Festool Jigsaw

[Gene Collison]

Hi guys, I am a new member and I was wondering if anyone has experience with the Festool jigsaw? I am particularly wondering about their claim of no blade sway. I have examined the saw and am familiar with the CP feature that guides the blade and keeps it supposedly from deflecting but what about blade flex like when using one of the narrow profile blades for cutting curves. My Bosch has a roller guide close to the shoe, when running at its slowest speed I am able to press on the side of the blade with my finger and flex the blade all over the place. My question is, does Festool do anything to prevent this or is it just slightly better than the Bosch or what? I would buy one in a heartbeat if I thought it was significantly better than my Bosch. Any comments would really be appreciated.

Gene

[John Miliunas]

Hey Gene, first things first: Welcome aboard! Glad to have you and stop in real often!

OK, I am by no means the final authority on this, but I *DO* own the Festool jigsaw you speak of. Now, I can't compare it to the Bosch, 'cuz my old jigsaw is a pretty simplistic Skill unit. I can, however, comment on one of the first tests I did with the Festool. I freehanded a couple curves in some 8/4 Hard Maple with it. Then, after a visual inspection, because I could hardly believe it, I took my small engineer's square and butted it up against the newly cut curve. Wow! Though I didn't take a feeler gauge to it, my poor old eyes were showing a clean, 90* cut in this two inch stock. Hard stock, at that. Quite honestly, I haven't done too much more with the unit, as other projects are in the works. But, for future projects, I'm real confident that those weird curves in thick stock won't scare me off from trying the specific project. The unit is built really heavy duty and well thought out. If I were you, I'd contact Bob Marino. He's a member here on the forum and an independent rep for Festool. He'll be more than happy to give you more details, PLUS, Festool themselves gives you a 30-day, no hassle return if the tool doesn't meet your expectations. :cool:

[Gene Collison]

[QUOTE=John Miliunas]Hey Gene, first things first: Welcome aboard! Glad to have you and stop in real often!

John, thanks for the welcome. Cutting curved corners in 8/4 maple and staying at 90 degrees sounds awesome. I am almost sure that is not possible with my Bosch, I am on the verge of springing for it. Your testimonial helps my decision. I already have some Festools. I started on Festool by thinking I would buy a Festool 125 sander at $125.00. As I researched the tools I ended up with no sander and the ATF 55e plunge saw and C22e vacuum combination. Then I read about the router and had to have that because it used the same track as the saw. My $125 sander ballooned into a $900 purchase and a touch of angina over the prices. But the saw is great and I would do it again. Thanks for the info and I have already bought from Bob.

Gene

[Joe Tonich]

Welcome Gene, :D

Don't know anything about Fesstool (except they're Expensive! ) but if you do buy, check this place out :

http://www.minutemantool.com/fespromotional/fespromotion.html

25 blades free w/purchase. Never bought from them but maybe Bob can get you the same deal.

Joe

[Christian Aufreiter]

Welcome Gene, :D

Don't know anything about Fesstool (except they're Expensive! ) but if you do buy, check this place out :

http://www.minutemantool.com/fespromotional/fespromotion.html

25 blades free w/purchase. Never bought from them but maybe Bob can get you the same deal.

Joe

Hi Joe,

I guess Gene was referring to the new Festool Trion jigsaw (http://www.festool-usa.com/portando/images/artikel/trionfront.jpg)
It doesn't come with 25 saw blades but costs only $ 195!

Regards,

Christian

[John Miliunas]

Hi Joe,

I guess Gene was referring to the new Festool Trion jigsaw (http://www.festool-usa.com/portando/images/artikel/trionfront.jpg)
It doesn't come with 25 saw blades but costs only $ 195!

Regards,

Christian

Yup, that's the deal I went with. I did, however, order up some extra job-specific blades. If they perform as well as Festool's sanding discs, I'm all set! :D (In the process of finding "curvy" projects!) :cool:

[Pete Lamberty]

Hi John, I have been reading the posts about the Festool products. Would you say that the Festool jig saw can take the place of a bandsaw? Except for resawing of course. You said you cut 8/4 hard maple and it was cut perfectly. Thats incredible! How thick a board can your saw cut? If I didn't already have a bandsaw I might consider a Festool jigsaw. Pete