Shopsmith Forums

I do NOT think we have to worry about Pinkie being afraid to speak his mind!!

I have not noticed any reluctance on his part in the limited time I have been here.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year Y'ALL.

You guys just don't get it!

The days of high quality, reasonably priced goods made in the USA are now stories of the past. The opening line shall be, "I remember back when, in the good ole days....".

Back in the sixties, I bought my Barracuda for $2600 and that included the performance package. I can sell it today for way more than I paid for it. Those days are gone forever, too.

If you buy an American made car today and try to sell it forty five years later (the year 2052) I seriously doubt that you get any takers.

There are not many goods worthy of the phrase "Made in the USA" left today and I fear that Shopsmith has fallen into the slip stream!

I have about $10,000 worth of equipment (purchase price) in my shop. If there is anyone out there who wants to offer me more than $10,000 for it today, please let me know. None of it is as old as the Barracuda. Well, maybe the little Craftsman table saw.

dusty wrote:You guys just don't get it!

The days of high quality, reasonably priced goods made in the USA are now stories of the past. The opening line shall be, "I remember back when, in the good ole days....".

Back in the sixties, I bought my Barracuda for $2600 and that included the performance package. I can sell it today for way more than I paid for it. Those days are gone forever, too.

If you buy an American made car today and try to sell it forty five years later (the year 2052) I seriously doubt that you get any takers.

There are not many goods worthy of the phrase "Made in the USA" left today and I fear that Shopsmith has fallen into the slip stream!

I have about $10,000 worth of equipment (purchase price) in my shop. If there is anyone out there who wants to offer me more than $10,000 for it today, please let me know. None of it is as old as the Barracuda. Well, maybe the little Craftsman table saw.

Dusty
Please forgive if I seem argumentative, I'm not. I just want to present another side of the story.

Your Barricuda is an excellent example. Why can you sell it for more now than what it cost you? Is it because it got better with age? Or is it because you know people will pay that price?

If no one dumped Shopsmith's on the market for $500 I guarantee you the price of used Shopsmith's wouldn't be $500.

The problem is Shopsmiths are often sold to people that have more money than brains. They think they are going to be craftsman by buying one. They never turn the thing on or if they do they quickly tire of it. It sits in the garage/basement until they get tired stumbling over it and the wife says get that thing out of here. They forgot what they paid and look in the newspaper until they see one on sale for $500 figure that is going price and put theirs on sale. Used Shopsmith instantly become worth $500 or less.

The other thing that has happened is our thinking, before this latest economy crash we were cash flushed. Because we had more money than brains (an old adage my father used) we insisted on bright and shiney new instead of used well adjusted and proven. You had money to blow so you decide on a Shopsmith, they unlike your Barricuda are still being made so your choice is. A bright shiney new one or a used one that might require a thorough cleaning (which means work). Most people choose the brigth shiney new. So there isn't a real market for used. All of sudden the price goes down.

If Shopsmith closes and stops making Shopsmiths and if our economy recovers and people's thinking doesn't change, I will bet our great grandchildren willl be able to sale our Shopsmith's to collectors for far more than any of us paid for them. This would be true today if no one sold a used Shopsmith for less than current market retail, but people want them out of their lives more than the want all the cash they might be able to get for them.

Ed

I can go along with what you say about the price of SS tools if they were no longer around. I collect Millers Falls Tools and the price you pay for them either on ebay or at estate sales is way more than what they originally cost new. They are kind of sentimental to me as they were made in Greenfield, Mass which is my birthplace. I remember going into the factory once when I was a youngster. Also they are all "Made in the USA". They stopped making them in the 60's. Excellent quality and still work today, some over a hundred years old.

rkh2 wrote:Ed

I can go along with what you say about the price of SS tools if they were no longer around. I collect Millers Falls Tools and the price you pay for them either on ebay or at estate sales is way more than what they originally cost new. They are kind of sentimental to me as they were made in Greenfield, Mass which is my birthplace. I remember going into the factory once when I was a youngster. Also they are all "Made in the USA". They stopped making them in the 60's. Excellent quality and still work today, some over a hundred years old.

Hi Ron,
Millers Falls manufactured quality tools. I preferred them over Stanley. Collecting them may be a swell thing to do, but you have got your date wrong: I worked for a wholesale tool warehouse until August 1980. At that time we were still buying from the factory, and selling to "jobbers" and tool stores, the full line of American made Millers Falls tools. At that time Millers Falls was owned by Proto which, in turn was owned by Ingersoll Rand. We also carried the full line of American made Stanley tools (no hardware, just tools). At some point after I left that job, Stanley purchased Proto (including the Millers Falls brand) and, I can not say what really happened to Millers Falls, but I no longer see them. A lot of Stanley tools are now made in China.

edit: This is a site that has some information about MF. It seems they were in Mass. until 1982. The site says that IR acquired them in 1962. http://oldtoolheaven.com/

The tools shown in the above post by Ed have changed.
Ryobi,AEG & Milwalkee are owned by TTI = http://www.ttigroupna.com/ .
Ridgid is owned by Emerson Tool Inc.= http://www.emerson.com/en-US/about_emer ... Tools.aspx .
Black and Decker own B&D Tools, Delta, Porter Cable, and Dewalt. = http://www.bdk.com/

Just a little update.

I don't post often but this subject of tools and such made in China is something I know a little about. I'm a partner in a small tool producing business (name withheld). We were producing our product in the USA for several years which became more and more difficult to do. Here are the facts, for you union guys and democrats you may not want to read any further.
Government regulations, silly epa rules, ADA regulations, Air Quality, the court system and lawyers, regressive tax rates, State of CA tax do you get the picture yet? I can keep going, the people of this country have passed so many anti-business regulations we had to take our product to China to compete with the rest of the worlds market. We simply were forced to go to a more business friendly enviroment. As far as quality our product is as good or better than the one we produced in the USA. Our engineers developed the specs and when production began the manufacturing facility holds to our quality standards. I would much prefer to produce a product in the USA, shipping would be far eaiser and cheaper. Manufacturing facilities in China are state of the art, so don't be fooled that they cannot produce a fine product. The beauracy in this country has killed it's once thriving manufacturing capability and made it too expensive to do business. Unions will not make even small consessions and companys have just come to the conclusion it's eaiser to go overseas to make their product, so where's your job? Sorry to get on my soap box but it's easy to sit back and kibitz about tools and such but when your in business, if you want to stay in business you have to consider all options-- so when this country changes it's anti business enviroment then maybe we can move back and get to business.

retcaptb wrote:The tools shown in the above post by Ed have changed.
Ryobi,AEG & Milwalkee are owned by TTI = http://www.ttigroupna.com/ .
Ridgid is owned by Emerson Tool Inc.= http://www.emerson.com/en-US/about_emerson/emerson_business/Pages/Professional_Tools.aspx .
Black and Decker own B&D Tools, Delta, Porter Cable, and Dewalt. = http://www.bdk.com/

Just a little update.

Actually B&D have purchased quite a few more tool companies then are listed above. Oldham saw blades and Viper router bits for example. They discontinued making the Viper router bits as soon as they bought them.

stevespix wrote:I don't post often but this subject of tools and such made in China is something I know a little about. I'm a partner in a small tool producing business (name withheld). We were producing our product in the USA for several years which became more and more difficult to do. Here are the facts, for you union guys and democrats you may not want to read any further.
Government regulations, silly epa rules, ADA regulations, Air Quality, the court system and lawyers, regressive tax rates, State of CA tax do you get the picture yet? I can keep going, the people of this country have passed so many anti-business regulations we had to take our product to China to compete with the rest of the worlds market. We simply were forced to go to a more business friendly enviroment. As far as quality our product is as good or better than the one we produced in the USA. Our engineers developed the specs and when production began the manufacturing facility holds to our quality standards. I would much prefer to produce a product in the USA, shipping would be far eaiser and cheaper. Manufacturing facilities in China are state of the art, so don't be fooled that they cannot produce a fine product. The beauracy in this country has killed it's once thriving manufacturing capability and made it too expensive to do business. Unions will not make even small consessions and companys have just come to the conclusion it's eaiser to go overseas to make their product, so where's your job? Sorry to get on my soap box but it's easy to sit back and kibitz about tools and such but when your in business, if you want to stay in business you have to consider all options-- so when this country changes it's anti business enviroment then maybe we can move back and get to business.

Hi Steve,
I want to respond to your post, but I do knot want to hi-jack this thread. I will answer you in the Community Forum. Give me a few minutes.

Thanks,

retcaptb wrote:The tools shown in the above post by Ed have changed.
Ryobi,AEG & Milwalkee are owned by TTI = http://www.ttigroupna.com/ .
Ridgid is owned by Emerson Tool Inc.= http://www.emerson.com/en-US/about_emer ... Tools.aspx .
Black and Decker own B&D Tools, Delta, Porter Cable, and Dewalt. = http://www.bdk.com/

Just a little update.

The break out is a mess. Ridgid tool is now classified as a subsidary of Emerson.
Ridgid plumbing/hand tools are American made for the most part.
Ridgid shop vacs are US made by Emerson.
Ridgid standalone woodworking tools like the TS3650 Table saw is made by TTI which is owned by OTW or vice versa. In any case they are made in China under a license agreement with Ridgid. Basically the orange stuff, the older pre TS3650 grey products were american built.

Ridgid woodworking power hand tools are made by TTI/OWT and for the most part are made in China though there are some that people say are made in Europe by Metabo.

Editted since further research has revealed the situations have changed since I last researched it about 3-4 years ago.