Festool Live is DEAD.

[CloudFlare]

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?

He was terminated along with several other people. If he retired, there would of been a big video and announcement. Festool tried to hide it and claimed nothing happened, just a new direction. I wish they were as good as business as they are lying

 

[CloudFlare]

Who else besides Sedge got let go?

B

In the last few years, they have picked up the live demos at local dealers again, but those could not be considered classes, in any way. Maybe that's on the horizon though?

Its on the horizon if they could keep reps around but they seem to go through reps quite quickly, and the reps just spew out the same thing over and over. I could just read the catalog. There are quite a few good makers here in California who offer classes. Id check your state and go from there.

 

[COBill]

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.

Such a shame, I own so many Festool tools only because of Festool live.

My dealers don't carry most tools, and rarely have demos.

 

[luvmytoolz]

That exit video looks to me like it was purely put together by Festool using old videos, doesn't look like something Sedge and the team put together as a farewell.

 

[COBill]

That exit video looks to me like it was purely put together by Festool using old videos, doesn't look like something Sedge and the team put together as a farewell.

Not surprising, most companies would do just that rather than allow (now) ex-employees access to their YouTube, even "one last time."

 

[peter halle]

I have to admit, that although I didn't watch all the episodes live, at noon yesterday I did sadly miss the opportunity to watch a new episode.

To all those who helped put those on for us, whether we watched them, whether or not we watched them live, and whether or not we ever go to Youtube to watch or rewatch - THANK YOU! Sometimes just knowing that when you grab a tool to do something different there is something out there to show you how is the push to go ahead and try it.

Virtually nobody ever reads the Festool owners' manuals and wouldn't understand them even if we tried, so seeing the tools explained and shown will make a difference to so many down the road.

Peter

 

[boomvader]

BINGO! I thought i was the only one. All of a sudden, he has made himself a couple at home cabinets and the guy is out here making videos "cabinets have never been easier" spewing out advice as if hes some professional. Just watch some in depth videos like him installing his own floor with some terribly placed joints and you quickly see through his BS.

At one point, he was pushing Harvey equipment because they were giving him free machinery and a large monthly check of $3000-4000 for his work. Once that came to a stop, he suddenly gets rid of all his harvey equipment for hammer/felder. Zero accountability, its all about the money for him.

Now he is on a podcast with sedge and ronnie, and the three gel quite nicely as they're all somewhat similar personalities and all have major drinking problems. Seems as jason has recently gone on a "no alcohol journey" with his new found coach, but the dude would be sporting a beer at 11:00AM at a casual woodworking event. I never saw him drink if he was doing a demo for festool. Hope his journey goes well, he looks tired and needs it. Sedge, its apart of his personality, hes a nice guy cant say anything bad. Ronnie, the guy exploited his son for views on instagram, and now is all over festool like a rash for constant freebies and is so desperate to be included.

And don’t forget the shameless Rolex flashes! JFC

 

[Vondawg]

Whew…lot of negative info …I hope my first 8 posts weren’t full of all grips

 

[CloudFlare]

And don’t forget the shameless Rolex flashes! JFC

haha thats hilarious you noticed that too, i thought it was just me! Its so tacky!

 

[MacBoy]

I am thankful for my remote mentors ability to teach and show techniques:

• Peter Millard via 10 Minute Workshop
• Brian Sedgley via Festool Live and SedgeTool
• Guido Henn via Holzwerken

Also thankful for the real-life experiences and wisdom of people at:

• Festool Owners Group (FOG)
• 10 Minute Workshop member forum
• Facebook groups

 

[batmanimal]

Wow, I'm sad to hear this. Like some have expressed, the show wasn't for everyone, but Sedge was clearly very knowledgeable and some of those episodes were absolute treasure troves of useful information. I loved the one comparing the different routers, and the one covering the dominos. It was often very helpful to see all the variations of a product line side-by-side, like the episode where Sedge explained the god-knows-how-many generations of Systainers.

I can understand if there was not enough content to justify a weekly series, but surely there would be enough for a monthly or quarterly edition. It feels like a mistake to let go of these trainers so abruptly -- it is hard to find credible instructors these days, and it's not something you can replace easily. Would seem wiser to keep them onboard and take advantage of the deep following and relationships they had built, but reduced the production of videos to a more manageable schedule.

As for the "hey Minnie" running jokes, I am female and personally did not find them offensive, but understand if it rubbed some the wrong way. If anything offended me, it was that the jokes weren't actually funny. But I still stayed tuned for the good info.

Thanks to the Festool Live team. Appreciate all you did and learned a lot from you.

 

[Redromad]

BINGO! I thought i was the only one. All of a sudden, he has made himself a couple at home cabinets and the guy is out here making videos "cabinets have never been easier" spewing out advice as if hes some professional. Just watch some in depth videos like him installing his own floor with some terribly placed joints and you quickly see through his BS.

At one point, he was pushing Harvey equipment because they were giving him free machinery and a large monthly check of $3000-4000 for his work. Once that came to a stop, he suddenly gets rid of all his harvey equipment for hammer/felder. Zero accountability, its all about the money for him.

Now he is on a podcast with sedge and ronnie, and the three gel quite nicely as they're all somewhat similar personalities and all have major drinking problems. Seems as jason has recently gone on a "no alcohol journey" with his new found coach, but the dude would be sporting a beer at 11:00AM at a casual woodworking event. I never saw him drink if he was doing a demo for festool. Hope his journey goes well, he looks tired and needs it. Sedge, its apart of his personality, hes a nice guy cant say anything bad. Ronnie, the guy exploited his son for views on instagram, and now is all over festool like a rash for constant freebies and is so desperate to be included.

I totally agree about JB. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

Red

 

[Redromad]

Dusty will rep anyone who throws free items at him. Mafell, Festool, Bott, Titebond, etc.

Bott, who makes van shelving, sent him a ton of stuff but it was pointless as the guy doesnt have a van.

Its amazing how much they will throw at the guy. He has no talent. What have you ever seen him build other than a mock-up mortise and tenon joint?

Seeing him at the Festool build off was embarrassing, but those build off events are quite great at exposing who does it for a living and has talent, and who does it for content. RusticGrainTampa who builds cabinets in his Florida based shop was another one. Looked like a lost dog, but on instagram hes constantly showing off new tools and techniques like hes been doing this his whole life. Usual influencer BS

I do not know either one of these two that you are referring to personally, but your opinion is similar to mine just through their online presence. I followed both for a while on IG and got worn out by all the advertising they did without any real substance. Spot on!

 

[bwehman]

Just listened to the podcast episode and Sedge said it was part of a “massive workforce reduction” but how does that reconcile with their job openings for those vacated positions?

 

[Stevenski]

Wow, I'm sad to hear this. Like some have expressed, the show wasn't for everyone, but Sedge was clearly very knowledgeable and some of those episodes were absolute treasure troves of useful information. I loved the one comparing the different routers, and the one covering the dominos. It was often very helpful to see all the variations of a product line side-by-side, like the episode where Sedge explained the god-knows-how-many generations of Systainers.

I can understand if there was not enough content to justify a weekly series, but surely there would be enough for a monthly or quarterly edition. It feels like a mistake to let go of these trainers so abruptly -- it is hard to find credible instructors these days, and it's not something you can replace easily. Would seem wiser to keep them onboard and take advantage of the deep following and relationships they had built, but reduced the production of videos to a more manageable schedule.

As for the "hey Minnie" running jokes, I am female and personally did not find them offensive, but understand if it rubbed some the wrong way. If anything offended me, it was that the jokes weren't actually funny. But I still stayed tuned for the good info.

Thanks to the Festool Live team. Appreciate all you did and learned a lot from you.

I agree with everything you said and could have written every word myself (except the "I am female" part )

I would also like to add that Sedge is one of only a couple of YouTubers who have actually responded to a question I sent them - and I suspect he doesn't get any less emails than the others. He was really friendly and generous with his time and knowledge - I really appreciated that.

 

[CloudFlare]

Just listened to the podcast episode and Sedge said it was part of a “massive workforce reduction” but how does that reconcile with their job openings for those vacated positions?

It doesn't make sense as they had a job opening for a content specialist in the USA within a week, but this is also typical Festool behavior. They will use people and then dispose of them like nothing happened, this applies to employees and especially brand ambassadors.

Couple possibilities here

1) Festool is getting some kind of gov't funding here as they're advertising for a job, but that doesn't mean they have to hire anyone. Lots of corporate companies did this for gov't funding after covid.
2) As sedge was with the company for 15 years, i'm sure he earned a good salary, etc, which eventually added up and they realized they needed someone cheaper

The new position is looking for someone bilingual (english & spanish) so they want to try the Spanish audience next as the DIY audience was an utter failure. Wait until they find out the results of this new experiment.

I also noticed quite a few Festool employees moved over to bott shelving/systainer store. Chris D. who was a product developer at Festool is now the ceo, and victor who was the chicago regional sales rep for festool is now a rep for bott. That company itself also looks like its struggling a ton honestly, but i also know that the investors behind bott are extremely greedy

 

[luvmytoolz]

As for the "hey Minnie" running jokes, I am female and personally did not find them offensive, but understand if it rubbed some the wrong way. If anything offended me, it was that the jokes weren't actually funny. But I still stayed tuned for the good info.

I never found anything on Sedge's videos offensive, I suspect a lot of others like myself just found the Minnie questions to be more of the "schtick" that were tiresome.

He always came across as a really nice bloke but I did find them a hard watch because of the schtick.

 

[Chainring]

At first, I thought the math jokes between Sedge and Mini were odd. At some point, I didn't try to understand them and considered that since I'm not there and don't know them personally, it's something I'll just let pass on by.

I liked Sedge's schtick. The volume, however, could be a bit much. At the end of it all, there's people out of work and that sucks.

 

[4nthony]

At the end of it all, there's people out of work and that sucks.

I heard on the podcast that Sedge was at Festool for 18-1/2 years. I was let go from my old IT job after the same length of time and I can feel for him.

Working at the same place for such a long time, the job becomes part of your identity and it can be difficult to cope with such an abrupt change. I’m sure even more so for him since he was essentially the face of FUSA.

Fortunately, I ended up in a good place, experiencing things I never thought I would. I suspect he’ll be fine as well and will enjoy his next chapter.

 

[onocoffee]

I heard on the podcast that Sedge was at Festool for 18-1/2 years. I was let go from my old IT job after the same length of time and I can feel for him.

Working at the same place for such a long time, the job becomes part of your identity and it can be difficult to cope with such an abrupt change. I’m sure even more so for him since he was essentially the face of FUSA.

Fortunately, I ended up in a good place, experiencing things I never thought I would. I suspect he’ll be fine as well and will enjoy his next chapter.

I was just listening to that podcast on my drive this morning. 18.5 years? And then to be blindsided and "laid off"? You're right, he was the face of Festool USA and the de facto face of Festool for many people worldwide. There's been a lot of talk about how Festool is a "family company" - it's kind of difficult to rectify that with just walking in one day and letting a swath of people go with no prior notice. Sedge even said that he was in shock for three days. You could always see the enthusiasm he had for the company and the tools - he was the quintessential "Festool Fan Boy" and known as "Festool Sedge" - and then to be out in the cold. That IS cold. I hope he finds a new path and will be happy in that.

I don't really listen to their podcast so this is the first time in a very long time, but is this current episode reflective of their typical topics? I couldn't listen to it all because they spent an inordinate amount of time (mostly Bent and the other guy) bitching about the commentary they receive on their videos - and then Bent was boasting about how he gets free equipment from the companies anytime he wants. All he has to do is call and that he's got so much gear stacked up he doesn't use. And then more bitching about comments from viewers.

I just couldn't listen anymore and went back to listening to Paul Sellers videos on my drive. Is this typical of that podcast?