Shopsmith Forums

Good day,

I am located smack dab in the middle of a tri-state area (Iowa, South Dakota, and Nebraska). The closest large cities are Omaha, NE; Des Moines, IA; Minneapolis, MN; and Kansas City MO/KS.

I’m hoping for help correctly identifying and estimating a fair value for my grandfather’s Shopsmith setup. I am not listing it for sale here — just trying to understand what we have and what a realistic private-sale value might be.

He was the original owner and after his passing it became mine, he bought the compete set up. I found Shopsmith paperwork/accessories dating to 1978–1981, including a shipping label from Shopsmith dated Dec. 28, 1979.

Main machine:
The machine does run.
Shopsmith Mark V, appears to be a Model 500-era machine
Serial number found on machine: SS 48492
Saw blade/table and belt sander (I think) currently mounted on machine

Accessories/attachments identified to the best of my ability so far:
Shopsmith bandsaw attachment
Shopsmith jointer attachment/parts
Shopsmith 18" jigsaw attachment, Model 505644, Serial No. 8114
Shopsmith 6" belt sander, Model 640 / Item 505642
Lathe chisel set, Part No. 505586
Precision molder / molding head, Item No. 505553
Mortising attachment, Part No. 505623
Mortising hold-down, Part No. 505624
1/2" mortise bit/chisel set, Item No. 505595
1/2" universal arbor, Item No. 505505
1¼" saw arbor, Item No. 505511
Router chuck, Item No. 505597
Router bits: 505598, 505599, 505600
Dovetail cutter, Item No. 505720
Shaper/drum sander insert, Item No. 505509
Miter gauge extension, Item No. 505630
Multiple (12+) Shopsmith saw blades, including 505547
Multiple sanding discs/belts
Drum sander accessory
Featherboard
Several original Shopsmith boxes/tubes, with new & unused items inside/new old stock
Four pulley guards, Item No. 505665, several appear unused in original boxes
Manuals/charts/books, including Shopsmith Mark V materials, bandsaw manual, jointer manual, belt sander manual, jigsaw manual, shaper fence manual, and Shopsmith self-study/course material

I'm in no hurry to sell but would also like to see someone get some use and enjoyment out of the set up. It would be fun to learn how to use this but if I'm being honest with myself, I don't have the time.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can include to help determine a value and the best place to sell it (Facebook, Craigslist, or somewhere else?) I have a lot more pictures of the accessories and exact quantities of items but figured these 3 pictures would be a good overview and at least a starting point.

Thank you in advance for your time!!
-Karri (the one and only grandchild)

The Mark 5 serial number SS 48492 was made in November 1979.

It is always hard to determine a price to expect when selling any tool. There are so many factors that come into play. They include condition, age, how complete the tool is including accessories, upgrades, location and more. You have several SPT's (Bandsaw, Jigsaw etc.) besides the Mark 5 which has the original Table System later known as the Model 500. This can be a plus for a sale or even a minus. Someone may be interested in buying a shop worth of tools at one time while others may not want to jump to a whole shop at once. Selling all of it together may be slower than selling the Mark 5 and the SPT's separately. Selling them separately may bring in more money than selling it all together. Sorry, this isn't very helpful.

You may have noticed I keep calling it a Mark 5 instead of a Mark V. If you look at the Vent Plate by the serial number, you will notice it says Mark 5. In early 1980 that changed to Mark V there on the Vent Plate. Same tool just a change to the Roman Numeral.

Thank you for the information! Some people say to list it at $200 and other day to list it all at $2000. Seems like a very wide range to me but maybe that is just how it goes. Maybe seeking each part separately is a better way to go, I really don’t know.

Kwilde6434,

From what I can see from the pics and assuming that the base machine powers on properly and can smoothly run up and down in speed (never turn the speed dial without the motor running or at least manually turning the spindle), I think a price somewhere in the $500 to $700 range would be where you might find a buyer in the current condition. I see light rust on the way tubes, what appears to be heavy rust all over the jointer, heavy rust on the jigsaw's arm, and based on these guessing there's some degree of rust on the bandsaw's and belt sander's tables.

There are some good threads in the forum on cleaning various degrees of rust, should you wish to do the work which should make the collection easier to sell and at the higher price range.

Thanks Roy, I appreciate the additional information. I don't see much if any rust on the bandsaw and or belt sander tables. But again, this is all foreign to me. I'll do some clean up and see about getting it listed on Facebook or Craigslist. Thank you again for the information.

Scott Markwood just posted two new videos on his My Growth Rings YouTube Channel about buying and selling Shopsmith Tools. You may find them helpful.

Thank you, I will check them out.