Shopsmith Forums

Purchased a (late?) 1984 vintage Mark V 500 with some 510 upgrades. The package included a 4' Jointer (Model 505681-B).

The ShopSmith base has been cleaned up, the headstock was torn down and rebuilt and is now running like a champ, and I'm ready to start on the jointer with a Gallon of Eastwood Rust Dissolver I splurged on.

But I'm asking myself, is this the right model to invest the time in? The knives are pretty beat up with a large knick on all three blades in the same location. Sharpening and resetting them, as well as cleaning up the whole jointer will take a lot of time.

Would you invest the time to rebuild this one, or look for a newer model with upgraded cutter head, featherboard, etc. to start out with?

Thanks for your thoughts and experience.

Assuming it includes a fence that isn't shown this appears to be a very rebuildable Jointer IMO. I would judge it primarily on whether the tables are flat relative to each other with cut depth set to 0. It is important that the fence is square to both tables. Also check the fence for cracks. You can upgrade to the later cutter head, dust collection, and the featherboard if you want to. To me, the only upgrade that is essential is the dust collection.

- David

Yes, there is a fence :-)

My bad. I started the disassembly before realizing how badly the knives were damaged and deciding to take pics and ask if it were worth saving.

I knew the featherboard was available as an upgrade, but did not know the cutter head could be upgraded as well. Thank you.

Nicked blades is a minimal concern, NEW blades are available from SS. Missing screws are a hardware store item.

P.S. 1984 is 20+ years younger than mine.

I restored one in a lot worse shape than yours. Good news is any needed parts can be replaced with new OEM parts from Shopsmith. That being said the Cutter Head changed and with that the wedges and screws changed. The older Cutter Head wedges are not interchangeable with the new ones. Changing the Cutter Head would be a major expense if needed. The Knives are the same for both versions of the Cutter Head. Old part can be found from time to time at online auctions.

The picture below shows the Jointer Infeed and Outfeed/Base after they had the rust removed. The Fence still has the rust and the tables were in worse condition.

_ .
It was missing two of the wedges, 1 knife, all of the wedge screws and the leveling screws. With patience I was able to find a used complete Cutter Head.

Thanks Russ. Great before-and-after comparison picture.

The only obvious missing part is one of the cutter head wedge screws which should be easy enough to replace. I recall reading that the design of the new cutter head holds the knives a little more securely, but other than that, is there a good reason to upgrade? In other words, if this earlier version cutter head was fitted with sharp knives, will it perform just as well as the newer style?

What was your process for rust removal/restoration of the indeed/outfeed bases? I've used an electrolysis setup for small hand tools, but was going to tackle the jointer with Eastwood Rust Dissolver. Am I on the right track?

I would use evaporust in lieu of electrolysis.

Tell us about eastwood rust dissolver.

Yes, I would repair it. A jointer in the hand is worth 10 jointers on the Craigslist.

I don't know anything about Eastwood Rust Dissolver so I cannot comment on using it. If it works similar to and is a similar chemical formula to Evaporust then it should work fine.

The Cutter Head you have already is fine to use. The newer Cutter Head is a little larger in diameter so a bit less of the knives are exposed. The old Cutter Head holds the knives just as securely as the newer one. They both use the same tapered knives and hold them in place with wedges which get tighter on the knives as the screws are tightened.

The knives you already have can likely be resharpened if you choose. A new set of knives are currently 49.99. A bit costly if you replace the knives anytime they get dull or nicked. If you end up using your jointer often you may want to consider getting a sharpening setup. The Shopsmith Planer/Jointer Knife Sharpener with the Conical Sanding Disk work great and all three Jointer Knives can be sharpened at once. I have used mine many times to sharpen both Jointer and Planer Knives and wouldn't want to be without it.

Thanks all. I think the answer to my original post has been answered. While there may be some minor advantages to the newer version, the tool I'm rebuilding is well worth the time and elbow grease (and certainly for my level of woodworking experience...) .

Getting set up to do my own sharpening in an absolute. That will be the subject of another post, but I have a little more reading to do before I ask questions that have already been answered.


JPG,

As for the Eastwood product, I'll have to get back to you on how it performs. The jug is untapped. I messed around with electrolysis on small hand tools for a while but decided it would be challenging to get the results I wanted for the jointer bases. (I still have work to do there, based on a chance encounter with a guy who had a large plastic tub/electrolysis set-up in his back yard and was restoring a metal-turning lathe with incredible results)

After some research which compared Eastwood to Evaporust and other similar products, I picked the Eastwood. My guess is they are very similar. I think the Eastwood product is used in the automotive industry.

Now I need to find a shallow container just bigger than the jointer bases to set up the soak.

Thanks all.