Shopsmith Forums

Matanuska wrote: ↑Tue Jul 02, 2024 11:44 am Is the outer cover of your old Magna bandsaw plastic or metal? Wondering if plastic was a more recent development.

It’s plastic. Tough to find these in good condition, as the plastic was not as robust as modern materials. The Mark 2 belt covers were made of an even thinner version of that plastic, and I’ve almost never seen one of those intact!

chapmanruss wrote: ↑Tue Jul 02, 2024 12:17 pm I paid a bit more for my Bandsaw above but the Greenie Bandsaw I got last week was free. Thanks Uncle Bill.

Good to see you posting - I missed your commentary and wasn’t sure if you were still tuning into this topic!

jpdalton wrote: ↑Tue Jul 02, 2024 12:57 pm It’s plastic. Tough to find these in good condition, as the plastic was not as robust as modern materials. The Mark 2 belt covers were made of an even thinner version of that plastic, and I’ve almost never seen one of those intact!

At first glance the Magna logo appeared to be raised brushed aluminum and I was feeling just a bit jealous! Still, looks to be in very good condition - a nice find and restoration.

Matanuska wrote: ↑Tue Jul 02, 2024 4:49 pm At first glance the Magna logo appeared to be raised brushed aluminum and I was feeling just a bit jealous! Still, looks to be in very good condition - a nice find and restoration.

That would have been a nice touch on these early ones, but no dice!

Mine has a few minor scuffs, and the silver-painted logo could use a touch up, but it’s a really nice restoration and very usable!
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What Worlds Left To Conquer?

“‘When John saw the breadth of his collection, he wept for there were no more accessories to acquire.’ The benefits of a classical education…” - Hans Gruber, Exceptional Thief and Amateur Historian

Ok, for Die Hard fans out there, we all know Hans was referring to Alexander the Great in that quote, but I feel a bit like I’ve reached a similar point in my Shopsmith collecting after yesterday’s acquisition - it was a worthwhile 650-mile round-trip drive to pick up a machine that had originally belonged to a high school shop teacher, and was complete with its original “school guards” package.
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Yup, the Holy Trinity of Shopsmith accessories - including the Grail itself: the elusive, highly coveted, singularly rare lower belt guard!!
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So, this archeological dig won’t be complete until I can carefully extract this full system from its sarcophagus of multiple, atrocious paint jobs…
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But then, where do I go from here??!

Start 'collecting' Mark 2s.

JPG wrote: ↑Sun Jul 07, 2024 9:49 am Start 'collecting' Mark 2s.

That would be like asking The Rolling Stones to go acoustic, Dr. Christiaan Barnard to do facelifts, or Michelangelo to paint by numbers.

“Genius must not be constrained to trivialities” - Anonymous

jpdalton wrote: ↑Sun Jul 07, 2024 7:42 am What Worlds Left To Conquer?

“‘When John saw the breadth of his collection, he wept for there were no more accessories to acquire.’ The benefits of a classical education…” - Hans Gruber, Exceptional Thief and Amateur Historian

Ok, for Die Hard fans out there, we all know Hans was referring to Alexander the Great in that quote, but I feel a bit like I’ve reached a similar point in my Shopsmith collecting after yesterday’s acquisition - it was a worthwhile 650-mile round-trip drive to pick up a machine that had originally belonged to a high school shop teacher, and was complete with its original “school guards” package.
.
IMG_4386.jpeg
.
Yup, the Holy Trinity of Shopsmith accessories - including the Grail itself: the elusive, highly coveted, singularly rare lower belt guard!!
.
IMG_4382.jpeg
.
So, this archeological dig won’t be complete until I can carefully extract this full system from its sarcophagus of multiple, atrocious paint jobs…
.
IMG_4385.jpeg
.
But then, where do I go from here??!

Yup, a great find all in one place. I think the lower belt guard AND the lower saw guard are both the holy grails. I got my first lower belt guard from Skip when he was down sizing to move a few years ago. It is new old stock and has never been installed. There is a thread here with pictures showing proof of that. The second one was an eBay purchase. Just happened to log on at the right time.

My lower saw guard was an eBay buy it now purchase. It is the only one I have seen on eBay. My wife and I were on a road trip and we were in the 1897 Strater hotel in Durango CO. I logged on to eBay and couldn't believe that saw guard was listed. $39.99 plus shipping. I couldn't push the buy it now button fast enough.

jsburger wrote: ↑Sun Jul 07, 2024 8:05 pm Yup, a great find all in one place. I think the lower belt guard AND the lower saw guard are both the holy grails.

Thanks for sharing, John. I do recall your post about the belt guard - good to have an acquaintance like Skip!

I’ve had some luck with the saw guards like you’ve had luck with the belt guards, but I really had to look hard (and drive far!!) to get my own belt guard.

I also got some great anecdotes from the past owner’s family, and even some stories about the original owner, who thankfully also left behind a great cache of documents on the machine that I’ll share in this thread in a future post - stay tuned!

Great find John. I hope to be so lucky one of these days and find a Lower Belt Guard too.

As to what's next, there is always plenty of other Magna/Shopsmith tools and accessories to be collected.

Maybe find a Mark 1. That would be the toughest of all to find.

You could start collecting Bandsaws. I have way too many with my oldest a 1956 Greenie, a Yuba Goldie, a Magna American Goldie, a Magna American gray and 3 more recent/newer Bandsaws plus another Greenie I just got over a week ago from my wife's uncle. I think I need to sell some of them.

I recently added a Crafter's Station to my collection. Wouldn't you know it, that came with a Bandsaw too.