Shopsmith Forums

So here's the story.
I recently bought a shopsmith on a whim from someone leaving town that day. The guy said it could be 20 years old. I knew nothing and had no time to research. I knew they were over three thousand new and I thought that $400 was burning a hole in my wallet. I bought it without even running it. Wives get a little unhappy when you come home with this type of thing. But hunny it has a bandsaw and a jointer too. I ended up with a serial number that dates Dec 1954. Hell I wasn't born until 1964. Good news, it runs. Oh it's green all right, but in pretty darn good condition, really.
I started a bookshelf project for my son, mostly a tablesaw thing. I have my wife come out and help me cut to length a 10' 1x12. She is a little freaked out by the raw blade and lack of safety features. Hmm I hadn't noticed, but now that you mention it...So I tell her I can keep the bansaw and jointer and sell the unit for maybe close to the original price and get something safer. Then I told her I wanted to teach my son how to use it. That sort of sealed the deal about an upgrade. The search began.
I finally stumble on a newer model locally, too excited to look at everything, give the guy $100 and can pick it up in 30 days. It had all kinds of stuff! I seemed to have failed to mention it to the wife for a couple weeks. Finally I show her the on lines pics ect and tell her this one would be the ultimate purchase and the guy said its maybe 9-10 years old. She said you maybe should get it before someone else does....
Bingo, so I get to pick it up and bring it home. Now I have 2 in my garage and haven't completed one thing yet. I was looking at all the accessories and it occured to me to check the serial number for a build date. I'll be, I think instead of a 10 year old 520, I have a 1988 510 with a 520 upgrade. Unbelievable that A-I didn't check, B-I seem to trust everyone who sells something and C-I probably deserve it anyway. Someone tell me if I really got a good deal, so few shopsmiths are for sale in our area.
I guess it's a 1988 510/520 conversion, bandsaw, jointer, planner, dust coll, belt sander, grinder set up, router package, shaping stuff, drum sander kit, dado set up, 5 pushblocks, miter pro kit, 5 lathe tools, 5 bit drill bit set, crosscut table, jointer knives and some sanding disks and misc stuff and even an apron. $2100
Now I'm so excited to build something but can't afford wood. And now my brain is thinking, sell the old cast bandsaw and jointer and keep the other unit for a power station. I'm trying to figure out the justification here and spin it into a safety issue...I'm a horrible husband.
What is the best thing to make for my wife, to soften her up? I am a shopsmith novice.
Should I even consider keeping the Green machine?

Unless you are in dire need of money - sell nothing. Keep it all until you work out how you want to set up your shop. When you can really determine what you need/want, than you can start culling. Just my 2 cents. Alec

Sounds like a pretty good deal. With all the SPTs and accessories. Tell us where you are located by updating your profile and that would help determine just how good of a deal.

I second Alec's suggestion. Hang on to it. I wish I had a second even a 10ER or a second greenie would be very helpful at times.

Wood will come along, especially if you have a planer and jointer. Used pallets carefully taken apart are a great source of hard wood. Cut offs, scraps, recycled furniture and throw aways. Wood is everywhere. Of course if a really nice project for the wife comes around, that tends to free up resources as well. (It has to be her idea though)

Your story isn't all that different than mine. I bought a 1970s 500 that needed work. Quickly I realized that I wanted the bigger table and some of the accessories, and also noticed that some clever bargaining/purchasing/selling could net me what I was looking for. After the 4th swap my wife stopped asking

Congratulations, and welcome to the forum.

I also picked up what I thought was an original 520 this past weekend off of Craigslist. It turned out to be a 93 510 that had been upgraded. But I didn't care. As far as I am concerned a 520 is a 520. So now I have a 520 and a greenie. I'll keep both because the greenie was my fater-in-law's and you can't get diddly-squat for a greenie anyway.
If you wanted to recoup some cash you could sell one of the bandsaws. They sell pretty good on feEbay. Same for a jointer if it's in good shape.

Sincerely,

Ron309753

I would keep them both. Maybe turn the older 50's vintage machine into a mini for powering some of your SPT's. I have 3 Shopsmiths now. In the process of rebuilding the third one at the moment. I got it for next to nothing with DC 3300 dust collector. It needed a complete headstock rebuild but no biggie as this will be the third one for me.

I agree... keep both! I've found that the only thing better than a Shopsmith is multiple Shopsmiths.

I understand your problem with wood. I have that problem myself. I've successfully salvaged wood from pallets and made some neat things with them.

heathicus wrote:...
I understand your problem with wood. I have that problem myself. I've successfully salvaged wood from pallets and made some neat things with them.

Especially the blue ones. They are oak.

They make good firewood in a pinch, too.

From Wikipedia:

"Discarded wooden pallets should not be used for fire wood or crafts unless it has been determined that the wood in these pallets has not been treated with wood preservatives, fungicides and/or pesticides. Various pyrethrins and propiconazole are common treatments for wooden pallets. In addition, imported palletized goods are routinely fumigated with highly toxic pesticides. During use, harmful materials or chemicals also may spill on the pallet wood and be absorbed."

"Items made from pallet wood are likely to be durable and demonstrate good weather resistance due to these treatments. However, close contact with pallet wood or inhalation of dusts from sanding or sawing can be a source of exposure to pesticide and fungicide chemicals. It is likely that the January, 2010 recall of Johnson and Johnson Tylenol[TM] and other drugs were due to their being stored on wooden pallets that had been treated with the fungicide/pesticide 2,4,6-tribromophenol. This chemical can be degraded by molds to produce 2,4,6-tribromoanisole whose strong, musty odor caused consumers to complain. There is no acute or chronic health data on 2,4,6-tribromoanisole, but it is believed that the contaminated drugs caused nausea and other health effects in some people."

I've made some things from pallet wood, also, but just keep in mind there are risks involved in using wood from unknown sources. Better safe than sorry!

Gary