Look Ma, There's Still Room for the Car!

One thing that even the most militant anti-multi-purpose tool woodworker will agree is that the Shopsmith tools will save space in the shop. In the early days of DIYing it was true that a Shopsmith tool could save you money over purchasing individual tools because the five tools together would cost substantially more than the Mark V or the 10er. That's just not the case any more since the influx of cheap Asian tools into the USA.

Those if us with real hands-on experience with the Shopsmith Mark V know that you would actually have to spend more than the cost of the Mark V to purchase the same five tools of the same quality and capacity, but that said very few woodworkers starting out are going to buy all of these five tools. In fact, depending on which avenue of woodworking you head-down you may never need all of these functions.

For example, if cabintmaking is your thing you will no-doubt use the table saw, the sander, perhaps the horizontal boring machine and drill press, but you may never get the chance to do any turning.

A turner will use the saw for stock prep, the drill press for prepping for mounting stock on a chuck and the Horizontal position for sharpening and honing, but for disc sanding? I doubt it.

And don't even get me started on the crafters who want to cut silhouettes of smoking cowboys out of plywood!

No, unless you are interested in doing ANY woodcraft that hits your fancy without limitation, and still have room in your garage for your wife's car, the Shopsmith may not be for you.