What is the best site for purchasing Festool?

[MikeGE]

I wonder if 3Putt will ever be back to view the answers to his question.

 

[dwillis]

Ever since Bob Marino retired I've used ToolNut for most of my Festool purchases. Since I'm in the Portland, OR area I also frequent Woodcrafters in Portland for items that I need in a hurry. No problems with ToolNut, so far.

But I miss Bob!!!

 

[sancho57]

I use Anderson Plywood in Culver City calif. Don Ware and Allan Kensley know more about those tools than anyone I know you have question prior to purchase youll get a honest answer out of them even if its dont buy it ya wont need it

I typically go there for my addiction and I send some of the business to woodcraft in Orange County. They’ve been very forthcoming about answering questions and I’m not limited to only Festool. To a lesser extent I go to rockler to amuse myself.

mkasdin

When I lived in Fullerton Id go to either Austins or Woodcraft. Id drive by rockler to go to either one of those stores. I really liked Austin as a festool dealer. But they lost their festool specialist dont know why and dont know if they have another one. Woodcraft if a great store great customer service and they havr a real good stock of festools there . Clean store and the owner is a great guy and so is his wife as they both work there. Some great employees to.

But as far as knowledge about those tool no one can beat Don or Allan. I go there when Im not sure about the tool buy it then have them run me through the set up and best way to use it, Ive taken my tools there to have them check them out if I think they arent working right if there is a prblem theyii tell me and if possible (not a send it to festool repair type issue)  they will show me how to adj it things like setting the toe in they demonstrate the tools as they have a dedicated festool store. Plus the both used to work in the field as carps especially Don. Plenty of knowledge there.  On a good note they'll help you ad do the same things even if you didnt buy from them great people. I moved to Az and buy from them. I call them and ax for advice about the tools if they will do what I want or if I already own one that will and didnt know it.

Alan is the man when it comes to trouble shooting.

I once needed to replace the rollers on my slie for the CMS I called retool ordered the part they told me there was 2 different part numbers I axed why whats the difference they didn't know they thought upper and lower.
So I went with that put the new ones on. It didn't ride as smooth as the original rollers did.

Ran into Allan at a road show got him alone and axed him about with the issues was he said Yea here let me show you pulled a a bolt for the rollers out of a bin he said see this bolt the bolt is offest on the shoulder is offset the other is straight this one goes on top the other on the bottom.  Then he showed me how to properly take the table off and put on so i wouldnt damage the rollers again.

Another time someone on the FOG FB showed a photo of a spring that came off the Kapex. they all said the samething it was some sort of blade guard retraction spring, I sent the photo to Allan and explained what happened. He texted me back not only what the srping was for but how to install it and what to becareful of during installation.

Like I said simply amazing. I bought a tool once and was loking at accessories, Don told me not to get that accessorie there was other things I could get that were nonfestool and a lot cheaper that would do the same thing.
Not many dealers have that sort of knowlege and honesty

 

[mkasdin]

I go to Austin Hardwoods a lot, I’m thinking that the owner of Hudson & West was the Festool specialist?. I’ve been shopping at Anderson Plywood for over 20 years and I’m familiar. I know Allan K. and he breathes the stuff, very technical. Don seems to have more practical knowledge, so between the two, it’s almost impossible that they don’t know something. I live minutes away from there.

 

[Sci]

Give highland woodworking a shot.

When the new HKC combo came out recently with the 5.2ah batteries I contacted them as they had the new part number listed with the old sets description.  The salesman said he would look into it and call me back.  He actually called their festool rep and confirmed the change, then went to the warehouse and opened the boxes to verify.  After that he called me with good news.  No one else had it in stock, but they did.  The website was updated  short time later.

Quality company.

M

 

[Birdhunter]

I second Highlands Woodworking in Atlanta, Ga. I moved to Atlanta in 1997 and Highlands was my first store visit. It's not open for in-store shopping due to this damn virus, but web ordering works well. They are extremely customer focussed. I recently needed a small part for my Domino. The part was listed for 99 cents. Any other store would charge me $20 for shipping. No charge! The employees are all woodworking experts and have answered every question I've ever asked them.

 

[SonOfMI]

Ever since Bob Marino retired I've used ToolNut for most of my Festool purchases. Since I'm in the Portland, OR area I also frequent Woodcrafters in Portland for items that I need in a hurry. No problems with ToolNut, so far.

My in laws live in Beaverton and we visit a few times a year. When I’m there I end up working on their houses and building custom stuff for them. Woodcrafters is a nice place. Really knowledgeable and helpful staff. The woodcraft in Tigard is ok. It’s a woodcraft with people who weren’t that knowledgeable about Festool when I’ve stopped there for a part or something.

 

[SonOfMI]

Highland Woodworking is my main place. They’re a few minutes from my house so it’s convenient. The past 7 months though they’ve really shined. They people there are very knowledgeable and helpful, both when going in to the store and when calling them. As was mentioned already, the store front is closed but they ship fast, free shipping on Festool, and you can do parking lot pickup if you’re local. I’ll go to Peachtree Woodworking in Norcross for a few odds and ends, but even with them plus a couple of Rockler and Woodcraft stores nearby nobody has taken care of me as well or as efficiently as Highland.

I ordered some stuff from Bob Marino a few years ago but his warehouse shipped me the wrong stuff 2 out of the 3 orders. I stopped using him and I heard he retired. I ordered from ToolNut a few times, but it wasn’t as good of an experience as Highland has repeatedly been. Shane at ToolNut is great and on top of things as he can be, but whenever I called them it seemed like I always got someone who just started. They wouldn’t know Festool stuff. The last time I ordered from them the guy was arguing with me on what I needed. Ok. I got him to sell me what I needed as it wasn’t on their website just yet but they shipped me what the guy told me I needed not what I actually needed. So I don’t mess with them anymore. Highland people will listen then talk with me, not just tell me stuff. They sell a lot of Festool and their staff know the products and parts.

Not mentioned though is the Highland store itself. Really cool place. If I dont focus on what I need when I’m there I’ll wander around, check out all the tools, talk to the people. Great way to blow an afternoon and get behind on what you should be doing.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

The bottom line here seems to be that there are many great places to source Festool as so many of the better vendors carry the Festool line at this point. Even my local full-service, independently owned "lumber yard" carries the whole line and the local Sherwin Williams stores carry the sanding gear. So if you have a favorite purveyor of tools already, it's likely that they may already carry Festool and you can continued to do business with them. I will say, however, that sometimes "in-stock" makes for the sale and influences the vendor choice. The price is the same regardless.

 

[sancho57]

I go to Austin Hardwoods a lot, I’m thinking that the owner of Hudson & West was the Festool specialist?. I’ve been shopping at Anderson Plywood for over 20 years and I’m familiar. I know Allan K. and he breathes the stuff, very technical. Don seems to have more practical knowledge, so between the two, it’s almost impossible that they don’t know something. I live minutes away from there.

[member=60789]mkasdin[/member] 

Don was a very high end carpenter/cabinet maker he did work for the likes of Babs Streisand for example. The other day we were chatting on messanger and he started sending me photos of some of his work  Holy Shirt it was nice. He used a lot of festools and still does. Allan does work on the side using his festools to. So yeah lot of experiance in practical application.
But I do like the owner ofthe Woodcraft, but when they moved from their Beach Bld local the new one was a bit of a drive for me. I really liked the owners bot husband and wife they are very nice and give great customer service. At Austins I used to get my FT info from Drew. I went over seas for work for 4 years came back and Drew no longer worked there. Dont know why.

So I went to them and Reel for my ply and timber, also started a relationship with wood repair products in Orange for my finishing and repair supplies.
Now here in Az there isnt any real FT dealers I trust or have a good inventory. Doesnt matter cuz I got Don and Allan. Gonna see Allan over Tday. If Im healed up enough he said he'll help me move my stuff into my new shop.

They are putting the garage door on it as Im writing this

 

[darita]

If you have any thought that you may have to return an item, then don't purchase through Beaver Industrial Supply.  I found BIS after doing a search for Bob Marino.  I purchased a some Festool stuff from them for about $30, with free shipping.  I found I had to return the item because it was not as pictured online.  That's when I found out that if you return an item with free shipping, then they will charge you the shipping when you return the item.  Not only that, but you have to pay for your return shipping.  So, for a $30 item, I'd have to pay close to the full item price in total shipping.  Kinda sucks.

 

[contendernut]

I had similar results with BIS, bought a tool and the systainer had a chip in it and the router was missing parts. They wouldn’t let me return it for replacement without having to pay shipping and basically said deal with festool. Festool did replace the missing parts, I should have got them to replace the systainer but I didn’t feel they should have. BIS should have dealt with their insurance. I bought from Bob M years ago but won’t deal with BIS again.

 

[krudawg]

Whats the best site to buy Festool tools? I used Toolnut in the past but lately have had terrible customer service/refusal to issue a refund with 30 Day window. What other websites to you use for new Festool products? Thanks.

I use ToolNut a lot.  Great company, good customer service.  I did use Acme Tools when I bought my Sjoberg 1500 Elite Workbench because at the time, when everybody else had started collecting sales tax, they had not started to do so.  My preference has been Toolnut and until they disappoint, I'll continue to use them

 

[RAC]

I've had nothing to complain about ordering from Klingspor.  They do not tax out of state (NC) orders and charge just $7 for shipping, even on the 118" TS guide rail. 

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I have purchased mine from several places over the years. Almost all of the original pieces I had, came from a local specialty store. I got them slowly at first, starting with a Domino. I expanded into an RO90 and MFK700 and was good for a while. Later came the CXS. All of these were new, from this local retailer. I got a pretty good deal on a used OF1400 and never got to use it. A fire destroyed the entire shop.
Starting over was quite a bit faster as the assimilation to the system had set in by then. I repurchased all of the missing stuff in one shot from Mueller Equipment in Cincinnati Ohio, plus a TS55, PS420, and most of my Bessey madness.
I have gotten a few things from Highland, especially accessories or replacement parts. They are very good at that part of the customer service aspect. I just got the RO125 from ToolNut and it was agood experience too. It was out of stock everywhere, either from the Sys3 roll-out or the Covid issue, but they offered a backorder/preorder and an approximate ship date, which they beat by about 10 days.
All of that to say, I have never tried to return any of them, but my experiences have been positive with each method.

 

[mkasdin]

Convenience and in-stock are important. Along with post sales if I have a question about operating the tool after the fact.

 

[rst]

I've bought from Beaver Industrial, Toolnut/Festoolproducts, Woodcraft, Hartville Tool, but Uncle Bob Marino was my gateway dealer.  I bought my rails and MFT from my closest dealer and a couple routers through Hermance Machine, one of the oldest wood machinery manufacturers and a Rockler dealers.  I've never had a bad experience with any.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I've had nothing to complain about ordering from Klingspor.  They do not tax out of state (NC) orders and charge just $7 for shipping, even on the 118" TS guide rail.

You actually had a good result from shipping a 3000 rail? I held off quite a while in buying one because of the concern of shipping damage and the hassle of replacing it after.
I finally got it through a local supplier who didn't actually keep them in stock, so it took a few days.
It was a game changer in the very next project though, so the timing worked out well.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

I've bought from Beaver Industrial, Toolnut/Festoolproducts, Woodcraft, Hartville Tool, but Uncle Bob Marino was my gateway dealer. 

Yea, "Uncle Bob" introduced me to the "drug" a long time ago, even lending me tools to "try out". (smart marketing LOL) I miss him as a "pusher", even though all I buy at this point is disposables...

 

[gvega9889@gmail.com]

Mostly from Amazon or Hartville (thru Amazon).  If buying locally then at Woodcraft in San Antonio.