garage till I trip the foot petal and it settles down for a work session. I spend an hour on a project for a serious test and as soon as it was together could not be happier with the results. It would be nice if the box said made in USA, Germany or Japan but since that’s not going to happen any time soon, I’ll admit the descendants of Chairman Mao did an excellent job of manufacturing this table saw.