Festool Sharpening Service

[Cheese]

Interesting that Festool is officially using Quinn Sharpening rather than Leitz Sharpening. I'd bet it was a monetary driven decision.

It really appears to be a good value as Quinn normally charges $22.50 to sharpen a 160 mm blade. Add in 3 tip replacements for $15 and 2-way shipping and the $35 Festool fee looks like the absolutely best bargain of the century.  [smile]

Turn around time from Festool: "In approx. a week you can enjoy the feeling of sawing with razor sharp blades."
https://festoolsharpen.com/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=circular+saw+owners+&utm_id=5&sc_src=email_3008679&sc_lid=218168997&sc_uid=NakMPoiBim&sc_llid=192236&sc_customer=00Q3X00001Ip55bUAB

 

[rvieceli]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member]

Did you happen to notice the subscription services offered as well? Apparently not available yet but coming.
https://festoolsharpen.com/products...92984&pr_ref_pid=8299204608312&pr_seq=uniform
https://festoolsharpen.com/products...71352&pr_ref_pid=8642046492984&pr_seq=uniform

Ron

 

[Cheese]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member]

Did you happen to notice the subscription services offered as well? Apparently not available yet but coming.
https://festoolsharpen.com/products...92984&pr_ref_pid=8299204608312&pr_seq=uniform
https://festoolsharpen.com/products...71352&pr_ref_pid=8642046492984&pr_seq=uniform

Ron

No I didn't Ron...thanks for pointing that out.  [smile]

Actually, the $99 service sounds almost reasonable because of the free shipment of Ekat replacement parts. I probably spend $60 per year just for postage on Ekat items. I'm always "compiling a list of items needed" to save on shipping costs.

Now, if a person could order Ekat items directly from the web, along with the free postage, that'd get my $99 vote. 

 

[woodbutcherbower]

It really appears to be a good value as Quinn normally charges $22.50 to sharpen a 160 mm blade.

I beg to differ. Here in the UK, brand-new Trend TS55 aftermarket blades come in at under £12 each. The performance, the balance, the longevity, the cut quality - the everything - is 100% indistinguishable from OEM Festool blades. There was a time when I had 20+ OEM blades in a constant state of being used/being resharpened by my local tool guys. I discovered the Trend ones, I used them for awhile, then I had the OEM ones resharpened one final time, I sold them to the gullible on eBay, and made enough to buy 40 brand-new Trend ones. No affiliation, I'm not their new sales rep.

Just sayin' ........

 

[Crazyraceguy]

From what I have seen, Trend has a distribution issue here in the US. They have way more products than are easily available. They may not block things like Festool does, but you would have to import them from UK or European sellers. The shipping cost might cut into that savings at least a little.
Though admittedly, I haven't checked into this for a while.

 

[Cheese]

It really appears to be a good value as Quinn normally charges $22.50 to sharpen a 160 mm blade.

I beg to differ. Here in the UK, brand-new Trend TS55 aftermarket blades come in at under £12 each. The performance, the balance, the longevity, the cut quality - the everything - is 100% indistinguishable from OEM Festool blades. There was a time when I had 20+ OEM blades in a constant state of being used/being resharpened by my local tool guys. I discovered the Trend ones, I used them for awhile, then I had the OEM ones resharpened one final time, I sold them to the gullible on eBay, and made enough to buy 40 brand-new Trend ones. No affiliation, I'm not their new sales rep.

Just sayin' ........
[/quote]

Kevin ...I beg to differ. I fully understand your situation, and as a full time professional I appreciate the amount of saw blades that you churn through on a weekly/monthly basis. I get that...it's all about profit $$ lost.
However, arguing from an ecological perspective, is it really better to purchase a Trend blade and stuff it in a landfill once it's dull as compared to having it resharpened? Having never seen a Trend blade, I have no idea if they are re-sharpenable, but even if they are, why would you resharpen a $10 blade if it costs $22 to resharpen it...that economic model goes away.

I suspect the Trend blade is similar to the Diablo variant which is really a one-and-done product.

Festool say's that their typical blade can be sharpened 10 times...that means for every single Festool blade placed in landfill, there will be 10 Trend blades placed in the same landfill...hmmm, what's wrong with that picture?

To be clear, I'm not a saint and back in the 60's/70's I was putting 100 octane AV gas in my street car which barely managed 8 MPG, so wasting natural resources is just part of my DNA. [smile]

However, the times have changed and thinking only about the $$ saved, will not correct the global future issues we will currently/eventually face. We owe to our children, a better solution than just burying more junk that eventually needs to be exhumed and repurposed. Pay me now...or pay me more later.

Just sayin' ........

 

[squall_line]

Steel can be recycled at least.  I try to separate as much scrap metal out of everything as I can, and take it to our landfill's scrap pile when needed.  I have only ever had enough material to make a trip to an actual scrap yard twice to get any sort of money back, most of what I scrap is coat hangers, old screws with stripped heads, roofing nails that contractors can't be bothered to clean up, baby strollers, that sort of thing.  Brass and cast aluminum are usually worth my time to take in and get weighed, but not always.

 

[Oldwood]

We found a big difference between the different sharpening services both in cost and how well the blades cut as well as how long they last.

We had a service that was a little pricey, but the blades came back nice and sharp and lasted a long time. A friend recommended a company he had been using whose cost was quite a bit better. We tried them out and found, although the blades seemed sharp when we got them back, they did not last as long.

We of course stayed with the expensive shop. When I was in picking up blades, I mentioned my experience with the other shop. He smiled and said yes they charge less, but they only grind the tops and not the face like he always does. He said if I wanted him to do only half the job he would also charge less, of course he was not serious.

Sharpening is definitely a service where the lowest price is not always the best deal.

 

[Ron B]

Steel can be recycled at least.  I try to separate as much scrap metal out of everything as I can, and take it to our landfill's scrap pile when needed.

I have not heard of a landfill scrap pile, good idea as I prefer to recycle. I would probably be dragging things out if it and come home with more than I took.

When I took my water heater out I did not know what to do with it.  One scrap yard would probably take a school bus if I drove it in late at night, and by the next morning it would be crushed.  The other place is a large corporation and they charge you for everything.  I found a guy that was scrapping, asked him about taking a water heater, and dropped it off at his house.  We have city pickup recycling (which we pay extra for) but they will not take car or construction steel or brass.  They will take a pop can but not an aluminum screen door.  They take steel cans but will not take a brake disc  rotor. So they are not really recyclers, just found a way to make us pay extra to get rid of what would normally go into the garbage truck. So I just keep a bucket or pile and every so often just drop it off at the scrap collector's house.  Win-win. 

 

[Cheese]

...I found a guy that was scrapping, asked him about taking a water heater, and dropped it off at his house. 

They take steel cans but will not take a brake disc rotor. So they are not really recyclers, just found a way to make us pay extra to get rid of what would normally go into the garbage truck. So I just keep a bucket or pile and every so often just drop it off at the scrap collector's house.  Win-win.

One of the local service stations, when they change out rotors, just pile the old rotors up on the cover of their dumpster to make it easier for the scrappers.  [big grin]  That's also a win-win.

 

[woodbutcherbower]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] Of course you are 100% right - and I completely share the environmental concern and responsibility. We all should, and it's one of the first things which crossed my mind when I started using these blades. They're remarkably good, and there's plenty of meat on the teeth to get them resharpened multiple times. But when it costs more to resharpen than to replace? My dilemma was solved by the route mentioned by [member=75217]squall_line[/member] - I don't throw the used ones away, I take them to my local recycling centre and put them into the 'ferrous metals' bin for recycling. Who knows? A few atoms of that steel may one day find their way into a Festool product  [smile]
 
[member=58857]Crazyraceguy[/member] You're also right. I have absolutely no idea why Trend products aren't better represented in NA and I really think they're missing a trick. They make a range of 500+ high-quality router cutters for every conceivable application, a multitude of other consumbles, drill bits, routers, routing jigs, lock jigs, blades for pretty much everything, and all at sensible prices. I just bought their WRT router table plus their T8EK router as a permanent underslung fixture. It's a stellar combination which I christened by machining almost 400 metres of sash beads for a huge windows job. £640. An absolute no-brainer.

 

[squall_line]

Steel can be recycled at least.  I try to separate as much scrap metal out of everything as I can, and take it to our landfill's scrap pile when needed.

I have not heard of a landfill scrap pile, good idea as I prefer to recycle. I would probably be dragging things out if it and come home with more than I took.

There's "no scavenging" signs up all over the place at the scrap pile, and about a dozen cameras pointed at it.  I get the sentiment, though, considering some of the high quality items I've seen dumped there.

One of the local service stations, when they change out rotors, just pile the old rotors up on the cover of their dumpster to make it easier for the scrappers.  [big grin]  That's also a win-win.

I've joked with people before that if they want something to "disappear" from the curb, they have to actually put a price on it.  If you mark it "Free!" it will just sit there interminably.

I once put my third-hand scrap washer and dryer out in my alley marked "free" to try and get rid of them without paying to haul them away.  The cord was gone from the electric dryer within 12 hours but the dryer itself never moved.

It was done by a scavenger rather than a salvager, though, because they didn't take the time to unhook the cord, they just cut it.  [doh]

 

[Peter Kelly]

I havent had a blade sharpened in quite a while. Last time I did I paid something like $25. Some places charge a buck a tooth.

  [eek] $25 for what sized blade? Sharpening an 80T Kapex blade shouldn't cost more than $17 plus shipping. Dynamic Saw charges $11 to sharpen any circular blade up to 40 teeth. Blades up to 60T are $15, 80T $17, 100T $19. Re-tipping is $3.25 per.
https://www.dynamicsaw.com/sawblades.html