The Fes fetish

[TEO]

Hi everyone,

Since I'm sure there are lots of people with many opinions on this one, I thought I'd start a new thread.

I appreciate a good, well made and designed machine or hand tool nearly as much as most people and I love finding a tweek or fabricating something that makes life easier.

However, to my mind, fetishising tools puts them in completely the wrong position relative to the work but maybe that's just the Marxist coming out in me.

Maybe when/if I get a domino the slope will suddenly become precipitous and I'll be plunged into an orgy of green

Any thoughts?

T

Don't get sucked into the Fesstool cabal, all a bit Emperor's new clothes.
T

I take it you don't use Festool tools. All my power tools are from them, they work everytime I ask them to, they take seconds to set up, they will do the same precise cut day in day out, there a pleasure to use and increase my work rate.
The price is not an issue, they make the best tools and can rightfully ask there prices. I have given up on DeWalt, Bosch, Makita (except the impact driver) & Metabo. I've had them all and always found myself double checking settings or checking something hadn't come loose.
We should be grateful for a company like Festool who spend so much on R&D and give us carpenters what we need.

You're right, I don't use them, I'll probably get the Domino soon but only if there's no prospect of a clone in the near future. As for the rest, there's nothing they've got that I can't do with the Makita, Metabo and Bosch tools I've got. The Makita impact driver was a revelation.
The Elu flip saw was great for site work but doesn't come out very often anymore.

 

[Peter T]

Too late -

What can I say?? I like them, I can afford them, and I enjoy using them.

I don't have a Domino, yet, but when my trusty DW biscuit joiner gives out I will certainly look seriously at one.

 

[yetloh]

Although I have a couple of Festool tools I do think they are over-priced. My last was the OF2200EB router and it is undoubtedly superbly made and thought out but it has recently had a huge price hike so that it is more than £630 and that is without even a fence. Is it really worth 2 1/2 times the big Dewalt? I don't think so and I wouldn't buy it at its current price even though I love it.

I am fully aware that this is arguably irrational when I have a Holtey plane and some very expensive Japanese chisels but that is somehow different. Festools are mass produced power tools and these top quality hand tools are made by an individual who gives there all to it and for me, deserve there pobably modest reward for giving us something really special. Anyone agree?

Jim

 

[Henning]

It's a tough one. On one hand, the Festool stuff is very high in price.
on the other hand, it's absolutely great to have stuff which works togheter to make the sum larger than the sum of single components.
I guess that sort of justifies the price for me.
And the fact i like to own the best available tools
Now only have to get the skills up to the same level as the kit.

 

[wizer]

I do agree Jim. They are silly money. I do think they deserve to be the most expensive of all their counterparts. But not by the current margin. It's ridiculous.

Which is why I'll only be buying Festool stuff second hand, at the right price

 

[JoinerySolutions]

Mmmmmm! :-k

Yes, Festool cost more. My old Elu tools cost more than their competitors at the time I bought them, some are still in use without a break down 14/16 years later.
They also do their job exceedingly well.
They all work together in Festools "system" approach to tooling. Therefore an accessory for one tool will often opererate in conjuntion with several others. (ie: the guide rails will work with saws, routers, jigsaws and can even be used to be a guide fence for a Domino.
The T15 Bbattery drill has a brushless motor, my mates Makita's seem to eat brushes. The battery lasts longer, than any other cordless I've used, between charges. As all batteries have a life span of so many charge, deplete, recharge cycles, the Festool ones will last longer, timewise.
I could go on, but , hey! I've got Green Coolade running in my veins now! :lol:
One last thing, they earn me more money than any other brand of tools have (pro rata, meaning time to recoup the investment of a tool over the time taken with previous similar tools).
So for a pro' they are worth it, for a hobbyist it just depends how enthusiastic you are, mitigated by what is reasonable to spend on your hobby. I met a bloke the other week that spends his money going to see his football team of choice, an away trip costs him around £400.00 all incl.
Either he buys a lot of rounds in the pub or that is one expensive hobby with no resale value!

Rob.
Edit: I signed off twice! Second Rob tippexed out!

 

[TEO]

It's how I make my living too Rob but I still think that they're overpriced and fetishised. As I said, I'll buy a Domino and I can see your point about the inter-operability of some parts but it's gonna take a lot to persuade me that the whole system deserves such adulation.

Heresy maybe, do Fes do a stake for burning heretics at? Would the power lead be extra? A systainer box of matches? :wink:

T

 

[Henning]

It's how I make my living too Rob but I still think that they're overpriced and fetishised. As I said, I'll buy a Domino and I can see your point about the inter-operability of some parts but it's gonna take a lot to persuade me that the whole system deserves such adulation.

Heresy maybe, do Fes do a stake for burning heretics at? Would the power lead be extra? A systainer box of matches? :wink:

T

Buy the Domino. That's what i did. Then see if you don't buy more.
The Domino is so good it made me, a sworn enemy of overpriced tools, a convert right away. And i have not been let down by my other Festool tools either. (With one exception, but that may well be operator error, so i will hold off for the time beeing)

 

[TEO]

Go on, fess up, what was the exception?

 

[Chems]

Buy the Domino. That's what i did. Then see if you don't buy more.
The Domino is so good it made me, a sworn enemy of overpriced tools, a convert right away. And i have not been let down by my other Festool tools either. (With one exception, but that may well be operator error, so i will hold off for the time beeing)

Thats exactly whats happened to me.

 

[Henning]

Go on, fess up, what was the exception?

Well, i bought this one: http://www.axminster.co.uk/festool-fest ... prod19791/ with all the extras which include a stationary frame and fence.
The fence which came with the planer and the fence which is for the stationary is not square to the sole of the planer.
Now, this may well be down to operator error, but i would hope i'm tool savvy enough to know how to put in a screw, which is pretty much all you do. Considering that the plane alone is 650 £ equiv. here in Norway i was expecting more. A LOT more to be honest. All the other tools have been spot on, which is another reason to suspect operator error.

Besides that, i can't fault any of it and i have amassed some...

 

[JoinerySolutions]

It's how I make my living too Rob but I still think that they're overpriced and fetishised. As I said, I'll buy a Domino and I can see your point about the inter-operability of some parts but it's gonna take a lot to persuade me that the whole system deserves such adulation.

Heresy maybe, do Fes do a stake for burning heretics at? Would the power lead be extra? A systainer box of matches? :wink:

T

Have you ever had the oportunity to use Festool tools on a jobsite situation?
My first experience was while working in Germany, and it took me a while to fully understand how the system would help me, the pricing was the biggest hurdle, but, I am glad I took the leap.
If Festool bragged about all the benefits I have gained from their tools, people would say "It's too good to be true".
As far as I know Festool do not provide any means for torturing 'heretics' but I am sure if enough people asked for a matchbox systainer they would come up with an imaginative version of the "mini systainer". :lol:

 

[Chems]

Festool offer tools that are the same as any other number of tools on the market, but they add to them things that haven't been done on other tools. The routers dust extraction hood for instance, I'm not aware of that anywhere else on the market. Thats what makes their stuff worth more.

Having said that I haven't paid full price for either of my festool purchases. I bought the domino for £425 new and just got the CT22 vac for £280 and it should be around the £480 mark.

 

[Waka]

Power tool snobbery :lol:

I know, get you're coat

 

[JoinerySolutions]

Power tool snobbery :lol:

I know, get you're coat

From the man with a plane fetish

:lol: :lol:

 

[woodbloke]

Although I have a couple of Festool tools I do think they are over-priced. My last was the OF2200EB router and it is undoubtedly superbly made and thought out but it has recently had a huge price hike so that it is more than £630 and that is without even a fence. Is it really worth 2 1/2 times the big Dewalt? I don't think so and I wouldn't buy it at its current price even though I love it.

I am fully aware that this is arguably irrational when I have a Holtey plane and some very expensive Japanese chisels but that is somehow different. Festools are mass produced power tools and these top quality hand tools are made by an individual who gives there all to it and for me, deserve there pobably modest reward for giving us something really special. Anyone agree?

Jim

I agree with Jim here...but no Holtey though - Rob

 

[wizer]

I have Chems to thank for this......

delivered to my door this afternoon for free

Thanks Chems!

No Really... THANKS! :lol:

 

[andycktm]

I can get my head around the cost of the tool's.
But how can a festool plastic box (empty) cost ££££££

 

[TEO]

My point exackerly!

Except I still can't get over the cost of the tools. Having said which, if I could get hold of stuff at the prices Chem's manages then they become a lot more acceptable.

 

[andycktm]

I mean peter Ts got a nilfisk vacuum with green buttons and 4 boxes
with the trade in value of a 2008 porche 911sc :lol:




Only kidding peter