Idea's to help you get your PowerPro

[paulmcohen]

Issue an eviction notice for your son's car and you can start moving in tomorrow. I'd be hard pressed to want for shop space that is occupied by "a car owned by someone else".

Are you aware, there is a national trend that indicates many kids may NEVER leave home.

Got rid of the older one four weeks ago at 24, the younger wants out now. I just hope the older one does not come back.

[robinson46176]

Got rid of the older one four weeks ago at 24, the younger wants out now. I just hope the older one does not come back.

I once introduced my wife and I at a group reunion (an organization we belonged to when we met) as us having 4 grown kids, all of which had moved back home at least once.
Today we live in one of the larger "one bedroom" houses in the county...
Two of them now live in houses that they own here on the farm. Another lives in town less than 3 miles away and the fourth lives about half way across the country a few miles from Yellowstone National Park.


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[robinson46176]

While I don't see me buying a Power Pro any time soon that doesn't mean that I don't want one. Like most of life it is a balancing act. I have put a lot more money and will put more yet into my retirement boot and shoe shop than the cost of a Power Pro. The difference is that I expect to produce income from the boot shop. I also have more in my sawmill than the cost of a Power Pro. I don't really expect to make much money from the saw mill but I do expect to save a great deal of money by using it to cut my own logs for a lot of lumber uses here on the farm mostly related to the horse boarding. In that case the savings convert to income indirectly but it is still income.
As much as I love my woodshop and Shopsmiths I just don't believe that it is realistic to think that I will ever produce any real income from the woodshop. It will always be an expense.
Now if I felt that having a Power Pro would generate income (or I could at least pretend like it would ) I would buy one in a minute.
If I had not invested so much in the boot shop, the sawmill, the horse operation and yes the woodshop too as well as some other things, I would maybe own a Power Pro right now.
I might not have wanted one of the first ones but SS has enough experience with them under their belt now that I would have no hesitation in that respect.

When it comes to saving money up to buy one I suspect most of us could get that done one way or another eventually if we just wanted it bad enough. I could do it by not eating out but doing that would be "taking deserved enjoyment from my wife" as well and frankly she doesn't want a Power Pro.
I have a BIL that is pretty frugal and in addition to his job he grows and sells a lot of produce. He also has a stump grinding business and makes good income from both. He is also a woodworker but sits really tight on his woodshop budget. For his produce work he bought a new $20,000+ tractor and quite a bit of equipment. His stump grinder is a large Vermeer. Those in the know already know that Vermeer stuff makes Shopsmith stuff look almost free.
While he sometimes complains about not being able to buy tools for the woodshop he is a severe extreme high volume smoker and drinks enough beer each week to fill a bathtub... I shudder at the thought of how much he is spending on just those two items. If he "really wanted" he could buy about what ever he wanted to buy...

As to a new Power Pro being wildly over-priced, I don't really think that it is... Is it high? Heck yes. Does thinking about that price make me shiver a little? Heck yes. But if you look around an awful lot of things are "high". Just because some things are fairly cheap it does not translate into all things being cheap.
I have been getting serious sticker shock setting this shoe shop up. One adhesive I used for many years that I paid $15 a gallon for 20 years ago is now $130 a gallon. A small replacement spring for one sewing machine that was a 75 cent part is now $40 dollars. Wire for some nailing machines was $12 a roll but is now $130 a roll. I used to pay about $12 for a one pound box of a certain brass tack. That same tack is now $50 for a one pound box. Women all over this country are paying $600 to $800 a pair for some high heeled shoes that sit in their closet for 360 days a year. In some areas right now very simple houses are selling quickly for well over a half million dollars. I bought my first house for $5,000 in 1965. In the market areas with those half million dollar houses it today would be a $200,000 house.
Even 20 years ago a number of door to door vacuum cleaners were being sold for $2,000.


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[dusty]

While I don't see me buying a Power Pro any time soon that doesn't mean that I don't want one. Like most of life it is a balancing act. I have put a lot more money and will put more yet into my retirement boot and shoe shop than the cost of a Power Pro. The difference is that I expect to produce income from the boot shop. I also have more in my sawmill than the cost of a Power Pro. I don't really expect to make much money from the saw mill but I do expect to save a great deal of money by using it to cut my own logs for a lot of lumber uses here on the farm mostly related to the horse boarding. In that case the savings convert to income indirectly but it is still income.
As much as I love my woodshop and Shopsmiths I just don't believe that it is realistic to think that I will ever produce any real income from the woodshop. It will always be an expense.
Now if I felt that having a Power Pro would generate income (or I could at least pretend like it would ) I would buy one in a minute.
If I had not invested so much in the boot shop, the sawmill, the horse operation and yes the woodshop too as well as some other things, I would maybe own a Power Pro right now.
I might not have wanted one of the first ones but SS has enough experience with them under their belt now that I would have no hesitation in that respect.

When it comes to saving money up to buy one I suspect most of us could get that done one way or another eventually if we just wanted it bad enough. I could do it by not eating out but doing that would be "taking deserved enjoyment from my wife" as well and frankly she doesn't want a Power Pro.
I have a BIL that is pretty frugal and in addition to his job he grows and sells a lot of produce. He also has a stump grinding business and makes good income from both. He is also a woodworker but sits really tight on his woodshop budget. For his produce work he bought a new $20,000+ tractor and quite a bit of equipment. His stump grinder is a large Vermeer. Those in the know already know that Vermeer stuff makes Shopsmith stuff look almost free.
While he sometimes complains about not being able to buy tools for the woodshop he is a severe extreme high volume smoker and drinks enough beer each week to fill a bathtub... I shudder at the thought of how much he is spending on just those two items. If he "really wanted" he could buy about what ever he wanted to buy...

As to a new Power Pro being wildly over-priced, I don't really think that it is... Is it high? Heck yes. Does thinking about that price make me shiver a little? Heck yes. But if you look around an awful lot of things are "high". Just because some things are fairly cheap it does not translate into all things being cheap.
I have been getting serious sticker shock setting this shoe shop up. One adhesive I used for many years that I paid $15 a gallon for 20 years ago is now $130 a gallon. A small replacement spring for one sewing machine that was a 75 cent part is now $40 dollars. Wire for some nailing machines was $12 a roll but is now $130 a roll. I used to pay about $12 for a one pound box of a certain brass tack. That same tack is now $50 for a one pound box. Women all over this country are paying $600 to $800 a pair for some high heeled shoes that sit in their closet for 360 days a year. In some areas right now very simple houses are selling quickly for well over a half million dollars. I bought my first house for $5,000 in 1965. In the market areas with those half million dollar houses it today would be a $200,000 house.
Even 20 years ago a number of door to door vacuum cleaners were being sold for $2,000.


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Milk used to be $.21 a gallon and theater movie admission was a dime. Those days are GONE.

[frank81]

Got rid of the older one four weeks ago at 24, the younger wants out now. I just hope the older one does not come back.

Must be too comfortable at your house. I lived with my mom the summer after my freshman year of college. I was working 60 hours a week and taking summer classes the next year to make sure that never happened again.

As far as being able to afford the Power Pro, my solution is to ALWAYS live below your means. Then you don't have to cut costs to buy something you want. My house costs about the same as most people's car payment. I take care of things so I don't have to replace all the time. I don't buy and accumulate useless "stuff" and try to only spend money on things I think are important. When I see something I want, I buy it. Otherwise, I save the money for a rainy day rather then spending just to spend.

[dusty]

Must be too comfortable at your house. I lived with my mom the summer after my freshman year of college. I was working 60 hours a week and taking summer classes the next year to make sure that never happened again.

As far as being able to afford the Power Pro, my solution is to ALWAYS live below your means. Then you don't have to cut costs to buy something you want. My house costs about the same as most people's car payment. I take care of things so I don't have to replace all the time. I don't buy and accumulate useless "stuff" and try to only spend money on things I think are important. When I see something I want, I buy it. Otherwise, I save the money for a rainy day rather then spending just to spend.

I hope that a portion of that disposable cash is going in a savings or investment program so that when you are my age you won't feel like you have to keep working to survive.

I try to discuss this with my grand kids but they just don't want to hear the lecture. I don't know if they are saving or not. They certainly should be. They all have good jobs and seem to spend like there was no tomorrow.

[frank81]

I hope that a portion of that disposable cash is going in a savings or investment program so that when you are my age you won't feel like you have to keep working to survive.

I try to discuss this with my grand kids but they just don't want to hear the lecture. I don't know if they are saving or not. They certainly should be. They all have good jobs and seem to spend like there was no tomorrow.

I'll keep working, but not to survive. I don't have a sliding scale of tastes and hobbies (or friends) that moves with my income like most people seem to do. I hate spending money, especially outside of my hobbies which are all productive (garage and hunting/fishing/outdoors) and even then I don't buy the best of the best unless it really makes sense. I don't particularly like restaurant food (I can cook much better) so I don't dine out other than date night. My one vice is good whiskey, but it has to be a special occasion. Other than that, I pay off debt or save up for long-term goals.

To put it in persepctive, this weekend was opening of paddlefish season and I went big on a rod and reel I could also use for catfish. Spent a whopping $80! Came home with 40lbs of meat, but it still feels like a "waste" of a lot of money so I prob won't be buying myself anything for about a month.

[nuhobby]

I can see validity in all the points (PowerPro = affordable vs. not affordable). I'll also add that I view Hand Tools as a personal budget competitor to my Shopsmith stuff. There are some very nice, very expensive hand-tools doing a great business these days. Premium saws from Bad Axe, Wenzloff, Adria, etc. Premium planes from Lie-Nielsen, Veritas, HNT Gordon, etc. With these, you don't worry about dry bearings or busted electronics, but your blades will eventually be consumed.

All the answers are highly personalized. I don't consider the younger generation to be wholly throw-away oriented. After all, the biggest handwork-focused journalist is Christopher Schwarz, a fairly whipper-snapper type of guy.

[fiatben]

Besides you can buy and destroy and buy again a Home Depot Tablesaw and do it 8 times before you surpass the price of the SS. So while some may doubt ( I don't I think they will last as long as a SS will) the quality of Home Depot saw I know 8 will definitely out last a SS.

If all I did was rip and crosscut lumber, I wouldn't have a Shopsmith. I'd have the biggest, baddest table saw I could afford. But then today I used my Shopsmiths for sanding, drilling, bandsawing, and horizontal boring. Recently I did some woodturning, and I almost got out my jointer. Admittedly, the jigsaw hasn't seen daylight in awhile.

I didn't use the table saw mode because I do have a stand-alone machine, but if I was needing to handle sheet goods, then the 510 would have to come out with its floating tables to do the job right. My table saw requires setting up infeed, outfeed and possibly side support for that so I might as well do it right on the 510 to start with.

If you've ever bogged down the belt sander, burned a Forstner bit, or wanted to get serious about woodturning on occasion, you'd want the new PowerPro. If you've just used the wrong speed for an operation and had a "do-over", you'd want a PowerPro. If you'd like to really be able to use those shapers and bits that came with that used SS you bought, you'd want a PowerPro.

I know I do, but that would require an income

[backhertz]

Saving money is my goal for this year by my no longer wasting it. First thing I did was realize I need a smart phone like I need a hole in my head. My being held hostage by a Verizon contract was over in November. I learned something last month that being a military retiree, I am entitled to a 15% discount from Verizon. But do they tell anyone? Nope.

I learned at a kiosk at the BX/PX at the local Air Force/Army base. Ironically, when we signed up over 2 years ago, the person signing us up is a friend my daughter who is also a service brat- she never said a word. When I called Verizon, they told me it was the responsibility of my employer to tell me of the discount. I retired before cellphones came onto the scene. The only thing my "employer", the Air Force does is sent a direct deposit each month.

So I switched to a company that operates through Walmart. I don't want to sound like a shill. I was given an old ATT iPhone 4 by one of my one of my sisters when I was down in Florida and visited with Bill. I received a SIM card and lordy, lordy! After I cut it to a micro-SIM card size, I got have 3 bars of service in my house and have unlimited everything for only $45 a month. I'm giving that phone to my wife. I'm going to get a phone where I spend $100 for 1000 minutes for a year. That will reduce our cellphone bill by over $100 a month.

Next on my chopping block is cable TV/telephone/Internet bundle. I went to a site called tvfool.com and learned I have 29 stations in my local area. Since the switch to digital, many of these stations have 4 or 5 channels which I believe is called multicasting. Add an Internet TV box, one of which offers over 700 Internet stations and bingo, I'll save over a $100 a month by dropping TV, cable telephone, DVR rental and other nickel and dime nonsense while upping my Internet download speed from 50 megabit to 105 megabit service and be able to watch a movie for $3 or 'buy' it for $10.

Another good thing is Amazon Prime which lets me 'buy' a movie which is kept in my virtual video collection for less than half the cost of a DVD and also less than a movie ticket. Internet video is like an iceberg. There are many other movie services. Then there is free OTA- (over the air). I'll throw an antenna in my attic and point it West to get all the major networks and many more.

So those are a couple of things. I also cancelled my 7-day newspaper service to Sunday only as I can go online and read all the news I want. It is all adding up.

I've got all my sacred cows on the table and I believe I might surprise my wife with the Lexus she's always dreamed of. I won't buy a new one, but one at least 2 years old. They last almost forever.

Other ways? My little olde Mudda is a thrift shop addict. One Tuesday where she lives, she buys name brand clothing for half price. Think of a designer label and my mother will buy it for me or one of my 5 sisters for maybe a buck and the clothing looks new.

Do your own automotive preventive maintenance and you not only become familiar with the vehicle, but you'll find little problems before they become major. I've done that since 1974 when we got married and I made only $300 a month in the Air Force. Had no choice but to learn how to fix my car as I loved to eat.

Shop around and look for used items over new. So you didn't break the seal- big deal. All my Shopsmiths are used. Watch Craig's List and you can really find some unbelievable deals.

I'll step off the soapbox now. So are just a few things I've been doing. Perhaps I'm too old school and believe TV should be free- period. The networks get paid from advertisers and then they go after us to suck some more blood…

Well, no more from me. <smile> I'll have more money to spend on my 'habit!"