Shopsmith Forums

Surprisingly, so far I have not encountered such a negative attitude. I’m taking a Fundamentals of Woodworking class, which everybody has to take before they let you take any of the other classes, and which I need anyway. So the other students are mostly new to woodworking and don’t have much space for a shop at home; so they think the ShopSmith sounds cool. And the only comment my instructor made was after I got a little behind and I asked if I could take my project home to some of the cuts. He just asked if I was sure that I could get the accuracy in my cross-cuts that would match what they get with their crosscut sled on the SawStop. At the time, I had taken my table off and had not dialed it in so I couldn’t be sure of that. I have since dialed the alignment in and believe I could square those boards now.

OK since they are mostly "new" to woodworking, they likely have not(YET) been contaminated with the dreaded anti SS disease.

BTW, what is the class project???

I have noticed the response to 'Shopsmith' is changing subtly over time. It's no longer always 'those things aren't worth the money' to occasionally 'I think my dad (or grandpa) had one of those'.

It’s a small hanging wall cabinet (approx 11” x 24”), with a door that has a book-matched panel and a glass window above.

Two of the coolest machines they have is a large bandsaw and huge planer they got from an old Arizona Class battleship when it was decommissioned. The planer takes 12 minutes to spin down when you turn it off. Having a 12” jointer kind of spoils you.

Palomar College has a fairly well known woodworking program and an incredible shop, well it’s really several well equipped shops, including a large CNC shop, and several bench rooms, their own saw mill with a large lumber drying structure, and more.

More info about the their program:
https://www.palomar.edu/woodworking/

Information about their facilities and equipment:
https://www.palomar.edu/woodworking/facilities-labs/

My classes are Saturdays from 8am to 2:45pm, with a 45 minute lunch. They run their own a rough lumber yard with better prices than you can get in town, even with the discount the outside lumberyards give students.

It’s a fun day in the shop.

Ahhh(sigh) Location, location, location.