Share your Magna memorabilia!

[chapmanruss]

John,

Thanks for the knob comparison. Just looking at it alone on the Miter it is hard to tell the size. Seeing the knobs next to each other really shows the difference. Maybe they used a different knob to make it stand out from the Shopsmith Mark Tool's Miters.

[jpdalton]

[Very thrilled to see that this thread has endured for 2 years now! Also, very grateful for the contributions and comments back from the community. Here's to finding a few more unique Magna items along the journey...]

Early Auger Bits - Part No. 193-1X

Many of us who work with vintage Shopsmith machines have seen Auger Bit accessory kits like those in a post to this thread offered by Russ Chapman back in March, 2022 (page 8). But while that 12-201 part number commonly seen was in the later number format (from July, 1952 and beyond), Auger Bits appeared in the Magna accessories catalogs as early as January, 1951 under the old part number format.

Recently, I found one such set!
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For reference, the earlier part number for this accessory set was 193-1X
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Same bits, box, and supplier ("Century") as the later version. Different label and part number...
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[jpdalton]

Magna American Corporation
(packing slip from March, 1969!)

Found this packing slip example from Magna American Corp. among a pack of documents I recently acquired. What’s interesting is the date on the shipment was March 31, 1969. Seems they were not completely defunct at this point in time and were at least shipping parts to what I’d guess was a Mark 5 owner (the receiver of the parts was a custom framing store on Long Island back then, so quite conceivably a Shopsmith user in the business).
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[jpdalton]

Magna Power Tool Corp - dealer binder

Picked up an interesting packet of late-1950s vintage Mark 5-related documents that all came in a Magna Power Tool Corporation binder.
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Unlike some other Magna Engineering dealer binders I’ve seen, this is relatively small (three, 1-inch rings), and doesn’t have the “Confidential” statement on the cover. But definitely contains plenty of dealer-related information.
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I’ll share some details on the contents in a later post…

[jpdalton]

MAGNA-LINE Documents

In past postings, I’ve shared some variations of User Guides and similar documents. If you’re into that sort of thing, these are easy to collect since there are so many of them out there. I mostly enjoy the hunt for those unusual or unique versions…

It’s a lot harder to find those unique versions when there aren’t many of them out there to collect in the first place! MAGNA-LINE documents certainly fit that description…

I had the good fortune to acquire a very nice example of the MAGNA-LINE 9-inch table saw this winter, and although it didn’t have any accompanying documents, I knew what I was looking for through a couple of prior document acquisitions that netted me two original copies of the Owner’s Manual. I dug these out recently and noticed one of those unique version issues…

Based on the cover, they looked the same:
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…but the back showed a little variety!
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Apparently, they hadn’t settled on a page order in the earlier edition, and I’m guessing they didn’t even have an official print date for it at that time either!
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And just yesterday, I found a MAGNA-LINE glossy brochure with a new variant.

Again, the front looked similar:
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…and even the print date was the same.
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But somewhere along the line, Yuba took over and didn’t want to waste a perfectly good brochure, so did the sticker addition trick where the corporate info was mentioned!
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I guess a sign of things to come with Yuba!

[jpdalton]

Inflation Hits Shopsmith!

Got some documents recently that fill in a bit more early Shopsmith history - in this case, through Montgomery Ward advertising flyers.

While the early Model 10E was introduced at $159.50 (sans motor), once the 10ER became available, the improvements in that model warranted a price increase to $169.50 (still minus the motor, as well as the recently introduced bench legs and casters).

Unfortunately, a spike in inflation in 1951

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…elicited a response from Magna in the form of another price increase to $189.50 - reflected in these Montgomery Ward brochures:
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Not sure their slogan is still relevant with that price increase - maybe should say “Does the Same, For More!” Guess that’s not so catchy…
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Montgomery Ward even changed the pricing scheme at some point to show list price including motor. Not sure how that was received, but it was probably a more realistic price point, as most machines likely came with a factory motor.
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It’s not clear to me how much Magna contributed to the design of these brochures, but they had a similar layout with different color scheme for their independent retailers:
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This example was for their Australian market (that 142-pounds, 10-shillings price handwritten on the brochure would be over $6000 AUD today, or about $4000 USD). A similar US market brochure shows the $189.50 retail price of the day (versus no price in the Australian brochure).
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[jpdalton]

SPT Selling “How To” Booklets

These booklets were produced at the emergence of Magna Power Tool Corporation - December 1955 - and include one booklet for each of the SPTs available at that time (bandsaw and belt sander would soon follow).
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There’s some interesting competitive analysis in these booklets, comparing the Magna offerings to their key competitors of the day - Sears Craftsman, Delta, Atlas, etc.
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…and a clear recommendation to use paste wax to keep those surfaces like new!
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