Festool C12

[Steve Maskery]

Two things -

Firstly, I'm afraid that as of yesterday I can confirm that the C12 will survive being dropped 8f onto a concrete floor

Secondly, I think there is a wider point here, about buying quality tools.
If you earn you living by them, then you need the best performance and you build the cost into your business plan. Fair enough. But I think it is a shame when hobbyists say, "I won't be using it much, it's just a hobby". I'm pleased that you are considering a quality purchase even though it's your hobby. If we are spending your leisure time with wood, don't we want it to be as pleasurable as possible? There is little joy in trying to make do with inferior tools.

Whenever I replace my old tools now I am buying the best I can afford. ACtually, the best my wife can afford. So in the last few years I have bought a couple of Veritas planes and a small LN. The pleasure I get just when I pick them up, never mind use them is worth every forgotten penny. I've recently bought 3 dies at £16 each - I just got fed up with struggling with my 5.99 set of taps and dies - 10 times as many pieces and all of them useless.

Whether you buy the green or not, buy quality. It will last and last and serve you well in use during that long lifetime.

It's just a pity that Lidl don't stock Festool, eh?


Cheers
Steve

 

[Oryxdesign]

Two things -

Firstly, I'm afraid that as of yesterday I can confirm that the C12 will survive being dropped 8f onto a concrete floor

Secondly, I think there is a wider point here, about buying quality tools.
If you earn you living by them, then you need the best performance and you build the cost into your business plan. Fair enough. But I think it is a shame when hobbyists say, "I won't be using it much, it's just a hobby". I'm pleased that you are considering a quality purchase even though it's your hobby. If we are spending your leisure time with wood, don't we want it to be as pleasurable as possible? There is little joy in trying to make do with inferior tools.

Whenever I replace my old tools now I am buying the best I can afford.

ACtually, the best my wife can afford. So in the last few years I have bought a couple of Veritas planes and a small LN. The pleasure I get just when I pick them up, never mind use them is worth every forgotten penny. I've recently bought 3 dies at £16 each - I just got fed up with struggling with my 5.99 set of taps and dies - 10 times as many pieces and all of them useless.

Whether you buy the green or not, buy quality. It will last and last and serve you well in use during that long lifetime.

It's just a pity that Lidl don't stock Festool, eh?


Cheers
Steve

Well said

 

[Dan Clark]

...
For the C12 I like it's short body for getting into small places (this may prove useful if I ever get round to doing the kitchen!).
...

Actually the short body is exactly the reason that I bought it. At time time I bought it, I was sistering the joists in a garage and I needed to screw in lag screws in a confined space. It worked great for that.

That said, that' one of the reasons I liked my Makita Impact driver - the short head.

For larger screws, an Impact Driver can't be beat. For general "drilling and screwing" and for smaller stuff - the C12 is the way to go. IMO, of course.

Dan.

 

[Martingchapman]

Full marks to Steve Maskery.
I am a hobbyist so don't need professional quality tools however the fact that I work wood as a hobby means I do it for pleasure.
A large proportion of that pleasure for me is found in using tools that perform their job faultlessly, are accurate but also have that indefinable air of quality about them.
To this end I have (over the last 18 months) been re-equipping my workshop with Festool products, including a C12 with the smallest battery.
The sheer pleasure I feel when I go into the workshop and get to "play" with my Festool CMS system (with the TS75 saw) or the C12 or the PS300 Jigsaw all hooked up to a CTL33 extractor is worth any amount of time spent justifying the (admittedly extraordinary) cost of the kit.

In my opinion there is no doubt that the C12 will do everything you ask of it, it is also the case that there are other very capable drills on the market from other manufacturers that have equal or (dare I say it) better performance, but none of them will give you the same amount of pleasure you will get as when you pick up the C12, balance it in your hand, fit and re-fit the chuck and centrotec drivers and then actually use it to drive in the 16 screws that will secure the castors to the small workshop tool cady you have built.
Following which activity, play time will be over and you will be summoned back into the house to help SWMBO!!

Financially you have no chance trying to justify the cost, emotionally you have no option but to spend the money.

You will only buy a C12 once and you only get one life to enjoy it.

Welcome to the slippery slope that is Festool.

Martin.

 

[ivan]

Wasn't it John Ruskin of Arts and Crafts fame who said something like - If you spend extra on the bees knees, the extra is soon forgotten, but if you save a little on a cheapo, you will remember it's cost exactly, every time you have to use it....

 

[Oryxdesign]

If you only want to drive screws the Bosch 10.8v impact driver is good, very light weight, compact and also does not transfer torque to your arms and wrists. It is definitely my prefered screwdriver