Shopsmith Forums

Introduction and questions

New to the website and new to SS.

Purchased a 510 (1992 vintage) a couple days ago with a jointer and band saw. Will be moving into a house in the country with a large outbuilding in a few weeks and will have access to 10-20 acres of woods (hickory, oak, walnut, apple etc.). twenty plus years ago I dropped an oak tree on my parents farm and had it milled into lumber and it has been sitting ever since because I never had the room for a shop.

I have been looking at portable chainsaw sawmills to harvest my own lumber and have decided on a major goal for my new found hobby. I would like to replace my kitchen cabinet fronts with quarter sawn oak to match the look and feel of the numerous antique oak furniture pieces we will be using to furnish the new place.

I know that this is a multi-year project. I will need to mill the lumber and let it dry for at least a year. I know I will need a planer. Is the SS one worth the money (new or used) or should I get a standalone model? I will need additional equipment to make cabinet doors. Should I get a molder attachment for tong a grove joints or get a dado head? Should I get a biscuit attachment or use dowels for gluing up panels? Finally, what projects might you suggest that I pursue that will help me gain the necessary skills so that when I get to the point of making proper cabinets I won’t screw it up.

Most importantly, this information is probably on this board somewhere. Please show me where to look.

Many Thanks

First a welcome!

IIWM, I would practice by making shop cabinets.

The SS planer is good, but there are 'cheaper' alternatives. I am satisfied with my ss planer and ancient craftsman thickness planer, but have not tried other recent fare.

Biscuit/dowels seems to be a personal choice(I like having both options). Biscuits are somewhat easier(more forgiving re alignment).

I would recommend a 'shaper' over a 'molder' for a 'newbe'.

Do investigate 'space balls'.

Harvesting a forest and building a few furniture items and toys are two entirely different levels of wood working.

It is my opinion that when you venture into the forest you have entered a level of wood working than mandates the use of equipment heftier than the Shopsmith.

Planing, joining and shaping lumber for craft projects can all be done well with the Shopsmith. Milling the lumber from from acres of wood land is pushing that same equipment to its limits.

Now if this harvest is going to occur over the next couple decades, as opposed to sometime in the next couple years, then the Shopsmith will do the job. I do hope that you have honed your sharpening skills.

First…

https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=7092

It’s absolutely essential to follow all these guidelines. If not, you’ll be appalled after you decide to lift the the drill and it comes slamming down. Hopefully not on your hand.

READ — The works of the masters of the craft… especially the ShopSmith manual. Which includes projects, with step-by-step instructions.

Ask questions, even those that seem most ridiculous or trite, on these boards. The folks here readily offer a wealth of solutions. While some may seem a bit too technical for a newbie, others will offer basic common-sense approaches. Both are useful.

If you can’t quite figure out how to phrase the problem, using the proper woodworker/machine lingo, provide photos. I’ve found that the words like 'thingy, thingamabob, doohickey, etc. are well understood here. (These guys know the machine that well.)

So, as a newbie myself, I’d suggest the first thing you do is cozy up to your ShopSmith — Put a bit in the chuck and drill a few holes in some scrap wood; set up a blade and rip a piece of scrap wood; PAY ATTENTION TO THE SPEED DIAL … Easy to forget that the proper speed could be the difference between getting the thing to function as you intend and breaking it.

Start with simple, small projects to get the feel of how the machine acts for one process or another. Expect varied results — From totally wrong to not-so-bad to butt-ugly. Good to excellent will not happen during the early stages … but you’ll be happy that you actually built something.

As well as you can, do sketches of what you’d like to build. A sort of guide to refer to and correct as needed.

The hardened lifers here will have to provide answers to your greater questions. Two of them already have. Great guys who seem to think with almost two entirely different senses of discipline, but both dedicated to excellence as an outcome.

Determine to ignore the rest of the world before you start your work. Enjoy.

If I had my own woods to harvest lumber from.
As a minimum Alaska Chain saw mill (Least expensive and can get decent results from what I've seen) Wood mizer might be a better option although more expensive.

An out building (or at least a shed) with sufficient room to to sticker stack your harvest.

A larger bandsaw with a much larger resaw capacity. The 6" of the SS is nice but if your felling trees and processing lumber a 12" or larger resaw is where you need to be.

A very beefy stand alone planer (This can wait a bit until you get sufficient stock dried and reedy for thickness.

Search Craigslist for vintage cast iron machines that can be reconditioned.

Again once you have some stock, a website or local connections for selling roughsawn timber you need to pay for the toys somehow !

Our woodworking club recently bought the Dewalt DW735 planer and after several of the members using it the consensus is " a real good machine"
The first piece that was run through it was a standard 2X4 and it came out so smooth that I think that it would have to be roughed up a bit with some sandpaper in order to get some stain to penetrate. Just kidding but it was extremely smooth and that was on the roughing cut speed.
Look around on the internet for a good price before the intellectuals in the City of Hot Air figure out how to collect taxes on the internet sales.
Bill V