Festool cousin??

[Kyle Kraft]

Maybe this is off-topic, move it if it is. My question is FESTOOL related or affiliated with FESTO Pneumatics??

[Charles Bruno]

I have a brother in law that works for Festo and as far as he knows the answer is no. Thay are not the same company.

[Fred Craven]

Not the definitative answer.

Festool's Parrent company--or at least their original name--is Festo. We only get part of what they do in the US.

Festo has several lines which include:
Festool..................The tools we know and love
Protools.................Their contractor/comercial brand not available in the US
Tanos....................Makes systainers for other manufactors as well
Festo Pneumatics

So, I'll go with an answer of yes.

As another interesting point, someone at Festool USA told me that Festool and Fein are related by marriage.

[Bob Marino]

Not the definitative answer.

Festool's Parrent company--or at least their original name--is Festo. We only get part of what they do in the US.

Festo has several lines which include:
Festool..................The tools we know and love
Protools.................Their contractor/comercial brand not available in the US
Tanos....................Makes systainers for other manufactors as well
Festo Pneumatics

So, I'll go with an answer of yes.

As another interesting point, someone at Festool USA told me that Festool and Fein are related by marriage.

Fred,

Correct on all accounts and, yes, related by marriage.

Bob

[Jim Becker]

Another interesting fact...Festool and Metabo share a few things back and forth, too... ;)

[Bob Marino]

Another interesting fact...Festool and Metabo share a few things back and forth, too... ;)
Jim,

Curious, what do they share?

Bob

[Jim Becker]

Bob, isn't the OF2000 OEM'ed by Festool?

[Joe Jensen]

I have an Elu 3338 router that is nearly identical to the big Festool router. Dewalt sells a version fo that router too. Bob, do you know anything about the Elu relationship?...joe

[Bob Marino]

Bob, isn't the OF2000 OEM'ed by Festool?
Jim, Joe,

Mafell manufactured the Festool OF 2000 to Festool's specs, just as Festool manufactured a router similar to Festool's OF 1010 router for Mafell. I am not sure what the relationship is to ELU, but Festool's belt sander is an ELU design. Perhaps Christian Aufreiter can chime in here, as he is familiar with the lineage.

Bob

[Cody Colston]

Y'all keep digging and you're liable to discover that Festool is actually owned by Black & Decker. That would cause some weeping and knashing of teeth! :eek:

[Bob Marino]

Y'all keep digging and you're liable to discover that Festool is actually owned by Black & Decker. That would cause some weeping and knashing of teeth! :eek:
Cody,

Nah, no worries - Festool is a privately owned (in fact family owned) company for over 80 years and I believe they intend on keeping things that way.

Bob

[Bruce Page]

Y'all keep digging and you're liable to discover that Festool is actually owned by Black & Decker. That would cause some weeping and knashing of teeth! :eek:

Not to mention a few strokes! :D :eek: :D

[Christian Aufreiter]

Hi everybody,

here’s my take on these things.

As far as I know, there is no connection between Festool and Dewalt/Elu/Black & Decker.
Elu was the brand name under which the German company EUGEN LUTZ sold hand-held/mobile power tools for woodworkers. In particular, Elu was highly regarded for their routers, planers, SMCS and TGS saws. In addition to the hand-held tools EUGEN LUTZ also produced stationary machinery – mainly for (industrial) window production applications, if I recall correctly. Some day, unfortunately, I don’t know when, EUGEN LUTZ sold the ELU line of hand-held power tools to Black & Decker. At this time, Black & Decker tried to get a foothold in the European market for professional power tools, thus the reputable name ELU was welcome.
Today, Eugen Lutz still offers stationary machinery, just have a look at Elumatec (http://www.elumatec.com).
Black & Decker enlarged ELU’s product range and continued to sell ELU in Europe (or at least some European states) until 2000. In most countries outside Europe Black & Decker offered ELU tools in yellow colours under the label of Dewalt (another company that Black & Decker had bought). As already mentioned, since 2000 ELU tools are no longer offered, as a consequence we also get Dewalt here in Europe. I guess it was part of Black & Decker’s strategy to establish a certain kind of uniformity and to reduce cost that they stop to sell ELU.

Today, Metabo builds a few tools (some sanders) for Dewalt, while Dewalt is said to manufacture the larger rotary hammer drills for Metabo. I don’t know if the information about sanders is true for Dewalt’s US product range, but it applies at least to some tools offered here:
Compare Dewalt D26430, D26420, D26410 to Metabo DSE 300, SR E 357, SX E 450 Duo.

As Bob already explained, Mafell manufactured the OF 2000 for Festool and Mafell got their small router LO 50 from Festool.
To my knowledge, the cooperation in the case of the big routers (Festool OF 2000/Mafell LO 65) will expire in the near future, I don’t know about the smaller routers. Mafell is likely to introduce a successor of the LO 65 this year and according to rumours the successor of the Festool OF 2000 (this time developed and manufactured by Festool) could be expected next spring.

BTW, I tend to remember that the Mafell ROS UT 150 E comes from Metabo, the Mafell ROS UX 150 E from Kress (as well as the Mafell hammer drill HSB and the biscuit joiner LNF 20 – or at least certain components of it). As many other companies (Bosch, Milwaukee, Metabo, Hitachi), Mafell gets their vacs from Starmix.

Now to the Festool belt sanders:
As far as I know, but I'm not absolutely sure, the original manufacturer of the Festool belt sanders was Holz-Her. Holz-Her (http://www.holzher.de/) still exists as a producer of industrial woodworking machines (such as vertical panel saws, edgebanders etc.). If I recall correctly, Festool/TTS bought Holz-Her's hand-held power tools division back in 2000.
Today, a variety of former Holz-Her power tools is sold by Festool (e. g., belt sanders, Symmetric saw) and Protool (one of Festool's sister companies).
In Europe, the Holz-Her/Festool belt sander (75 mm/3” belt width) is also available from Metabo and Milwaukee (now owned by TTI, formerly by Atlas Copco). The bigger belt sanders (105 mm/4” band width) originally developed by Holz-Her are sold exclusively by Festool today.

Well, if you investigate carefully and discover a few more secrets, please, let me know.

Hope this helps,

Christian

[Jim Becker]

Mafell manufactured the Festool OF 2000 to Festool's specs, just as Festool manufactured a router similar to Festool's OF 1010 router for Mafell.

LOL! Well...I was close...it was one of those "M" companies... :D

[Bob Marino]

Ok, Here's some research from an older email.


Festo was founded in 1925 by two gentlemen: Mr. Fezer and Mr. Stoll. Their last names made up the company name: FESTO (Fezer & Stoll). They designed, manufactured and sold woodworking machinery (first one man chain saw for example).

Mr. Fezer left the business early on and Mr. Gottlieb Stoll kept the company name Festo and kept designing and manufacturing woodworking equipment.

Gottlieb Stoll had 3 children - Kurt Stoll, Wilfried Stoll and Gerda Stoll.
Kurt Stoll learnt about pneumatics on one of his trips to the US and thought it would be a good idea to use pneumatics in Festo woodworking machinery. What started out as a small idea in the back room of Festo woodworking, soon developed into a business that was a lot bigger than the woodworking part of Festo.

The company now had two divisions: Festo Tooltechnic (woodworking) and Festo Pneumatic (a complete offering of pneumatic related industrial automation such as cylinders, valves, sensors etc.).

In 2000 the family decided to split the company in order to hand it over to the next generation. Both divisions had developed into completely different directions and they don't have much in common anymore.

Festo Pneumatic was at that point a lot bigger than Festo Tooltechnic, so the pneumatic division kept the Festo name and does business today as Festo AG & Co. KG (www.festo.com (http://www.festo.com)). Festo Tooltechnic had to look for a new name that was similar to the Festo name to make sure customers don't get confused. They picked Festool.

Today, Festo Pneumatic is owned by Kurt and Wilfried, Festool is owned by Gerda and is part of Tooltechnic Systems AG & Co., also owned by Gerda. Festool is one brand of TTS and there are others, like Protool and Tanos. All of them are working towards one common goal: offer products for professionals working with tools. Each of the brands has specific target customers/groups, but they all share the same philosophy, mission
and goals.


Bob

[Kyle Kraft]

Thank you for all the interesting and informative replies...I think my question is answered.:)

[Rick Christopherson]

Unlike many manufacturers that farm out motors, Festool manufactures their own motors in the same factory as the rest of the tools. Because they have such high quality motors, there are other companies that purchase Festool motors for their woodworking products. To the best of my knowledge from the magazine editor's trip this past December, Metabo is one of the buyers of Festool motors.

[Dave Sabo]

I think it's very interesting that some of the best hand held power tools in the world come from a company that's headed by a woman.

[Joe Jensen]

Hi everybody,

here’s my take on these things.

As far as I know, there is no connection between Festool and Dewalt/Elu/Black & Decker.

Christian, here are some pics of my Elu 3338 router. Very very similar to the Festool, and it takes the same strange phenolic base plate, collet, and the same guide bushing adaptor.

Here are some pics. Sure seems to me like Festool is using the tooling developed by Elu, or Dewalt is building the big Festool router...joe