Shopsmith Forums

I purchased my first ShopSmith, a greenie, in March of 2014. By May of 2014 I had another, a grey unit. In Feb ' 15 I picked up a third, another grey unit, with a bandsaw,in March a jointer and in September a jigsaw. Since then I've made a steady stream of things including shelves, multiple shelf sets, drawers for vanities, a jewelry box, tap handles for our Keggerator,frat paddles for my older sons, a kids rattle toy for a friend and an SPT cart. My current project is a closet organizer for my daughter with drawers, shelves, etc.

My wife came down today to check progress on the last two drawers I was finishing and was surprised to find me using two ShopSmiths. She remarked,.. " Why do you need two Shopsmiths?" .... As she looked around she noticed my SPT cart and wondered where all that had come from. She apparently forgot about my Craigslist adventures, she was even with me for the last 3 trips where the last Mark V and all the SPT's were picked up!

She didn't notice the 3rd Mark V in pieces all over the shop. As I explained the benefits of having crosscut and dado setups on different machines her eyes glazed over. I told her I agreed that two was not ideal and that the situation would soon change when I finished the restoration currently in progress showing the parts all about her. At that point she really was at a loss for words. She loves what I make for her but she's starting to think I have an addiction.

Should I have told her about the good deal on another good looking greenie I found about an hour away that I couldn't pass up and have already bid on? - Nick

I use an analogy that my wife can relate to: How would you like to cook Thanksgiving dinner with a single-burner stove?

It's not impossible, but it sure goes a lot faster with more burners, an oven or two, and all the right pots and skillets for the job at hand.

Did you ever notice that on all those house fixer-upper shows, the kitchen always gets the lion's share of the budget?

Nice looking setup!

Yeah, it is a problem, but a good one to have .....

Oh no, Not you too!!!

As Dick mentioned, It is a problem but a good one(or at least I think).... Just wait til you near 14 machines. You have to start leaving them in pieces!!!!!!!!!!! A little pile here and a little pile there....

I do like the part of asking the wifey if she can cook with one burner.
Mike

I spent some time trying to find the problem. I studied all the pictures and I think I may have spotted it. Is it the face of the bottom drawer in the last photo? It looks like it might have a slight bow???? Other then that I can't see anything that you have a problem with.

Seriously I can relate.

Ed

I think most of us can relate.

Everett

You do have a problem... It is controllable however. I did have that problem a few years ago but I managed to get a handle on buying somewhere after 25 of them. I was basing my whole shop on Shopsmiths and concerned about the company going away. I wanted to be sure that I had a good inventory of parts available.

A couple of years ago I made a hanging wall shelf for my Compound miter saw but now I want to make a rolling long bed cart for it. Looking around the shop this week I was looking at my old Mark VII and decided that I will pull one of my 2 organ-doner Mark VII's out of its storage building and remove its headstock and carriage and build the miter-saw bed on it. I think it is going to work quite well. It's already on wheels.
I probably won't get to it today, it's raining here this morning and I will need to move some "stuff" out of the work van to move it. I also don't have stone on the drive and ramp to the basement woodshop door yet so I will need to catch it frozen or dryer than it is right now so I can back up to the door. Not really a problem, I can go ahead with building the bed/table unit using my good Mark VII for dimensions and fitting etc. I intend to mount it only to the SPT mounts at each end so if desired I could lift it off and sit it on sawhorses at another work location if I wanted to.
I suspect that I will have plenty of pesky weather yet to give me some shop time.
I finally got my new wood burning furnace installed about a week ago and now I need to get the old one moved to the farm/mechanics shop and installed there. The old furnace (not all that old and still in excellent condition) is a little over 100,000 BTUs and the new one is around 180,000 BTUs and has a few more bells & whistles.
With the old wood furnace installed in the farm shop I will be able to spend more bad weather working in there on my 17 old tractors or my dozen or so garden tractors...
Yes it can be a problem.
Fortunately my wife is pretty tolerant...

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I guess I don't understand the collecting/hoarding thing with Shopsmiths. I own one Shopsmith and don't collect them. I just run mine hard doing work year after year.
For me, tools are for doing work, not for collecting and polishing.

I see the same thing in people's garages. They buy more and larger tool boxes and fill them with duplicate tools that they never use because if they did, they would get greasy. My wrenches get cleaned when they have so much grease on them that they are hard to hold. People don't realize that it is the grease that keeps them from rusting. The anal wrench cleaners end up with rust on their wrenches. If they left some grease on them, they would be perfect like mine after 40 years of use.

So, it isn't a problem collecting them unless you or your wife thinks it is. Then, maybe it is time to rethink things.

Problem? I dont see a problem, you are making nice things. Well maybe one problem but it isnt in the shop.

one person's addiction is another person's necessity; e.g., "Why do you need 10 bottles of nail polish and 10 tubes of lipstick? Oh, and the shoes; do you really need all those shoes? I have only three, one for yard/shop work, one for everyday and one for dress. That's all I need. Why do you need so many?"