Hey RL I know how much you love 50's Craftsman tools so I went shopping today at the 50's craftsman store
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First 2 pics 1958-1959 craftsman 150 15" drill press
next 2 pics a craftsman bench grinder that looks like yours
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next 2 an amazing pair of 50's craftsman bench work lights
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Rick
Rickairmedic,
You ****!!!(a compliment)
Man, fantastic score! And let me know if one of those work lights just ends up getting in your way
Looks like someone spent a LOT of money back then and purchased a lot of 'power bronze' Craftsman tools from the 1957-1960 time period. Fantastic.
I'm looking for one of the Craftsman floor presses, but I'm holding out for a really nice one at the right price, since they do pop up every now and then. I'd like to find a '100' series with the table raising mechanism and the rare vari-slow attachment. I guess you could say I'm an 'attachment freak' when it comes to old tools. Many times, the attachments are even more collectible than the tool itself haha. The running joke over at the OWWM forum is that anytime anyone purchases a Delta-brand tool with the hinged worklight attached, they really just bought a worklight that happened to have a free tool come with it
Another item on my list is a craftsman belt/disc sander WITH the original stand and belt cover. The sanders themselves are not particularly rare (although they NEVER seem to come up for sale 'round here), but finding one with the stand and belt guard it a task to say the least.
These are what we call 'Quest Tools'.
A quest tool is the tool that is on 'the list', one that you've been drooling over and you are just waiting for one to pop up for sale. Some quest tools are relatively common and you can get pretty picky about it. Other quest tools are so rare that when you see it, you absolutely have to ****** it...from across the country...and fabricate new parts for it to replace broken ones. Those are the
really fun ones because it becomes like Christmas morning when you find it. The rarer, the better.
You know, it's funny. About once every 3 weeks to a month, I get a PM with someone either asking about a Craftsman tool that they found that there are looking for information about, or they found a vintage Craftsman tool for sale locally and thought of me and wanted to tell me about it.
First of all, thank you all for thinking of me! I do really appreciate it. I'm smiling too, because a couple months ago a gentleman PM'ed me about a vintage Craftsman air compressor he found for sale. Then, a month later, another gentleman, totally unrelated to the first one, also PM'ed me about another vintage Craftsman air compressor for sale. I figure that I might as well post about some of the vintage Craftsman items that are on my 'list', so-to-speak, to give anyone who PMs me to give me a heads-up, well, a heads-up
I do have a quest tool right now. To be honest, I have several. Yes, the Craftsman sander w/stand and the Craftsman floor press w/ attachments are both on the quest list, but they are a little further down.
Here is my #1 quest tool:
By
daveamy at 2011-09-08
Here it is again in this shot from 1956-1957, at the bottom, to the slight right:
It is a 1956-1957 Craftsman 20" self-contained scroll saw. They appeared in the 1956 Craftsman general line power tool catalog, and again in 1957. I'm not sure if they were also in the 1958 catalog, but in the 1959/60 catalog the tool mysteriously vanishes, never to be seen again. In fact, it is so rare, no one (at least at OWWM) has ever even see one out in the wild.
I actually found one for sale in PA a while back, but the seller ended up deciding they didn't want to sell and the deal was never completed. I wish I had saved the picture but I didn't. All that to say it is my #1 'quest' tool and if ANYONE has seen one, I am on the hunt! Condition doesn't matter. I pay cash
Second to that would be a Craftsman-badged Parks No. 20 Planer:
By
daveamy at 2011-09-08
Here is the Parks-badged version of the planer:
As far as I know, no one has ever seen the Craftsman-badged version out in the wild either, that I know of. This planer was available throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s, however I believe its rarity has to do with its price - it was $995 back in the '50s, which would come out to almost $8000 in today's money - not something your average woodworker just merely purchased on a whim.
But ya know, if I couldn't find one of the 20" models (and it would probably be ridiculously expensive...I like getting good deals...but trying to get an $8000 planer for a hundred bucks is probably a little unrealistic
) I could always settle for one of these:
By
daveamy at 2011-09-08
Honestly, I don't really know much about it. What I DO know, however, is that it is 1950s, Craftsman, and ultra rare. And I'm sold
My #3 quest tool is a Craftsman-badged Darra James 95 table saw:
...which is just a regular Darra James 95 12" table saw, with a Craftsman badge haha.
The story is that in the 1940s Craftsman wanted a more industrial table saw to compete with other table saws, like the Unisaw, so they re-badged just a handful of these Darra James saws and sold them. It never really took off and the idea was never realized. They were never in any catalogs either. It was rumored that only 3 were re-badged, but after digging around and doing some research, I've been able to debunk that rumor as a 4th known saw has surfaced. Right now, 3 are recorded in the photo index at owwm.com and there is evidence of a 4th. There are probably others. I would LOVE to find one. Again...its Craftsman, its 1940s-1950s (okay stretching here
), and its rare - I want it
Other items that are not on necessarily 'power tools' but still make the cut
D) would be a vintage Craftsman tool chest (top +bottom):
...and, of course, a vintage Craftsman air compressor
:
One with the original tank would be even better.
I feel like there are still a lot of tools to acquire, but these tools will be replacing other non-Craftsman tools in the garage, so the garage won't just be cluttered with tools. There are some guys that just see old tools and have to buy them. I don't think I'm one of them. It has also helped a LOT that I've narrowed it down to Craftsman (okay okay I have a soft spot for Atlas too
) so it really cuts down on the 'old tool acquisition syndrome'.
Right now, however, my budget needs to be more focused on stuff that will go into the actual, legitimate garage build, so a lot of those tools will have to come later. But come they will, and when they do, I guarantee pictures. I will make an exception for the 20" Craftsman scroll saw however. I want to snag that up as soon as I find one. Let me know if you see one
All this to say, I could talk old tools all day, and coming up here soon, the 1950s Craftsman Garage is going to be hosting a local get-together of old tool aficionados from the OWWM forum. I'll be sure to take pictures, since we're also inviting old tools to come, not just their owners!
If anyone has any leads on any of these 'quest' tools I posted, I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to drop me a line via PM. Also, if you have an old Craftsman tool that you'd like to share with the group, feel free to do it in this forum!
Thanks!
-Dave
