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There's a 510 on Craigslist that I've been eyeballing for about a week and a half, priced at $450, I told my wife I was wanting to try to get it with my "tool fund". Her exact words were "no". Now I've been married for over 20 years so I know that means approach this subject with extreme caution, so I backed off for a couple of days and dropped a couple hints here and there that just got me dirty looks. Got to go easy on this one.

Well I've got today off work but my wife has to go in. She leaves for work and I figure today is a good day to start putting ShopSmith #3 together. So I can show her a new one won't just sit as parts. I just start to pull out the pieces and she calls me on the phone. Seems she saw a garage sale/tool sale in town (she called me and told me instead of telling me to breath and keep on driving!

I grab my "tool fund", hop in the Jeep and head towards town. I don't have very high hopes since it is 2 p.m. and around here the tools are gone fast. I pull in and there is no one else there shopping. I walk into the garage and see one of the best tool sales I've hit in a long time.


First we have a Porter Cable biscuit jointer in perfect shape and a Porter Cable 3 x 21 belt sander. They are the old PC's with metal housings.
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Next we have a whole crap load of taps and dies.

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Scraper, brand new pipe cutter, Old hand drill, etc

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A pile of clamps various sizes, a little rusty from sitting but just a little cleanup and I'm in business.

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I spent $40 on everything. I missed out on the hand planes seems someone stopped in early and grabbed every one. All of these tools are high quality and it seems everything he bought was high quality, (i.e Porter cable hand tools). I talked with the guy for a while, seems Grandpa went in the Hospital and isn't coming out and it's time to clean out the stuff from him and Great Grandpa. They are still going thru the stuff and I will be stopping back in. I asked him if they had any more clamps. He says yeah a couple I haven't gone thru yet, one of them was a ShopSmith brand. The next question was of course - "do you have any ShopSmith stuff?" He tells me that they found an ER in the corner of the basement covered with a tarp that looked brand new. He was going to throw it in the scrap pile because they didn't know what it was. The son told him it looked new so they shouldn't scrap it. They called a friend at church who was into woodworking and he told them what it was. They proceded to give it to him - free. They want the stuff to go to someone who will use them when they can, to honor Grandpa. I tell them if you find anything else ShopSmith put it aside and I'll pick it up. He says no problem. Seems Grandpa made custom staircases one of his bragging points was he built the staircase in Aretha Franklins house in Detroit. I will be going back to look for more goodies.

Man I looked at those photos three times, Jeff, and I cannot find the 510. Is this a where's Waldo kind of thing?

Still working on the 510 I think she tried to snooker me into going to the garage sale to forget about the 510 - it worked for about an hour:D

Well you can't beat the price. Maybe she figures this will take your mind off of the 510.

How can the wife possibly object to picking up a 510 for $450, man that is a real good price especially if has all the parts and accessories. I could understand if it was a 500 model, I got a couple of those just sitting around gathering dust. You need to get her something nice, butter her up, and then you maybe can get the right answer to the 510.

dan1999 wrote:How can the wife possibly object to picking up a 510 for $450, man that is a real good price especially if has all the parts and accessories. I could understand if it was a 500 model, I got a couple of those just sitting around gathering dust. You need to get her something nice, butter her up, and then you maybe can get the right answer to the 510.

Dan. Did you really ask that? How long have you been married? The little woman can object to anything that she sees fit to object to. I've been married 52 years now but I have known that for a long, long time. There is no requirement for logic here.

After 21+years I do know that my logic doesn't always add up with hers. Especially when I have 4 500's 2 rebuilt, 1 apart cleaned and repainted but waiting to clean up the tubes and one in pieces and still dirty. I just have to keep poking away at her slowly and carefully. Hopefully, before it sells

Logic does not co-exist with SWMBO. They run on emotion!;)

I find that when the love of my life is against any of my unbelievable ideas or purchases that if I give up. At the right time a far better option pops into my life and the boss lady seems to be agreeable. Be patient and allow life to be filled with reduced tension and love. Fjimp

I have been married for 35 years and you are absolutely correct logic has very little to do with wives, HOWEVER, grease and a lot of buttering up can do miracles. Hopefully you have got your wife where you want her! Good luck with that.