Festool Planer used as a Jointer

[Michael Parr]

http://www.festooljunkie.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/1101/festool-planer-pimped-out.html

Any one have an opinion on this set up or tried it. I don't have room for a table joiner but doing 1" stock is where most of my projects will be done.

[joe milana]

Cheesy at best..Why not just put the board in a vise and use the planer as designed? Or better yet, go get a delta 6" benchtop jointer at the borg. Small, lightweight, and they actually work quite well. And $100's less to boot!!!

[george wilson]

that is the most overpriced tool I think I have ever seen.

[Mats Bengtsson]

Cheesy at best..Why not just put the board in a vise and use the planer as designed? Or better yet, go get a delta 6" benchtop jointer at the borg. Small, lightweight, and they actually work quite well. And $100's less to boot!!!

Festool strength is handtools which with help of aids can be used for other things as part of a bigger concept.

So if your route is "I need a very good hand held planer" and "I also need to do this", then you might end up as the owner of at least the Festool planer itself, and when having that, you might find that adding that or that support would make it possible to also do... With that route, starting from the need of the handheld planer, and also seeing that combining it with the extras shown on the page, you might get something that can help you do some jointing, well than you have a jointer which will make it possible to joint some short and narrow wood.

Buying Festool from the other route "I need a fixed station function of..." without the need for the handheld tool included, most often will give you a very costly way of getting an probably undersized, in function limited, although very precise, tool.

I looked at it, and asked people who use the Festool version (all happy with it). But I could not see the need for the handheld planer, and I need the planing function, and I could foresee the Festool planer as a fixed tool becoming to narrow often enough and thus I bought another fixed tool instead.

--- Mats ---

[James Hart]

Michael,

i had to read Mats reply a couple of times to really grasp how good it is.

The earlier replies are based pretty much on what it would cost to plane an edge under typical circumstances vs the question you've asked. I totally understand where they are coming from.

i have a delta DJ20 in my shop for most jointing needs. I also stumbled into the exact setup you've asked about via an ad in craigslist. Paid $440 for the whole setup.

i recently did a project that involved tightly fitting oak stair treads. Being able to joint off thousands of an inch, dead straight, with no bevel was a godsend.

if I was only doing work in my own shop, and could walk out to the jointer, there is no way this setup would be of interest to me.

The Festool Planer has to be tried to be believed. If I was making a living trimming expensive doors to fit i wouldn't hesitate for a second. Short of that, i'd buy an inexpensive tabletop jointer as suggested above.

jim

[Peter Scoma]

Absolutely ridicolous and ineffective. I'm shocked they would ever put such a product out and charge 700+ for it. I'm all for "the best of the best" but their prices are exorbitant.

ps

[Joe Hardesty]

http://www.festooljunkie.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/1101/festool-planer-pimped-out.html

Any one have an opinion on this set up or tried it. I don't have room for a table joiner but doing 1" stock is where most of my projects will be done.

I own that exact setup and it works very very well, exactly as described. There are also several accessory cutter heads that make it quite versatile for specialty planing jobs.

And, you always have the Festool 30 day money back guarantee should it not work out for your needs.

[Eric Gustafson]

PM Bill Wyco if he doesn't see this post. He bought this setup because he has so little room in his shop. Everytime we talk about it, he loves it.

[george wilson]

I can understand small available space,used to have that same problem. I can't understand that little tool costing more than a nice,accurate 8" jointer. What about one of the 6" short,small jointers sold at the BORGS?

I've got one of the Bosch electric planes. It works great,and does come with a fence. I think it was $157.00. Can't a wooden jig be made to turn the bosch upside down for the same use?

[Michael Parr]

So lets turn this post on its ear. If I wanted to ask the question would you spend the money on a single use item like a cheap small table top joiner with almost no adjustments or shall I spend probably double on the Festool setup but then have the option to do Door or wide flat sections. If there was a singular purpose here I would say go spend the money on the cheap but since I am trying to build a good base of tools to both do woodworking and work in the house could this tool fit. So lets see if a couple more experieced people aswer this question for me:

What else can a hand planer do? The joiner will be a singular task.

[george wilson]

Like I said,why not make a cradle to use the Bosch planer on? Or,are you determined to spend $700.00? I have done a lot of household repairs with the Bosch. Replaced all the interior doors. With the Fein vacuum hose stuck into the Bosch's outlet,dust has been pretty much non existent,and it has been a very nice planer to use.

[Joe Hardesty]

What else can a hand planer do? The joiner will be a singular task.

Rabbets, on-the-fly depth changes, superior dust collection, rustic undulating planing, grooved planing...

[Mats Bengtsson]

Like I said,why not make a cradle to use the Bosch planer on? Or,are you determined to spend $700.00? I have done a lot of household repairs with the Bosch. Replaced all the interior doors. With the Fein vacuum hose stuck into the Bosch's outlet,dust has been pretty much non existent,and it has been a very nice planer to use.

Sounds like you have a lot of the examples on what the hand planer can be used for. Would you have any additions above those listed by Joe?

--- Mats ---

[george wilson]

Flattening your workbench top,at least taking most of the grunt work out of it for an old man.

[Mats Bengtsson]

Flattening your workbench top,at least taking most of the grunt work out of it for an old man.

I have used one for flatening the inner roof before putting on plaster roof, but for that I would only want to use a cheap china machine (there will be nails).

-- -Mats ---

[Peter Scoma]

I'll say that I havent used this tool but question anyone who says that it works well for planing long boards. With a 6in infeed and outfeed table it is just silly to try working a board on this stand when you can clamp the board and just run the plane over the edge.

I may catch some slack for this but I think there is Sometimes, a bit of an elitist attitude put out by festool owners in the sense that anything branded FESTOOL is automatically worth whatever it sells for.

ps

[Michael Parr]

Any reason why this Festool planer could not take the bend in a board. I see a lot of info on hand planners could this not at least start to take off the bow in a piece of edge joined work (IE the problem I have now)

[Bruce Page]

These are the kind of products that will hurt a good reputation.
You would be better served and money ahead getting a little benchtop unit.

[Jim Becker]

Although I do not own this tool, I tested it in my own shop a few years ago. While it certainly wouldn't be cost effective to purchase it exclusively for use as a very small jointer for craft-type/size projects--for most people, but there may be exceptions, it is a valid use for the tool. I was skeptical about it when it came out of the back of Uncle Bob's SUV when I got to play with nearly all the Festool products that weekend. After about ten minutes, I was no longer skeptical. This IS, however, a specialty tool that is suitable largely for folks who truly can take advantage of its many features, dust/chip collection, excellent cutting quality and multi-capabilities. And while I'm not someone that could justifiably leverage it enough to make me want to buy one, I have healthy respect for it having, as I said, actually used it.

[Paul Johnstone]

So lets turn this post on its ear. If I wanted to ask the question would you spend the money on a single use item like a cheap small table top joiner with almost no adjustments or shall I spend probably double on the Festool setup but then have the option to do Door or wide flat sections. If there was a singular purpose here I would say go spend the money on the cheap but since I am trying to build a good base of tools to both do woodworking and work in the house could this tool fit. So lets see if a couple more experieced people aswer this question for me:

What else can a hand planer do? The joiner will be a singular task.

I have a Bosch hand planer that I've owned for about 15 years. I bought it to fix a poor construction problem, and it really saved my rearend in that regard (saved me lots of time and $$ to redo). So, it earned its money on that job

Since then, it's maybe planed 3 doors that didn't fit well. I could've easily done the same job with a circular saw and straight edge.

Really, I have a hard time recommending this too to any hobbiest (unless you are a door installer). I certainly wouldn't recommend spending $700 on one. It is so seldom used that a normal brand will be fine.

Also, BTW, it takes some skill to use this tool without sniping. It also takes skill to plane a level line. That's just the nature of these kind of tools. I really doubt there's anything Festool could do about this.

I also agree that a benchtop jointer (or a 6" jointer on a mobile base) would be far more useful, give better results, and be less expensive.