Until now, I had mostly ignored and avoided Festool tools for personal use because of their higher costs. After all, I’m a hobbyist, not a professional woodworker, so even if the tools save me time or effort, I am unlikely to see any return on them. So why did I just plunk down a whole lot of cash to try ’em out?
Originally, I had been looking for a way to demo a Festool dust extractor for an article I was working on. I had read a bit of info about their new CT26 and CT36 units, and thought it would be a good fit for the article, but I needed some hands-on time before I could comfortably write about them.
In trying to arrange for a brief demo session with the dust extractor, I asked a Festool USA rep about which of their tools is the most popular or bestselling. He replied that Festool customers really seem to favor their TS plunge saws. Wanting to see what that was all about, I whipped out a few catalogs and spent a few hours online reading over reviews and message board posts.
Advertisement
Although there are a few other plunge and track saws on the market, Festool’s is unique in that there is a whole system of cross-compatible accessories as part of their “system.” All Festool tools seem to integrate well within the guide rail and accessory system, so there’s the potential for expandability.
Even though I had only intended on checking out the dust extractor for editorial reasons, my curiosity got the best of me, and things got personal. The more I read about the tools, the more I realized how much they could help me out with my current and future projects.
While my current sawing needs are adequate, I convinced myself that the Festool rail guided plunge saw would be a great improvement for breaking down sheet goods in my small space. One of the final convincing factors was Festool’s [auxiliary?] instruction manual for the saw (PDF). I found it to exceptionally very well written, leaving me with a nice impression of the company and their attention to such detail.
Since I have limited space, all I can fit into my small work area is a 6-gallon Shop Vac. While it’s okay, I’ve known for a while that it’s not enough. It has a short cord, short hose, when I use a fine filter bag it loses suction quick, and when I use a premium reusable filter, I still have to clean out the whole darn unit occasionally. I already read up on the CT26 dust extractor, and while I would have liked to use one, I didn’t need one. Until I convinced myself to spring for a plunge saw.
According to the many user accounts I read, the dust extractor does a great job of cleaning up after the plunge saws doing use. Okay, I’m sold.
I have a very busy schedule ahead and me, but set aside some time this weekend for a woodworking project. Waiting 2 weeks to place an order would have been a disaster, with me flipping back and forth over the fence. To avoid that torture and indecisiveness, I went ahead and ordered both the TS55 plunge saw and CT26 dust extractor with overnight shipping and Saturday delivery. I’m sitting here waiting for the FedEx truck to get here, and wrote this all out to keep my eager anticipation from driving me nuts.
Advertisement
Now that I’ve jumped on the green bandwagon, you can be sure that there will be previews of these tools (and others on my new wishlist), reviews, comparisons, and editorials.
Festool TS55 Guided Plunge Saw via Amazon
Festool CT26 Dust Extractor via Amazon
TS55 EQ Product Info via Festool
CT26 E Product Info via Festool
Festool tool prices are locked across the board, so I went with Amazon for the free shipping ($4 extra per item for overnight for Prime members). Woodcraft would be my #2 option since they occasionally have free gift offers for purchases over a certain amount.
There are larger versions of both tools – the TS75 is a larger and more powerful saw, and the CT36 has a larger dust-holding capacity.
fred
Even in a commercial setting it is sometimes difficult to decide on what to buy and how much to spend for added quality, greater longevity etc. Some tools are no-brainers in that their cost may be recovered in just one job. But otherwise one tries to do an economic analysis (cost/benefit) and tries to amortize capital tools over the shortest period possible. This depends on your opportunity cost of capital – but generally in today’s market if it doesn’t payback in less than 3 years it isn’t worth it. Of course there are other factors to consider – such as enhanced worker safety , environment and customer impact like noise/dust etc. , enhanced quality of work that can be achieved, and customer image. What makes this difficult is that the tool market is constantly changing – so that side-by-side economic analyses based on long-term heuristics is not often possible. For commercial application – risk of tool failure resulting in downtime or worse injury and OSHA compliance are also major factors, This still lead us to compromise – and for me – I was like you – and have yet to buy a Festool product – but have bought Mafell, Hoffman, Virutex and other European-made tools that fit into our calculations – so who knows –
Stuart
One of the things I’ve been doing lately is working on better dust control, but there’s only so much that can be done with tools that don’t have dust connection ports. Then there’s my goal for better rip-cutting accuracy since I don’t have the space for a large table saw. Almost all of a sudden I realized that the Festool combo would solve a few of my problems.
Since I mainly work indoors, I need the best dust control available in as small of a form factor as possible. Dust collectors are too large for my space, limiting the amount of work I can do in a short time. I’ve been forced to take larger cutting projects outside, and there are only a few times a month I can do so.
While I won’t see a direct monetary return on the tools, I should be able to get a lot more done in a cleaner way, or at least I hope so. I suppose that the tools may drop the opportunity cost of some of my projects if it makes them go quicker and smoother, but that remains to be seen.
Part of what convinced me is seeing how widely available Festool is right now. There is a ton of information available, and the tools are now carried by all of my favorite woodworking tool and supply retailers.
My wallet’s aching, but I’m quite hopeful that the tools will change the way I work. Normally I debate quite a bit and do a lot of research when making large tool purchases. This time, I made up my mind in less than 24 hours before taking the plunge.
Scott Roberts
You’ll only wish you had dropped the dime earlier. I’ve got a CT33 and I love it. Suction like you wouldn’t believe, and the systainers are addictive. Make sure you order a box of bags for your vac – nothing worse than having a full bag and still needing to use the vac. I know people who cut open the bags to empty them, then reseal them with tape, but I wouldn’t chance it. I had a bag split in the vac once, and I didn’t enjoy having to clean up the mess it made.
Stuart
I just opened the box up and the bag is a lot larger than I anticipated. With my Shop Vac, the capacity is 6 gallons, but I never seem to have gotten that out of a bag. Still, I’ll heed your advice and pick up a pack of bags in a few days.
I don’t think I’ll be adding any other Festool tools to my kit anytime soon. Just a few accessories alone are going to eat up my budget once it returns from the red!
Some of the prices just seem way too extreme – $98 for the 55″ guide rail? $36 for a single quick-clamp?! Ouch.
Joel.p
YES IT CAN GET EXSPENSIVE OVER TIME i find eseyer to buy the visa pre payed gift cards of so much a week to save for that festool of my needs i have the festool t-75-track saw-the rotex-150 sander-the RO-90-AND A FEW OTHER FESTOOL PRODUCTS AND I HAVE NEVER REGRETTED BUYING ANYONE OF MY TOOLS IN MY SHOP AM I A HOBBIEST BY SOMES STADED’S I MAYBE I AM. TRUTHFULLY WHY WHENT OUT TO BUY FESTOLLS IN THE BEGINNING #1- 30% WAS GOOD MARKITING AND THEN WHEN I GOT MY -T-75-TRACK SAW INTO THE SHOP AND I WAS CUTTING PICE OF 3INCH THICK AFRICAN MAHOGANY THAT HAD WICKED ARCH MORE LIKE A BOW SHAP TO IT AND I WAS SLOWLY SLIDING THE T-75-TRACK SAW THROUGH THE WOOD I COULD HERE IT START TO DECELERAT BECAUSE I HAD THE SAW #5POWER SETTING I DID WHAT NO ONE SHOULD EVER DO AT ANY TIME BECAUSE THE REACTION’S CAN EXSTREAMLY DANGERIS I SLOWELY PULLED THE BACK OUT OF THE CUT 4TO 6INCHES cut the power turned it up to #10 well keeping in the cut abd re braced my stance i case of any kick back witch didn’t take place when turned the saw back on and slowely slided that track through that 3inch thick high silaci african mahogany like a HOT KNIFE THROUGH BUTTER THE OTHER 70% OF THE REASON FOR BUYING THE T-75- WAS I NEEDED A SAW THAT EVEEYTHING 10’000.00TO 30’000.00+THOUSAND DOLLAR TRACK SAW IN A LIGHT TO HEAVY INDUSTRY COULD DO WITH OUT SENDING ALL THAT CASH I DIDN’T HAVE. GIVE OR TAKE FOR $800.00 OR SO I CAN DO ANYTHING ANY HIGH END TABEL SAW CA N AND THEN SOME. IF I HAD A CHACE TO GO BACK AND DO IT ALL OVER I WOULD’EV STILL PAYED ALL THAT MONEY ALL OVER AGAIN MY ONLY REGRET IS THAT I DIDN’T BUY FESTOOLS-SOONER THE EXSPENCE IS WELL WORHT EACH AND EVERY PENNY I SPENT ON FESTOOL’S
Benjamen Johnson
Festool’s track saw is actually priced pretty well compared to the Dewalt (which means the Dewalt is probably way over priced). The Makita is cheaper, but it looks like dust collection was an after thought. Given that those seem to be the only two competitors, the Festool TS55 actually looks like a reasonable choice.
I just can’t wrap my head around a $550 vacuum cleaner though. It’ll be interesting to see what you think of it’s performance.
Joseph C
I own two Festool vacs- I bought my first one secondhand. It’s over ten years old and still going strong!
Unfortunately, after loading in/out of the van and down rough streets for a couple years, a crucial section of the wheel/bag support cracked and rendered it unusable. I was able to order a replacement part (!) from Festool.
It had become such an integrated part of my workflow, though, that I immediately bought a second vac in one of the smaller sizes.
lens42
I use the Festool saw with a Fein Turbo Vac (got the Fein because it was the quietest) because I also couldn’t see spending the Festool price for a vacuum. I love the saw though. I don’t have room for a table saw. I can unfold the Festool multi-table and get working pretty quickly, and the guide rails provide precision that equals most table saws. Not cheap, but I’m very satisfied.
fred
Have bought quite a number of Fein Vacuums over the years for residential job-site use – just as lens42 comments – because they are quite
Stuart
@Ben, Thus far, I’m pretty darn impressed with the vac. It’s larger than I thought, but it totally sucks, in a very good way. The only downside is that I now use it for chip/dust cleanup, which means I’ll need to pick up spare bags and one of the semi-pricey cleaning attachment kits. I like the anti-static hose a lot thus far, and will look to pick up another in one of the two larger sizes.
@Lens42, The reason I went for the Festool over the Fein was simply because the Festool has a more rectangular profile and has on-board hose storage. I like that I can plop the saw systainer down right on top of the vac as well, for even more convenient storage. For a small work space like mine, the easier I can stack things, the less empty space there is, the better.
I watched some of the Multi-Function Table product videos and agree that it looks crazy versatile. I’ve seen it in catalogs before, but was drawn off due to the price. Right now I’m short on space and funds, and have no shortage of solid crosscut tool solutions.
@Fred, I find that the CT26 isn’t quite as quiet as I thought it would be, but it sounds far better than my small Shop Vac and cordless Dewalt vac. If I had more storage space I would have spent more time looking into the Fein vac. But I have to say, I am pretty pleased with the Festool vac.
I was so sure that I woudn’t have buyer’s remorse that I recycled the boxes already. Now I’m just waiting for the insane credit card bill. =(
Matt
If you are careful you can open up the Festool vacuum bag at the seam and re-tape the bags shut thus saving some money on bags. It takes just a minute.
Joel.p
I Have been using the vacuum bag i got with my C36 FESTOOL VAC 4YEARS A GO OR MORE I JUST EMPTY IT INTO A BIG TRASH BAG YA IT TAKES A LITTLE TIME I DO THIS WITH OUT RIPPING THE SEAM JUST BY HOLDING THE BAG UPSIDE DOWN PULLING THE CHIPS AND DUST OUT BY HAND I NOW HAVE FILLED OVER 10+50GAL-TRASH BAGS AT A MINIMUM IN A 4+YEAR TIME
Stuart
That’s a great tip, thanks, I may try that in the future!
John S
Stuart – now that you’ve drank the kool aid, is it all festool all the way?
Stuart
No, not quite, but I did purchase their sander earlier in the year and a bunch of abrasives.
Festool does a lot of things really, really well, but their premium pricing can be a tough barrier to overcome.
What I like about Festool is that they seem to design their tools around features and performance. There are no compromises born from an obligation to keep prices below a certain level. They engineer tools and “solutions,” and the pricing is what it is.
John S
Indeed. When I stumble across $20k I will set up an all festool shop. Until then, I may dabble here or there, but a lot of the benefit is from having the entire system
Stuart
It depends on what you mean by “entire system.”
Yes, optimal dust collection is achieved by pairing their tools with their dust collector, but one can also use a shop vacuum or other brand of dust collector to start.
MN4x4
Having just stumbled down the ‘green’ path, I’m curious how you like your Festoys now 3 years later. And how many of them do you own now?
And yes, Systainers are EXTREMELY addictive. I refuse to say how many I already have – just since Christmas – but it’s at least double the number of tools I have!
Stuart
I am still very fond of my Festool tools, and have picked up a sander, MFT table, and additional Sortainers this past year. I wish I could justify purchasing additional tools, but there aren’t any others for the time being that would be worth the steep investment for how and how often I would use them.
J.p
I OWEN 2OF THE MFT-TABLES I HAVE A 3/4-inch 4×8 cabinet grade ply wood on top of the 2 one table in front of the other on each end i have a 2-4inch over hang i do all my staining finishing on for 2of the last 4years i had just the one of the two bigest MFT-TABLES AND THERES NOT 1 CUT IN THE TWO TOPS OF THE TABLES AND NO DRILL HOLES MABE ONE OR TWO DROPS OF FINISH ON THE FIRST TABLE I OWENED FOR A TOTAL OF 4YEARS+ NOW AND I HAVE THE SAME $50.00 SHEET OF PLY WOOD FOR THE PAST 4+YEARS NOW AND IT HAS GLUE AND A DOZEN DIFRENT STAINS ON IT CUTS AND SURFACE HOLES AND MY TWO MTF TOPS STILL AS SMOOTH AS GLASS
Stuart
While nobody can force you to use paragraphs, please don’t use all-caps, or all-caps with some regular lower case sentences mixed in. It makes your comments incredibly difficult to read.
Jason
Why is his font so dang small Stuart? It’s really hard to read.
Stuart
People who write in all-caps get their font size decreased. Maybe I went a size smaller than normal?
These comments, and this one in particular: https://toolguyd.com/jumping-onto-the-festool-bandwagon-head-first/#comment-897796 are tough to read at any font size.