I almost died last night.

Frank Fusco

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Mountain Home, Arkansas
I was reading the plans for a small table in WOOD magazine. They reccomended using a Festool hand held mortiser for the job. Methinks, "could be handy", looked up at Amazon. Saw price, :eek: heart stopped. Woke up later thinking there has to be another way.
 
I was reading the plans for a small table in WOOD magazine. They reccomended using a Festool hand held mortiser for the job. Methinks, "could be handy", looked up at Amazon. Saw price, :eek: heart stopped. Woke up later thinking there has to be another way.

If you had posted this a certain other forum, the Festool Fanatics would have already pounced on you for even suggesting such a thing! ;)

:wave:
 
Is this "hand-held mortiser" the Domino? I understand it does a great job, but it's a little too rich for my blood.
 
I was invited to a wood working shop and given a demo on the Festool handheld sander. I tried the sander which was hooked up to a Festool portable vac system. A very impressive sander and i was thinking I may buy one of these until i found out the price was over 500 for the sander and another 500 if i wanted the vac. I declined................way to expensive but a very well build nice tool..........
 
Woke up later thinking there has to be another way.

Sure are...

I like my dowelmax a lot, and it's a lot cheaper than the domino, and at Lee Valleynow also.

I've also seen a very good in-depth video review of the mortise pal, and it is another very well built jig for mortising.

Of course, if it is a basic table, you could also use pocket hole joinery. And in some applications a biscuit joiner will also do the job.

There's usually more than one way to do it!

...art
 
... Woke up later thinking there has to be another way.

Let's see here now. I could spend $800 for a Domino plus whatever the cost of the "loose tenons" is. OR - I can continue to use a router (like I've done for years) at no additional expense - I can continue to make my own tenons from scrap project stock at no cost except a few minutes of my time. Hmmmm.....
:huh:
 
Bart...permanently scorned by Festool for refusing to pay full price for THEIR TOOLS.:rofl::rofl::rofl:

Fess up Festool Woodworking was before Festool & will be when Festool isn't anymore.

We USED to have a Festool dealer about 25 miles from here but their banking system couldn't compete with the way people do things here. You know where Festool takes lots of your money & put it in their bank.

Don't get me wrong I think they make great tools just not that great.
 
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I don't own a Domino but one of my woodworking friends does. To be fair to the Domino, if you're going to be making a bunch of M&T joints it's a great tool - very quick and easy, and accurate. For me, I just wouldn't use it enough to justify the cost. Or rather, on my list of tool wants, there's a lot of tools ahead of it.

Mike
 
I believe that many of those tools are addressed to the hobbyist even at that price.

I would ask the "pros" from this forum wether they would buy one and how many mortises would they need to make to get the ROI (return of investment).

I'm pretty sure that they've made a lot of them without it so...
 
I had the ts 55 saw and rail and while it was nice it wasn't the dog's b's that everyone made it out to be. I used it while I was out in CA putting up that one and only shed I've sold and then sold it when I got back.

I think their stuff is innovative but just too pricey. I'll stick with bosch and makita.
 
I have noticed that Festool has filed for bankruptcy the other day...........

........Oh, sorry they did not :rolleyes:

They are not holding guns to anyone's head, and they seem to be doing good business, so why all the complaining?

If you don't like, or cannot afford the tools, then don't buy them :dunno:
 
I have noticed that Festool has filed for bankruptcy the other day...........

........Oh, sorry they did not :rolleyes:

They are not holding guns to anyone's head, and they seem to be doing good business, so why all the complaining?

If you don't like, or cannot afford the tools, then don't buy them :dunno:

sharing the misery I suppose? They're very Nice tools, but very expensive. $800 would be quite a hefty investment for an admittedly talented single purpose tool.
 
... They are not holding guns to anyone's head, and they seem to be doing good business, so why all the complaining?...

I suspect it's similar to Chevy owners complaining about Lexus owners, and Lexus owners complaining about Maserati owners, ad infinitum. Some folks can't justify an expensive tool or toy, and others can.

I have no complaints about people wanting to use high-end tools. We all have our own comfort levels, and it even varies from tool to tool. Heck, I've got a $3000 lathe and I use a $30 right angle drill for sanding on it. I'm extravagant and cheap all at the same time. :p Just depends on the viewpoint.
 
sharing the misery I suppose? They're very Nice tools, but very expensive. $800 would be quite a hefty investment for an admittedly talented single purpose tool.

No it isn't, not for me, the TS55 and rails for me has paid for itself many times over, and I'm no pro, but my time is worth a lot to me.

If you cannot afford it, you can't afford it, I've been there, but to make blanket statements is just simply incorrect.

These are very good tools, they help me do the work that I do much more efficiently. The dust collection on the circular saw is a large bonus for me, working in a hole in the ground, for a guy like Jonathan, who is able to open doors and let the whole outside into his shop, not such a big deal.

I'm sure that most of you have tools or toys in your house that you paid good money for that I'd NEVER think of spending half of what you spent on one, for example a TV, how many of you guys have a large flatscreen TV?

We have an older, but good, Sony 27" TV, works great, we don't watch a lot of TV, so why would I spend thousands of dollars on a TV?

It is all relative, if I choose to spend my money on a quality ________ (insert item here) what is the big deal?

Sorry, I don't get the constant questioning of Festool quality vs price thing.

Hey Tod, how much did your bandsaws cost? :D Why didn't you buy the cheap Chiwanese Delta clones? ;) (not picking on Tod, just I know he has big ticket tools that I'm sure he will tell you are worth every penny).

Festool sure seems to bring out this rancor, I don't get it? :huh: :dunno:
 
... Festool sure seems to bring out this rancor, I don't get it? :huh: :dunno:

I think a lot of it comes from the attitude of many of the FFs (Festool Fanatics). I don't recall seeing such advice on this Forum but have seen on a certain other forum where a person says, "I'm just starting up and have a small budget, so what would you recommend?" and the first response is to start and stay with Festool. If a person "thinks" they are interested in woodworking, has a particular project in mind and has a budget to maintain, they will quickly get discouraged if they are led to believe they MUST buy expensive tools.

I believe I'm in the majority when I say my advice would be to start with basic but decent tools you can afford, then update as your experience dictates. That's pretty much what I did. In fact, I still have my old Craftsman circular saw that I use for a variety of actions, including taking a true straightedge and making initial cuts on heavy sheetgoods. I don't need a $600 version of the same thing to feel that I "belong". :rolleyes:
 
from the don't have but want group. i am wanting to get a few festool products. i am going to use a long term approach, getting little at a time. ts55, then a vac, sander and router last. i want, need, these for pure dust control. i have a small shop and need to control dust better. i hate spending time cleaning up after each operation.
 
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