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.