Some years ago, I decided to upgrade my cheap Black&Decker jig saw for a better unit.  I had heard that Bosch was top of the class, but since I use one infrequently, opted for the Grizzly.   It's work OK.  Recently, I bought a Bosch from the widow of a late friend who's been clearing out his shop.  I played around with it a bit today and took a good look at it.  Then I pulled out my Grizzly to get a new blade in the Bosch.  I was shocked, shocked, to see how much the Grizzly was a blatant knock-off of the Bosch.  Almost all the options and external parts look the same.  Seems like the new Grizzlys are now cordless, so I'm not sure they're even making my old model any more.

Almost all of my stationary power tools came from Bridgewood. I think the came off of the same assembly line as the Grizzly

Craftsman made a knockoff of Bosch..

Well, I had both out today and was a bit shocked at the true similarities.  I expected the Bosch to be German made, but it's made in China.  Other than a slight shape difference in the motor housing, the Bosch vents blows out the front and it looks like the Grizzly out the back

 

Back in the '60s, we used to say, "Cheap stereo, good set of speakers."  I guess now we can say, "Cheap tool, good blade."

3 hours ago, kmealy said:

the Bosch vents blows out the front and it looks like the Grizzly out the back

 

 

On second thought, they both might vent out the front between the metal and plastic parts,

Craftsman  made a replica

 

Craftsman  made a lot of tools to compete, but it was too little too late..

By the  time Bosch had controlled the market. You’ll find many users with Dewalt. I think the Dewalts did good because of local purchases from the big box. Metabo made a similiar model, but was spring locked, much heavier. Not sure of the cost.

 

Edited March 5, 2025Mar 5 by BillyJack

I worked for Allstate, then a subsidiary of Sears, back in the 1970s, about when I was first getting started in woodworking.  I was not impressed with the Craftsman power tools at the time, and steered clear of them.  Then no longer working for them, I generally avoided everything but socket wrenches.   I gave them a try a number of years later and was really turned off by their customer service. 

 

That said, Sears contracted with third party OEMs, and went cheaper and cheaper.  When they ditched the OEM du jour, replacement parts became hard, even though I had a service center just a few miles from my home.  Sears. once who made their name by their mail order business, also missed the boat as the internet came along and Amazon beat them up.

 

A few years ago, Stanley Black & Decker acquired the "name" Craftsman and tried to fit it into their product line, aiming it at Lowe's and also residual Ace Hardware.   They also bought Porter-Cable a few years earlier and turned a very good label into cheaper and cheaper and eventually gave up many products.  Apparently P-C was in the same niche as their DeWalt product line.  RIP P-C, it was many of my original power tool purchases and all but the crappy detail sander have served me well, and continue to do so.

Edited March 5, 2025Mar 5 by kmealy

Let’s talk jigsaw. Back in the earlier days 80’s thru n early 90’s every shop had a variety of jigsaws. Porter cable, Bosch, Craftsman, Dewalt, etc. The Bosch won the war in commercial shops, etc., Now I can’t remember if the big box was selling the Bosch jigsaw in the  beginning, but ai can imagine if they did there was a comparison in the stores from hobby woodworkers if it was worth the extra money. It doesn’t look all that fancy and as a fact the foot bends  easy when under constant pressure. I’ve had the resand and carry the plate to the edge sander just to flatten.There are better plates on jigsaws like the PC.

 

I think two things made them popular. #1 was it quick change. Not so much in the beginning as it needs a long screw driver, but later the quick change..#2… you could drop it and fought it up and it would last forever..

Edited March 10, 2025Mar 10 by BillyJack

On 3/5/2025 at 4:36 PM, kmealy said:

I was not impressed with the Craftsman power tools at the time, and steered clear of them.  Then no longer working for them, I generally avoided everything but socket wrenches.

 

Agreed! My first jointer was a Craftsman. Burned up 2 of their motors. Got my money back.. Had a their hand held belt sander. Impossible to keep it tracking. All my PC stuff is still working great. Wishing now I had gone with Grizzly machines instead of Bridgewood. Grizzly is still in business.

We had many craftsman tools back when ai started with portable. The 4x24’s weren’t Bosch, but worked..

 

Woodworkers buy what they think is popular. Sawstop is poular with some, but trying to save they buy another that’s black in color.Table saws are like car manufacturers, there are only a limited  amount of companies that will survive during Covid or an economic crash in the  market. 
 

 

When I worked at the furniture company, one of the owners told me we were 30 days from making it or folding. When Covid hit it killed that company as its main income was large restaurants. They didn’t have drive thru and had to adapted, but during this time they didn’t drop any new stores in.,So the money came in for the r3maining restaurants, but there were no new restaurants, the company folded.

Edited March 10, 2025Mar 10 by BillyJack