Great-grandfather's 1960 "Goldie" new member introduction
Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2013 8:45 pm
When my grandfather passed away I inherited his late father-in-law's Shopsmith and lots of woodworking books and magazines (dating back to the 1930's)
I'm in a nostalgic mood so I'll share the story. I'm a high school shop teacher but my specialty was more toward the mechanical side of things, not wood shop. I was asked to pick up a few low level shop classes and I went to my grandfather for project ideas. He took me into the shed in the backyard. It was always damp in there and it smelled of plywood, grass clippings, and two-stroke oil. Old kitchen cabinets hung on the wall. Everything had a place and was neatly stored and clean. Old mesh-back baseball caps on a shelf celebrated achievements in his career as a lineman for the power company and coils of patched-together extension cords hung above his beloved Snapper rear-engine riding mower. He gave me several small project ideas - including Cedar crosses he made from the mailbox post after it was snapped off by a new driver down the street.
My grandfather is gone now and someone else owns the shed. The hats probably went in the trash, my uncle has the extension cords and the Snapper went to auction but the Shopsmith is mine to pass on.
It's a "Goldie" with a 1960 serial number. The jointer and casters are green - maybe later additions? It's certainly been used but was always maintained and cleaned and is in respectable condition. The switch broke the second time I turned it on. It wouldn't turn off. I finished the job by using a power strip with a switch as a foot control and then replaced the failed switch with a generic toggle switch I had laying around. I admire the inner workings and quality of the machine -- aspects I got to experience when replacing the switch. Reminiscent of the old Mercedes I tinker with -- high quality machined castings beautifully made but hidden inside where few get to enjoy them. The Shopsmith all works properly now but I have yet to get some lathe tools or a coupler to fully test all features.
I got pretty good at woodworking but never had a home shop because I had a 7000 sq. ft wood shop full of nice machines at work. I changed jobs again (still a shop teacher - but not wood) and have started doing things at home.
I have a big garage but its stuffed with wife's car, my truck, and a 21 foot sailboat. The shopsmith has a home in the corner and is ideal. Put a car outside, move the boat to where the car was and I have a lot of clear floor space. I like having a "shop" that goes away when I don't need it. I did a production run of Christmas presents this year.
This "new" sailboat needs hatch rails in a bad way. The last set I made (different boat) out of teak came out nice, but I may latch on to some TREX decking scraps and try that instead.
Maybe it's my imagination, but I get a faint whiff of plywood, grass clippings and two-stroke when I click on the Shopsmith.
I'm in a nostalgic mood so I'll share the story. I'm a high school shop teacher but my specialty was more toward the mechanical side of things, not wood shop. I was asked to pick up a few low level shop classes and I went to my grandfather for project ideas. He took me into the shed in the backyard. It was always damp in there and it smelled of plywood, grass clippings, and two-stroke oil. Old kitchen cabinets hung on the wall. Everything had a place and was neatly stored and clean. Old mesh-back baseball caps on a shelf celebrated achievements in his career as a lineman for the power company and coils of patched-together extension cords hung above his beloved Snapper rear-engine riding mower. He gave me several small project ideas - including Cedar crosses he made from the mailbox post after it was snapped off by a new driver down the street.
My grandfather is gone now and someone else owns the shed. The hats probably went in the trash, my uncle has the extension cords and the Snapper went to auction but the Shopsmith is mine to pass on.
It's a "Goldie" with a 1960 serial number. The jointer and casters are green - maybe later additions? It's certainly been used but was always maintained and cleaned and is in respectable condition. The switch broke the second time I turned it on. It wouldn't turn off. I finished the job by using a power strip with a switch as a foot control and then replaced the failed switch with a generic toggle switch I had laying around. I admire the inner workings and quality of the machine -- aspects I got to experience when replacing the switch. Reminiscent of the old Mercedes I tinker with -- high quality machined castings beautifully made but hidden inside where few get to enjoy them. The Shopsmith all works properly now but I have yet to get some lathe tools or a coupler to fully test all features.
I got pretty good at woodworking but never had a home shop because I had a 7000 sq. ft wood shop full of nice machines at work. I changed jobs again (still a shop teacher - but not wood) and have started doing things at home.
I have a big garage but its stuffed with wife's car, my truck, and a 21 foot sailboat. The shopsmith has a home in the corner and is ideal. Put a car outside, move the boat to where the car was and I have a lot of clear floor space. I like having a "shop" that goes away when I don't need it. I did a production run of Christmas presents this year.
This "new" sailboat needs hatch rails in a bad way. The last set I made (different boat) out of teak came out nice, but I may latch on to some TREX decking scraps and try that instead.
Maybe it's my imagination, but I get a faint whiff of plywood, grass clippings and two-stroke when I click on the Shopsmith.
