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                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.1


                                 CERTIFICATIONS

I, Gary L. Tessitore, certify that:

         1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Fansteel Inc.;

         2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make
the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

         3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information included in this report, fairly present in all material respect the
financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as
of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

         4. The registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible for
establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial
reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the
registrant and have:

               a)   Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
                    such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under
                    our supervision, to ensure that material information
                    relating to the registrant, including its consolidated
                    subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those
                    entities, particularly during the period in which this
                    quarterly report is being prepared;

               b)   Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or
                    caused such internal control over financial reporting to be
                    designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable
                    assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting
                    and the preparation of financial statements for external
                    purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting
                    principles;

               c)   Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
                    controls and procedures and presented in this report our
                    conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure
                    controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered
                    by this report based on such evaluation; and

               d)   Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's
                    internal control over financial reporting that occurred
                    during the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the
                    registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual
                    report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably
                    likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal
                    control over financial reporting; and

         5. The registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed,
based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of registrant's
board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):


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               a)   All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
                    design or operation of internal control over financial
                    reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect
                    the registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and
                    report financial information; and

               b)   Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management
                    or other employees who have a significant role in the
                    registrant's internal control over financial reporting.






Date: August 16, 2004                    /s/ Gary L. Tessitore
                                         --------------------------------
                                         Gary L. Tessitore
                                         Chairman of the Board, President
                                         and Chief Executive Officer