Festool-O-Rama

[mopowers]

Hello,

I would like to thank everyone on this site for all your contributions. I have been a daily follower of the FOG for about six months now. This is a great resource and i have learned a tremendous amount. I figured it was about time i made a contribution.

About me- I am a self employed carpenter and aspiring fine woodworker. I generally work with two other self employed carpenters in a builders co-op of sorts. We usually built one high end home from frame to finish a year and fill in the rest of the time with smaller projects. I discovered Festool about eight months ago and was instantly sold on the system. Trying to afford these tools has almost put me out of business but i am still fully dedicated. Through countless hours of peer pressure my coworkers have finally started to invest and make the switch.  Needless to say our local craigslist has been buzzing lately with (the other brands) power tools. A friend of mine who is a amateur woodworker came over to my shop last week and i gave him a little tracksaw demo. He has called me every night since asking questions about festool. I think he finally took the plunge and ordered a set up from Toolnut last night. He justified it to me this way "If I use it til I'm 80 that is only 53.33 dollars per year."
I love it!

Anyway i wanted to share pictures of my current job. This is my first big trim job with the Festool system and a dream come true. I hope to someday replace that yellow&black biscuit joiner with a domino but it might be financially out of my league for now.

 

[Brice Burrell]

Congrats on the first post and a belated welcome to you sir!  The job likes nice and you seem to have a nice collection of green and dark blue goodies.  One question, where's all the saw dust?  [big grin] [thumbs up]

 

[GPowers]

[welcome] Make sure you post some progress photos. [big grin]

 

[Frank Pellow]

[welcome]  Welcome to thge FOG, thanks for the photos, and I trust that we will see many more from you.  [welcome]

 

[tms0425]

Welcome!

Yes, if you haven't demo'd the Domino yet, be prepared. Once you try it, it will be a must have and you can't turn back.  I tried it in the Festool classes and it's been on my wish list ever since. Now one is finally on its way here so I think I'll have a lot of extra biscuits soon [wink]

Tom

 

[dsweetser]

Welcome. As to peer persure, just remind them, "they cannot afford not to own Festool."

 

[Holzhacker]

I can see how you may be going broke. That's a very nice starter set. You've come to the right place. I don't know that we can help you with your addiction besides helping you slide further down the slippery green slope.
Oh and that jobsite is way too clean for me.  [not worthy]

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

I'd like to join in welcoming you aboard. If there's anything I can do to answer questions or help you out, feel free to contact me directly at sho@festoolusa.com.

Shane Holland
Festool USA

 

[shoe maker]

Great choice in upgrading your tools. They will serve you a long time.

I hope the hvac is running in that home now and that square edge pine flooring was acclimated to the proper moisture content before you installed it. I have gone behind carpenters who have installed floors like that and had to rip out floors like that from either buckling or some shrinking so much the gaps between the boards was big enough to get your big toe stuck in.

Moisture meter if not in your tool box already should be next on your list.

 

[AlexThePalex]

So, with all those Festools on site, how are you going to keep track of which one is whose?  [smile]

 

[PaulMarcel]

Very nice shop!  I bet it smells amazing while cutting up that flooring.

Welcome!  And as the others pointed out, we're a great support group... if you want to buy more  [tongue]

 

[Sean7a]

Hello,

I would like to thank everyone on this site for all your contributions. I have been a daily follower of the FOG for about six months now. This is a great resource and i have learned a tremendous amount. I figured it was about time i made a contribution.

About me- I am a self employed carpenter and aspiring fine woodworker. I generally work with two other self employed carpenters in a builders co-op of sorts. We usually built one high end home from frame to finish a year and fill in the rest of the time with smaller projects. I discovered Festool about eight months ago and was instantly sold on the system. Trying to afford these tools has almost put me out of business but i am still fully dedicated. Through countless hours of peer pressure my coworkers have finally started to invest and make the switch.  Needless to say our local craigslist has been buzzing lately with (the other brands) power tools. A friend of mine who is a amateur woodworker came over to my shop last week and i gave him a little tracksaw demo. He has called me every night since asking questions about festool. I think he finally took the plunge and ordered a set up from Toolnut last night. He justified it to me this way "If I use it til I'm 80 that is only 53.33 dollars per year."
I love it!

Anyway i wanted to share pictures of my current job. This is my first big trim job with the Festool system and a dream come true. I hope to someday replace that yellow&black biscuit joiner with a domino but it might be financially out of my league for now.

Mr. P!  Thanks for the post and comment.  He (I'll hold off on naming someone who isn't on the board...yet) did order a TS the other night and used the same justification while we were chatting.  You're right, gotta love it!  He had me laughing.  Sounds like you boys have a great little team going and it's only going to become more efficient and enjoyable as time moves on with another Festool player in the group.

 

[mopowers]

Thanks everyone for the comments. The cleanliness of the job site is still a bit unbelievable. When we were done you could of used just a whisk broom to clean up.

Shoe Maker- This is the guest house to the main house we built eight years ago. Wide pine throughout the main house and the floors are still in excellent condition. One of my coworkers has been doing this style flooring for almost 40 years. We have our system down. I might be young but i have been fortunate to have spent the last 13 years working with some of the most talented builders in the area.

Paul- Your video review of the OF 1400 was incredibly helpful. I had just purchased the 1400 when the video came out. Right out of the box i thought the router was top heavy and to unstable for edge routing. Your idea of using the guide stop as a base extension made all the difference. It was then i knew i could set my bosch free.

Here is a captured image from Sketchup of the job. An architect did the conceptual design and i drew the framing plan. The last four houses we have done i drew the entire house stud for stud and then we precut everything including the sheathing. Vally rafters, jack rafters, stair stringers you name it it gets precut (after the foundation is in of course).

Sketchup and Festool has completely changed the way we build.

 

[MrToolJunkie]

Welcome!  A very nice collection of tools indeed!  I agree - some more progress pics would be awesome!

Scot

 

[richard.selwyn]

Wide pine throughout the main house and the floors are still in excellent condition. One of my coworkers has been doing this style flooring for almost 40 years. We have our system down.

Any chance of you sharing that system? I am always worried about movement. We don't have huge swings here in Normandy (it's always damp  [wink] ) but I have seen even laminate floor here give trouble.
Congratulations on all that Green stuff (in and out!)
Regards
Richard

 

[mopowers]

Any chance of you sharing that system?

Our system is nether explicit or scientific. I dont specialize in flooring by any means, it just comes with the territory. By the sound of it Shoe Maker might have some hard and fast rules that might be more beneficial. Like he said a moisture meter is probably a very good tool to have when dealing with this flooring. I am guessing 8% is good and the subfloor should also be close to the same? I dont have a moisture meter and have never seen one on a job site.

This is our generalized procedure. The wood was harvested, kiln dried and milled locally and taken to a local cabinet shop to be S4S. For the last few years we have been finishing with a locally made polyurethane made from whey. http://www.vermontnaturalcoatings.com/. All of these factors are important to me when choosing building materials. The lumber was stored at the cabinet shop (inside) for a month while we waited on the painter. Again like shoe maker said if its a new house the temperature and more importantly the humidity should be stabilized before bringing in the flooring. In this case the HVAC had been up and running for months. The flooring should be stacked and stickerd in the room it is to be installed for at least a week. The longer the better but its not a perfect world and progress has to be made so we rarely get more than a week. A layer of rosin paper over the subfloor is a good idea but not critical. The boards should be installed bark side down or smile up when looking at the end grain. We run this kind of flooring perpendicular to the joists. Square cut nails are used and nailed into the floor joists. One nail one inch in from each edge and one in the center on boards wider than 10 inches. The ends of the boards are joined half way between floor joists with biscuits and not nailed. I guess thats it besides leaving a 3/8" gap around the perimeter of the room.

If you are looking for a unified floor like strip flooring with absolutely no gaps than wide pine if not the floor for you. Wide pine is a traditional flooring in eclectic early American homes (moot point for you Richard) and cost effective so i think that is the appeal. With boards this wide you are going to get some gaps some times of the year. To me 1/8" between boards is acceptable. If someone can do a floor like this and get no gaps ever please speak up.

Here if a picture of the flooring laid in the main house 8 years ago. These boards came from a different mill and were higher quality. Some of them were up to 24" wide and a majority mostly clear.

 

[mopowers]

I also wanted to add that the floor in the previous picture is over radiant heat. It is the dryest time of the year for us right now and there is an 1/8" gap between some of the boards.