Festool Live is DEAD.

[onocoffee]

Instead of the usual weekly livestream. Sedge & Co posted their exit video. 235 episodes.

I’m disappointed because I enjoyed learning about the different tools and applications.

 

[tjbnwi]

Didn’t see this coming. Never got a chance to watch live, I did watch them on YT in the evening.

Tom

 

[peter halle]

Didn’t see this coming. Never got a chance to watch live, I did watch them on YT in the evening.

Tom

Me too. Was an effective way to pre-empt questions on the phone and also to market their tools to a large audience with relatively little cost per viewer.

Peter

 

[cpw]

I do think they were running out of content after one a week for 4 years. I hope they continue the training videos, but maybe more produced and less often. The 90 second marketing videos for a new product are not nearly as good as the actual training/demonstration that Sedge would provide for something like the new granat profile pads.

 

[onocoffee]

I do think they were running out of content after one a week for 4 years. I hope they continue the training videos, but maybe more produced and less often. The 90 second marketing videos for a new product are not nearly as good as the actual training/demonstration that Sedge would provide for something like the new granat profile pads.

I have to agree with you on those marketing videos - they're pretty lame. But I can't imagine that they are indeed running out of content. With all the different people, in different trades, working with their tools, the potential content is endless.

I'm wondering if it's either they are tired of continuously producing the content or if Festool HQ put a stop to it. Maybe the Sedge haters got their ear.

 

[MacBoy]

It is definitely a sad bummer of a business decision.

I purposely ignore the Jason Bent videos, published by Festool USA. I have no respect for his it’s-all-about-me personality. He has a narrow set of experiences through his own house cabinetry projects.

Based on their “stay tuned” responses to the very last video, I am hopeful to learn more tool applications from Festool USA.

 

[timwors]

I will miss Festool Live as I learnt a huge amount over the years, especially about the more niche (and useful!) lost in the catalogue items, tips and tricks, etc.

I can imagine it took a huge amount of time and effort to come up with a 30 minute or so episode every single week. Hopefully they will do something in a similar format but less often, e.g. when a new tool is released.

 

[Zaph]

I see on Sedge's LinkedIn profile that he doesn't work for Festool anymore now, such a bummer.

 

[ChuckS]

I do think they were running out of content after one a week for 4 years. I hope they continue the training videos, but maybe more produced and less often. The 90 second marketing videos for a new product are not nearly as good as the actual training/demonstration that Sedge would provide for something like the new granat profile pads.

Yeah. They ran out of ideas and content for some time already such that they recycled and edited some previous ones into new ones. It is not just Festool videos; we see that in woodworking magazines, too, to the extent that many of them have folded. The remaining ones come out only bi-monthly or quarterly or even less.

I have never been a fan of any long-winded clips and of the very very few Festool Live episodes I've ever watched -- always offline, I skipped and skipped to save time. I'd say for a 30-min episode, it wouldn't take me more than 10 minutes to finish it.

 

[luvmytoolz]

They ran out of ideas and content for some time already such that they recycled and edited some previous ones into new ones.

This sort of thing annoys me no end, a guy I used to watch rarely who did resin work, would post a bunch of new videos, and a few seconds into checking one out I was sure I'd seen it before. Turns out he'd recycled most of his videos adding a tiny bit of extra commentary, but nothing of value. It all just became clickbait.

 

[Cheese]

I see on Sedge's LinkedIn profile that he doesn't work for Festool anymore now, such a bummer.

Mystery solved then... ...when the MB 40 was released in August/September(?), Sedge announced that he was working on a 3 or 4 part series focusing on just the MB 40.
And then a few weeks ago he also announced he was working on another upcoming topic. So there were at least 2-4 upcoming segments that were in the works. But if there's no Sedge, there's no Festool Live.

 

[anthonymall]

Mystery solved then... ...when the MB 40 was released in August(?), Sedge announced that he was working on a 3 or 4 part series just on the MB 40.
And then a few weeks ago he also announced he was working another upcoming topic. So there was at least 2-4 upcoming segments that were in the works. But if there's no Sedge, there's no Festool Live.

That’s kind of a bummer…many episodes were very irritating/annoying, other others were fairly good. Anyone in the digital media field would tell you the production quality was bottom of the barrel. As with most things, now that it’s gone, I want it more.

 

[tjbnwi]

My guess is Festool gave him a choice, Festool or sedgetool.

Years ago I took classes in Lebanon that Sedge taught (the late Kreg McMahon was there also), always liked the both of them.

Tom

 

[MacBoy]

Mystery solved then... ...when the MB 40 was released in August/September(?), Sedge announced that he was working on a 3 or 4 part series focusing on just the MB 40.
And then a few weeks ago he also announced he was working on another upcoming topic. So there were at least 2-4 upcoming segments that were in the works. But if there's no Sedge, there's no Festool Live.

Sedge made them all be a part of our extended family.

Yes, I too remember that Sedge said he had episodes planned for the Fall.

Hopefully it was not an HR situation of forced retirement.

Also, hopefully the supporting cast continues in their primary roles at the USA HQ.

 

[onocoffee]

I see on Sedge's LinkedIn profile that he doesn't work for Festool anymore now, such a bummer.

That's interesting. Quite a few months ago, someone was telling me that he was going to retire at some point. Since Sedge and I are similar in age, I didn't expect retirement so soon. But maybe he decided to retire and no one was going to take over Festool Live?

 

[onocoffee]

Mystery solved then... ...when the MB 40 was released in August/September(?), Sedge announced that he was working on a 3 or 4 part series focusing on just the MB 40.
And then a few weeks ago he also announced he was working on another upcoming topic. So there were at least 2-4 upcoming segments that were in the works. But if there's no Sedge, there's no Festool Live.

My guess is Festool gave him a choice, Festool or sedgetool.

Years ago I took classes in Lebanon that Sedge taught (the late Kreg McMahon was there also), always liked the both of them.

Tom

I think Tom's scenario is very plausible. The last FTL was the Ep about the CT15 and CT25 - and towards the end Minnie says that she's going to be away for a couple of weeks (but will be back). There's nothing to indicate that they knew the End was Nigh.

And Zaph is right - Sedge's LinkedIn lists his Festool employment ended October 2025...

 

[4nthony]

I see on Sedge's LinkedIn profile that he doesn't work for Festool anymore now, such a bummer.

I wasn't always a fan of his whoop-whoop schtick but I found many of his Live videos informative.

If it is true that he's no longer with FUSA, one would hope that he can now he can be more honest and open when discussing the flaws some tools have -- looking at you, OF 1400 -- and not just gloss over legit questions about them.

 

[PaulMarcel]

I agree that the "Three Stooges" woop-woop was enough to make me hit mute every time, but there were some gems in there, especially for the RENO-FIX grinder. I'm curious to know what happened and hope all the best for Sedge, especially since he has real-world experience.

I recently went to a local Festool event and expected the local sales guy... he's, um, not so good. Fortunately, it was a different guy and he knew a lot. Granted, I sent him off on some lesser-known accessories that really make the tool so much better ("are you sure these are current?" "yes, but I bought them 10 years ago" "oh, they might be gone now" "um, no, I guarantee they are live" *checks* "oh, I have to order one to try!" yay!) If it wasn't for this guy, I would have submitted my CV to Festool-USA to become a demo-dude. I'll likely see him again at some new dealership north of me that looks ridiculous... let's hope!

 

[Cheese]

I recently went to a local Festool event and expected the local sales guy... he's, um, not so good.

In the early days of Festool, Danny was the local Festool rep in the Twin Cities and he was fantastic. He knew a lot about the tools, demonstrated any tool you wanted to see and was just a plain interesting person to sit down and talk with. Ever since he changed employment, I have yet to see or even hear where the new Festool rep is hanging out...Danny left about 6 years ago...so that's about 6 years of Festool MIA.

 

[Mini Me]

I agree that the "Three Stooges" woop-woop was enough to make me hit mute every time

I watched a bit of one video and never went back for more because of his behaviour on screen. I went there for education and not a stand up comedy show so he got the flick so to speak. Paul, your presentation appeals to me, straight forward and always on point.