ToolBox Blog

Tool: Craftsman Model 315 11720 – 3″ X 21″  Belt Sander

A relic from the days of quality tools by Craftsman. Do they even make tools still? When I started woodworking a Craftsman saw was the kind to have. I owned a Crafstman Radial Arm saw but it was too much to move East. I picked up this used Craftsman belt sander when a Sears in San Francisco closed it’s doors and auctioned the entire store.

Rating: because it still works.

Experience:

I had a great Bosch belt sander when I picked this one up so I put this Craftsman Belt Sander to work on the worst tasks. 40-grit belts to remove huge amounts of material, anything dirty, tough or likely to hurt my super-nice Bosch I saved for this crappy unit.

But crappy this Craftsman is not and I soon realized that with a fine grit belt I could get the perfect concave on chisel and plane blades before moving to a sharpening stone. There is something about the metal wheel and the access to the belt that allows me to grind blades by hand with impressive results on this machine that I cannot do with other belt sanders.

Comments:

Like I said, This belt sander was well-used by 1990. I had a Bosch sander which, after getting this Craftsman, I reserved for woodwork, relegating the Craftsman to heavy sanding.. and you know what? The Bosch died, my Porter-Cable died and this ugly used Craftsman tool is still sanding.

I use a screwdriver to wedge the wheel open to change belts but it still adjusts perfectly, runs smoothly, and sands like a good belt sander should.

Links:

Belt Sanders at Sears.com – see a modern Craftsman sander!

Most popular belt sander on Amazon.com, the Bosch 1274DVS ironically the same model this Craftsman long outlasted.

Filed under: Sanders | Tagged: 3" x 21", Belt Sander, Craftsman