GreenGA
Member
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2007
- Messages
- 877
For those that did not know, or could not make it, Festool made an appearance at the Richard T. Byrnes, Co. showroom, in West Chester, PA, Friday and Saturday (April 4th and 5th). I stopped by yesterday, the fifth.
Of the new offerings, Festool had the new MFT/3, as well as a couple of MFT 1080's, on display, plus the new 700 router. The OF2200 was nowhere to be seen. The Festool representative spent most of his time showing off the MFT/3 with a 55 and guide rail, primarily cutting strips of 1/16" material from a large block. Attendees not familiar with Festool were very impressed with the consistent and smooth strips produced by the Festool ?system?.
Festool had a boom arm attached to the 55, which I had not previously seen in person. Nice setup, very nice. The vacuum hose was completely out of the way while the 55 was in use. If I had a more stationary setup (i.e. not moving from place to place), I would give it serious consideration.
The domino was also a big hit. A few overheard remarks mentioned the fact that the biscuits, as someone called them, were not beech dust but solid beech and could not "spin" like the typical dowel. They also liked the way the domino was able to hit the mark all the way across the board. Push, drill/cut, move over, push drill/cut, etc?
Since Festool frowns on discounting, there were no "specials" and nothing was on "sale". :'( Even so, they did have plenty of the new 2008 Festool Catalogs, free for the taking.
Other participating vendors included Kreg, which had most of their catalog on display and had a small, but constant crowd stopping by to speak with the Kreg representative. Besides their pocket joining tools, their biggest hits were the new floor and tabletop routing tables.
Fein was there showing off their Multi Master; cutting through grout without breaking the tiles, cutting nails and wood trim, peeling up vinyl flooring covering, etc... This WAS on sale, for $389.00, about what it could be found for online. However, to sweeten the pot even more, they were tossing in a couple of extra blades and tee shirts. Since I have three projects coming up where the Multi Master will come in very handy, JR forced :
me to buy one. (I just love that woman)
SawStop was there with their cabinet saw as well as their new contractor saw. Everyone gathered around for the SawStop in-action demonstration, which was impressive. The audience jumped, en-mass, when that hot dog was shoved into the spinning blade and it, the blade, came to an immediate stop. Every one of us was thinking the same thing; that could be my finger...
Freud was there with their rolling workshop on wheels showing off their router bits, especially their new Ogee Raised Panel Bit Set with Backcutter.
To demonstrate the set, their rep routed a piece of sheet good, routed some 1-by, cut the 1-by and built a small panel door out of oak in about 20 minutes. The result was a very smooth panel, which may have needed some touch-up sanding before final finishing and assembly.
Part of the demonstration was meant to show that the bit set could perform in a single pass what in the past would require two passes. The rep marked the back of the sheet-good panel with 1 or 2 on all four edges; #1 and #2 on each edge going with the grain and #1 and #2 on each edge going perpendicular to the grain. The numbers represented the number of passes with the router bit to produce the result. After the door panel had been cut, routed, trimmed and assembled, the audience was asked to identify which pass was which. No one could tell.
What seemed like the entire Freud catalog was on sale at 25% off. So, I ordered a couple of new blades, one for my Bosch 4000, to cut the Azek and Koma, a product similar to Azek but much harder and feels more like real wood. I also purchased a new blade for the DeWalt SCMS for a trim project starting next month.
Powermatic and Jet were there. However, I felt sorry for them. They seemed like the ugly stepchildren no one will speak to. Everyone, myself included, seemed to spend their time with the other vendors.
The only other thing of note was Byrnes had a fire sale on some items in the back. One thing that caught my attention was Bosch 1/4" & 1/2" router bits for $2.00 each; most were carbide. By the time I found out, the sale box had been pretty well picked clean. Even so, I found about a dozen bits, mostly 1/2". While I may not need them now, perhaps I will down the road. At $2.00 each, it was one of those duh! decisions. And, in all fairness to JR, I should have listened to her. While I was busy looking at something else on sale, she tried, unsuccessfully... to draw my attention to the router bits. But nooooo, I was busy and besides, she does not know what she is talking about. Yeah, right! :-\
Byrnes had some DVD?s from Festool. They were called ?Test Drives?. I picked up one for the domino. They had others but someone distracted my attention and I never did get back to see what else they had. Hey Festool... are you listening? Perhaps you could make the videos available for download. Pretty please.....
Speaking of Byrnes... They have a very nice toy store, er... showroom. Yeah, that's it, showroom? I encourage anyone in the area, or even passing through the area, if you have some free time Monday-Friday (normally no Saturday hours) stop in and browse. Oh yes? bring your credit card or checkbook.
While the showroom itself is not very large, about 15x25, it is well laid out and there are full displays of Fein, Freud, Hitachi, Bosch and our favorite, Festool, lots of Festool; just inside the front door no less. Byrnes stocks many of the better brands of woodworking tools, as well as industrial grade stuff that I could only guess at its purpose. The even sell used equipment, should anyone be in the market.
The staff is very knowledgeable and friendly, very friendly. I inquired about a good source for sheet goods and the owner/manager went into his office for a few minutes to dig up a couple of names and addresses for me. Yes, very friendly indeed.
This is one of those places that even though you may pay a couple of points more for a tool, you know it's going to a company that deserves your business because they provide more than just tools; they provide knowledgeable and friendly service.
---
Addendum.
Our very own Shane, from Festool, notified me that the videos on the DVD's I mentioned above, are available,
here:http://www.festoolusa.com/pages.aspx?docid=337.
Thank you Shane. As always, a job well done.
Of the new offerings, Festool had the new MFT/3, as well as a couple of MFT 1080's, on display, plus the new 700 router. The OF2200 was nowhere to be seen. The Festool representative spent most of his time showing off the MFT/3 with a 55 and guide rail, primarily cutting strips of 1/16" material from a large block. Attendees not familiar with Festool were very impressed with the consistent and smooth strips produced by the Festool ?system?.
Festool had a boom arm attached to the 55, which I had not previously seen in person. Nice setup, very nice. The vacuum hose was completely out of the way while the 55 was in use. If I had a more stationary setup (i.e. not moving from place to place), I would give it serious consideration.
The domino was also a big hit. A few overheard remarks mentioned the fact that the biscuits, as someone called them, were not beech dust but solid beech and could not "spin" like the typical dowel. They also liked the way the domino was able to hit the mark all the way across the board. Push, drill/cut, move over, push drill/cut, etc?
Since Festool frowns on discounting, there were no "specials" and nothing was on "sale". :'( Even so, they did have plenty of the new 2008 Festool Catalogs, free for the taking.
Other participating vendors included Kreg, which had most of their catalog on display and had a small, but constant crowd stopping by to speak with the Kreg representative. Besides their pocket joining tools, their biggest hits were the new floor and tabletop routing tables.
Fein was there showing off their Multi Master; cutting through grout without breaking the tiles, cutting nails and wood trim, peeling up vinyl flooring covering, etc... This WAS on sale, for $389.00, about what it could be found for online. However, to sweeten the pot even more, they were tossing in a couple of extra blades and tee shirts. Since I have three projects coming up where the Multi Master will come in very handy, JR forced :
me to buy one. (I just love that woman)SawStop was there with their cabinet saw as well as their new contractor saw. Everyone gathered around for the SawStop in-action demonstration, which was impressive. The audience jumped, en-mass, when that hot dog was shoved into the spinning blade and it, the blade, came to an immediate stop. Every one of us was thinking the same thing; that could be my finger...
Freud was there with their rolling workshop on wheels showing off their router bits, especially their new Ogee Raised Panel Bit Set with Backcutter.
To demonstrate the set, their rep routed a piece of sheet good, routed some 1-by, cut the 1-by and built a small panel door out of oak in about 20 minutes. The result was a very smooth panel, which may have needed some touch-up sanding before final finishing and assembly.
Part of the demonstration was meant to show that the bit set could perform in a single pass what in the past would require two passes. The rep marked the back of the sheet-good panel with 1 or 2 on all four edges; #1 and #2 on each edge going with the grain and #1 and #2 on each edge going perpendicular to the grain. The numbers represented the number of passes with the router bit to produce the result. After the door panel had been cut, routed, trimmed and assembled, the audience was asked to identify which pass was which. No one could tell.
What seemed like the entire Freud catalog was on sale at 25% off. So, I ordered a couple of new blades, one for my Bosch 4000, to cut the Azek and Koma, a product similar to Azek but much harder and feels more like real wood. I also purchased a new blade for the DeWalt SCMS for a trim project starting next month.
Powermatic and Jet were there. However, I felt sorry for them. They seemed like the ugly stepchildren no one will speak to. Everyone, myself included, seemed to spend their time with the other vendors.
The only other thing of note was Byrnes had a fire sale on some items in the back. One thing that caught my attention was Bosch 1/4" & 1/2" router bits for $2.00 each; most were carbide. By the time I found out, the sale box had been pretty well picked clean. Even so, I found about a dozen bits, mostly 1/2". While I may not need them now, perhaps I will down the road. At $2.00 each, it was one of those duh! decisions. And, in all fairness to JR, I should have listened to her. While I was busy looking at something else on sale, she tried, unsuccessfully... to draw my attention to the router bits. But nooooo, I was busy and besides, she does not know what she is talking about. Yeah, right! :-\
Byrnes had some DVD?s from Festool. They were called ?Test Drives?. I picked up one for the domino. They had others but someone distracted my attention and I never did get back to see what else they had. Hey Festool... are you listening? Perhaps you could make the videos available for download. Pretty please.....
Speaking of Byrnes... They have a very nice toy store, er... showroom. Yeah, that's it, showroom? I encourage anyone in the area, or even passing through the area, if you have some free time Monday-Friday (normally no Saturday hours) stop in and browse. Oh yes? bring your credit card or checkbook.
While the showroom itself is not very large, about 15x25, it is well laid out and there are full displays of Fein, Freud, Hitachi, Bosch and our favorite, Festool, lots of Festool; just inside the front door no less. Byrnes stocks many of the better brands of woodworking tools, as well as industrial grade stuff that I could only guess at its purpose. The even sell used equipment, should anyone be in the market.
The staff is very knowledgeable and friendly, very friendly. I inquired about a good source for sheet goods and the owner/manager went into his office for a few minutes to dig up a couple of names and addresses for me. Yes, very friendly indeed.
This is one of those places that even though you may pay a couple of points more for a tool, you know it's going to a company that deserves your business because they provide more than just tools; they provide knowledgeable and friendly service.
---
Addendum.
Our very own Shane, from Festool, notified me that the videos on the DVD's I mentioned above, are available,
here:http://www.festoolusa.com/pages.aspx?docid=337.
Thank you Shane. As always, a job well done.
I would be delighted, though, to hear of a dealer anywhere who was formerly clueless and now fully clued.