The goal of this blog is to help connect buyers and sellers of Shopsmith tools. Some of these links will take you to eBay RSS feeds, which can even be subscribed to if you wish, while other links lead directly to an item on the web. Please let us know how we can improve this tool, and if there are links we should add. You'll find Mark V's, 10Er's, Bandsaws, Jointers, Planers and even the rare Mark VII and Sawsmith! Got a Shopsmith for sale? Send us a note and we'll list it here for free.
When I started working as an in-store sales rep in Shopsmith Inc.'s Factory Showroom back in the Spring of 1987 one of the most impressive things Shopsmith had going for itself wasn't just that they had 45 retail stores and growing, or that they published a popular national magazine titled "Hands-On!" or even that they had recently added the new and greatly improved Shopsmith Mark V model 510 to the line-up. No, the most impressive thing to me at Shopsmith was the fact that every one of the Shopsmith retail stores had a section carved out for hands-on training by at least one full-time shop teacher, known as the Academy Instructor. It was around this same time that Shopsmith was made aware that they were the largest private employer of full-time shop instructors! The then president of Shopsmith Inc, John Folkerth, was smart enough to know that selling someone a tool wasn't enough, but that the tool wasn't living up to its full potential until it was being used and enjoyed and that personally guided education was an important piece of the puzzle.
Fast forward a few months I found myself the newest and youngest Shopsmith store manager as what we called the "Boston" store, in Chelmsford, MA. For the first few months of the stores' existence, we sold tools with the promise that as soon as we could find and train someone to be our Academy instructor we would begin conducting classes. But as the months dragged on and on we discovered that what was reasonable and customary pay for an Academy in most parts of the US was ridiculously low in New England. We actually started flying in instructors from our stores in Albany, NY and Cincinnati just to stem the flow of folks who were threatening to return their tools because we weren't living up to our promise of training and support.
It really was an exciting time! I started conducting the weekly Thursday night "Sawdust Sessions" and when one visiting instructor wound-up doubled-over sick in his hotel room for the weekend I jumped-in and conducted the "Fundamentals of Woodworking Class" by myself, while my Assistant Manager, Matt Kottman took over the sales floor. Not only did we hire one instructor, Norm Rose, but shortly after we hired a second instructor, Bill Carrol and a third expert named Bill Donahue. We became the only Shopsmith showroom that stayed open seven days a week and if Norm wasn't teaching, Bill C. was teaching, and regardless of who was teaching Matt and Bill D. and I were there offering additional support. (See photo from Dec 1999)
Shopsmith "Boston" store team, Dec 1989 L to R (standing) Bill Carrol, Matt Kottman,
Bill Donahue, Me (Scott Markwood) Sitting on rocking horse, Norm Rose.
The Boston Academy was one of the few Academy's to give the Dayton Ohio based Factory Academy a run for its money. The Academy in Indianapolis, under Tom Newkirk and Tom Flack, The Academy in Cincinnati under Ted Denman and a few others were also super-busy, but we were setting company records for enrollments and tools sales every quarter.
Norm Rose teaching turning at Shopsmith "Boston" Academy 1989
During this same time, I also become the proud owner of a Shopsmith Mark V during our showroom's October 1987 grand opening, so if I wasn't making sawdust at work I was making it at home. In 1989 I got word that there were some changed going on at the Factory Academy in Dayton and I was asked if I was interested in seeing if I could duplicate what was happening in Boston back in Dayton. We moved back "home' to Dayton and got things going there. Everything was changing back then at Shopsmith. They had grown to 50 stores and were about to launch an ambitious transition from exclusively Shopsmith branded tools to a concept called "Woodworking Unlimited".
Me and Matt working the Shopsmith booth at a Home Show in Woburn, MA Jan. 1988
If you've been in a Woodcraft store in the past 20 years you may have been standing in one of those very Woodworking Unlimited stores. Yeah, there were a lot of changes going on during the mid-90's, not the least of which was a flood on stand-alone Tiwaneese and Chinese woodworking tools. On top of that, home centers were becoming popular, the internet was taking off and retails woodworking stores like Woodcraft and The Woodworkers Store (Now named Rockler) were also starting their expansion.
As they expanded, Shopsmith shrank. Probably a bigger threat than competitive tools was the flood of Shopsmith's own past production that was finding its way back into circulation via eBay and later Craigslist. No longer were owners of their tools forced to return to the mother ship for parts and accessories, but rather they could purchase them used online. Lord knows they are built like tanks and rarely need servicing. That's right, Shopsmith became a victim of their own quality!
Scott Markwood, 2019
Shopsmith began selling off some of their more profitable stores to Woodcraft, many of which simply changed the sign over the door and continued on as usual. Then they closed their non-profitable stores and eventually even closed down the showroom and academy at the factory.
So that leads us to today. The factory is still chugging along slowly but steadily in Dayton, and there are more and more used tools to choose from on the second-hand market. But where can a new owner go for reliable information on the safe set-up and use of these tools?
Conducting a class in LA 2018
For the past twenty years, I have been a corporate trainer for a German cabinet hardware manufacturer, and while I love training people about hardware and LED lighting I just can't get enough time in my shop with my own Shopsmith tools. During this time I have had the desire to conduct classes on Shopsmith equipment, but I just travel too much on business for that to be practical. So I've searched for a platform to conduct online classes and after Youtube's recent "Adpocalypse" and Patreon's nebulous changes I was thinking that I'd never find a suitable platform, but then my son introduced me to what just might be the perfect platform.
Working in my shop with my sister Lisa (AKA "Lysol")
So that's where I have to leave this for now, but if you'd like to be kept in the loop on the upcoming launch of our online Shopsmith-centered woodworking school "MyGrowthRings", please subscribe to our mailing list below. More to come! Scott
Update Jan 2024: the new www.MyGrowthRings.com has launched! Check it out now.
This blog features links to Shopsmith woodworking tools and items that are related to Shopsmith tools which are for sale on the web.
We've been adding a BUNCH of FREE scans of historic Shopsmith articles and ads, and if you happen to have something we should add we'd love to hear from you. Most of these can be seen Biggie-Sized by clicking on them.
Speaking of clicking, if you'd like to enter a comment about one of the posts, please feel free. To do so just click on the bold title line (For example, this post is titled "So, how does this blog work?" If you click on the title it will open that post on its own page. There you can enter a comment, and after I moderate it, you'll see it there for all the world to see and comment back!
Please do me a favor. If you have a blog of your own or are a member of an Internet newsgroup and decide to flatter me by quoting from the text of my entries, please honor me by posting a link to this blog. Thanks and good hunting! Scott
Hey, Scott here. I can't believe how long it has been since I lost posted on this blog, but I just wanted to report in and say "Hey" to those of you who subscribe to the feed or who otherwise check in for new content. As just about always seems to be the case I have purchased yet another Mark V. This time it's a 50 Year Anniversary edition 520 with a bandsaw.
A friend called and said that a friend of his was moving out of the country and needed to find a good home for it so he connected us together via FB and I tossed him the following message:
"I write a Shopsmith related blog and I worked as a trainer for them for about 12 years. I currently own 5 of them and need another one like I need a hole in my head! It is worth more than I can offer, but if it comes down to you needing to sell it before your move I would pay you $750 for her. As I said, see if you can get more for it but let me know if you just need it gone. Scott"
That part about "I write a Shopsmith related blog" is a little hyperbole, but as it turned out he did need her gone, so a few days later I was putting her into my van.
On that note, I think it's worth reminding people who are in the market for used Shopsmith tools that there have been so many different models and variation of the Shopsmith multi-purpose tool as well as several knock-offs that it is important to do your due diligence prior to making a commitment to buy. Make sure that you know the model number and I'd suggest printing out a parts list from the Shopsmith web site to make sure that all major parts are present and accounted for. This Mark V is missing the saw guards and the miter gauge, which would be a disaster for anyone who doesn't have spares hanging around the shop.
So how about you? How goes your Shopsmith tool hunting?
This awesome photo is of Fred from LaCrosse, WI. Fred is turning 92 in October 2014; and by "turning" we mean turning wood on his Shopsmith Mark V. Fred is the first owner of his 1953 era Mark V "Greeny", and from the looks of it he has put it to good use. The pic was snapped by his grandson, Matt, and who graciously shared it with us to share with you. Thanks Matt and "Happy Sawdust" to Fred.
I noticed a Craigslist ad the other night that listed a Mark V (model 500) along with a bandsaw, belt sander and strip sander. The ad listed them all for $500, and seeing that I've been bidding unsuccessfully on a dozen or so SS strip sanders recently, it made sense to pick this up and sell off the tools I don't need.
After making arrangements to inspect the tools, and also confirming that the owner was flexable on his price, my bride and I took the 100 mile trek from High Point NC over to Zebulon (Raleigh).
The owner turned-out to be a nice fellow, and to be fair he inherited the tools and admitted that he didn't know much about them. I smiled as he then proceeded to tell me everything about it, as if he had been a long-time Shopsmith demonstrator. Since he seemed to be having a good time I decided not to interrupt and tell him that I was quite familiar with the tool; and I lived to regret that decision.
He showed me a moulder head and said "It comes with a shaper cutter". He picked-up the table from the beltsander and said "This is a tool rest for the strip sander". This was all harmless, but then he plugged-in the Mark V and started to crank-up the speed dial. The problem was he had a sanding disc mounted on the quill and the belt sander (sans belt, thank goodness) coupled to the outboard side. As the speed passed "Magna Dado" the center of the rubber sleeve on the drive drum of the belt sander started to swell due to centrifugal force, and suddenly it impacted the plastic dust chute and all of a sudden "BANG"! The dust chute flew one direction as pieces of the rubber sleeve flew right into my chest! Thank goodness the chute followed a different path, because that sucker would have left a mark!
Anyway, the seller felt bad enough about his error that I pulled away from his place with a bunch of extra parts and only $340 lighter. It's six hours later and I've already ordered the replacement parts from Shopsmith.com and once I give everything the once-over, the redundant parts will be making their way to eBay.
I wasn't aware that Shopsmith (aka: at the time Magna) had the idea of Cash for Clunkers over 50 years before our Congress! This ad from 1957 called the "Power Tool Round-up" offered a $45 rebate in exchange for a power tool. As I think about it, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea for the current Shopsmith manufacturer RLF Shop to offer just such a trade-in for old Mark V's. This would get those old tools off the street (and Craigs List, and eBay) and would get the factory back to work. Of course, they would have to have something worth swapping for... hey, how about that new headstock? Think about it Bob...
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