99 Reasons You Should Never Buy a Shopsmith & 1 Reason Why You Should!

[Cliffy]

Man can never have TOO MANY TOOLS!

[1d10cracy]

"yet felt he had to discuss this?!?!"

That is my video and I did feel like I needed to discuss it. I'm not a woodworker by trade or even as a hobbyist. I have used my Shopsmith for a ton of things including building chairs, cabinet doors and other various projects that have needed to be done around the house. I would say I use it as a tool to get things done, nothing more. I also wouldn't call myself a real metalworking guy, other than my hobbies lean me towards that direction. My main reason for posting the video was to defend the Shopsmith as I feel it has a place in garages like mine. I personally felt the Bear was a little bit too harsh on the Shopsmith.

[DLB]

That is my video and I did feel like I needed to discuss it. I'm not a woodworker by trade or even as a hobbyist. I have used my Shopsmith for a ton of things including building chairs, cabinet doors and other various projects that have needed to be done around the house. I would say I use it as a tool to get things done, nothing more. I also wouldn't call myself a real metalworking guy, other than my hobbies lean me towards that direction. My main reason for posting the video was to defend the Shopsmith as I feel it has a place in garages like mine. I personally felt the Bear was a little bit too harsh on the Shopsmith.

I enjoyed your video and appreciate your perspective, so thanks for that. Lots of people share your level of interest in woodworking, and a Shopsmith, especially a used one, is a great choice. Thinking back to the Bear's video I don't think anything but the title was unfair or too harsh. I think he fell a bit short of 99 reasons not to get one though. In fact, I don't think he gave three. He didn't like changeovers, that's all I recall. Compared to having neither the resources nor the space for the tool you're changing over too, changeovers aren't bad. Unfortunately, people will mostly recall the title.

- David

[RFGuy]

"yet felt he had to discuss this?!?!"

That is my video and I did feel like I needed to discuss it. I'm not a woodworker by trade or even as a hobbyist. I have used my Shopsmith for a ton of things including building chairs, cabinet doors and other various projects that have needed to be done around the house. I would say I use it as a tool to get things done, nothing more. I also wouldn't call myself a real metalworking guy, other than my hobbies lean me towards that direction. My main reason for posting the video was to defend the Shopsmith as I feel it has a place in garages like mine. I personally felt the Bear was a little bit too harsh on the Shopsmith.

Welcome to the forum 1D10CRACY! Sorry, but I still find it ironic the juxtaposition of a well used Mark V tucked away in a large shop full of metalworking tools with a bunch of angle iron scrap sitting underneath it. Where's the lumber in your shop? If someone wants to do a rebuttal to the Den of Tools video then it would be best if it came from a woodworker who knows Shopsmith tools inside and out. Of course, then maybe it would be too biased in the other direction. I still stand by my original assertion which is that if you forget the title from the Den of Tools video AND check your emotions, there really isn't much that is controversial in his video. That is just my opinion of course and some disagree with me on it. I do agree with the point you made in your video regarding the drill press. It does require either moving the headstock or the table or both which is a pain. Yes there is a gas cartridge add-on that Shopsmith sells for this to assist raising the table. I have tried it on someone else's Mark 7 and honestly I don't care for it. The alternative is usually a rack and pinion on most floor standing standalone drill presses and they can be a pain to slowly crank the table up or down, so is that any better? Many of us that have Shopsmith's can't afford to have an end mill sitting in our shops to use as a drill press. Bottomline is the Mark V is a fantastic tool, but like every tool on the planet it has pros and cons that have to be considered.