Power-Kraft Circular Saw

[Onator]

Yay or Nay?

First off, I feel like I should be washing my mouth out with soap after saying “Montgomery Wards”. For the record, Dad nor I were Monkey Wards fans, so I’m not even sure why he picked this up. I think it was my brother in-law father’s and my dad grabbed it his garage sale.

So now it’s sat in our garage for 20+ years and with my Dad now gone, do I keep it to honor his respect for it, is it just too ugly and poorly branded to wanna keep or does it have just enough age/pizzazz that I should swallow my pride and shelve/display it? It does look like it would polish pretty well...

 

[Kev442]

Nice looking saw. I'd try and find out who manufactured it for MW.

 

[Lesserstore]

According to vintage machinery it was possibly made by Portable Power Tool Corp.

 

[Onator]

I can’t say that I’ve heard of them. Any possible dates referenced? I’d think it’s 50’s at minimum? Thanks

 

[Lesserstore]

According to VM, Portable Power Tool was purchased by Atlas Press Co. in 1947/8. I can only find your saw in the 1954-5 catalog. The price listed would be the equivalent of around $350 today.

 

[SuperCat]

I would polish that thing to a mirror shine and put it display, but not worry about pulling it out and using it as needed. It's a tool, so it was made to work for you.
The only thing I would be concerned about is the 6 1/4 inch blades, those might be hard to find in your local stores, might need to go online to get them. For a display piece the availability of blades doesn't matter, but I like all my stuff to be functional in case I need it. I used one of my big DBE Plomb wrenches last summer because I didn't have a wrench that size in my toolbox. That old wrench is still getting the job done 75+ years later.

 

[RedVise]

The last pic has that art deco feel to it. Would look nice with a polish.

Brian

 

[DadsTools]

Wards and Powr-Kraft have a solid position in the tool collecting constellation. It's not so much about the quality, but the history. All the more if it was your Dad's. If you have the place to display it, I would. I'm not sure I'd even polish it, just clean it up. I'm an as-found kind of guy--the aging is part of the history.

 

[Grandpa's tools]

#1) I always liked the old Powr Kraft line

#2) I also like the old metal cased power tools, and yours looks to be a nice clean example

#3) your dad wrapped his hands around those handles for, I'm assuming, a good number of years

I vote a very enthusiastic "yea!!"

 

[drivesitfar]

I just started a SHOW your old power saws and woodworking tools thread and feel free to post up a few pics over there. in my opinion it's definitely a keeper and i'm pretty sure you can even buy 6.25 Diablo blade for it if you want to use it cause I just bought some for my old Black and Decker.

here's the link to the new thread in case you and others need it:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=471474