On 3/6/2018 8:32 PM,
nailsh...@aol.com wrote:
> If it was me, or only me and a trusted assistant I would buy Festool for almost all my needs. And yes, under those conditions I would take them out to a job site when needed. The only tool I wouldn't buy that they make is their drills. Too much value these days in the lifetime warranty (and recent brushless models) for me to buy something else.
FWIW if it were not for the high risk of theft and a worker not
respecting some one else's tool I believe we would see a lot more
Festool out there in the trades.
Snip
>
> Festool, and probably Fein are the only commonly available tool that you can buy with complete confidence. For those that take care of their tools and rely on them to make their living, I think in most cases Festool is unmatched.
I am in the camp that believes that no one makes the best of everything.
But saying that and with several of my Festool brand tools being 10+
years old I agree that Festool probably comes closer to that utopia than
the majority. The Festool warranty used to be a factor for me but no
longer. I have not had to use their warranty so far. I certainly think
the Ridgid line of tools have the best in the industry warranty and
almost with with one of their drills 15 or so years ago. I ultimately
went with Makita, the Makita just felt better in my hand and was much
lighter weight that the Ridgid was back then.
Back to the Festool brand, Festool offers a 30 day money back guarantee,
no questions asked. That certainly is not exclusive to Festool but is
pretty much all the nudge I need to make the purchase. Because I have
yet to replace any of my Festools I am not so much concerned about it
holding up so much as to whether or not it will do what I expect.
Specifically, the last Festool sander that I bought I was not certain
that it was going to be helpful in eliminating the little circles you
often get. I in particular was having this issue when sanding cross
grain with RTS400 Festool sander. Yes sanding cross grain on face
frames happens when the rails and stiles meet. I do not often stain but
on this particular job the stain really brought out the circle issue.
Anyway I told the Woodcraft guys that was what I wanted to eliminate
with the new sander that Festool recently introduced. 30 minutes after
using that sander I knew it was a keeper.
Personally, I say all that bullshit about "contractor rated" or "full
time use" and all the other marketing crap is just that. I watch some
of the videos out there and always remember that 99% of the uploaders
don't actually use their tools to make a living. They use the videos to
supplement their income so it is important to say or do something that
attracts attention to their videos for the almighty "click".
>
> I first saw the Festool track saw in use when visiting Swingman and Leon. Swing took out the saw and showed me the setup, cut a piece of plywood, and we talked about the strong points and weak points. For those of us that know Swing (bless his heart), he is blunt and proud of his opinions. He was enormously impressed with the track saw, and after seeing it in use and its ease of setup, I was too. The cuts would rival or exceed most table saws, and the blade should (literally) last for years.
>
> Leon's opinions concur, and again, having seen the saw, the setup and the final product I think it is a winner. If I needed a track saw, I would get that one.
>
> So why don't I have all Festool? What is the place of Harbor Freight and other discount tools? Employees that don't take care of your tools as you do, employees that don't know how to use tools correctly, the very real possibility of job site theft, and for almost all the needs on a construction site there is no need for the kind of quality work that their tools are capable of doing.
>
> Comparing HF, or others to Festool has to be with a grain of salt. I only know of two other contractors that use Festool out in the field (and one loves those damn drills) and neither of them have ever had a failure. One is a cabinet installer that specialized in remodeling projects, so Festool's Kapex miter saw and his dust collector is his weapon of choice. He is one of the very few craftsmen I trust, and he tells me that the Kapex is as accurate now as it was 5 years ago when he bought it, used over countless jobs.
Good to know since mine was an indulgence purchase. And I have to say I
have used mine several times and it is great to know that the set up I
showed you is exactly what I wanted, in actual use and not just on
paper. The length stops are dead on accurate and very easy to flip out
of the way when needing to square up the ends of short boards and then
cut to length. And with long boards, with both wings up, I can simply
square one end of a long board, slide it down to the opposite side wing
stop and cut to length. Very well thought out.