Shopsmith Forums

A few weeks ago I got a Greenie on eBay and started cleaning it up. It was missing a few key items such as a Jacob's chuck, blade guards, and a decent saw blade. So I was kind of looking for those parts when I stumbled upon this treasure in a dark garage.



I was not all that excited about the Shopsmith, but I could not believe all the accessories. Most of them had been barely used. There was a jig saw, a jointer, a belt sander, a shaper, a molder, and a band saw. Then there were all the smaller parts, a drum sander, a couple of faceplates, a mortising set, a grindstone, two unused saw blades, a dado set, lots of knives for the molder and shaper, chisels, sanding disk with many sheets of sandpaper. drill bits, the safety kit, and the Jacob's chuck and upper and lower blade guards I was looking for. Even more amazing, many of the smaller tools were still in sealed boxes, and the larger tools were very lightly used. I felt like it was 1980 and I at a Shopsmith warehouse and said I'll take one of everything.

Some things need a little work, and here is what I was able to get done tonight in just a few hours.

The tool in the worst shape was the belt sander, so I started with it. Ironically, it was still in the Shopsmith box, and I don't know if it was even used. Unfortunately there was some water damage that rusted the table. Fortunately, I learned how to take care of that thanks to all of you.



Here I am cleaing the table with a weiler nylon brush and some brasso.



Here it is all cleaned up after just a half hour or so. This was my most difficult clean up job. My peeling Greenie is in the background.



After the beltsander I started on the tubes.

The tubes on this Shopsmith were not nearly as badly rusted as the ones on my Greenie. I polished them by hand with Brasso and old blue jeans. It just took a few minutes. Check out the date/time stamp.

I had polished the top tubes and front bottom tube before getting some pictures. So most of the job was already done, but this was the worst tube. I polished about one foot of this tube before taking the picture.



I just held the blue jean rag like a shoe shine boy. The light rust disappeared almost instantly. What a treat compared to the Greenie.



Here are the finished tubes. The top tubes were even quicker.



I also opened up the bandsaw. It had a sawblade, but I did not see any sawdust inside. I don't think it has been used. There must have been at least a half dozen new bandsaw blades in one of the boxes.



Next I cleaned up the jointer.

Jerry Floren
St. Peter, MN

Like somone mentioned in another thread "Christmas came early". Heck this is Christmas, birthday and Father's day all in one...

bluekayak wrote:The tubes on this Shopsmith were not nearly as badly rusted as the ones on my Greenie. I polished them by hand with Brasso and old blue jeans. It just took a few minutes. Check out the date/time stamp.

I had polished the top tubes and front bottom tube before getting some pictures. So most of the job was already done, but this was the worst tube. I polished about one foot of this tube before taking the picture.



I just held the blue jean rag like a shoe shine boy. The light rust disappeared almost instantly. What a treat compared to the Greenie.



Here are the finished tubes. The top tubes were even quicker.



I also opened up the bandsaw. It had a sawblade, but I did not see any sawdust inside. I don't think it has been used. There must have been at least a half dozen new bandsaw blades in one of the boxes.



Next I cleaned up the jointer.

Jerry Floren
St. Peter, MN

What a haul! Merry Christmas

I tried posting this last night, but ran into some computer problems. With this haul I'd better be careful. I have probably used up all of my good luck karma for the next ten years.

The jointer was the second worst tool, and it just had some discoloration on the table. At least it had been used a little bit.



I cleaned the table with the Weiler nylon brush and Brasso. After about a 1/2 hour, I was satisfied. My Greenie with the paint peeling off of the aluminum is in the background.



I finished the evening off by putting Johnson paste wax on the parts I polished. Then I started looking through the papers.

The great thing is that the manuals for all these tools were included. A couple are in unopened plastic bags. Also included were the three ring binder Shopsmith training course and the hardcover book.

My enthuasism for restoration is switching over to wanting to get started making sawdust. I just have to do a little more cleaning and lubricate the headstocks on my Greenie and the new gray. With the Shopsmith manual, I now know how that is done.

Jerry Floren
St. Peter, MN

Nice find, Enjoy. I dream of such as find.

You lucky dog! GREAT haul there! Congrats!

Don't we all dream of that day. Still had a couple of good finds but just a box of items or two small things. Still looking for that day.
Happy Thanksgiving

I already had a jig saw from my Greenie, but this one is in such good shape.

bluekayak wrote:I already had a jig saw from my Greenie, but this one is in such good shape.

Make sure they both have oil in the crankcase!]not[/B]' rusty!?

Great 'discovery'! Enjoy!!


Ahh! The dilemma of having duplicates of an SPT! What to do with one of them? Which one to 'keep'?

There be craig's list and E.bay. Get replacement funds to get more 'different stuff'.