GB CREW

[Blackerty]

Hi all. This is a bit of a long shot but I'm a retired hobby woodworker in Ireland. (Co. Kildare)

I've run into some difficulty when cutting deep slots in beech (39mm deep with a 19mm dia x 50mm long cutter) due to the very imprecise nature of the plunge base on my current router and am considering buying a Festool model.

Is there possibly somebody in Northern or Southern Ireland (preferably but not essentially in the east of the country) that's an experienced Festool user that would be prepared to share their experiences and perhaps even permit a close look at their Festool router(s) and accessories?

Better still if said person has a reasonable appreciation of the engineering of the tool.

It's very unlikely but it would be heaven if they happened to have one stripped on the bench....

I'm only vaguely familiar with Festool stuff - having bought a track saw years ago.

 

[sancho57]

[member=81976]Blackerty[/member]

just saw this You might want to delete and repost in the non festool folder. You wont get a answer in this one

 

[Blackerty]

Thanks for that J.

I've reworked the message as it probably wasn't as focused as it could have been.

It's posted in the hope of making contact an experienced local user of Festool routers in Ireland.

The mention of the current Bosch router was only to say that it's for the high jump as a consequence of the lack of precision in the plunge mechanism.

 

[jmbfestool]

[member=5671]jmbfestool[/member]

doing fine, Im retired moved fromm Calif to Arizona been here about 4 years. Got a nice shop built.  I get out there get some wood working done but I also been spending a lot of time doing house projects like running irrigation for the plants getting trees planted etc etc

You still in business

Sounds great!

Yes still in business busy busy busy..  [eek] allthought my work type has gone from Site joinery to workshop joinery to tiler to plumber to electrician  ... basically struggling to find quality tradesman so end up just doing the lot myself instead.. which then ends up customers/builders wanting me to do everything...  I enjoy the variety although I could pick any one of them on their own and it would keep me in work for a very long time..

I think UK is struggling for quality tradesman they are all to busy and/or very picky what jobs they want to do..

 

[Hawkeye0001]

I think UK is struggling for quality tradesman they are all to busy and/or very picky what jobs they want to do..

Is the struggle in the UK about an actual lack of quality tradesmen or that no one wants to pay for quality work to make a living out of it?
I've seen some seriously shocking stuff but people seem to be chuffed about the result - either not knowing any better or it being "good enough" from a cosmetic perspective

 

[Stone Message]

There are some really excellent guys here in the UK but there are too many who do not have either the skills or the attention to detail to make the best job. I have dozens of examples from the house that we moved to 5 years ago.

  - Builder too lazy to recut a down pipe and so bodged a join across the 5 inch gap using yards of polythene.

  - £10k patio with lovely riven slabs ruined by a poor mix for the pointing which just crumbles away.

  - There were 11 house wiring faults which took over a week to sort out.

  - A garden irrigation system ruined by poor jointing using lowest quality materials which was buried low enough to make leak detection impossible.

  - A driveway that has drainage channels that rise towards the drain end which caused a flooded workshop.

The list goes on but to top it off I have had several so called tradesmen who have tried to bluff their way through the interview stage for various jobs and when challenged they showed that they had no knowledge of the UK buiding regs.

The good guys get employed and I recommend them to my friends and neighbours.

Peter

 

[jmbfestool]

I think UK is struggling for quality tradesman they are all to busy and/or very picky what jobs they want to do..

Is the struggle in the UK about an actual lack of quality tradesmen or that no one wants to pay for quality work to make a living out of it?
I've seen some seriously shocking stuff but people seem to be chuffed about the result - either not knowing any better or it being "good enough" from a cosmetic perspective

I totally agree many customers dont know any better, its only untill they see other work done do they start to notice... Often when I turn up on a job this will happen... I do my job and they notice a difference and from there I often end up getting more work... while the others suddenly start to disapear...  [eek] the most ever was 4 joiners + a builder got asked not to come back... leaving me to pick up the workload...

Currently working for compnay and he builds many new builds... Hes currently building his own house and he doesnt want to use any of the trademan he uses on his own house  [eek] if he can avoid it...which says alot really...  So Ive ended up doing alot of different trades and if im not doing it myself he wants me to supervise them which gets really awkward...

So in regards to your comment about no one wants to pay for Quality... ive not really ever had that issue... every one has always been happy to pay what ever I bill them..  The only issue have is not every one wants to wait... I have some willing to wait months even years.. but some cant even be bothered to wait a couple weeks...

My main issue is finding self thinking tradesman if that makes sense... there are some who will do a decent job but thats it...not many seem to have the ability to go beyond.. its like this is how i have always done it and this is all i know.. dont strive to think outside the box... or if something isnt right or spot something which could do with being sorted before carrying on... like im doing this and thats it...

 

[jmbfestool]

There are some really excellent guys here in the UK but there are too many who do not have either the skills or the attention to detail to make the best job. I have dozens of examples from the house that we moved to 5 years ago.

  - Builder too lazy to recut a down pipe and so bodged a join across the 5 inch gap using yards of polythene.

  - £10k patio with lovely riven slabs ruined by a poor mix for the pointing which just crumbles away.

  - There were 11 house wiring faults which took over a week to sort out.

  - A garden irrigation system ruined by poor jointing using lowest quality materials which was buried low enough to make leak detection impossible.

  - A driveway that has drainage channels that rise towards the drain end which caused a flooded workshop.

The list goes on but to top it off I have had several so called tradesmen who have tried to bluff their way through the interview stage for various jobs and when challenged they showed that they had no knowledge of the UK buiding regs.

The good guys get employed and I recommend them to my friends and neighbours.

Peter

I might not make it through your interview haahaa ;D Im not always fully clued up with the UK building regs..on the spot lol

Regarding quality materials... well thats another big issue of mine.. so much crap out there now just doesnt last... Roofing tiles, glazing units, paint, wood...  always something even when you spend big money still crap...

 

[squall_line]

The list goes on but to top it off I have had several so called tradesmen who have tried to bluff their way through the interview stage for various jobs and when challenged they showed that they had no knowledge of the UK buiding regs.

The good guys get employed and I recommend them to my friends and neighbours.

Peter

I might not make it through your interview haahaa ;D Im not always fully clued up with the UK building regs..on the spot lol

Peter sounds like me, inasmuch as I'm not looking for you to be able to quote the regs, per se, but the first mention of "we should be able to get away with not pulling a permit for" , I prepare to politely thank the tradesperson for their time when they're done with their visit. 

If someone doesn't know the reg and they tell me that they'll need to look it up to make sure they're doing it correctly, I'm perfectly happy with that.  More than pleased, honestly, to hear someone admit they might not know everything (the self-thinking tradesperson, as you described).  As long as they don't know so much that they're totally green, of course.

A good inspector will work WITH a tradesperson to make sure that things are up to code BEFORE the work starts, so that they're not tearing everything out and coming back multiple times (either party).

Not that I'm GB, but anyway...