Sommerfeld products

[bruce w hill]

Does anyone have any experience with sommerfield router bit sets or other products? If so what is your opinoin of them? I recieved a product catalog the other day and wanted to hear some feedback.;)

[Jeff Wright]

I have had good results using his offset tongue and groove router set used in making cabinets. I just bought a set of his glass door bits and expect to have good results from them as well. I attended the Tampa Woodworkers Show yesterday and Mark Sommerfeld was hard at it demonstrating his system and router sets.

[Doug Rogers]

I have the tongue & groove set, the raised panel set, the router table and fence, the easy set jig, the easy bore boring jig, and the hardware drilling jig. I like their tools. The customer service has been great. No interest in the company, just good tools and people.

Doug Rogers

[Barry Anderson]

I've a bunch of their router bits and tools. All work very well and I've had no issues. The most useful has been the cabinet groove system. I use it for building boxes, edging plywood ... there is a multitude of uses for this set.

Barry in WV

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

They are just fine. Whiteside is the Cadillac IMNSHO but Sommerfeld is plenty fine. You won't regret it.

[Dave Bureau]

I have a lot of their cabinet bits and their door tools. I like everything that I have from them. easy to deal with over the phone. and i think they have free shipping.
Dave

[Wayne Cannon]

I've used most of their cabinet-making bits and a number of other accessories. I especially like the matched alignment so you can go back and forth between tongue and groove bits, cope and stick bits, etc., without readjusting the router height. They work very well. I have not used them enough to compare life-time or wear-out characteristics with other brands.

Marc Sommerfeld's demo/class (e.g., at The Woodworking Shows) is packed with good tips which highlight the design considerations he has invested in his tools to make cabinet making more efficient.

Their service is absolutely first class. They are a small outfit and definitely aim to please their customers. I've had a couple of shipment damage issues resolved quickly and immediately. They have also been good about offering tips on the use of their tools. Marc has called personally in response to questions posted to their web site, (I'm not a major customer by any means).

[Rick Fouts]

I've been dealing with Marc Sommerfeld for 10+ years and he's a very straight up guy. The customer service is the best I've seen. I have several sets of the Sommerfeld brand of router bits and have used them enough to say that they are as good as the bigger companies. I've never had a problem with any of them. You won't go wrong with any of his tools. I have no ties to his company in any way, I'm just a very satisfied customer.

[Gary Ratajczak]

I attended the Sommerset NJ show with my FatherInLaw, and we always sit in on a few of the Sommerfeld demos.

I ended up purchasing the Offset Cabinetmaking Set (as praised above). I was in the process of gathering parts to build a new router table fence until a few weks ago - FIL showed up at our house with a bunch of boxes.

New sommerfeld router table top, fence and a Triton 3-1/4 HP router!!!

I need to build the base cabinet to get it going. Looks like a SWEET setup!!

The bits look top notch - best feature is that they are all calibrated for height, and just require swapping from one bit to another - no need to reset height.

I have a number of cabinet to build, and can't wait to get going!!

[Todd Bin]

I have used several of his router bits. The most recent one was a large table profile bit. It routed just fine with no issues.

On the note about serivce. Recently I ordered a couple of the "bent" wrenches for my PC router. They arrived with the rest of my order but looked like crap and were too small to fit my router. I called and Marc answered the phone. He said they had sent the newest batch of wrenches out to be galvanized since some people were complaining the old style were rusting a little. He acknowledged they looked bad and he was not happy at all with the quality. He advised that I file the wrench a little and it would fit the collet. He also said he would send me two new wrenches when the new non-galvanized batch came in.

All-in-all I consider that great service and I would/will order form them again.

[jason lambert]

I attended the Sommerset NJ show and saw the demos I think they have the best System. I perfer cmt bits but that is mainly because I have used them for years, if I where to start over today I would get sommerfeld since they have cool claibration toos the hight thing, the whole system seems to be thought out. I have never herd anything bad about the sommerfield bits as well.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Both of the Sommerfeld guys do a great job in designing woodworking tools. The other one goes by the name Kreg, as in Kreg pocket hole jigs.

[John Craig Brown]

I attended the Sommerset NJ show with my FatherInLaw, and we always sit in on a few of the Sommerfeld demos.

I ended up purchasing the Offset Cabinetmaking Set (as praised above). I was in the process of gathering parts to build a new router table fence until a few weks ago - FIL showed up at our house with a bunch of boxes.

New sommerfeld router table top, fence and a Triton 3-1/4 HP router!!!

I need to build the base cabinet to get it going. Looks like a SWEET setup!!

The bits look top notch - best feature is that they are all calibrated for height, and just require swapping from one bit to another - no need to reset height.

I have a number of cabinet to build, and can't wait to get going!!
Gary

Did you get a chance to use the set and how did it work out. Also, I have the video, which I have listened to twice and the third time I will take notes as no additional instructions came with the video. Are there any more detailed instructions available for the offset bit set or do additional instructions come with that set. I checked out Amazon and Marc has not written any books on the subject.

[Rich Johnson]

Raised this post from the past. Just to ask if anyone has purchased his table and fence in 2010 and if you could give your two cents worth good or bad I would love to hear.

Thanks in advance.

[Craig Shilling]

I too, am interested in hearing from someone who uses a Sommerfeld Router top and fence. We went to the WW Show in Collinsville, Il. last month and were fascinated by their displays and friendlyness. I have three sets of their cabinet bit sets and am very pleased with there ease of set up. I've had terrific service when ordering and also returning something.

[Jeff Monson]

My neighbor just bought his table, bit set, katie jig, and the jigs for hinges and knobs. I'm very impressed with the stuff, my neighbor has not built alot of raised panels or dovetail drawers, but he has done very well with the video and equipment he got. I think he told me he spent around 1500 on everything, the systems seem to work well together which makes it easy for someone who is less experienced.

[Bob Elliott]

I bought a Sommerfeld cabinetmaking set in 2003. I bought the CMT branded set and am very happy with it.

My wife commissioned a china cabinet this past Christmas. I went to the Sommerfeld web site to get the glass door bit set. I found that the CMT sets were in clearance. I called to find out what happened and they are not working with CMT anymore. I asked them what the difference between the two was. The woman on the phone said the Sommerfeld sets were made in Asia and the CMT sets were made in Italy. That with the clearance prices made the decision for me.

You may want to check the clearance section at the Sommerfeld web site.

Bob