Just another comment, Leon. I went to Woodcraft last week, and I had
not been in about a year or so. I used to go about twice a month, now
I go a year without being in there.

I still have some amigos there, and we got to talking about the
Festools, Feins, etc. He told me that they literally couldn't keep
the Domino machines or their planer in stock.

Planer: http://www.btisupply.com/detail.aspx?ID=1423

He said that they get in the Domino machines six at a time, and they
are all either spoken for, or gone in less than a week. It has been
that way for about the last 3 - 4 months, according to him.

As for the planer, he has a furniture maker that he sells them to, and
he is in turn selling them to his friends, and recommending them to
other furniture makers. He is selling them as fast as the Domino
machines. When selling them, his cutomers often ask for another
cutter head as well, so they can keep on planing by simply removing
the cylinder with the blades on it and changing it out. Wow...

Oddly enough, he said that in the Festool (and Fein) brand sales
weren't to professionals. At their price point I thought the mix
(based on absolutely nothing of course) would be something like 80%
professional and 20% other. According to him, it is exactly the other
way around. The pros love the tools, but there aren't as many of them
as their are of the others purchasers.

I remember when Fein was the king of that store. No longer so;
Festool has a really large display that takes up more than any other
single brand in the store. I guess the Domino put the way over the
top the way the Fein Multimaster did for its company.

I had no idea there was such a hunger for high end (and expensive!)
power tools on a consumer level.

Shows what I know!

Robert