Is it sacrilegious to use Festool for construction work?

[Ned]

I used my Kapex the other day to do some decking - no problem, except the timber had been left outside, uncovered, and it had been raining for a good few hours. The timber was wet through!

Felt awful about using the saw on it, but I just had to get it done...

And now you've been to confession!

 

[nickao]

I think part of this is the new "fancy" tool mentality. Problem is, fancy tools should work better, and not need to be babied. Good tools work hard. Maybe we're just not as used to good tools over here, having had to choose between cheap and cheaper for so long.

I still remember buying Lie-Nielsen chisels, and feeling initially bad about pounding them into the wood.

Duh, it's a chisel. That's what it's for, and you buy a better one because it will hold up a lot better to the pounding. You pay more for better steel because it will take a good edge, and hold up while it's being hammered into the work. Yes, it's fancy... meaning more expensive. Fancy in the tool world means (among other things) a lot harder working. But the non-intuitive argument is that because I paid more for that chisel, I really had to pound it into the wood, more often, and harder... that's the only justification for buying the damned thing. Otherwise, you're paying for a feature that you'll never use.

If by construction work, you mean thoughtfully going about the process of cutting wood and building something, it's sacrilege to pay a lot of money for a good tool that you don't think you're actually supposed to use.

If by construction work, you mean going out, having a few beers, and chucking the tool off the ladder when you're done using it, and trying to bring it back to Home depot at the end of the week to explain how it's defective because it's not working anymore, well, yeah. That's sacrilege. 

"
One of my laborers(brother) used my brand new chisel to bust a nail head off! That is one reason to NOT bring  the "duh, its only a chisel" mentality to work. My brother said that to me I sent him home for the day. Its not only a chisel, that' a days pay to a lot of people! Other people less  experienced have no idea how to use a chisel let alone how much a good one cost.

My good chisels stay in my hands only, usually at the shop. The crap 5.00 chisels(sharpened) work plenty well enough on a construction site.

I am sure the other guys on the forum have other stories about their tools getting trashed. I bet this is part of the reason people are wary to bring the tools out to a job,. Not that the tools can't handle it, but the other workers can't or don't handle them properly. The Festools can definitely handle it, I think any regular Festool user knows this.

Nickao