Shopsmith is under new ownership!

[kmealy]

Don't have many details, just got a one liner e-mail.  Still in the same location up north of Dayton.

[Gene Howe]

Saw an interview with the new owner. There will be some changes to their business model. But the machines themselves remain true Shopsmiths. 

[Larry Buskirk]

 

[kmealy]

 

RLF Brands - Wikipedia

EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

 

[John Morris]

Ya know the new ownership really shows. There is a new shine on the company, from the website to the promos to even the pricing, plenty of deals and price breaks. Also they are hitting the woodworking shows circuit really good and in social media they are all over the place. We have a new gen man in Nick Cupps and he understands "promotion". If there was ever a good chance for this company to succeed, it's right now.

 

Reality is, you could have a woodworking machine that can build a dresser on voice commands, it aint going anywhere unless you promote, and that is something old Shopsmith was failing at I always thought, from their outdated website, to their outdated attempts at promoting the machine.

 

There is still an outdated facet to the company, they still have the older generation men in the official Shopsmith videos, and I am glad they kept them there, I love watching them, has kind of a Mr. Rogers feel to it.

[kmealy]

A number of years ago, I was very active in a Shopsmith User's group online.  I got really busy with my new company and there was one guy who had a personality that I detest, a "Know-it-all."   He would constantly comment on stuff injecting his opinion.  There were actually a couple of get-together sessions / seminars at the Shopsmith factory.  I got to know one of the other guys pretty well.  He eventually left his job at a university and became an on-the-road demonstrator/sales rep.  Although he was very successful, he got laid off.  SS also used to always have a tent at the Ohio State Fair and I visited there annually.  It's been quite a while since I've seen them there, though.  I drive by the factory regularly and it has dramatically shrunk in size.  They used to have a storefront there and it's been closed for quite a while, too.  On my last factory tour, they were very much into "just in time" manufacturing.  They had one 25' or so line for the main assembly, then after lunch they'd split up into separate workstations for the accessory units.  Each of which was about the size of a one-car garage.   They also had hardware bins on a wall.  They sales rep (from Cincinnati) would stop in on Thursday or so and inventory parts.  If they were at one level, he'd order them for delivery on Monday.  If they were critically low, they'd send out the parts for same day delivery (about an hour or hour and a half drive time).

 

I always had to chuckle when the demonstrators showed how to do a compound miter on the table saw (for like a picture frame), they'd hold up the two pieces as say how exactly it fit together.   Any idiot could make one corner, let me see you do 4 sides  of a tray or picture frame and get them all to fit gap free.

 

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

As a young man in the 60s i saw several of their demos, usually over at Tri County shopping center (now Tri County mega mall, I guess). I have to admit I was always impressed with their machine and what the reps could do with it. The only part I could never get past was the table tilting for a bevel cut.

[John Morris]

18 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

The only part I could never get past was the table tilting for a bevel cut.

It is un-nerving at first, but ya get used to it.

[Larry Buskirk]

2 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

The only part I could never get past was the table tilting for a bevel cut.

You mean there's another way? 

[John Morris]

33 minutes ago, Larry Buskirk said:

You mean there's another way? 

Spoken like a true die hard TILTY!

[Larry Buskirk]

16 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

The only part I could never get past was the table tilting for a bevel cut.

Not a whole lot different than using a Band Saw, Scroll Saw, or Drill Press for doing angles. 

15 hours ago, John Morris said:

It is un-nerving at first, but ya get used to it.

Even more FUN when using a Moulding Head. 

13 hours ago, John Morris said:

Spoken like a true die hard TILTY!