Festool Forum

Sometimes, I go to the Festool Owner's Group, at http://festoolownersgroup.com/

There are a lot of good conversations on their forums.  For example, this one describing how a Festool-centered woodworker made a large, 14-foot-long dining table: http://festoolownersgroup.com/fun-games-diversions/celebrate-7000-members-and-growing-with-the-%27show-us-your-shop-giveaway%27!/msg80118/#msg80118

Festool Domino Joiner: Long-Term Performance Review

I have owned and used the Festool Domino "biscuit" joiner for about a year now.  I've used it in dozens of projects, employing nearly all of the Domino's features, fences, and tenon sizes.  Now, a year on, it's time for a review of the product that many regard as the best biscuit joiner in the business.  My overall verdict: the Domino is indeed an excellent tool for biscuit joinery, provided you know its shortcomings and foibles.  If you aren't familiar with the Domino's quirks, however, you could be setting yourself up for some expensive disappointments.

This review looks at the individual features of the Domino, one by one.  I think this is the easiest way to organize the review, and also makes it an easy reference while using your Domino. for each feature, I list the positives first, and the negatives second. 

Click "Read More" for the rest of this post...

A good use for the 5mm Festool Domino cutter - expansion slots

The Festool Domino biscuit joiner has a rep as the best, most well thought-out biscuit joiner on the market.  It even uses its own proprietary "domino" tenons rather than traditional biscuits.  But the Domino isn't without its glitches.  To wit: the 5mm cutter cuts mortises that are often too small for the 5mm "dominoes".  In a year of using the Domino, and over the course of three packages of 5mm dominoes, I am still convinced that the 5mm tenon is the worst-fitting of all the sizes available, and also convinced that more than 30% of the 5mm dominoes in any given bag are too large for the mortise and have to be sanded back or baked in a microwave in order to fit. 

I have stopped trying to use the 5mm tenon in my projects.  But I have found a use for the 5mm cutter: making slots for mounting cabinet tops to their cases, and table tops to their aprons.  The slots are a great size for z-clips (see photo).

Festool TS 75 plunge cut circular saw review

The Festool TS 75 plunge cut saw is a big circular saw.  So big, in fact, that my contractor friend Kris doesn't much like it.  He's used to wielding his 5" Makita freehand - driving it up walls and across sheet goods with ease.  The TS 75 is more suited to riding on one of Festool's aluminum guide rails, like some new breed of panel saw.

And here the TS 75 performs as well as I could ask.  I have used the TS 75 to melt through sheet goods.  I used it to size my bench top, which was made from two layers of 3/4" MDF, one layer of 3/4" plywood, and 1/4" of hardboard.  That's 2 1/2" of dense material.  But the TS 75, with it riving knife backing up the blade, made short work of it, with blade capacity to spare.

Festool Rotex Sander Review

I have been using my Festool Rotex sander for about a year now, and I love it.  The Rotex is special because of its two sanding modes: gear-driven circular mode, and a traditional orbital mode.  I use the gear mode to hog off material, as in smoothing or shaping the work.  Since buying the Rotex, my belt sander hasn't seen the fluorescent light of my shop.  If I'm sanding a big panel, I'll start in gear mode with 80 grit, then proceed up to 180 in gear mode.  Then I switch to orbital mode and go over the piece again at 180, then to 220.  I finish off with 220 and 320 by hand, using my handy sanding block with a Velcro sole.  I recommend the Rotex for anybody in the market for an orbital sander, and especially somebody in the market for a single sander that can do as much as possible.  You might never buy a hand-held belt sander once you have a Rotex.