Shopsmith Forums

Watch at 4:30, 7:25, 9:05, and 12:50 of this video. It also appears a couple of times in part 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f545LfXW ... ure=relmfu

Sincerely,

Ron309753

Looks like a vote of confidence for our favorite tool!!

Look how young he is in the video!

For those who do not know, Norm used Shopsmith tools during the first season of Yankee Workshop. He used it as a drill press and for lathe work. You will also see him using it in his first three how-to books. He also used it during some of the early episodes of This Old House while making something in the Yankee workshop. There is one particular episode when he uses the SS lathe duplicator to make a set of stringers/spindles for a staircase for about half the show.

Now the fun part. If you look close, you will also see that the Shopsmith logo is blocked out with red tape. It was because Shopsmith didn't actually sponsor the show back then. What happened is Don Morash, the creator and producer of New Yankee already had these tools in his own personal shop and brought them over to the New Yankee set when production started. It is PBS afterall, and money was in short supply, so they did what they needed to do to get the show off the ground. After the first season, they had so many tool companies wanting to sponsor the show that they replaced the Shopsmith tools with the sponsoring companies like Delta and Porter Cable.

Now you know the rest of the story.

I"ve heard that somewhere as well. (Don't remember where)

However, just to add a little...this is from the Shopsmith tool hunter website


http://shopsmith-tool-hunter.blogspot.c ... new+yankee

Shopsmith sighting on the New Yankee Workshop
I'm sure that I've mentioned this, but just in case you are hearing it for the first time; Back in 1987 I was the manager of Shosmith's "Boston" store, and was called out to the site of a new woodworking show to help them set-up a bunch of Shopsmith tools. That show was the New Yankee Workshop, and though Shopsmith was an official sponsor on just the first season, Norm continued to use the Mark V and a few of the other Shopsmith tools over the run of the show.

[quote="chucks"]I"ve heard that somewhere as well. (Don't remember where)

However, just to add a little...this is from the Shopsmith tool hunter website


http://shopsmith-tool-hunter.blogspot.c ... new+yankee

Shopsmith sighting on the New Yankee Workshop
I'm sure that I've mentioned this, but just in case you are hearing it for the first time]

Too bad Shopsmith couldn't do this today on some DIY program. Lots of younger homeowners I know watch all these newer shows and are buying plastic table saws and cheap stand alone tools as they rehab or do other projects and when I tell them about a Shopsmith, most have never even heard of the brand but are intrigued.

Too add a bit more on these younger buyers, I just finished as a helper using his brand new 'upper' model Ryobi table saw. Absolute garbage. I showed him the arbor runout and then the large slop in the tables miter slot and miter, the horrible rip fence that does not want to clamp parallel to the blade, etc. Then this young guy starts complaining to me when he cracked off some plastic tabs to store the rip fence on the side, only after a few times of use. When I explained to him about kickback and what a menace a newby will deal with on these budget saws, he realized and further told him to shop for a used SS so he could be like a young Norm. laugh

With all of the shop at home channels out there in TV land, I wonder if Shopsmith would be able to use this to market the Shopsmith in all of its incarnations (just thinking out loud)?

BPR

ryanbp01 wrote:With all of the shop at home channels out there in TV land, I wonder if Shopsmith would be able to use this to market the Shopsmith in all of its incarnations (just thinking out loud)?

BPR

$$ to produce the clip $$ to get it aired $$ to beef up inventory so as to be able to 'deliver the goods'. Probably not viable!

One does not run marathons when learning to walk(again).

However when asked Norm gave a very low opinion of the Shopsmith and advises people not to buy one.

Comments are no longer avail in the New Yankee FAQ.

It was my understanding that Norm was more than a little thrilled to be able to ditch the Shopsmith.

It wasn't Norm's nor Shopsmith's finest hour

http://www.normstools.com/shopsmith.shtml

That has a list of the various shopsmith tools and the episodes on which they appeared.