Forrest WWII - thin or regular kerf - $79.95 - best deal I've seen.

Spent some time with the Festool Domino. Price tag for the whole
kit and caboodle - $1,000.50 (plus ta, license and dealer prep,
undercoating and monagramed floor mats extra). It's SLICK!

But then I look at Festool's T55 plunge saw with guide etc. for
$430 - and I've got to step back and put things in perspective.
But - the Domino sure is slick.

The other items of interest - a saw guide system ala the Festool's
guide plunge saw/router guide. Like the Festool, it has replaceable
"zero clearance" edge you cut for YOUR circular saw, a base plate
for your saw with two regular use flat zero clearance inserts and
two "bubble" inserts for use with the guide system. The latter
basically eliminates chip out/tear out on the far side of the saw
blade cut, the replaceable zero clearance plastic insert on the fence
side takes care of the near side of the blade.

Now if you've ever tried to set a guide for the offset of your
circular saw, you can appreciate the Festool type - cut to your saw
- zero clearance guide. Lay it on your line and cut - period. No
adding 3 and 5/16ths or 2 and 32nds. The 50" guide, with two
plastic zero clearance edges, the base for your saw, two normal
use zero clearance inserts and two "bubble" zero clearance inserts
was around $185. Add another 50" guide, two bars to align and
hold it to the first guide, a squaring bar to stick on the end for
nice square to an edge cut and a pair of clamps if you need to
clamp the guide down. Price? $250. Festool T55 plunge saw plus
guide for another $180 . . . plus a guide extension . . . Kind of
a tough sale.

The other thing the same outfit had was interesting. You provide
a piece of 3/4" ply with folding legs and attach 10, count 'em
10 things that look like drawer guides facing up and you attach your
sacrificial 1x2 or 1x3 to each standing on edge. Four of the drawer
guide things are set on the ends of the table at 45 degrees, the
other 6 at 90s the edge of the top- three on each side. Extend the
guides and you've got a surface for cutting up a 4x8 sheet of ply
without having a cut off fall on the floor - or on your foot - or
feet. When not in use fold it up and hand it on the wall where it'll
stick out maybe 6 inches. Great idea. $60? Not so great a price.

Saw the Grex 23 gauge pin nailer that does something like 1/2"
to 1 7/8" pins for $300 - and its little brother that shoots
1/2" to 3/8" shorter pins for $200. Grex also had their air
driven die grinder for @29.95 and their random orbital sander
for $69.95 (got one of each).

Felder, Laguna Tools, and MiniMax where conspicuously absent
as was JET and the cyclone dust collector folks. Charles
was however doing his flying without a net demos of the
Grip-Tite ripping hold downs/hold ins one handing stock into
the table saw blade, letting go completely half way through
the cut, walking around to the back and clamping the kerf
shut etc.. The people who'd never seen or experienced
a kick back stood around - unimpressed. The folks that
knew what COULD happen were busy staying out of the
line of fire - or standing behind the guy with the blank
look on his face. For about $10 a finger (including the
thumbs) you get a pair of the magnetic hold downs/hold
ins and a steel face for your existing fence. These things
work - I've still got ALL my fingers - and thumbs.

MicroFence was there with their precision router fence
system and their precision plunge router system - you
provide the trim router - and get 0.001" precision just
like the fence system. Pricey but if you want true dial
in precision . . .

Sat in on a turning tools grinding and sharpening
seminar which was pretty good but haven't seen
the Sommerfeld cabinet making demo or the finishing
demo. No Pay classes though - something I miss.

Not a great show, but worth the $9 parking fee
and the $4 garlic fries. Worth the drive.

charlie b