On 2/2/2012 12:00 PM, Scott Lurndal wrote:
writes:
On Wed, 1 Feb 2012 15:46:30 -0800 (PST), David Paste
So why are they so costly? And more importantly, are they worth the
money?

It depends on what you're looking for. When you get into the finer
aspects of woodworking, the difference between top notch and a little
less so is reasonably fine.

Most every Festool owner (and I am one of them), really likes the dust
collection of their tools. This includes their routers and their
sanders. The first Festool I ever bought was the Domino, which is a
unique tool.

If you feel you need some type of impetus to push you over the edge
when it comes to buying, I'd suggest the Domino as a first purchase.
And most definitely yes, it is expensive. But then, it stands far
above your average doweling jig or biscuit joiner. Most every Festool
dealer holds a 'Festool day' once in awhile. You should attend one or
find a dealer that does. Until then, you can check out the Festool
Owner's Group which is a web site dedicated to everything woodworking
as well as other topics. It's for everybody, not just for use by
Festool owners.

I find it hard to believe that a GBP 500 cordless driver (USD 800)
is that much better than a USD 100 (GBP 63) DeWalt 18v.

There are some things that you just have to experience to understand. ;~)



As for the domino, it may be unique, but again, is it really worth
the price?

Absolutely. I sell a majority of my work. In the last 4 years I have
used in excess of 1800 Domino tenons in just the 5mm thick size. That
works out to 3600 mortises. In a bed that I built this last summer with
under mount drawers I cut 112 precisely placed mortices in the upper
sections of the headboards. 56 of those mortices were in the ends of
1.5" wide slats. I did that in less than 1 hour. And no a Plate
joiner/biscuit jointer would not have worked. I needed these slats to
be stationary during glue up and assembly, I had 28 separate joints, 56
tennons all coming together at one time during glue up. With biscuits I
would have had parts falling out.
Using a mortiser I suspect that at best that would have been an all day
job so that saved me at least $315 of my time. That was 112 mortices
and I have cut well in excess of 3600 in the last 4 years.
You can do the math here but I am able to turn out higher quality work
much more quickly with the Domino.

If you are a hobbyist the savings will be significantly less unless you
are short on work shop time and you value your free time.


I guess there is always a market for Rolls Royce, but it is more about
showing off than functionality.

Well to be fair and comparing apples to apples, the new Rolls is going
to cost 10 times more than the average new car.

A new Festool is only about 2.5 times more expensive than the average
new brand power tool.

And as I mentioned above you really have to work with the tool to
appreciate the difference. When you spend all day week in the shop week
after week Festool proves itself time and again.