Smith #3...I Am not a collector...I am NOT a collector

Well, I just acquired Shopsmith # 3, but I’m not a collector. I can justify this..really. I was able to convince my wife and, after all, thats all that really counts, isn’t it?
It all started with this kitchen, in my lake cottage, built in the mid 1950’s.

I had relegated my old shopsmith to the cottage several years before because, between when I was a kid and learned on it and when I inherited it from my dad, I’d accumulated a bunch of separate tools. I found an entire kitchen full of cabinets from a house being demo-ed to make way for a mini mall, (it’s the American way, isn’t it?) and, since I had the tools at the cottage,

I turned it into this, using the old reliable Smith.

I thought I was done with projects, so I took the Smith home and, having fallen back in love with the machine during our kitchen encounter (no pun intended…ok, maybe) I gave up my separate tools to my kids and decided I’d just use my Smith. I then found another Shopsmith that I intended to keep at the cottage, but I really liked the idea of having 2, one for high speed operations like the table saw and shaper, and the other for low speed ones like the sanders, lathe and drill press….so I kept them both at home.

But I still had some cabinets left, and my wife wanted storage in our little bedroom.
I said I had no tools at the cottage, but had located a very cheap old Shopsmith ($50) not far from the cottage, (timing is everything) and with it I could make her the storage she wanted….which I did.

And since I reminded her that she just might come up with another project, and that I could only do it if I had the tools, she let me keep it.
So that’s the story of how Tommy got Shopsmith # 3 and kept his wife happy. Life can really be beautiful, sometimes…don’t you think? -SST

SST’s SS #3

-- Accuracy is not in your power tool, it's in you