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When I bought this farm I found an old Shopsmith lathe and got to running. It had few parts for it around so I have kind of cobbled things together, it is a tad redneck but it works. I have yet to buy a 5/8 shaft adapter to allow me to use lathe chucks and I have yet to buy a lathe chuck, but I do have a faceplate and a redneck driver mechanism made from a bolt and lag bolt welded together with a nut slipped over and welded in place and then a washer welded to the nut and bent into a "u" shape. I just drill out a 3/4 inch by 3/16 inch deep hole and run the drive mechanism into the wood and rives the long branch pieces that I use to make handles quite well. It also drives the short branch pieces that I use to make dowels quite well also. It does not drive much of anything else though, well not safely anyways... lol... I realized a couple days ago that the tailshaft was just a regular morse taper so I stole the taper and drill chuck out of my old floor drill press and put that in the tail. I built a "very" redneck tool rest today but it works. This is what I have setup so far... With the addition of the faceplate and the tool rest today I was able to try my attempt at an actual project. I figured I might try a simply vase to test out the Western White pine wood and the faceplate attachment and lastly the ability to drill with the stationary tailstock drill chuck. I was sent to town to go the store earlier so I was unable to complete the project but I will get back to it tomorrow and see if I can get it drilled out. I have to haul another load of willow and poplar logs back home to feed the mill but I should have time to play around on the lathe I hope. This what I have so far on my simple vase test. I sanded up a little bit some sandpaper and when I noticed the shine I grabbed an old piece of leather I removed from a saddle repair and ran that over it a bit and increased the shine a little bit more. I got a little carried away with the pressure, the leather actually started smoking. I wasn't concerned about until I stopped the piece and noticed how hot the wood got and then noticed a small hairlinf crack in it. So one wants to watch how much heat they create in sanding and polishing apparently. I found some large Western White pine logs that I had forgotten about down below my dam yesterday and I have a some decent pile of branches as well, I am going to get those collected before snow falls and get them in the shop to practice on this winter. I have dead dry willow out along the county road I want to get as well that should be turnable as well. I have a several; trailer loads of green willow and green poplar right now, I am going to try to learn how to dry it and I will go ahead and set aside a few dozen logs to dry out over the next year or so. I also cut down a dead apple tree yesterday that my goats ate and killed about a year and a half ago, still a little green in some of it but most of it is pretty dry. Anyone ever try to turn spruce? I have a fair bit of dead standing spruce, I don't much like milling it as it is about pitchiest wood I have ever seen, it literally just oozes out while I am cutting boards. But the dead dry trees might actually work for turning, they have that severely twisted grain that does a 306 circuit about every 3 to 5 feet and often half natural splits in the center that could make for some interesting looks in a turned piece. Can I cut wood into lathe blanks green and then paint the ends for drying? This is the setup I made for my mill to cut lathe blanks, I cut a few dozen poplar blanks a few years back but most of them cracked to badly to useable. If I paint the ends will that solve the cracking issues or should I leave them in log form and cut the lathe blanks when dry? Might as well throw in a picture of my dowel turning setup, I make dowels to use as fasteners on the private bridges that I build, store bought dowel material is expensive so I made this simple little setup from an old cross slide vice and an old flat file. Handy little bugger, makes dowels quick and easy..

I was on the Shopsmith web site the other day and noticed that they have a bunch of free plans. Well, almost. Most of them are 404. I decided to order a catalog while I was there. First off, the address was hand-written. They I saw the prices. They want $1700 for the tables only to upgrade from the Mark V to Mark 7 version. Cripes, that's more than I paid for my whole Unisaw. Many aging boomers and older dying or giving up the shop due to health or other reasons after owning them for decades. Most (realistically priced) ones I have see go for $300-500 with a couple of the extra tools (bandsaw, jointer, or belt sander). I go by the old plant regularly and it seems every time I see it, it's getting less and less of the building. They don't even have a storefront any more and I have not heard of the on the road sales/demos in a dozen years. A friend of mine was actually one of those guys and was a top performer until he got laid off.

Great time to pick up a brand new drum sanding kit for your Shopsmith! This Week's Deal! WWW.SHOPSMITH.COM Special Limited-Time Savings From Shopsmith

Perusing Craigslist and found this wonderful example of a Shopsmith 10ER here in So Cal. And it's sister sitting beside it, both for $350.00. The ER in front was restored, if only I was ready to go down that road, I'd a snapped it up in a heart beat! Love the way they look.

I was browsing a 1936 Popular Science magazine (Google has digitized them way back) and saw an ad for a 6-in-1 tool by General Electric. Very interesting. Unable to post the ad, but here's one for auction. https://woamadison.hibid.com/lot/69457-57111-18857/general-electric-5kh29da3-workshop-combo/

Just received an email for Shopsmith dado stacks, not bad on the pricing! Considering the high quality of their regular table saw blades, I bet these dado sets are pretty nice too. See here at: This Week's Deal! WWW.SHOPSMITH.COM Special Limited-Time Savings From Shopsmith

Since I purchased my Shopsmith last Summer, it seemed to lack a bit of power for what seemed to me to be regular ripping tasks of hard wood. It seemed to bog down a tad, and I just figured that issue would be fixed when I decide to get a dedicated outlet for it, as Shopsmith highly recommends. Over the last few months I'd turn the SS on and the garage lights would dim briefly, so I figured man I really need that dedicated outlet. Two weeks ago, our Washer and Dryer stopped working, and our stove/oven stopped as well. Long story short, the stove/oven circuit board got fried, and the Washer and Dryer fortunately has some pretty good protection for wonky power surges etc, so they just needed to be reset. But before the repairman fixed our range, we had an electrician come out and see what the heck is going on. It took him all of 3 minutes to track the issue down to a loose neutral at the box outside. The neutral wire even had some crusted burn marks on it, through conversation with us and his years of experience, he came to the conclusion that the last guy (another electrician who wired my garage for 220v machinery over 10 yrs ago) must of left the job incomplete. The rest of the job was fine, but he did not get it all tightened back up. Our current electrician replaced the neutral, and inspected all the wires in the box, went through them, made sure they were all tight, and closed it all back up, did his testing at our home outlets that seemed affected, and meanwhile I asked him for an estimate to run a dedicated outlet for my Shopsmith. He told me, "sir, run your Shopsmith for a few days, I bet after the work I just did, you'll see a good improvement in your machine, and your lights won't dim anymore when you start it up, and if you don't see an improvement call me back, I'd be glad to wire you up". He also explained to me that "dedicated" only means that you aren't running anything else on the outlet, I told him the only thing I run on that outlet is the garage door opener, and he stated, as long as the garage door isn't opening at the same time I'm running the Smith, then I got a dedicated line already. Ok, I'll buy that. He walked out the door 90 bucks later, and I gotta say, it was the best 90 bucks I ever spent! The next day I fired up my Shopsmith and put some oak through it, and it ripped so clean and quick, and I put a few more pieces through my Smith that typically would bog it down, and she worked like a champ! Sliced through my material like butter. Just like on the Shopsmith videos. And my lights did not even flicker. I am very happy, and I have a family electrician I'll call when I need one again. And spread the word.

A nice sale going on for those in the market for a new motor. This Week's Deal! WWW.SHOPSMITH.COM Special Limited-Time Savings From Shopsmith

@Gene Howe what do you see in this machine? Taking the machine images at face value, assuming everything works, would this be a good deal? https://inlandempire.craigslist.org/tls/d/shopsmith-mark-5-tablesaw/6645360301.html

Boy these Cornhole games sure are popular. Our neighbor's daughter is getting married this May and they asked me if I could build a couple Cornhole boards for them, they are going to have games at the wedding reception. I only first heard of this game because of @John Moody, John is the resident Cornhole builder in our community. So I know what little I do know by John's work, and I just scanned the internet really quick to get the regulation sizes of everything and I set to building their boards from wood I had left over from other projects. I have not had a full day in the shop in two years, really, no kidding, life has been quite a challenge and I was so happy to just get this day to make some dust on such a basic project, I loved it. I had my folk music going in the shop, a little bit of Johnny Cash, some Del McCoury and Bill Monroe, and tapered the day off with Hank and Waylon, man what a joyous day. It was just one of those days that lined up perfectly to do some "me" time and the family was completely ok with it. Also, I got to really get into my Shopsmith! And what a blast I had with it. So, I know they are just Cornhole boards, but what's more important, is that I had a day of fun, so if you want to see some boards, read on! I set up my outfeed table configuration to handle some mid size panels for the Cornhole boards. Ripped a couple pre-prefinished 3/4" panels I had left over from a prior project, I am getting used to my Shopsmith today. I then set up my outfeed table to handle ripping some narrow boards, the table needs to be set at the center of the table saw or in line with the blade, it was a quick operation, part of using these Shopsmith's is knowing what they are capable of, and how to maximize their ability, I am not there yet, I am only discovering the surface of what these machines are capable of. I pushed the oak boards through with minimal effort. Then I joined each board just to clean up the edges and to have a nice mating edge to the underside of the surface board. I need to align my Shopsmith fence as you can see a tad burning on the oak edge. I have not adjusted my Shopsmith yet since I purchased it, the gent I bought it from had it sitting in his garage for 15 years with no use, so no doubt I need to tune up the alignment. I have however oiled the sheeves and other areas and I tensioned the drive belt to specs before I used it. I used good ol pocket holes to mount the sides of the boards up to the surface board. I drilled out all my pocket holes first. Then I set to screwing the boards to the underside of the Cornhole deck. I swear Shopsmith and Rigid have a secret relationship, because my Rigid Shopvac hose is the perfect size for the table saw dust port, and the jointer dust port. I cut a small radius on the end of the back cornhole board legs, so they'll fold up and down easily. This bandsaw is really nice, I can't believe how something small and seemingly very simple in design, is so accurate and easy to use. I aint kidding folks, I like it better than my 15" Grizz I had. A very strong feature of the Shopsmith is the Drill Press operation, it's sweet, I like it, I am happy. Quiet, accurate, with an adjustable table for in and out, and up and down and of course since the power head operates the Drill Press, it's variable speed. Drilling the holes out for the carriage bolts. The back folding legs are mounted, you flip them up and lock them down by tightening the wingnuts, I used a 5/16" carriage bolt, washer and wingnut. Legs up. I still have to cut out the 6" diameter Cornholes, but mission basically accomplished. Our neighbors should like them, she is going to paint a mural on the deck of the Cornhole board, I think the LA Dodgers symbol. Any my baby put to sleep, she did well today, I was please with the operations, and I became more efficient at the changeovers, I am getting good at operating my Shopsmith, and it's turned out to be a great machine for my purpose, and, mama gets to park her car in the garage now! I hope John Moody approves of the way I made these boards, and if anyone has any tips on the building Cornhole boards I am all ears, I may do some for my family as well, not sure yet, depends if the kids want them or not. If you want to build your own boards, here is the site that John Moody directed me too, they have all the information and specs for them there. https://www.playcornhole.org/ Thanks for sharing a part of my day with me folks.

I found the Achilles heel of my Shopsmith, the casters, they are horrible! They are a beast to roll around. Any Shopsmith folks with any advise, I'd sure appreciate it.

A good friend of mine has been wintering in AZ from Canada for around 15 years. He has a large, very well equipped shop near Victoria BC but, space was at a premium in the retirement community in AZ. So, he discovered the Shopsmith. What he has done to make his small shop in AZ into a fully functioning woodworking enterprise is nothing short of amazing. He now has some health issues that has necessitated that he close his AZ shop in order to stay in Canada, close to his National health care medical facilities. He is offering his AZ shop equipment for sale (this post is not a sales pitch) and has posted a blog on Lumberjocks that explains exactly how he transformed a small carport into a great work area using the Shopsmith as his main tool. It's well worth a look. I'll post the blog address but, because Lumberjocks is kinda jealous of their content, a link won't work. It'll have to be a C&P job. But, it truly is worth your time. Enjoy. http://lumberjocks.com/shipwright/blog/27373

I am not in the market for a router table, I sold mine last fall, don't need one, but I just thought I'd share my amazement with what Shopsmith has available for our machines. I did not know they made a router table, very cool. Anyone own one? @Artie ? http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/catalog/rm_routertable.htm

For years, I had hoped to teach some of my off spring just something I had learned from watching videos, YouTubes, reading books and forums and it seemed hopeless until today. Yes, he is only 12 and I allowed him to use the skew chisel to put a couple lines around the handle. Here he is sanding. I am so sorry that I did not get a picture of him with the skew in his hand. First picture he is sanding on top of the handle, second is under the handle. Now, he is anxious to turn. I have some stuff for him to do but it will have to be dry and warm again. Steve

Any Shopsmith owners, @Gene Howe etc, can you tell me if a universal live center will fit a Shopsmith lathe tailstock or does only the SS live center fit the tailstock assembly? Thanks!

Can the stand alone SS surface planer be converted to an accessory planer?

Cleaning up my garage today, I was going through my blade collection. I've had this blade hanging on my wall for about 15 years. I never could figure out the oversized arbor hole. Till now! Seems my Shopsmith destiny was written long ago! Note logo at top. Just today I noticed the logo.

I ordered the Shopsmith accessories shelf last Sunday and it arrived yesterday. I am very happy with this new addition to my SS. I could have made one, but I did not want too, plus I wanted the factory fit and finish with the CNC slots for many of the basic accessories for my SS. The shelf is made of solid Pine at 1 1/4" thick, very sturdy. It bolted up to the lower legs very nicely. I am impressed with the SS quality thus far, all the way down to this shelf. My small things were starting to get scattered in my work area as I am completely unorganized right now, and I needed something quick to organize before I started losing "stuff". This did the trick, very pleased with it.

I am curious, I have looked all over for an example of a Mark V mounted on a cabinet roll away similar to the 10er's. But have found none. I am curious why? I see plenty of SS's with a cabinet built to sit underneath, but what I am looking for are any ideas for building one that the Mark V can set on, thus eliminating the factory legs. It seems simple enough, but there must be a variable in design I am not seeing, that prevents this from happening. Any help is greatly appreciated. Shopsmith 10er on table, can this be done with a Mark V? Now just imagine a Mark V, I'd like to build a roll away cabinet for the Mark V to sit on, with drawers and doors. And flip down stop caster axles incorporated somehow, so just like the Mark V stand, with a flick of my foot, the cabinet rest on the ground.

Reading a recent thread on saw blades, I noted several people with Shopsmiths. Can we start a discussion on this? Hi, I'm Keith, and I'm a Shopsmith owner. (all) "Hi, Keith." I started off many years ago without much direction, not knowing any woodworkers. I grew up with a Homecraft table saw that I believe my father bought when he (with a lot of help and subs) built the house I grew up in. I started out on an apartment balcony and storage room with a drill, a hand saw, a few chisels and screwdrivers, a hacksaw and a cheap wood plane. I made a number of things with them, including bookcases, TV stand, cradle, camp kitchen and other small pieces. A few years later, I added a B&D cheap circular saw and jig saw. Built some more bookcases. My first saw was a small (8") table top table saw. Don't remember the brand. Worked ok, but quickly outgrew as I got more into woodworking. Sold it to a co-worker. Then I got a Craftsman RAS because in reading a book was amazed at all the things it could do. Well it was a piece of craft -- wouldn't stay aligned. This was in the day before Taiwanese imports. So about the only choices were Craftsman or more industrial equipment like Delta/Rockwell. So as I was getting more serious, my BIL talked me into a Shopsmith. He'd had one for 20 years as his sole machinery. Got the MarkV (later known as a 500), band saw, jointer package. Worked fine. Then went to a class with Roger Cliffe. He convinced me a Unisaw would be a good idea. By that time, the 510 was out with larger and more tables, but I decided to take that substantial upgrade money into a new machine. I do still use it and it's a fine machine for most other functions -- drill press, horizontal boring, disk and belt sander, band saw (though smallish). I was also active in an early Shopsmith forum and user group. They're about 1 hour north of me. But they keep getting smaller and smaller as I go driving by. Retail store is closed. A friend used to be a traveling pitch man and got laid off. Don't see them at the malls or fairs any more. I have had several factory tours and the factory gets smaller and smaller each time. Part of it is lean and JIT manufacturing, but probably part of it is lower volume. I was also a bit surprised to see that most of their components are fabricated elsewhere and they really just do some final milling on some pieces and assembly. But, I digress. I ended up with a new Unisaw. I was amazed that it was so easy to set the rip fence for width. I did not have to go to one table for narrow widths, aux table dropped down for intermediate, and aux table at same height for wider rips. And bevel cuts were done with blade tilt, not bed tilt. About the same time, a Cat5 tornado went through the family farm and my dad, who was taking a lot of the blow-downs for firewood, saved me a number of ash, hickory, and butternut trees for lumber. Soon after, I needed a planer. Ryobi had the first and only lunchbox planer out and the dealer convinced me that they're only expected to last a few years. SInce I only had 120V in the shop, that narrowed it down to a Hitachi F1000A jointer-planer combo. Still have that and use it regularly. About this time the RAS was only being used for a table for holding wood parts, so got rid of it. My wife also reminds me that "free" lumber cost a trailer and a planer. Somewhere in there, I got a PC 690 router. The B&D I'd gotten a couple of years before self-destructed its motor. So I'm learning cheap tools were not a bargain. Norm started his show and it seemed he never changed bits, he just had another router with that bit in it. That was my only router for many years. Even went to a class where I felt inadequate when the instructor asked for show of hands, "Who has 1 router? 2? 3? 4? 5? 6 or more?" A few years later, I was doing a large picture framing job for an artist. The frames were quite large and elaborate, with compound mitered corners, so I sprung for a miter saw (Hitachi, still in use). Not absolutely necessary, but useful. As far as portable power tools, I started out with Porter-Cable and found them good, with the except of a POS detail sander. When B&D - Stanley ended up taking over, quality went to Joe Garage, so I've expanded out to Bosch, Hitachi, Makita, DeWalt whatever. Lately, I got a Delta band saw from a guy who passed and his son was a friend, and a spindle sander from another friend down-sizing, retiring, and moving. Along with a few other pieces picked up here and there. What's in your shop and how did it get there? So, I guess I'm not really brand loyal, but looks for what is reasonable at the time, or I run across as a used piece of equipment.

For a lid for the latest rifle case, mesquite was selected. Love that stuff but, it can be challenging. All my mesquite of the required length and width is milled at a full 8/4. Nice for tables and such but not for box lids. So, it was resaw time. My Shopsmith band saw is limited to 6" of resaw capacity and the lid needs to be 6.75" ( I ripped it to 7.5") so, I used the table saw and got most of it cut. Had about 1.5" left in the middle. No problem. It's only 48" long. Whipped out the Disston and went to work. At about the sawblade's depth, internal stresses grabbed it and everything stopped. Finally got it freed and tried a Ryoba 9 tpi. 4 or 5 strokes and it got stuck. Took two wedges and a mallet ( No, not any of those, Lew) to get it loose. Time to skin the cat. After 4 cups of coffee...Coffee makes pondering easier...I concluded a trip to town was in order. Came home with a Skil recip saw and a 10" blade. In five minutes the job was done. That saw brooks no nonsense. And, now reasonably wide resaws are no longer a problem. And, Gene's got another new tool. A real cat skinner.