Share your Magna memorabilia!

[jpdalton]

Inflation Hits Shopsmith!

Unfortunately, a spike in inflation in 1951 ...

Must have been the conflict in Korea.

Good point!

[jpdalton]

I recently purchased this less common Shopsmith tool to add to my collection. It is a 1998 Crafter's Station with the 510 Tables.

You can do a lot of ’smithing even without way tubes!

[jpdalton]

Unused Lamp Attachment

Although Magna was very keen on having a full line of Shopsmith/Magna-branded accessories for their machines, they weren’t necessarily in the business of developing and manufacturing every one of those items. A lot of “consumable” accessories (abrasives, adhesives, lubricants, jigsaw blades) and even some more durable ones (table saw blades, chisels) were manufactured by others, and branded and packaged with the familiar Shopsmith and Magna logos.

Then there were some permanent accessories (the Magna Sprayer/Compressor comes to mind) that also fit this category of externally-manufactured, Magna-branded items - and the lamp featured here is an example of that.

VIMCO was a noted industrial lighting manufacturer of the 20th century (I think they were acquired by Lutron around 2000), and they were contracted by Magna to provide a light fixture to pair with their newly introduced jigsaw attachment for the Model 10ER in 1949. For those who have seen one, the shade had the VIMCO logo molded in, and the switch housing cap was stamped with the Shopsmith logo.

The example pictured below appears to have never been used - there’s not a scratch in the paint, and the mounting bolt was still in its original envelope. The box places this one around 1957 vintage, based on the “Magna Power Tool” label and $6.95 price.
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[jpdalton]

Early Model 10E/ER Saw Blades

I’m sitting at the airport, excitedly awaiting my trip to Dayton today to join the Celebration of Woodworking event this weekend!! So glad to see the vibrancy that the new ownership has brought to the organization…

Anyway, got some time to kill, so it’s a good opportunity to share some pictures and stories. Today’s selection is a set of early 8” circular saw blades that were a stock item with the Model 10 machines.
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The one on the left is from a 10E, compatible with the 1/2” arbor that was standard on these earliest models. On the right is a similar blade from a 10ER, and features the 5/8” hole for that machine’s more robust arbor.

These were produced by Cocker Saw Company in NY - a nearly 100-year-old company at the time, that sadly no longer exists.
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I’ll feature some additional blades from later history of Shopsmith in a future post. See you in Dayton…!