SS jionter vs other brands

[harvey101871]

I'm planning on adding some special purpose tools to my shop this spring. I plan on purchasing a planner, jointer, bandsaw and 6" belt sander to go along with my shopsmith. I have read reviews on the different portable planners like dewalt but none of the reviews cover the shopsmith models. The dewalt 365 heavy duty thickness planer rated at the top with a price tag at around $550.00 and the SS thickness planer with motor stand sells for around $1100.00. Is the shopsmith that much better? And than Shopsmith only sells a 4 inch jointer when I was hoping to get a 6 or 8 inch jointer? Again what brand jointer is the best and most reliable. I don't want to buy a bunch of equipment a find out a couple months latter that I should of bought another brand instead. It just makes it hard because I can't find any reviews on the SS models. Can anyone out there please shed some light on this topic for me. Thanks.


Steve Harvey
Davenport, Iowa

I may just be a beginner, but I know I love working with wood.

[a1gutterman]

I think that the main 2 reasons why people decide to purchase a SS are because firstly, they are usually a one-man shop with limited space, and secondly, they get several tools in one, which goes along with the limited space idea again. Nobody buys one because it is cheap, it is not cheap! It is very good quality stuff!

By reading this forum and others it should become apparent that the "reviews" are in and Shopsmith wins hands down. However, if you have the room for more equipment in your shop, and you have use for a larger jointer, by all means, buy one.

I too have reservations about the very expensive SS planer. About the only reason that I can think of for buying a SS planer versus another brand, assuming it is a good brand or at least has a good quality motor, would be the SS ability to vary the motor speed, but really, how important is that when it comes to a planer? I think that the original idea of having a variable speed motor was so that it could supply differant speeds to various equipment that required differant speeds, not so that you could adjust the speed for each tool. But that does come in handy!

The SS does have limitations, but it will handle most hobby and even wage earners requirements. Good luck!

[Ed in Tampa]

First let me deal with the planner. Frankly I think the SS planer is over priced. There are two planers on the market I would buy (In fact I did buy one). The Dewalt and the Delta. I picked up the 2 speed Delta on close out special for cheap so I jumped on it $200. Had I not bought it I would probably have bought the Dewalt.

The SS jointer is excellent and I own one and like it very much. There is a great move afoot today about wide joinjters and using wide boards. Frankly most lumber quality doesn't warrant it. So I suspect it is contest to see who has the biggest jointer for bragging rights.

When I work with lumber I try to stay below 4 inch wide and do glue ups. First I'm able to cut off any sap wood and lose much of the catherdal grain pattern so prevalent today. Also I think I have less warpage and no cupping.

There is an excellent article on grain in Wood magazine, I think it will open your eyes to the problems involved with wide wood.

Lastly I do very little surface jointing and a lot of edge jointing so having anything more than a inch or so goes mainly unused.

You can can spend a lot of money on a jointer but I think the SS jointer will serve the purpose for 99% of most home users needs.

[charlese]

I bought myonly major tool that is not Shopsmith. It is a DeWalt Thickness planner. Here was my thinking. If I got a SS I wondered about the heft of it and if it would be handy to carry to the SS. I thought if I got the stand alone model that would take up floor space. Then there is the price. If I was going to sacrifice floor space for another tool, then price became a major issue. I saw Norm Abram's Garage workshop that had a rolling mitre saw stand, that could also hole a Thickness planner. When I read a morning paper and found that Lowe's had a sale of 20% off of all tools I spent $400 for a Dewalt 13" planner. Miner modifications to Norm's plan made the wider planner fit nicely. Now I have a rolling cabinet with the planner. The wheels help ease the floor space problem. Planed oak comes out smoother than sanded.

Charlese

[dusty]

I really don't know why SS is seldom included in the reviews. I believe it is a disservice to Shopsmith and to the using community.

However, if you will simply browse through this forum you will find that the jury is in and Shopsmith has won. Why, because Shopsmith supports the needs of the using community. There is a l;ot of good equipment out there and much of it is available at competititive prices but will it hold up like the Shopsmith.

The very fact that most of the equipment offered by Shopsmith is still available and serviced by Shopsmith is why I have one. I know that they will be there when I need factory support. Parts will be available,

Why a 6" or 8" jointer? If you joint materials that cannot be done "safely" on a 4" jointer then you need something bigger than that. If it can be done on a 4" why do you need a larger one. The Shopsmith jointer is a quality jointer. Mine is mounted full time on the left end of my SS. I use it nearly every day certainly on every project.

My planer sits right along side of the SS. I have a standalone SS planer and it gets used almost as frequently. Except for sharpening the blades and keeping it clean it is vistually maintenance free. Wax the table regularly.

If I had a large workshop, capable of supporting 7 or 8 pieces of large standalone equipment I would have several pieces of fine, quality equipment filling it up but I don't. I have a small workshop (20x20) full of quality equipment designed to support my needs as a home craftsman. I have a shop full of Shopsmith.
___________________
Making Sawdust Safely

[Gary]

I have all four of the machines you are considering, and use them all in almost every project.

I bought the stand alone SS planer many year ago. It's on casters so it works well with my limited space. I don't remember why I choose Shopsmith over other brands available at that time. Maybe it was because I already had a lot of SS products and was (am) very happy with Shopsmith's quality and support. What I can tell you is that I am very statisfied with the SS planer. I use mostly rough sawn lumber, taking light cuts on alternate sides until I get the thickness I want. As I get close to the final thickness, I'll reduce the feed rate to get a smoother cut to reduce sanding. Not necessarily the correct way to prep a board, but it works for me.

Whether or not the SS planer is overpriced, I really don't know. I'm very happy with mine. As a1gutterman said SS products are not cheap, but they are good quality. And the service and support is next to none.

SS's 4" jointer is great at squaring an edge, but because of its size, pretty useless in surfacing stock prior to running it through a thickness planer. Be that as it may, again, I use my SS jointer in almost every project.

[charlese]

I most heartedly agree with the value of the Shopsmith Company, their service, their extremely helpful attitude, always being available (even on Sundays). SS really stands behind all of their products and parts. But you already know this There is no doubt that all of there product line is really superior. (here is the but part)

Can't say that the SS planer is over priced! The thickness planer is just too high priced for me! $800+ or $1,000+ is just too much! - especially now that there is an available thickness planer that will give 179 cuts per inch for $500+list. (sometimes you can find a discount sale) Dewalt is a fairly reputable firm and does provide replacement parts and advice. Although not with the same completely friendly environment as Shopsmith. But that's the tradeoff I got for saving $300+. After all, the $300 I saved is enough to upgrade from my 510 to a 520 if it is on sale.

Yes, I have a SS jointer and use it on each workpiece. After a quick rip, following the jointing, I use the Thickness planner to size the piece. Incidently the Dewalt will handle up to 6 inch thickness, so I use it to plane the edges as well as the faces.

Yours for safe & happy woodworking,

[reible]

I'm planning on adding some special purpose tools to my shop this spring. I plan on purchasing a planner, jointer, bandsaw and 6" belt sander to go along with my shopsmith. I have read reviews on the different portable planners like dewalt but none of the reviews cover the shopsmith models. The dewalt 365 heavy duty thickness planer rated at the top with a price tag at around $550.00 and the SS thickness planer with motor stand sells for around $1100.00. Is the shopsmith that much better? And than Shopsmith only sells a 4 inch jointer when I was hoping to get a 6 or 8 inch jointer? Again what brand jointer is the best and most reliable. I don't want to buy a bunch of equipment a find out a couple months latter that I should of bought another brand instead. It just makes it hard because I can't find any reviews on the SS models. Can anyone out there please shed some light on this topic for me. Thanks.


Steve Harvey
Davenport, Iowa

I may just be a beginner, but I know I love working with wood.

Let me start out saying I love my shopsmith and I love wood working but I don't own all shopsmith tools.... there are various reasons for this and I'll tell you my thinking on them.

1) Planner. I would love to have one of the shopsmith ones but the price was just too high for me. I purchased mine a few years back and this was before they came out with some of the newer features like multi-speed etc. To be honest I have not had any trouble with the one I have and selected it after working with friends planners that took hours to get the cutters set right... I went for one with replaceable cutters, the quick change flip over type cutters that don't need adjustment, and set-up goes really fast... and I could get 3 plus of my type planners for the price of one shopsmith one.

2) Jointer. I have had a shop longer then I have my shopsmith (1976) and I had a used jointer that was set up as a flat belt machine in a commerical shop before coming to me. It is a 4" long bed that I'm guessing is older then I am but it is so smooth and works really great, and it has both in and out feed tables that adjust. A few years back I needed something a bit bigger and got a 6" one and the only thing I don't like about it is that it has no chip collections system (I plan to fix that this summer).

As jointers get wider they also get longer so if one gets an 8" one it is really going to be large... Most home shops would not go this big, but yea it would be nice.

The shopsmith jointer reminded me of one we had at home when I was growing up and after spending endless hours getting blade heights set I knew I was going to get one with adjustable outfeed table and a longer bed, and I did. I don't think I personally would ever get the shopsmith one, but that might change if a $40 one came along at a sale.

3) Bandsaw. Once again I already had a 12" bandsaw so I did not think to much about getting the shopsmith one... it does have a couple of nice features, things like being able to change the speed which I really like. If I were to replace my band saw I would look for one that has more then 12" depth of cut (shopsmith is 11-1/2") and maybe a bit more height... I sometimes cut things, which as you cut, end up being limited by the 12", curved pieces mind you... things like patterns for routing. I have sometime thought about getting a used shopsmith one just for the variable speed option.

4) 6" Belt sander. I got this early on as I love things that sand for me! I don't think you can do much better then the shopsmith one. Again having the option of setting the speed is a real plus.

5) Strip sander. I know you did not ask about this but I would put it on the list, I really love mine!

I personally don't put much stock in reviews unless they are done by a large number of experenced people, something that is almost never done. You can get some real user comments at places like amazon.com (for some tools)... not that I would take everything they say as correct. See what people are saying online, a lot of wood working sites to check on if you are up to it..... Look at the tool in a store and if they have someone who knows the tool talk to them. Look at the specifications, do your home work, visit the library they often have books on what to look for in woodworking tools. Look for any of the numerous woodworking shows and check them out. No need to rush out to get the shiny new tool until you feel sure it is the one for you. Even then they might come out with a new tool next year at beats the pants off the tool you got this year........ that is just how it goes.

Ed

[8iowa]

I have both the Shopsmith 4" joiner and the planer. I started with the MK V mounted planer and then later mounted it on a separate stand.

At our just completed Traveling Academy sessions, the instructor, Mike Cobb said that it is much easier to surface a 4" board flat and that 4" boards glued up are much more stable on a project than wider stock. He showed us that properly matched up you cannot easily detect any mismatch in grain once the boards are glued. He sold me. The 6" and 8" joiners have the advantage of longer infeed and outfeed tables for very long boards but even long boards can be done on the Shopsmith joiner with a helper and roller stands.

As Mike explained the advantages of the Shopsmith planer he mentioned several things that I hadn't thought of before. The cheaper bench planers have cutters that move up and down whereas the Shopsmith cutters are stationary while it's the table that moves. He said that the movable cutters in time are prone to service problems and repairs. Mike also said that the bench planers have separate infeed and outfeed tables that cause alignment problems. He also mentioned that some of them brag about having two infeed speeds whereas the Shopsmith, with it's DC infeed motor offers a wide range of variable speeds.

My observation of the planers at Lowes and Home Depot is that none of them will collect dust and chips nearly as well as the Shopsmith. The planer creates more of that stuff than any other tool in the shop.

One other advantage, and this may be very important but overlooked, is your ability to quickly sharpen both the joiner and planer knives at zero cost. Well actually you must first purchase the conical sanding disk, which has a lot of other usage in the shop, and the the Shopsmith sharpening jig.

[curiousgeorge]

I bought my Mark V 510 last Nov. and would dearly love to be able to afford the attachments for it but it was a real hit to my budget just to get the MkV. I am retired and on a fixed income so I have to save where I can. I just got a Ridgid 6" jointer for half what the SS would cost and it is an excellent machine. My point being that if your budget is tight there are some very good alternatives out there. As reible said; do some shopping around.