Its been years since I bought a Festool power tool. Which is a good thing because it means that all the gear I currently have is holding up very well. I've only bought accessories over the last 7 or so years, nothing with a tail on it. I forgot what the range of emotions was like for me to buy these things. Let me describe my thought process over the past week or so and we'll see how many of you go through similar things:
A need arises for a new tool. Because I'm really cheap at heart, I go to Amazon and start looking through my options with the normal tool brands (Makita, Dewalt, Bosch, etc.). I'm cheap, but I'm also a tool snob too. So, I want it for next to nothing and it better shine my shoes and clean my truck too. How do you think I make out on Amazon? Sure enough, I find something lacking with all the typical brands and I'm not interested in any of them.
That's when the little voice inside me starts whispering, "go look at Festool." I don't want to though. I'm afraid that I'm really going to like what they have, but be blown away by the price tag. So, I resist even looking at the website. I check Amazon again and pick the best option they have. Put it in my cart, and get ready to buy. Just before finalizing the order, I realize that I'm still paying a decent amount, and the tool really isn't exactly what I want. So I back out of it.
I decide to just sleep on it and wait until the next day. Well, I dream that night. I dream about that really old carpenter that I met when I was a green rookie 30+ years ago. The guy had massive forearms because all he used was hand tools. He would laugh at you for ever spending money on a power tool. He would come to work with only his folding rule, hand auger, a Yankee no. 30 ratcheting screwdriver, hammer, and handsaw. He'd build the whole house with just those tools. In the dream, he starts criticizing me for wanting to spend money. He says, "I know you want to buy that darn green tool, what's wrong with you kid, put that money under your mattress and learn how to sweat." Then he gets in his 1973 Dodge van and drives away. I wake up thinking, "wow, I don't want to be that guy, do I?"
So, I go look at what Festool has to offer. Its Saturday morning because I'm too busy during the week to do this. Once I look at Festool's offering, its everything that I want. Now its time to look at the price. Upon seeing the price I scream out, "ARE YOU PEOPLE INSANE!" There's no way I'm paying that much, I can buy two of the Makitas and still have enough left over to buy dinner. So, back to Amazon I go to start the search again...
The problem is, now I'm comparing everything to the Festool I just looked at and I hate everything. This one doesn't do this, and that one doesn't do the other thing, etc., etc. With the memory of all the ones I just looked at on Amazon fresh in my mind, I go back to the Festool website for another look. I start thinking, "Hmmm, maybe that price isn't so bad afterall." I go through a series of, "Yes it is, its crazy, its not worth that much", and "yeah, but..." That's when I start to think about how many times over my TS55 has paid for itself in the last 10+ years. The boxes and boxes of sandpaper I've gone through with my Rotex 150 in the same time. How my 150/3 is still such a great sander even if its starting to look really beat up from me using it so much. How I'm still amazed at what a great tool the Domino is after all the years I've had it. I go through the whole process and finally come to the realization that the Festool, while expensive, just makes sense. So out comes the credit card and I order the darn thing.
Now remember, its Saturday. I don't make my Festool purchases from the big boys like Amazon. I use the same small dealer that I always have. Well, being that its the weekend, he doesn't get the order for processing until Monday morning. After having such a hard time parting with the money, I now spend the rest of the weekend going from being unsure to excited about it. I go to work on Monday and realize just how much I really do need the new tool. I come home that night and I get disappointed because the box isn't sitting there on my front step. I'm like the little kid waiting for Christmas morning so I can see my new toys. I come home on Tuesday, and its still not there. This is painful...
Finally it arrives. I take it to work for a week and now I'm wondering how I got along all these years without this darn thing.
Ok, I'm a little twisted, but I bet a lot of you think very much the same as me. My therapist keeps telling me that I'll be ok, so you will be too...
A need arises for a new tool. Because I'm really cheap at heart, I go to Amazon and start looking through my options with the normal tool brands (Makita, Dewalt, Bosch, etc.). I'm cheap, but I'm also a tool snob too. So, I want it for next to nothing and it better shine my shoes and clean my truck too. How do you think I make out on Amazon? Sure enough, I find something lacking with all the typical brands and I'm not interested in any of them.
That's when the little voice inside me starts whispering, "go look at Festool." I don't want to though. I'm afraid that I'm really going to like what they have, but be blown away by the price tag. So, I resist even looking at the website. I check Amazon again and pick the best option they have. Put it in my cart, and get ready to buy. Just before finalizing the order, I realize that I'm still paying a decent amount, and the tool really isn't exactly what I want. So I back out of it.
I decide to just sleep on it and wait until the next day. Well, I dream that night. I dream about that really old carpenter that I met when I was a green rookie 30+ years ago. The guy had massive forearms because all he used was hand tools. He would laugh at you for ever spending money on a power tool. He would come to work with only his folding rule, hand auger, a Yankee no. 30 ratcheting screwdriver, hammer, and handsaw. He'd build the whole house with just those tools. In the dream, he starts criticizing me for wanting to spend money. He says, "I know you want to buy that darn green tool, what's wrong with you kid, put that money under your mattress and learn how to sweat." Then he gets in his 1973 Dodge van and drives away. I wake up thinking, "wow, I don't want to be that guy, do I?"
So, I go look at what Festool has to offer. Its Saturday morning because I'm too busy during the week to do this. Once I look at Festool's offering, its everything that I want. Now its time to look at the price. Upon seeing the price I scream out, "ARE YOU PEOPLE INSANE!" There's no way I'm paying that much, I can buy two of the Makitas and still have enough left over to buy dinner. So, back to Amazon I go to start the search again...
The problem is, now I'm comparing everything to the Festool I just looked at and I hate everything. This one doesn't do this, and that one doesn't do the other thing, etc., etc. With the memory of all the ones I just looked at on Amazon fresh in my mind, I go back to the Festool website for another look. I start thinking, "Hmmm, maybe that price isn't so bad afterall." I go through a series of, "Yes it is, its crazy, its not worth that much", and "yeah, but..." That's when I start to think about how many times over my TS55 has paid for itself in the last 10+ years. The boxes and boxes of sandpaper I've gone through with my Rotex 150 in the same time. How my 150/3 is still such a great sander even if its starting to look really beat up from me using it so much. How I'm still amazed at what a great tool the Domino is after all the years I've had it. I go through the whole process and finally come to the realization that the Festool, while expensive, just makes sense. So out comes the credit card and I order the darn thing.
Now remember, its Saturday. I don't make my Festool purchases from the big boys like Amazon. I use the same small dealer that I always have. Well, being that its the weekend, he doesn't get the order for processing until Monday morning. After having such a hard time parting with the money, I now spend the rest of the weekend going from being unsure to excited about it. I go to work on Monday and realize just how much I really do need the new tool. I come home that night and I get disappointed because the box isn't sitting there on my front step. I'm like the little kid waiting for Christmas morning so I can see my new toys. I come home on Tuesday, and its still not there. This is painful...
Finally it arrives. I take it to work for a week and now I'm wondering how I got along all these years without this darn thing.
Ok, I'm a little twisted, but I bet a lot of you think very much the same as me. My therapist keeps telling me that I'll be ok, so you will be too...
