Vintage 1956 craftsman tablesaw

My father had one exactly like that except it had a built in jointer on one end.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

BURLY!!!
A couple of years ago I was at a customers house and he had an old Rockwell (I think) that instead of the blade tilting the motor blade assy. stayed fixed and the whole TABLE tilted. I remember thinking at the time that that would greatly complicate building an outfeed table . . .

Yeah, these tools were made to last no doubt, I will be cruising the net for accesories when funds permit. Next I need a jointer and a bandsaw so I don’t have to go to my uncles house every time I need them…. My Dad’s wife has the Jointer for this model I think, but I can’t get it until probate is over – that could be years!

-- --Chuck

My father, whom I lost when I was 4, had one that, as I recall, looked just like that. Wow, what a flash-back. :)

-- -Be Blessed!, Patrick

Gorgeous!

I love the old tools, too. I have a 1948 Craftsman table saw that was a 1st wedding anniversary gift to my father-in-law from my mother-in-law. It, too, has the tilting table. He had to drive from Anaheim to Long Beach, CA (an hour, or so), to meet a guy who had a black market motor for sale. Apparently things were still tight after the war.

That saw saw a lot of action in it’s day and I’m proud to be the guardian of it. The saw is now retired and my plan is to restore it and mount it in a display end table in my office.

-- Ron, Bakersfield, CA. Measure twice, cut twice anyway.

I’m gonna clean it up, but this saw has no retirement plan yet!

-- --Chuck

I had one just like it also. But like Gary mine had a jointer, drill press and a sander. I gave it to my nephew about 4 or 5 years ago. I also have a 6” hand fed Craftsman thickness planner…....

-- Max "Desperado", Salt Lake City, UT

wonderful find. i might be able to get an old craftsman saw also, just a contractors saw and i can’t wait. thanks for the post.

Chuck,
I have a later model (113-29991) with the 1 hp motor and LOVE it (when the lights dim when I fired it up I knew I have a good motor. Had to run a seperate circuit just for the saw, so it doesn’t do that anymore. I can run boards 3.5” thick through it and the motor never even flintches. I never bothered cleaning mine up too much because ever time I get it clean, some how it gets dirty again! For a table-top saw, Craftsman hit a homerun with their older saws. I didn’t like the small table top, so I built a bigger one, and I broke the rip fence gage, so I built a new rip fence. It is the work horse of my shop. My hobby besides wood working is wood working with old, make that vintage, tools. I am looking for the right band saw, then I will be the youngest thing in my shop.

-- Brian, Lebanon PA, If you aren’t having fun doing it, find something else to do.

Max, It is nice that you passed that on to a trusted servant. A saw like this might be a nice collectors item or make a fine museum piece of American nostalgia. Mine will maybe become that when it can no longer serve it’s purpose. I feel like an old saw like this screams, “please use me, that’s my purpose in life”! I knew when I got this saw I would use it, and repair it when needed. Old tools like this were made in a time when American craftsmanship meant more than the price it could yield. The best way I can describe a tool like this is like an old rowboat sitting on a shore being weatherbeaten and aged not from too many years of use, but maybe from the lack of it!!

Good luck Dennis on getting an old saw like the one I found. If you can breath new life into it you may be doing the saw a favor. Old hatchets, handplanes or any old tool I get I use. I figure it could still be admired as a piece of history and a productive machine equally. It’s just my opinion, but nothing is more shameful than collecting an old tool just to put it on a shelf to look at.

Anyway, I am happy about my purchase and I hope together we make some nice projects for which I will have to give the tool most of the credit!!!

-- --Chuck

Right on Brian! I feel the same way about it. Companies get bad names when the emphasis of their product shifts from quality to affordable. Sears knew this back when this saw was made, even though it was an affordable saw to many who purchased them. My grandfather worked for Rockwell most of his life, A quality company by any standard, but he had a lot of craftsman tools, and some B&D tools. I remember him telling me that at one time owning a craftsman tool was a matter of prestige!

To use these tools well after their expected life has come and passed, is a testament to how America has changed over the years, maybe for the worse? Sears hit a homerun with a lot of their older tools and no doubt they could do it again. Companies like Sears built the nation and set the standard for many companies to follow, they also play a part in the demise of what once was good. Some craftsman tools available now are worth having, but there was a time when any craftsman tool purchase was without question a wise decision. Living in a global market place makes it harder to accomplish this and still remain profitable. I firmly believe it can be done. W.E. Demming laid out some rules with his total quality management system that to this day are the driving force of succesful companies. Continuous improvment has been replaced by a plague of continuous innovation, often when it isn’t needed and to the detriment of a really good product! Now more than ever in recent years Americans are looking to the past to form a better future. Any old timer can tell you that in a day where political correctness, social awareness and all these other BS programs are failing the standard of living here and worldwide.
Anyway I’m turning this into a coffe lounge blog and I just want to say I’m happy with the tool I just bought and the feel of using this tool makes me happy. The point being “they just don’t make many tools today like they made ‘em back then”...

-- --Chuck

Chuck,

Congrats on your score. This is a nice “older” saw and it looks like it was well built- far better, in fact, than my Craftsman that I bought when it was new 10 years ago.

Are you going to run both saws in your shop?

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Naw, I just use the Ryobi for trimming out windows after I install them. This craftsman will save me a trip to my Uncles house for tablesaw work. While they are both technically bench saws, the Craftsman blows the doors off of most portable saws on the market now. I’ve tried most of them and only the Bosch and Ridgid rolling models even compare to this saw. It has very little vibration as it sits now. It cuts about as good as a nice Delta contractor saw. I plan on a forrest ww2 and dampner for it, though it may not really need it. The dual belt pulleys help this saw run surprisingly smooth. It’s set up now with virtually no runout. I’ve been playing with it each day to see what it can really do! It ripped a 4×4 doug fir post like a knife through butter!!!! :.)

-- --Chuck

Gorgeous saw. I actually have the same one (the Craftsman 113.29920) but am bummin because the motor base assembly (i.e., the rods and plate that attach the motor to the saw assembly is cracked (my fault). It’s a vintage saw and works terrific. I’d hate to scrap it. If anyone knows where or how to come across a motor base assembly for this model, please let me know! Sears wasn’t much help.

grovemadman – I must admit, I’m jealous.

Try E-bay or OWWM.com, they might have what you need. I saw a few of them on there the other day. You might try having it welded back together. Don’t give up on it yet!!

-- --Chuck

Thanks Chuck. I’ll try OWWN.com and see what happens. With the rest of the saw in such good condition (made PERFECT cuts for me for the two years since I bought it) and can’t bring myself to relegate it to the scrap pile. If I strike out, there’s also gotta be some way to fabricate the needed parts.

Lemme know how it works out. I’m trying to get my hands on a Sprunger drill press right now, Hoping I can get it for free or next to nothing.

-- --Chuck