# Craftsman 14" Bandsaw - Nice product for the price



## b2rtch

Nice saw.


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## JoeRPhilly

When did you get this? Every time I look for this saw, I find that it is no longer available?


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## dustyal

I had the same problem with the site… just kept going back to it… and finally it popped up on sale… $100 off list. I ordered it Jan 23 and it arrived Jan 30 ahead of schedule by a good 4 days or so.

Also I had problem with web site in that they kept saying none were available… but it was saying that for a store that I had entered by zip code. I couldn't clear it… almost gave up.

But finally, I got it ordered at the sale price and had it delivered to a small Sears store in our area. From there on out everything clicked.

So, right now, the Sears Site shows saw is available for zip code 19958 @ $404.99. Zip is for Lewes, DE. Reg $450, sometimes on sale for $405, and then at $340 when I bought it. No coupons used, but you had to order from the web site. Somehow I got email from Sears about a big tool sale….


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## Karson

I think there are too many one's in that serial number. It might fall apart on the 11th day of the 11th month at 11:11 o'clock.

Good luck until then.

You going to bring it to show and tell?

I saw Bill Jefferson's 18" Rikon today.


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## lumberjoe

I got the same saw about 3 weeks ago. I agree with a lot of your review and will be writing a review once I really get to use it. 
Just a few points - I agree about the manual. The pictures looked like photocopies of photocopies of photocopies. There is also very little written instructions. Everything just says "see picture". I have assembled many tools at this point so it was pretty easy. if this is the first tool you unbox and are not that mechanically inclined, good luck!

The stand is awesome. It was the easiest to assmble stand I have ever put together. No fussing around with it, it just went together.

The guides are more than adequate and more than a little bit of a pain in the @ss to adjust. I am new to bandsaws so I have no frame of reference. There will be a set of carter 5 bearing upper and lower guides on the saw soon.

The fence for the Rikon 10-320 blots right up, but needs to be shimmed a little. It's a pretty nice fence and it's pretty inexpensive










Blade changes are easy, tracking is super easy, and it stays true.

The included blade is garbage, but we all knew that

With a 5/8 3TPI blade, this resaws well. I've run a number of boards through it. I made some adjustments to the saw tonight and resawed a piece of walnut headed to the scrap pile. It turned out to be quite curly (fiddleback?) and now I have to do something with it. It 's a little over 7" and the saw had no trouble at all cutting it. I barely had to push. This has been sanded lightly with 150 grit, but the cut was super smooth:










I got it for slightly less than 340$ out the door thanks to some craftsman club points I didn't even know I had. I don't think I could have done any better even with a used saw.

Good review Dustyal!


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## Karson

great looking walnut.


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## Bill_N

Thanks for the review 
I have a small craftsman 12" that has gotten me started in band sawing.
Now I know I want/need bigger and this gives me something to think about
Thanks


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## Tennessee

Literally every Craftsman power tool, motorized implement or anything with power from Craftsman over the decades I've owned, they all fell apart. They go to a fine company like Rikon, basically copy the unit, then cheapen down the product to make it more competitive. I owned a Craftsman bandsaw years ago, and the critical one piece that broke was the trunion that held the upper wheel and tensioning device. The replacement part was about $30 less than a new saw, so I left Craftsman behind, as I did with a garden tractor, chainsaw, belt sander, router, and variable speed drill. Hand tools, fine, anything with a motor, not so much.

I hope you do fine with your tool, it looks great and from the pictures, well made. But I am just not a Craftsman fan anymore, especially once I discovered that behind every counter in the tool section of a Sears store, there is a fair pile of return forms. Why would any store need about 100 return forms under the counter at the register? My first paragraph is why.


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## Tedstor

Ehh. I don't know. I bought a Craftsman crodless drill several years ago. It was 100% crap. It was also the cheapest cordless drill craftsman sold. Every other craftsman tool I've purchased has been, at least, good for the price paid. And many have been great. 
That said, most of my craftsman tools were made either pre-1985 or post 2007. And I've purchased a few in the past couple of years. All work well. My understanding is that the period between the mid 80s and mid 2000s were craftsman's "darkest" days. 
And all those return slip behind the counter are likely due to:
1- Craftsman is a REALLY big tool brand. They sell a gagillion tools every year. Some will eneviably be returned for any number of reasons. 
2- It makes sense for the clerk to maintain a large stack of return slips in the place where they are most likely to be used. You wouldn't expect the clerk to run to the supply cabinet everytime someone returned a tool.


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## lumberjoe

If you look at my workshop, there is a lot of Craftsman listed there. I don't do it on purpose and I actually think a lot of their stuff is junk. However a lot of their stuff is NOT junk. I don't care what 2.5hp router you wanted to trade me for, I am not giving up that craftsman professional one I have and reviewed here. I've used just every brand of router in that class except the Ridgid and would not trade it for any one of them.

This bandsaw is proving to be a solid performer as well. And my 12.5" craftsman planer? I bought it when it was 7 years old and heavily used (but well maintained). I've already put it through hell. It owes me absolutely nothing. In fact, I think I should go give it a hug right now.


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## littlecope

Good Review Al!
I got the same saw in December, and am very happy with it so far…
Currently waiting on some Timberwolf blades from Woodcraft (ordered this afternoon)
In anticipation of that, I made a simple fence this morning for it that works really well!
Brother David (the Patron) pointed me in the right direction, again… 



I had to try it out on a scrap of course, and even with the crappy blade it worked perfect!
This was 1/2" Rock Maple, a little less than 4" wide…


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## dustyal

Thanks Mike. I have another plan for the fence, and I like yours. By the way, does anyone know the purpose of the bolt that goes in the hole in the front edge of the table top saw kerf?

Is it to flatten the table top along the kerf cut out? Or is it some sort of safety device to keep blade inside of table?

Clear view of the hole I am referring in this photo-a bolt with wing nut drops through it.


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## lumberjoe

It's to level the table. The table is split so you can get a blade through it (obviously). put a straight edge on it and tighten the wing nut until the gaps are gone.


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## lostsheep

I just bought a used 14" Craftsman Professional 2sp bandsaw. Its got a cast iron table with a miter gauge, and came with 3 new blades. The stand is actually a cabinet, not just a stand. Thing is pretty heavy, it flattened the hand truck tires transporting it to the shop. 
I've never had a bandsaw, but I thought $130 was a pretty good deal. I cracked open the manual and did a basic setup/tuneup on it. The guides seem in fair condition, but I turned them around so the flat is truer to the blade. The upper and lower blade bearings are smooth running. The wheel tires look new. 
The manual says not to cut metal with it, I'm wondering if this is just something to do with the blade not being the right type. It should cut light metals with the proper blade, I hope. 
It's a model #171.224240


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## Karson

The speed for metal cutting blades is about 200-300 fpm thats feet per minute and for wood it's 2,000 - 3,000. The teeth will be worn off a blade in about 2 seconds if you try to cut metal at wood speeds.

Chart for metal


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## Bill_N

The only metal I have cut with my band saw is aluminum 
But 1/4 blade cut like butter


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## lostsheep

You are absolutely correct about the speed. Hadn't thought about that. It only has about a 1K difference in its speeds. Won't do well on metals.
I wonder if a rheostat type control would slow the motor without harming it. 
I guess first I need to see if the motor is a capacitor run motor or not. I'm pretty sure it is.


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## rf58

does it have a stiff plastic cord like most of their products they are all designed in Florida.


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## RibsBrisket4me

Dustyal, you were wondering about resaw with a 1hp motor in your review. I have a Ridgid BS with a 3/4hp motor. With a 1/2 inch 3TPI Timberwolf blade I resaw 6 inch, oak, maple, walnut with no issues at all.
With 1 hp and the right blade, you'll be fine!

Congrats on the new band saw…I love my Craftsman jointer that I've had for years and still love my C-man Emerson era table saw that I've also had for years. My new C-man Compound Sliding Miter Saw is also great.


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## Jamie

I just bought this same band saw today. Getting ready to go pick it up. I've been researching the crap out of band saws over the past few weeks. Made a few trips to the local big box stores and Sears to look them all over, and finally decided to get this one. In the end, for me it was a toss-up between the Porter Cable or this one. I would have preferred a closed cabinet base like on the Porter Cable, but there were a few features with the Craftsman I really liked over that one like the larger table and bearing guides, and the larger resaw capacity (even though I guess I could have ordered a riser block kit for the porter cable, but that would have been another $60 to $80 or more).

Other than the odd blade size - 99 3/4" (not too odd since you can now find them everywhere online), I'm sure it'll be perfect for what I need.

Looked at Grizzly too, but the ultimate band saw was going to be over $600 and would still need to order a riser block since I do a lot of guitar work and would need at least 6" height to do bookmatched tops (since the guitars I do are about 13-14" wide).

I ended up also ordering the Rikon 13-900 fence for it, but that's coming from somewhere else so I'll have to wait a few days for it… and a few extra blades too!


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## dustyal

Jamie, let us know how the Rikon fence works out for you… been thinking about it myself. My question was whether it would bolt to the existing tapped holes under the table top, or do you have to tap new holes in the front edge of the table?

Carter has the magnetic fence that I was also looking at.

Probably end up making a fence copying a design off the web. I liked this fence from American woodworker...


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## Jamie

Al, according to many reviews all over the net, the 13-900 is a direct fit to the existing bolt holes, but a 1/8" shim between the table and fence has to be added to make it level to the table surface. Apparently the Rikon band saw table is a little bit thicker than the Craftsman. I'll probably throw a couple of 1/8" thick washers between the table and fence at the bolts to make it level…

I'll definitely post back when I get it in to let you know for sure though…


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## lumberjoe

Here is the Rikon 13-900 on my craftsman BAS350 (this saw). Bolts right up to the pre-drilled holes in the front and back of the table with no modifications.

Jamie, I use 1/4" (18" thick) fender washers as shims. 









I like this fence a lot. The only things I don't like are
1 - The rail needs to come off for blade changes. Not a big deal as any railed fence would need to come off. It only takes me an extra 30 seconds

2 - The fence clamp is not sprung, so it is always kind of "locked". You need to remember to lift the lever when positioning. The graduations on the scale are nice and the fence has a magnifier. Mine scale was actually dead on right out of the box.


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## Jamie

Got my 13-900 fence and I have to say.. It's pretty nice. Just like Joe said.. It bolts right up. I used the same washers and it fit perfectly for the 4 front rail bolts. BTW, I didn't know that the front rail has 4 hand/thumb bolts to secure it to the table, so for the blade changes, it makes it really easy to pull the front rail off real quick. You don't even have to completely remove those bolts. There are slots in the front fence for each, so when you loosen the bolts, the rail just slides off. I like it. I really like it. The scale on mine was dead on, but the clear line marker on the fence is slightly cocked a bit. I'll have to see if I can pop it out and reposition it. When I bolted it on, the fence was dead nuts parallel to the miter slots. Gotta love it! I don't think you will find another fence system that bolts right up like this one and is pretty good quality.

Definitely worth the cost and a killer upgrade for this bandsaw!


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## shirefolkwoodworks

i just got this same saw in january and have to say i like more than my ultimate 14 by grizzly


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## atmil

Hey guys, I had one of these bandsaws for a year or so. Unfortunately I ended up having an unfixable factory-defective machine, but I have a massive pile of parts for it. If anyone is in need of anything, I'd be happy to ship out whatever it is that you need for cheaper than anywhere else!

PS: I also happen to have one brand new set of rubber tires, and two new sets of urethane tires: one set orange from eBay, and one set of blue Carter tires. Just let me know!


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## atmil

Hey guys, I had one of these bandsaws for a year or so. Unfortunately I ended up having an unfixable factory-defective machine, but I have a massive pile of parts for it. If anyone is in need of anything, I'd be happy to ship out whatever it is that you need for cheaper than anywhere else!

PS: I also happen to have one brand new set of rubber tires, and two new sets of urethane tires: one set orange from eBay, and one set of blue Carter tires. Just let me know!


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