Festool Live is DEAD.

[leakyroof]

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.

Yes, Danny was amazing. Very down to earth, sly sense of humor too. Very knowledgeable about the product as you noted. He was missed, and always will be.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

That's a real shame about Brent, I really enjoyed his videos and he built some interesting projects.

Seems there is a bit of a revolution going on in Festool USA's marketing department. I hope it will get sorted out, as I thought that the USA videos were generally very informative.

Festool UK dropped their association with Peter Parfitt about 2 years ago (I think) and he no longer gets tools for testing/review. I think this was a huge own goal by Festool UK, as Peter was an excellent promoter of their tools "in use" and produces great content. I had thought that Festool UK might be bringing this in-house with their own content. I can see why they would want to have more control over it, but the UK videos are at the opposite end of the energy spectrum to Sedge (and Peter). The presenters know their stuff (I've met two of them in person) but the videos can be rather dull...

I remember Peter frequently mentioning UJK as his source for loaned tools, adding that they would be sent back. I don't specifically remember that about Festool though? I never really got it as sponsored, but not specifically saying that he bought it with his own money either? It has been several years since he posted regularly though.
Seems like a lot of YouTube woodworkers have slowed down recently.

 

[peter halle]

Yes, Danny was amazing. Very down to earth, sly sense of humor too. Very knowledgeable about the product as you noted. He was missed, and always will be.

I never heard a negative thing about Danny. He was a rockstar . Enjoyed talking to him at the Festool Connect events.

Peter

 

[MacBoy]

I am overthinking it, and yet there are glimpses of the future of “training” with this new Festool HQ video.

The captioning and narration is done by AI.

They are showing applications, same as in the past.

Now they have to auto-remove the tools not available in North America, such as the one at 26-seconds. By the way, What is that tool

Their AI will get better with the titles. What the heck is a “seamless floor” for a North America audience

Here is the 2-minute video.

 

[luvmytoolz]

Now they have to auto-remove the tools not available in North America, such as the one at 26-seconds. By the way, What is that tool

That's the DSC for grooving/cutting in concrete and similar substrates, comes in two models, one that's used freehand, the other has a base that could be used with the guide rails. Basically grinder with a diamond wheel and very good dust extraction.

 

[onocoffee]

I remember Peter frequently mentioning UJK as his source for loaned tools, adding that they would be sent back. I don't specifically remember that about Festool though? I never really got it as sponsored, but not specifically saying that he bought it with his own money either? It has been several years since he posted regularly though.
Seems like a lot of YouTube woodworkers have slowed down recently.

Peter Parfitt always disclosed the source of the tools in his videos. In many of them, he would state that Festool UK loaned him the tools for use in the video and that they would be returned after. I always liked that about his videos. So many creators don't disclose that kind of information.

And if they also released Garrett, does that mean they released their entire training team? My understanding was that he was the one who trained their sales reps.

 

[PaulMarcel]

Really hope they don't go the AI route. AI has its uses and some of what it can do is remarkable (I should find the video Ripple Training did on Stable Diffusion... it is the most amazing noise filter ever).

 

[Allano]

It is Minnie It was typically a shtick of "Minnie, what is 850mm divided by two?" "425!!" and Sedge would respond: "You're so good at metric."

Sounds like a self-ironic joke to me.

"If it was 850 inches, I could calculate it myself. For 850 mm I will need Minnie's help. I am not good at metric."

 

[luvmytoolz]

Sounds like a self-ironic joke to me.

"If it was 850 inches, I could calculate it myself. For 850 mm I will need Minnie's help. I am not good at metric."

There's a fine line though between it being ironic, and it occurring so often it starts becoming contrived.

 

[ChuckS]

I'm no cook, but I know I'd never say "I'm so terrible, I belong in the kitchen" even as a joke in front of an audience. You never know how people would take your jokes, self-depreciating or not -- unless you're a comedian doing your gig.

Btw, if the quote is correct, it has nothing to do with metric, but math. Of course, no one would suggest it to be a joke if the word math was used.

 

[Cheese]

Btw, if the quote is correct, it has nothing to do with metric, but math. Of course, no one would suggest it to be a joke if the word math was used.

You got it Chuck... ...it was always a math function but worded in such a way as to make you think how much easier metric was to use than imperial and that Minnie was therefore the metric wizard.

 

[peter halle]

On Garrett's Linkedin page it also says Festool employed until Oct 2025

I understand through a secret credible source in the know that Garrett is still with Festool.

Peter

 

[Allano]

Btw, if the quote is correct, it has nothing to do with metric, but math.

That is the joke.

And it is a variation of a joke, which is older than most of us:

The teacher asks Peter: "If I have six apples and give you two, how many apples have I remaining?"
Peter responds: "I don't know. I switched schools and at my old school we only learned calculation with oranges."

 

[nclemmons]

TLDR:
IMO the problem was the reach. It being TOO BIG /geographically/ for official FUSA content.

E:g. FUSA supporting Sedge&Co doing the same - just sans the official association with "Festool" - is probably much more workable. May have even been hinted some time before .. so Sedge was given time/space to build-up the standalone channel.

-----
Just guessing ... but here is my hint:

FUSA was doing something global *without* being a global business within the "Festool" organisation. This type of stuff inevitably ends up steppin on others toes - not same kit available worldwide, etc., etc.

For one, it was very unfortunately named - "Festool Live" implies it is a Festool presentation, as in THE Festool as in DA GERMANs .. which it was anything but.

In a US-centered worldview, so universal in the US, this probably did not hit anyone when they came up with the concept. But I am pretty sure it hit the HQ folks immediately - even if the "arrogance" could be passed over, it DID cause mis-information issues with lots of folks by definition. If only for the different tool availability timing of the NA markets.

Interesting. Shaper does their 'Sessions' every other Thursday in the US and I believe they also have a similar program out of Germany. The US Sessions typically has perhaps 200 or so people participating and asking questions after project and tool demos. They are VERY popular and useful. Given that FT and Shaper are sister organizations, I do wonder why they would cancel the Festool Live sessions.

Shaper sessions has tool / project demos, submitted shop tours by woodworkers and giveaways at each session with a Q&A as well. I think they are around 1 hour to 1.5 hours depending on the content and question quantities.

Granted Shaper does have a universal toolset internationally, so perhaps that might have been some impact on the Festool cancellation given they did not have universal availability of their tools around the globe.

neil

 

[ChuckS]

That is the joke.

And it is a variation of a joke, which is older than most of us:

The teacher asks Peter: "If I have six apples and give you two, how many apples have I remaining?"
Peter responds: "I don't know. I switched schools and at my old school we only learned calculation with oranges."

Haha. I posed the Festool "metric joke" to my 60+ group (consisting of men and women; no woodworkers other than me)...none of them saw it as a self-depreciating joke. Maybe woodworkers are different.

 

[onocoffee]

to make you think how much easier metric was to use than imperial

It always strikes me as odd how some Americans (not just American woodworkers) get so incensed about metric. I prefer to be an AmeriCAN, not an AmeriCAN'T - so therefore, I am able to be comfortable and use metric, not just imperial!

 

[guybo]

I wonder what's going to happen to all those tools and systainers and........

 

[4nthony]

I wonder what's going to happen to all those tools and systainers and........

Recon!!

 

[guybo]

I recon you like tools

 

[leakyroof]

I wonder what's going to happen to all those tools and systainers and........

Ohh, good point. I had forgotten about the Wall of Festool in the Classroom. It's been more than 10 yrs since I was there.