A lot of home shops started with a Craftsman machine. Sears sold them for decades, and a lot of them are still in garages. They aren't Unisaws, but the right ones are solid, simple machines that run on a household outlet, and they're often the cheapest way into old cast iron. What matters is knowing which Craftsman you're looking at, because the model numbers say a lot once you know how to read them.
What the numbers mean
Sears never built its own machines. Other companies made them, and the first three digits of the model number, the source code, name the maker. 113 is Emerson Electric, 103 is Central Specialty of Ypsilanti, Michigan (part of King-Seeley from the mid-1940s), 102 is Walker-Turner, 101 is Atlas and 315 was Diehl and later Ryobi.
The digits after the decimal are a Sears catalog number. They aren't a serial number or a date. On the 113 table saws they mostly tell you what was in the box. Sears' 1977 and 1978 manuals cover one saw under several numbers, one for the saw only, one with legs, two extensions and a motor, and one with legs, one extension and a motor. So two saws with different numbers can be the same machine sold in different packages.
Central Specialty supplied Sears from the early 1930s until Sears let its contracts lapse in 1963. Emerson, which had sold motors through Sears since about 1940 and made a few machines by 1948, took over the shop-machine line in the 1960s and built it until it lost the Sears contract around 1998. So a 103 is generally older and a 113 later, though they overlapped for years.
The 113 table saws
Emerson made 113 table saws from at least 1946, starting with 8 in bench saws. The ones to look for are the 10 in belt-drive contractor saws, with an open stand, the motor hung at the back and a belt to a 5/8 in arbor. Sears sold them from about the late 1970s to 1998 under 113.298 and 113.299 numbers, among them:
- 113.299040 and 113.298030 in the late 1970s, with legs, two table extensions and a motor;
- 113.298720 and 113.298760 around 1990, with legs, two cast-iron table extensions, a motor and a quick-release rip fence;
- 113.298843, sold as the Contractor 10-inch belt drive saw in 1994, and 113.299410, the Contractor Series of 1998.
Watch out for the 113.2217 numbers. The 113.221720 is a 1990s 10 in direct-drive benchtop saw with a universal motor at 5,000 RPM, not a contractor saw. It's a different kind of machine, so don't let a listing's 113 fool you. Our Craftsman 113 contractor saw page has the details.
What should come with a contractor saw
A complete package has the legs, one or two table extensions (cast iron on the better packages), the motor, a rip fence, a blade guard with a spreader and anti-kickback pawls, a miter gauge and a belt guard. Sears' manuals recommend a 3,450 RPM Craftsman motor, 1 HP at 110-120 V on the later saws, and warn against motors with an automatic-reset overload, which can restart the saw on its own. The model and serial plate is on the left side of the base.
Check the fence first. It's the part most likely to be worn or missing, and a saw is only as good as its fence. Then check the guard, the extensions and the motor, and ask for a video of the blade being raised, lowered and tilted.
The recall that isn't about table saws
You'll hear that old Craftsman saws are recalled. The recall people mean, announced by Emerson, Sears and the CPSC in November 2000, covers about 3.7 million Craftsman radial arm saws with model numbers starting 113, sold from 1958 to the early 1990s, because they were sold without a guard covering the whole blade. Guard kits were the remedy at first, and since 2019 the remedy has been a payment for showing the saw has been disabled. The kits are no longer available.
That recall doesn't cover the 113 table saws. Two later Craftsman table saw recalls involved saws from other makers: a 1996 switch recall on Ryobi and Sears Craftsman 10 in table saws, and a 2005 fence recall on a Rexon-made 137 model. If you're buying a 113 contractor saw, the guard and spreader are what to check.
The other 113 machines
Emerson built a whole shop of 113 machines, and several are good small-shop buys:
- The 113 jointer-planer takes three 6-1/8 in knives and runs about 4,300 RPM from a 1/2 or 3/4 HP motor. Its bed is short, about 36 in by owners' measure, and the manual says never to cut rabbets on the 113.20680.
- The 113 12 in band saw (113.24350) turns into a narrow belt sander with a platen, and it needs a 1,725 RPM motor.
- The 113 floor drill press (113.21371 and 113.213853) has a 1/2 HP motor and a chuck pressed onto a tapered spindle nose, so a replacement chuck has to fit that nose.
Before Emerson, the 103 lathes by King-Seeley were the Craftsman lathes to have, from the 9 x 30 in cast-bed 103.23070 to the 12 x 36 in tube-bed 103.23880.
Which to restore
Buy a 113 contractor saw with two cast-iron extensions, its fence and its guard, and a motor that runs. That's the Craftsman worth restoring. A belt, a clean-up of the table and a check of the blade against the miter slot are usually all it needs. Pass on the benchtop direct-drive saws if you want a machine to grow into, and pass on any saw missing its fence unless the price reflects a new one.
For the jointer, band saw and drill press, look for complete machines with good tires, guards and chucks. They're light enough to move in a car and simple enough to fix with standard bearings and belts. Then compare the listing with our guide to checking a used machine, and if you want a heavier saw later, read Powermatic 66 vs Delta Unisaw.
