Shopsmith Forums

This may be of interest to those of you who had seen the Lee Valley newsletter featuring the young chap who built a bicycle from wood.

He was featured in our local newspaper, the Montreal Gazette, today in an article that was almost 1/2 page with a large picture of him and the bike. It mentioned that he has become quite well known in the WW world and may get a spot on the David Letterman show. No mention of Shopsmith but then only us old guys around here would know what that was anyway.

John

Careful with the "old guy" stuff... There could be a few "whipper snappers" present, like me for instance: I haven't yet hit a quarter century (but I'm steadily closing in on it...)!

Guvnuh4:

I'm glad you answered the post.

Since I posted the item, I have been getting more and more agitated because my reference was to the Canadian market and my area in particular, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized I was right with respect to the situation here. There is absolutely no exposure for Shopsmith in Montreal and surrounding areas, and I suspect for most of Canada.

The distributor is in Toronto and though Shopsmith is visible on his website and is sometimes mentioned in his flyers, if you don't know of his outlet, you would probably never hear of Shopsmith except from old timers like me. There is no advertising that I am aware of, no attendence at shows, and no more demonstrations such as those that facinated me, and that eventually led to my purchase. So I'm wondering how Shopsmith is ever going to build on the base that currently exists up here. The SS website is great but if one is not aware of the product what is there to lead a person to the site?

How does a "whipper snapper" like you become aware of Shopsmith in the U.S.

Now I've gone and highjacked my own post which should be focussed on this great young man, but as I said I became agitated. Maybe I'm being an alarmist for nothing.

John

Tahnks John! But as Letterman come on at midnight here, I'll be missing it. I'm not above writing Mr. Letterman and mentioning Shopsmith.

Tahnks John! But as Letterman comes on at midnight here, I'll be missing it. I'm not above writing Mr. Letterman and mentioning Shopsmith.

I really think that the information is there (possibly not as prevalent as the days of yore...), there just doesn't seem to be as much desire for woodworking... Great for me as there's more demand for special little projects that I could come up with, bad for the profession that it could be a "dying" breed. The story from Missouri was heartening that there are still a few trade schools that are teaching this time honored trade.

=============================================================
My introduction to the Shopsmith name:

I had actually learned about Shopsmith when I worked for Lowes (in ToolWorld) last year. One day a guy came in to kill time and we got to talking and he motioned to a card display that we had for the SS, he said that he owns one and absolutely loves it. The only thing he said he didn't like was that you couldn't just buy a saw blade off the shelf (apparently he never utilized the wonderful customer service reps at SS to learn he could just pick up an arbor...). After that talk my interest had been piqued, so I started looking into buying one. After the initial sticker shock wore off, I still had a sense of desire for one just lacked the major source of funding required to buy one (poor, starving college student with a teacher-wife), until that fateful Saturday morning in September...

Also, I told my older brother that I got one at an auction and I'm pretty sure he wanted to steal it from me... He said that when he worked in tools at a Lowes a few years before I had, he actually got to see a demo... and he was trying like a madman how to figure out how to setup a shop in the little garage that he was given at the apartment complex he was in.

If I hadn't "seen the ways of the Shopsmith" I'd be trying like mad to figure out how to get my great grandpa's old 50 billion pound monstrosity of a TS into my garage, his old "upgraded" drill press (upgraded with a clothes washer motor...), and 2 cars (I sure wouldn't be parking my car outside in weather that we've been seeing: 12+" of snow and sub-0 temps). I still get a few comments from my father about how I should just take those and set them up since having to change from each tool would just take "way too long," but honestly, this is a secret now, I'd rather just use the Shopsmith and not have to wrestle with any of that...

Maybe when I get a full sized shop... {wanders into dreamland}

John,

Trust me I feel your pain. I know exactly what you mean. The Canadian vendor in "Toronto" also know as "the center of the universe" will only mention SS if you mention it first.

John:

Now that your thread has been "hijacked", my experience with Lowes a few years back my experience with Lowes was both so sad and so comical, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Their tool manager was the world's worse salesman. When I inquired about a Shopsmith, he said, "Boy! Do you know what they are? The're expensive!!" When he saw that I was serious, he searched for several minutes in their large desk catalog and came up with a telephone number that I was supposed to call. For some strange reason this number led me to the secretary of the V.P. of manufacturing. There was no way that that tool room manager was the least bit interested in selling me a Shopsmith.

Now, fast forwarding today, I have moved to Gainesville and have become acquainted on a first name basis with the tool manager at our local Lowes. He knows what a Shopsmith is, his father-in-law has one. However he doesn't put out the small 1 1/2 sq ft shopsmith display with the reply cards anymore. Actually, in the last few years Lowes has moved much more toward a large inventory and display of the the bottom quality Chinese tools - all powdered with cheap universal motors. They must make a lot of profit selling this junk to guys who should know better.

The manager that gave you the number for you to call actually could get in trouble if you would've called Lowes' customer care hotline (if you EVER have a bad experience there, call that number (I can't remember it, but it's posted in the store) and complain about the service you received. The store is REQUIRED to have the issue resolved within 24 hours to your satisfaction). As far as sales material goes, I don't think that SS and Lowes are partnered anymore (I could be completely off base), because I've heard of more than a few HD demos and Lowes and HD don't play well together.

I can't guarantee that this will work with the Plywood dilemma mentioned elsewhere, but I'm more than certain that you can special order pretty much anything from them so they possibly have a local vendor that sells American made plywood.

"I don't think that SS and Lowes are partnered anymore..."

That is correct.

With all good wishes,