Shopsmith?

A

akey

Well-Known Member
Anybody ever used a Shopsmith for general woodworking? My stepdad purchased one at an estate sale and said I could have it if I want it. I had never heard of them before but apparently its a combo of a band saw, lathe, drill press and possibly other attachments.

Shopsmith Mark V
•Delivers 5 Tool Functions
• Table Saw • Lathe
• Disc Sander • Drill Press
• Horizontal Boring Machine
•Conventional AC Motor
•1-1/8 hp at 120V
•Mechanical Speed Control Dial
•700 rpm to 5,200 rpm
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Here is what one looks like:

131703-438x.jpg
 
Yes, GET IT!
My experience is with the 6 x 48 sander that I purchased and hooked a motor to.
Those are still made today and you can do many different knife related wording working procedures on a shop smith. The Drill press, Lathe and table saw will all come in handy.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
Thanks for the input Laurence! Once my mother told me about it and I started looking in to it I thought I might have hit a jackpot. It has been sitting in their shop collecting dust. I have access to a pretty good chunk of family land that has all sorts of dead and downed trees on it due to a drought a few years ago as well as a pecan orchard that has some dead and down trees. I have been thinking of going out there to see if I could find anything interesting to cut up.
 
I have one that my dad bought off a guy he works with for $150 and gave to me when I first bought my house. I basically dismantantled the whole thing, stripped all of the rust, re-primed and painted it, and rebuilt a couple of parts in the head stock.
I used it as a drill press and a disc sander for a while, and even built my NWGS with it. The horizontal boring feature came in handy once or twice, and I've even used the table saw a few times. It also came with a jointer and a bandsaw, but they both need some more work.

Now, all that being said, it is a jack of all trades, but a master of none. While it's far better than having nothing, once I started getting dedicated tools (drill press, sander, etc...) I noticed that I stopped using the shopsmith as often. I wasted too much time with setups just to take it back down for a tool change after 4 minutes of use. My dad was heavily into woodworking way back when, and he sold his shopsmith for that very reason.
The motor on mine (1HP I think) is really underpowered for moderate/heavier work, but if you take light passes, it works. If you plan on ripping down a 2x4, you'd better make sure you have a sharp blade!

I've also been having some issues with my speed control (part of what I had to rebuild) and it's still not quite working where I want it too. I just kind of stopped fooling with it.

That said, if the machine is in good shape (looks like it is), it really isn't a bad investment for a starter tool. I think if you get into doing a lot of detailed jobs or production work, you'll probably end up wishing you had the dedicated machines. I haven't used mine in over a year. YMMV
 
akey said:
Thanks for the input Laurence! Once my mother told me about it and I started looking in to it I thought I might have hit a jackpot. It has been sitting in their shop collecting dust. I have access to a pretty good chunk of family land that has all sorts of dead and downed trees on it due to a drought a few years ago as well as a pecan orchard that has some dead and down trees. I have been thinking of going out there to see if I could find anything interesting to cut up.
Click to expand...

At the price of free! How can you go wrong? It will get you started and you can add other tools later If you like? Some Spaulted or otherwise Pecan wood sound like great handle material!

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com

www.rhinoknives.com
 
My dad bought one just like yours brand new. He loved it used it until he died. I inherited it and used it for many years mostly on wood projects. I just recently passed it on to our oldest son. He loves it too. For knifemaking I mostly used the band saw and 12" disc attachments.
 
The ShopSmith was designed and marketed to returning vets of WWII.
They had learned many trades in the services and this machine would fit in a tiny one car garage that all the new housing tracks had. They could do a lots of different things for around the house with it.

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
I bought a grinder off a fellow that used his as his primary knife grinder. He had a wheel mounted on the shaft(variable speed) and put an idler /tracking wheel on it to complete the package.
I wish I had one that had the bandsaw on it. They are very rigid and very valuable to split blocks for handles.
 
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