Veerry good salex. Your discription is accurate right down to and including assembly. Back in the day we had a nation wide general store called Sears And Roebuck that make's Wally World look like a sidewalk vendor when it come's to diverse selection of merchandise. Catering to all lifestyles they had good,better and best in most items. That little set was the good version that made it affordable for beginner and financily challenged woodworkers. I still have mine as well as a different system that replaced blade on a table saw or radial saw for making profiles. The kit included 12 interchangable profiles. What it lack's in precision it more than make's up for in puckering string effect when in action. I long since aquired a !/2" router and a shaper but being frugal and addicted to invention,improvision,jerry rigging,doing the undoable (is undoable a word) I never threw the sets away. I use the 1/4" bits for short runs in used material in case I find a nail. The whirling contraption for tablesaw has a straight cutter for jointing. Using the straight cutter and an old key duplicating machine I can replicate profiles that are not available from suppliers. Oh how I do ramble on! (:

Ha, I like that kind of rambling! Sears and Roebuck - that makes a lot of sense, especially if this was their entry-level bit set.

My first router came was a Craftsman that came with a very small portable table. I'm happy to say I upgraded pretty quickly to a shop-built router table - it was a fun and functional project. And my table saw, which I have no intention of ever replacing, is an old Craftsman with a wonderfully huge cast iron top.

Very cool to learn more about old tools. And I bet that puckering string effect was something - gives me the heeby-geebies to think about!

The "Molding Head" table saw accssory is so wicked that if I demonstrated it for a group of 10 people,I expect OSHA would have it impounded and observers might file liability lawsuits.

The quility and engineering of pre-1980s products sold by Sears are amazing by today's standards,not to mention "Lifetime Satisfaction Guaranteed Or Your Money Back". Only a rare number of customers realized the full potential of those early 3 hp,belt driven cast iron top table saws simple because they didn't opt for "Best" version when they bought it. They made a big mistake since "Best" was equipped with a Biesemeyer fence system. Judging by your "When They Peel My Cold Dead Fingers From Around It" tone,you might be one of those lucky owners. Since folks come here expecting to learn rather than just hear old men ramble,there is a valuable lesson here so I shall elaborate. When newbies ask my advice on buying a saw,I tell them what table saws and horse racing have in common. A silver saddle with the finest donkey on earth beneath it doesn't stand a chance against one of those silly little racing saddles with a tired old horse beneath it. The fence is everything when it come's to table saws. When buying a saw,look at the fence first and saw secound.

Ok,now back to old tool trivia. (: Before the advent of compound slideing miter saws,radial arm saws were very popular. In the line of radial arm saws, "Sears Best"was a DeWalt. That's right,at one time DeWalt's claim to fame was radial arm saws which were unequalled by anything on the market. That's it for now,I must go take my meds and a nap.

I am totally cracking up here, AND enjoying the old tool trivia! The first thing I did to my saw was get a replacement Biesemeyer fence (and had to learn how to install it well). It's hard to make sure communication hits the right "tone" on the internet, and you are so right about my tone when I write about my old saw: Out Of My Cold Dead Fingers, LOL!

I'm not old enough (and didn't care enough about tools way back when) to know about the Sear's Best/DeWalt radial arm saw. But fortunately I learned woodworking at a local tech school where the radial arm saw is still used and serves an important role with rough-cut lumber. I love tools, period, and love this history!

Edit to add: I love GOOD tools!

Well, I must apologise for not replying earlier but I completely forgòt about having asked for your help, so...thanks for the replies! So they are routing tools after all. As for "being weirdly curious as to how you came across them" ...easy....they belonged to my late husband and I discovered them as I was sorting out his work shed. Cant say Ive seen them before. I'm in the UK btw.

I think these will join the others in the metal recycling now I know what they are as I’m sure modern ones wood be much easier to use from what you have told me. There is a router in the shed and it has its own set of 'bits' but Ive no clue if these belong to it or not, and I don't thnk I'll be routing anything wooden anytime soon guys, Ive enough to do!

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.