We get large and frequent deliveries from Festool, which is why our showroom routinely has a pallet or two, and a forklift in the way.
Festool is releasing a range of new cordless tools next Wednesday, June 17th, and some of these tools are even catching the eyes of woodworkers who typically work in a shop or on a jobsite with no shortage of dependable electricity.
Of course woodworkers have long used cordless drills and jigsaws as a matter of course. What’s more novel is the serious consideration of cordless planers, saws, vacuums and trimmers that Festool is promoting. As a New York City merchant, we are accustomed to working with customers from all over the world. One of our customers who immigrated to the US from Poland once told us that in many European countries it was assumed that contracting professionals would supply their own power on the job - electricity is expensive, so it would be unusual to use or count on using a building owner’s or homeowner’s electricity. The standard solution: battery-operated tools, which are ubiquitous in Festool’s home in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
But are these battery-operated tools right for you?
The latest crop of cordless Festool tools includes both counterparts to existing Festool tools, like the cordless DFC500, a counterpart to the corded Domino DF 500, and the MFKC, a counterpart to the MFK trimmer. For these cordless tools, the primary advantage is freedom from the tether of the cord, which translates into the ability to work in tight spaces or where folks fear tripping over a mess of cords (their own or other people’s). To use the Domino 500 as an example, the plunge depth, choice of tenons, mortise widths, etc. are the same. The ergonomics of the tools is somewhat different: the cordless DFC has a soft-grip D handle (good for big hands or glove-wearers) and the cordless balance and weight are different as well.
But other tools differ more markedly - not just for mobility and power source.
One of the stars of our recent Festool Fest was the HLC82 planer. Since Festool announced the launch of the cordless planer, we have thought of it dozens of times as the solution to various problems mentioned by customers and callers. “I don’t know what happened, but the doors are sticking.” “Whoa - whoever did the cabinets left them kinda rough.” To be fair some of those callers are looking for a miracle-working $20 scraper, but the HLC 82 is impressive and a nimble, hardworking asset at the jobsite.
Likewise, the OFKC laminate trimmer has no counterpart in the corded Festool USA world (the corded OFK is available in other countries). If you are in the market for a router for chamfering, routing trenches, roundover, etc., go with the MFK or MFKC. The OFKC is a specialist in laminate trimming. It is ideal for routing laminate, plastic and solid wood edges in the shop or on the jobsite.
A final note: as Festool increases its line of cordless tools, it has stepped up the capacity of the batteries that support the tool system. The new 4 Ah Tabless and 5 Ah High Power batteries are overachievers determined to upstage previous generations of Festool batteries, with higher output, less overheating and longer run time. The batteries are available individually and in a variety of sets with chargers and Systainers. All batteries are Bluetooth enabled to communicate with Festool Bluetooth vacuums and the Festool Werk app.
(Anticipating what some of you are thinking: yes, hand tools also don't have cords.)
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