About 4 months ago, Porter Cable showed their first signs of marketing activity in several years, kicking off new social media efforts that haven’t let up since.
Their parent company, Stanley Black & Decker, still continues to include Porter Cable in corporate communications – barely. Their power tools messaging is usually focused on cordless growth, specifically for Dewalt and Craftsman brands.
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Stanley Black & Decker (SBD) has been using the same chart since 2017, showing Porter Cable being targeted towards tradesmen and professional users at the mid price point level.
Their investor presentations and slides usually don’t mention Porter Cable at all, which makes sense. Without new products, noticeable growth, or any substantial news, there’s nothing really to talk about.
The company’s focus is clearly on Black & Decker, Craftsman, Stanley FatMax, and Dewalt.
Back in 2018, I asked: What Will New Craftsman Cordless Power Tools Mean for Porter Cable? It was around that time when Porter Cable halted their social media activities, with the silence finally breaking 2-1/2 years later in April 2021.
Porter Cable seems to target 3 market segments, which corresponds to what they’ve been posting about on social media:
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- Cordless power tools
- Air compressors and nailers
- Woodworking tools
With respect to cordless power tools, there is and has been much overlap between Porter Cable and Craftsman. But to be fair, Porter Cable struggled to find a solid brand identity for quite a few years now, well before Stanley Black & Decker acquired the Craftsman brand.
Porter Cable’s compressors and nailers look to be in competition with sibling brands, namely Dewalt, Craftsman, and Bostitch. What does Porter Cable currently offer that you can’t get from these other Stanley Black & Decker brands?
The brand still has some very good woodworking tools, such as routers, sanders, benchtop tools, and a plate jointer. However, when is the last time they innovated in this space? To be fair, how often do other brands innovate in the corded woodworking power tool industry?
I suppose that Porter Cable is still selling tools and making money (right?), and their renewed social media efforts are likely in support of that.
But are there any new tools coming? Is there any energy or fresh efforts being put into the brand?
The way I see it, there are two explanations for their current social media and marketing activities. One possibility is that Stanley Black & Decker could be shaking things up, with a new strategy for Porter Cable that will become apparent in a couple of months. The other possibility is that they’re just looking to give the brand signs of life, and that nothing new is happening in the background.
Walmart no longer sells Porter Cable cordless power tools directly, as they have their own Hart brand to focus on. Lowe’s has Craftsman, Dewalt Xtreme, and there is also competitive overlap with several brands outside of Stanley Black & Decker’s family.
Home Depot’s website now has Porter Cable cordless power tool listings, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen the retailer promote them. Plus, Home Depot also sells mattresses, sofas, and standing desks on their website. While notable, this is not a significant development.
I suppose Porter Cable can still count on Amazon for seasonal cordless power tool sales, but is that really going to sustain the brand?
If Porter Cable suddenly disappeared from the market, would users miss their cordless power tools? Their air compressors and nailers? Their woodworking tools?
I think that the woodworking tools segment is the the one category where Porter Cable can really thrive. In my opinion, that should be the heart of the Porter Cable brand.
From what I understand, Stanley Black & Decker’s brands often share talent and resources. With Craftsman and Dewalt continuing to be hot brands with substantial growth, I don’t blame them for not devoting much energy or attention to Porter Cable. But then why kick-start their social media accounts with new activity all of a sudden?
Do you think that Stanley Black & Decker would ever sell the brand? Now THAT would be an interesting idea.
Can you imagine if Metabo or Metabo HPT purchased the Porter Cable brand and relaunched it as a mid-level pro brand? Or, what if Chervon, the company behind Skil, Flex, and Ego, purchased the Porter Cable brand? That could be something to think about. Bosch has a entire brand of European DIY tools that could possibly enjoy success in the USA under a different brand.
New ownership could bring updated cordless power tools to the brand, as well as refreshed compressors and air nailers. Although, what would happen to the woodworking tools segment?
Look at what Stanley Black & Decker has done with the Craftsman brand name. What might other companies be able to do with the Porter Cable brand name?
What could Stanley Black & Decker finally do with Porter Cable if they devoted even a fraction of the resources they put into their Craftsman relaunch over the past few years?
Porter Cable is and has been a conundrum.
Here’s the hard question – is there any real path towards growth and expansion for the Porter Cable brand as it presently exists within Stanley Black & Decker?
Maybe they’re just biding their time, but for what?
How much longer will Porter Cable chug along, selling infrequently promoted woodworking tools and value-priced cordless combo kits?
How much longer will Porter Cable survive without any new tools, updates, or activity?
Brent
I think it’s one of those dead brands like the Plymouth car brand that drifted along with no identity and with slowly but perpetually declining sales until the revenue stream was small enough that the parent company could finally kill it without materially affecting the overall corporate numbers (and hence the stock price).
I would guess that Porter Cable is in that same “walking dead” zone for a while longer. Unlikely that any potential buyer would look at declining sales and undifferentiated products and say, “gee, this really adds lots of value to my portfolio.”
Jared
Great Star?
Stuart
Completely outside their wheelhouse.
Jared
Ha! Mostly joking. They’ve just been so busy lately.
Jared
I can’t believe they’ve gone on this long with nothing new.
Since Craftsman borrowed a bunch of tools from Porter Cable to start off with, I wondered if there would be any Craftsman to PC action. Guess not.
It’s too bad – it still seems like a viable brand name and the cordless tools were once competitive if never market-leading. I have several (including the grinder, jigsaw, random orbit sander), but wouldn’t buy another for anything I use regularly.
Tom D
Porter Craftsman. I’m kind of surprised they didn’t just merge the brands somehow. Craftsman by Porter Cable or something for awhile.
mizzourob
Makes me wonder is SB&D is contemplating the sale of PC? More social media should increase sales and thus the asking price for the brand. But I wonder if the sale of Flex to Chervon and the launch of Flex in the US might temper that thought. My alternative guess is that SB&D is simply looking to sell through all it’s remaining inventory before shutting PC down. That is perhaps the more likely direction in my opinion.
Stuart
I started wondering the same, and companies have sold tool brands to each other before, but would SBD really want to sell Porter Cable to a competitor?
There’s not much room at Home Depot for new cordless brands, and if there was room at Lowe’s, the Porter Cable brand would then be in direct competition with Craftsman.
Steve
I bought the PC compressor and nailer set at HD for $199 last year and the manufacturing dates on the finish and brad nailers were 2014 with the pin nailer being 2019. The compressor was the only part of the set made in 2020. Lends support to the theory they are trying to sell out old inventory.
fred
The North American small power tool market is probably an order of magnitude more crowded than when Porter Cable was in its heyday. At that time – in the 1960’s and 1970’s – competition from European brands (like Bosch, Elu, Fein, Festo, Flex, Hilti, Mafell and Metabo) were trivial. Makita was starting to make some inroads into the US market – but PC dominated in supplying tools for woodworking – and had a full catalog of other offerings as well. They were owned by Rockwell International – who put them in a head to head competition with Skil and Milwaukee (who seemed to be waning). They had many tools that they labelled as GTO (Guaranteed To Outperform) – perhaps capitalizing on the popularity of the Pontiac GTO muscle car. That’s all long gone – and the brandname was pushed down-market by B&D (after they acquired the brand from Pentair in 2004). It has been further diluted after the B&D Stanley merger. As you note SBD still lists it as a weak sister – but it is sort of like the Oldsmobile of the GM lineup – once the proud front-runner that has faded into obscurity.
Lawrence G Groves
I like Porter Cable. Great tools. Air compressior is awesome.
Franck B.
My local Lowe’s carries PC corded stuff in stock in the store. (Incidentally, it also has some offerings from Delta, and has a few Jet items for display that must be ordered.) Since Lowe’s used to carry PC 20V cordless tools before Craftsman was acquired by SBD, they still carry all the accessories and some tools available for order, so if you bought in they still support the line.
More interesting to me is that I saw a PC 20V set in several local Costcos (as recently as two days ago). I know they’ve had PC at Costco before, but this is inventory that wasn’t there a few weeks ago. I don’t think this is just dead stock either, it was probably newly made to be able to support an order at Costco volume levels.
OhioHead
I have seen Porter Cable in the “mom & pop” type stores over the past couple of years (Rural King, Farm & Fleet & TSC), but no B & D cordless besides B & D lawn and garden sections.
Going to Iowa next week for work and looking forward to wandering the aisles of a Farm & Fleet type stores.
I have thought PC was dead once B & D purchased the brand to prevent competition from snapping them up.
Stuart is MTD deal coming up to expire in 2022 or 2023, I see B & D acquiring the full company since the are making the DW brand mowers & tractors.
Steve
SBD finished the acquisition of MTD last month.
OhioHead
Gotcha!
Jaycob P.
I live in Iowa and Fleet Farm and Blain’s Farm and Fleet both carry a lot of Craftsman stuff now. I don’t recall seeing Porter Cable at either (but I wasn’t really looking).
rob
I have seen it mentioned before and wholeheartedly agree that SBD has an opportunity to move Porter Cable back into the industrial and hobby woodworking niche it found itself in during the 80’s/90’s and double down on the effort. They can resell the same Taiwanese stationary equipment their competition does but with PC branding and lower prices due to their larger means. They can also bring back the classic PC/ Elu/B&D designs with a more premium build quality (and higher price tag) and added modern creature comforts. Sell it as Porter Cable in the States and as Elu in Europe. There’s a market for it. They still manufacturer or resell this stuff anyway…just cheapened versions.
IronWood
Porter Cable routers, belt sanders, and plate joiners are excellent. They also have some good jigs to compete with Leigh at a lower price point. Their compressors and nailers are decent, but don’t really stand out much other than as pretty good value.
Seems like SBD should dump the redundant PC cordless core tool line that I’m always surprised to hear still exists. PC should put their energy into focusing on a quality woodworking brand at a better price than Festool, Mafell, etc. Same concept as their jigs that aren’t the best, but are very good for the price. Seems like the premium sander, nailer, joiner, tracksaw market has room for competition and PC could bring their name and scale to bear.
fred
Interesting – the PC dovetail jigs were in production for may years before Leigh came into existence. One might argue that Ken Grisley set out to make a better more adjustable jig than the what was available from PC when he founded Leigh in 1981.
Rob
What boggled my mind was (up until a couple of years ago) seeing that SBD was happy to put the most expensive Omnijig back into production under the Porter Cable banner while also introducing the most cheapened down versions of their power tools as of yet (including the fly-by-night dimestore looking cordless lineup).
Aaron S
20 years ago I’d buy porter cable for a router or a pancake compressor without considering other brands. At this point I’m enough turned off by their mediocre cordless tools that I’d have to think a little harder and do some research first.
fred
Even Betterley – who had used PC router motors exclusively as the basis for their laminate routers – are starting to migrate away to Bosch and Makita. Some years ago, PC had moved production to Mexico – but now some of their offerings are downgraded copies of Dewalt models – which owe their origins to German maker Elu. The PC 7539 3.25Hp plumge router – my mainstay for hogging out tough cuts – was discontinued years ago – and never really replaced. They may still be making a D-handle router (691) to replace my vintage #150 – and a power plane – but nothing really up to the standards of my vintage #126 and #653 models
Rob
The remaining yellow Elu models are downgraded pretty hard from the grey ones. At least the models I’ve owned or used. I feel like the dominant (sales wise) Dewalt/PC routers currently on the market are more or less unrelated to ELU/PC. With the way they wanted to position Porter Cable (cheapened Dewalt models) the past decade, the classic PC routers posed an issue.
They really should rethink their branding strategy and consider who remembers Porter Cable in 2021 and for what reasons. When they started the initiative of turning it into a “value DeWalt”, I bet that they surveyed people that remembered the Rockwell days. Well, half of those people are dead or demented, now. I 1000000% guarantee that if they get any responses on Porter Cable’s brand recognition in the 2020’s, it’s going to be Norm Abram, Norm Abram, Norm Abram and Norm Abram. Ok, I guess anyone under 45 will recognise it as the junk at Lowes nobody buys. :0 But both of those paint the picture.
Leo B.
I actually just saw a Porter Cable cordless set at Costco- 4, or maybe 6 pieces. It was kind of interesting to see it there, along with a stainless steel drum DeWalt shop vac. I wonder what kind of business they get from that, since they are pretty much the only option for cordless tools at my Costco, currently. They would’ve been low on a list of tools I would’ve expected to see there, but it was interesting to see. Porter Cable had some nice routers, belt sanders, jigs, reciprocating saws, and circular saws, but unfortunately most of those are no longer already around. Medium-priced woodworking equipment, like a decent track saw, would be a good use of the brand name, but it’d have to perform. Interesting write-up!
Steve
I don’t think they would sell PC to anyone, they bought it to protect Dewalt from PC in competition. If they sold it to someone, like Chervon or Great Star, they would pump resources into it and make it another competitor for Dewalt again, so that won’t happen.
I’ve said all along SBD should take PC in that corded stationary, shop, and woodworking power tools direction and end the cordless stuff. I would have PC be in most of the stuff Dewalt and Craftsman don’t cover. The products I would focus PC on with refreshed products would be, band saws, scroll saws, shop table saws, drill presses, jointers, planers, bench grinders, air compressors, nailers, belt sanders, finish sanders, routers, dust extractors and things like that. I think SBD is missing an opportunity here but it is likely they just don’t have the capital to devote this right now with everything they are doing with Craftsman and Dewalt. Those last two are in fierce competition in the market and can’t let up, something’s gotta give, and part of that is PC.
Rob
SBD’s web bots need to take note of our comments. We’re all saying the same thing. They did paint themselves into a PR corner by making their different cordless lines non-compatible. They could have just ditched the PC cordless line and told people to use those batteries on Craftsman, MAC, and Bostitch and DeWalt But no, they did the illogical, instead. Really dumb non-future proofed strategy right there.
Both, Stanley and Black&Decker really care about brands and what they mean and to whom. Using the DeWalt name was the most publicised example. Seeing the same company mishandle the Porter Cable brand like this. Sheesh Louise.
I fully understand what they did with the brand and why they did it. But that was 15 years ago.
Nick
When I started in woodworking my high school courses had porter cable Sanders and routers and those are what got me hooked on the brand
My first porter cable purchase was a 14.4 Volt cordless drill
I have acquired and still own many porter cable tools (mostly made in the USA versions ) and they still run strong
Unfortunately the tools made after manufacturing went to Asia and Mexico (routers) their quality has been falling
PC has always seemed to have the one off tools for the woodworking trade that no one else had and were definitely a professional brand
I would love to see a rebirth of this brand into the professional line similar to a North American version of the festool line with dust collection and quality at its for front
Chris
I’d be disappointed to see porter cable stationary power tools (drill press, bandsaw, table saw ((although their current able saw looks like a toy so maybe not so much)) but I wouldn’t care if their cordless platform vanished.
A W
There is a third possibility to explain the social media posts. Some intern or new comms employee came up with a good video idea, had it signed off by a mid level marketing executive, and posted it to social media.
The post was less about a grand strategy by SBD to breathe be life into the brand, and more about giving a marketing employee an easy project in relation to a brand that, like John Cleese in the classic Monty Python skit, is still protesting that it’s “not dead yet!”
X lu
Another dead brand walking. Seems any signs of life are so there is some consumer recognition in order to sell to warehouse clubs and deeper discounters that don’t destroy pricing integrity for live brands. Another to be avoided brand unless the assortment offered and purchased is all you will ever need. It’s about the system not the tool in cordless.
Mike (the other one)
Right now it seems that Porter-Cable power tools exist mostly to be sold in stores that do not have Craftsman-branded stuff. (i.e. Tractor Supply)
SBD has Black & Decker, Craftsman, and DeWalt power tools, which all have extensive cordless models. So they have the low-medium-high ranges covered. Bostitch had a cordless power tool line for a while, but that seems to have been phased out. Looks like they are focusing one pneumatic and fastening tools, which is the right move, IMO.
I think SBD should move PC away from typical cordless tools and focus solely on workshop tools like drill presses, belt sanders, grinders, band saws, scroll saws, etc. Tools that basically stay in place. I think there is still a market for that, and always will be. They should become synonymous with woodworking, but they will need to really work on branding and advertising.
PW
“They can resell the same Taiwanese stationary equipment their competition does”
P-C already does this! Go to Lowe’s and check the COO on the 14″ bandsaw by the motor. As of when I bought mine 4 years ago, it was a Taiwan import. It’s like other 14″ Delta clones, at a reasonable price.
In the last half decade I have bought a P-C branded bandsaw, drill press, and lunchbox planar.
The fact that P-C still sells these tools but nobody on this website seems aware of them says to me it truly is a dead brand.
They can’t even keep interested hobbyists and professionals aware of their offerings in their most traditional market…
Rob
I’m aware of those products. They’re pretty limited in range and also pretty limited to where they are sold. They are what directly inspired me (and probably the others) in suggesting that PC go full sails ahead into that area. Jet took Delta’s market. But in a way, Jet made a market that can be stolen away from, piece by piece. PC was at it’s best when paired with Delta. It rhymes like poetry.
PW
That’s fair. I could see how the P-C brand would make sense going up against, say, Grizzly Industrial for a portion of their pro woodworking catalog.
But that would take a significant investment, and is there that much room in the market? Professional grade stationary woodworking tools like that isn’t that large, and it’s got several players between Jet/Powermatic, Grizzly, and other legacy brands.
OldDominionDIYer
I bought what at the time was an excellent 14.4v rare earth magnet equipped drill kit that was pretty good but that was probably 15-20 years ago now. I gave it away and when I did it was still fully complete just low performance NiCad batteries that I knew would need replacement soon.
I think SB&D will likely let PC die off and hold the rights should they ever decide it’s time to resurrect it. They won’t sell it off since it will just create unwanted competition. The market doesn’t need another mediocre at best copy of another big corporate brand under the PC name.
MT
Back in the 90s cordless drills were just starting to gain traction as real alternatives to corded drills. PC was still considered to be a professional brand, so it was quite a treat for myself when I bought one. That thing was a beast. I used it much longer than I should have, only replacing it when it became clear the old NiCd batteries just didn’t have any life left in them. Always sad to see great tool companies acquired and mismanaged into oblivion.
fred
In the businesses we had some Makita NiCd cordless drills that ran at 7.2V and then 9.6 Volts – they were better than using a hand drill but were not real competition for a corded drill. But when PC came out with one that was 12V that they dubbed “magnequench” – it was a serious tool and all the guys wanted one. But those old days are long gone, the brand name has been cheapened to the point that it would be hard to trust that a new PC tool would be professional grade. Perhaps best to let it die an unhappy death.
Sean
I’ve seen a lot of once PC wood working tools be rebranded under the Craftsman banner such as there plainer and jointer. I’m not sure if that trend is going to continue. SBD appears to hold the Craftsman name as more valuable than PC.
Joe H
I think they need to make Porter Cable focus on catering towards the modern woodworker with maybe power tools, hand tools, tool boxes, tables and shop gear. Kind of the way Festool does but at more reasonable prices on some of their stuff. I’d like a neat, accessible, and safe way to transport my shorter levels and squares on my rolling tool box. How about some boxes made to better organize power sanders and corresponding sanding discs, pads, belts etc? How about a rolling system for chainsaws, chainsaw tools, helmets, ropes, carabiners, belts, portable sharpening station, chaps, boots, extra laces, chains, and bars?
Paul
What if SBD repositioned PC as a woodworking specialty brand ala Woodpeckers or Kreg? Then the anemic cordless stuff is a complement, no need to differentiate. But as you said when has anyone put any effort recently into innovation in the woodworking space? Other than Kreg or Woodpeckers or a few other specialty brands?
I’d suggest that if SBD wanted to revive it rebranding and doing a little copying or innovating to revive the brand around wood workers such as cabinetry and furniture could look very interesting even if it is just introducing the nonfanatics to it. Heck even Harbor Freight sells a wood lathe.
One guy on my crew was the die hard fan for PC tools for years and he is a mechanic. But he finally gave up on their anemic line and when the last impact died he switched to Milwaukee.
Most corporations focus on growth, not mature markets. It’s hard to improve on say icy hot or Bandaid or gold bond brands. That’s called a mature market. Many give them the boot or quietly discontinue them. It’s not all bad that SBD has held on. It shows customer loyalty.
JW
I actually bought the entire range of Porter Cable 20V tools a couple of years ago when Lowe’s was clearing them out to make way for Craftsman. I got most of the tools and batteries for 70-80% off retail!!! At that price they were decent entry level homeowner tools. If I had paid full retail or anywhere near that, I would be disappointed by the price to performance ratio. At MSRP, there are simply better tools out there. I used them for a year then sold them all off.
The best tools of the bunch were the oscilating tool with a great handsfree blade change, the brushless hammer drill had more than enough power but was a little big, and the orbital sander had decent dust collection and good ergonomics.
The worst tools of the bunch were the 16G and 18G cordless nailers that jammed every 20th nail or so (with PC nails!!), the cordless wet/dry vac was very weak while managing to use up the batteries very quickly, the circular saw that would stall out trying to cut a 2×4.
Again, if I had paid anywhere near full price, I would be VERY disappointed with the performance.
ScratchDIYnotinGolf
Through a SBD Friends and Family sale, I bought a cordless drill and impact driver. Each came with two batteries (so 4 in total). Great deal and plenty of tool for a ‘heavy DIYer.’
Picked up an angle grinder too. Since PC add on cordless tools were so much cheaper than DeWalt, it was very attractive.
This was right before the Craftsman acquisition.
With cordless tools, Craftsman and PC occupy much of the same space, the gap between entry-level and full-time Pros. Their niches are woodworking (PC) and hand tools (Craftsman).
Craftsman is the household name many Americans want to see return to their former glory. Which is why SBD is pushing them over PC.
With hobby woodworking becoming much more popular, SBD has an opportunity to define PC’s identity. Without the recent resurgence in woodworking and carpentry, the brand may have been in real trouble.
As others have mentioned, SBD may be looking to sell PC, though most investors will likely see these recent efforts for what they are, putting the best light on the brand.
Any chance a brand like Kreg Tools would be interested in buying PC? Kreg has experience with mass manufacturing, and PC’s sweet spot fits perfectly with Kreg
Curious everyone’s thoughts.
fred
Kreg might be a fit – but they might want to stick to their knitting (so to speak) rather than expanding more into the power tool business. They have started offering a track saw – but I’m not sure if they are the OEM. They are also moving their operations from Huxley (outside of Ames) Iowa to a larger facility in Ankeny (a suburb of Des Moines).
The PC pocket hole jig – to compete with Kreg – seems like it was very short lived – even though it offered some advantages:
https://www.amazon.com/PORTER-CABLE-560-QUIKJIG-Pocket-Hole-Joinery/dp/B004ADJQTO
Lynyrd
TSC, Tractor Supply Company still carries a full line of Porter Cable tools.
IF I were SBD I would reposition Porter Cable back to a Sander/Nailer company, corded and cordless, on par with DeWalt.
Greg
I bought heavily into Porter Cable 20V cordless tools heavily, but I run them on hacked Black and Decker batteries. I only have 3 porter cable batteries that came with a couple of combo sets I bought, but I have 10 black and decker batteries.
The black and Decker batteries are dirt cheap and are easily hacked to fit into Porter cable tools.
The porter cable tools are comparable in quality to the brushed non-XR Dewalt tools, same motors, chucks and gearboxes, but much cheaper, especially for bare tools.
for a Home DIY enthusiast and tinkerer/hacker, who started with a black and decker tool it made a ton of sense.
Now I am moving on, as my Porter Cable Tools wear out I will slowly replace them all with Dewalt tools.
Jared
I have several too, but I don’t know if I agree that the current PC tools match up to the brushed Dewalt tools.
They did match up at one time, but PC hasn’t released anything new or updated in a long while. It’s more like comparable to Dewalt from 5 years ago (or more?).
That doesn’t mean the tools are junk by any means. I like my PC grinder (though it isn’t powerful), my jigsaw and even my compact reciprocating saw. The random orbit sander is ok too, but doesn’t have the most comfortable handle. The basic impact I don’t like at all. The drill is ok I guess but nothing to write home about.
However, anyone buying into PC these days ought to be doing it because they score a (significant) deal. The tools aren’t competitive anymore at retail prices and the batteries are expensive.
Good point about the B&D battery compatibility though. I have five PC batteries, but purchased them all as clearance and “door crasher” deals. The retail price is goofy high.
I also bought a B&D cordless hedge trimmer that was $10 in a clearance deal – my PC batteries slip in with no mods at all.
High & Mighty
It’s bad enough that sb&d has all but ruined the reputations of nearly every brand they’ve acquired with the exception of Dewalt.
It started with Stanley works and B&d shortly after the merger.
B&d was a well established diy/professional tool brand that went from the likes of the Supersawcat, which is heralded by many as the greatest saw ever made, to being presently sold at Walmart to compete with their lowest quality in house brand.
Then it was on ruining to porter cable. They’ve been in steady decline since 2010. They’ve been intentionally driven into obscurity by sb&d and has been abandoned since 2017. Although sb&d wasn’t doing much for the brand up to that point anyway.
Back in 2013 sb&d attempted a run with bostitch power tools but abandoned production without ever finishing a complete lineup of cordless tools. They released a drill and impact driver and nothing else. They did release a lineup of corded tools. But all efforts were abandoned to continue the brand’s presence in the power tool market.
There was also a fatmax cordless drill released back in 2012. This was the only fatmax power tool to have ever been released in the US and was available via Walmart which I’m sure didn’t help neither fatmax nor bostitch garner a favorable reputation as opposed to them being sold at HD or Lowes.
Last but not least, the one brand that sb&d ‘pledged’ to restore greatness to its reputation; craftsman. Its been four years since sb&d acquired the brand and they’re still just as bad, if not worse than they were under Sears ownership. Their cordless line has this incredibly cheap look and overall feel to them when operating like they were built using rejected parts from better tools that weren’t adequate for the task. They just don’t seem right for what they are. Although my experience with the brand is limited to their 20v cordless finishing nailer. It was a true POS. I returned the tool during my lunch break the following day after using it for less than 3 hours.
Being that this tool was on the higher side of the brand’s offerings, my take is that every cordless tool they make is a different tier of trash depending on the price range they fall under. Certainly nothing like Sears craftsman was back in their heyday in terms of build quality.
I don’t know about the handling of their other brands outside of the cdiy tool market. Maybe they are treated differently in terms of maintaining a favorable reputation. I don’t know. But the only cdiy tool brand to have come out ahead since being owned by sb&d is Dewalt.
And when the hell are they going finish with the craftsman facility that they’ve been working on for the last 3 years? It’s definitely been long enough for it to operational. Yet, we haven’t seen or heard jackshit from sb&d about it.
Michael
https://youtu.be/uWzWkInibKc
If someone hasn’t heard, Porter Cable is discontinuing its lineup of routers. Makes me wonder if the remaining corded woodworking tools and jigs are next on the chopping block or if they will be rebranded as Craftsman.