If you guys all think that these are too expensive how on earth did you end up with Shopsmiths?
It is really easy to drop $100 plus in a good bench vise and none of them have the foot tighten feature. I have played with these at a couple of different stores (Lowes and Rural King) and I can tell you that they are not just glorified B&D Workmates. They are not the flimsy stuff we are used to seeing.
Its kind of funny how I don't see this as seriously overpriced but that I often have a "Fred Sanford" over Shopsmiths accessory prices right along with most of the new "super precision" high priced gizmos that I see mentioned here so much.
I suppose a lot of it is the differences in the way many of us work (and we do all work differently). Its not that one group is right or wrong, just different. As I grew up anyone with quality woodworking power machinery was highly envied and in a very small minority. In my early years even most professional carpenters (not big contractors) were still using all hand tools. Few job sites ever had power until the place was built. I recall old carpenters debating whether or not they even wanted to own a power saw of any kind. When my father and I were building gates, remodeling buildings and the farm house in the early 1950's he bought a nice Craftsman 6 1/2" circular saw in a nice rather large metal case (I still have that saw and case). That saw held a place of honor and pride and was given great care in use and storage. We also had one, just one, 1/2" electric drill. Small holes and very large holes were drilled by hand. "Everything else was hand tools.
It always surprises me when someone mentions not using a bench or vise a lot. To me that is the one central point of a shop of almost any kind.
As an off subject example I spent over 20 years as a shoemaker, among other occupations at the same time. I still have a complete western boot shop sitting and waiting for me to find some time. In that craft a lot of special tools and heavy machinery is normally used but the central point of all work is the repair station usually called a repair jack or last jack. The last jack is pretty much always sat right in front of a work bench. One machine I have sells new for over $40,000 and others for less but still scary amounts. Note that I didn't buy any of them new.
Still this one simple station is where most of the really detailed hand work happens and a boot may be placed on this station dozens of times in the process. It is a simple device but hard to describe in detail so I'll post a link to a picture. You will notice that it bears little resemblance to the little household last stands commonly sold in antique shops across the country. Few real shoemakers ever used those in the hey-day of the craft.
http://picasaweb.google.com/robinson46176/WesternBootShop#5348282978273781730
While I have owned several of these this one I keep because it was bought for my father when he began work in a busy local shop that had maybe 10 other guys back in the 1920's. He tracked it down in his later years and gave it to me.
I work the same way in both the metal shop and the woodshop. "Everything" in the woodshop is based around two things, the bench/vise/hand tool rack and the tablesaw. The bench (homemade and not fancy) has two vises and a bench-hook. It also has a pop-up stop and holes for one piece hold-fasts. It also has holes in the surface that I drop short pieces of 3/4" dowels in for surface clamping using wedges.
I have always used a small blacksmith shop area for farm machinery repairing and a little puttering. There everything is secondary to 4 main items. The bench and special blacksmiths vise, the anvil, the forge and of course these days the main welder. Still the bench (with 2 vises) is the normal starting point.
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I have woodworking machinery all over the place but I am still a Roy Underhill fan.
Note too that I never bother wearing hearing protection or a dust mask when using hand tools.