New Tenryu Blades for Festool Products
One common complaint I hear about Festool products (besides the obvious one), is the fact that their blades have an odd arbor size. This means you will need to buy your blades specifically from Festool or have your favorite blades modified to fit their saws. Personally, I find Festool blades to be of very high quality and competitively-priced, but I can understand why people want the freedom of choice. Given the popularity of Festool’s TS-55 and TS-75 plunge cut saws, and all the buzz surrounding the recently-released Kapex miter saw, its no surprise that a leading blade manufacturer like Tenryu would begin making blades to fit these tools.
Tenryu recently sent me a few samples of their latest offerings for the Kapex and I’ve been playing with them for the last few weeks. Overall, the quality is exactly what you would expect from a high quality blade manufacturer. How does it compare with the stock Festool blade? My initial non-scientific tests showed that the Festool blade produced a smoother cut on 8/4 bubinga. I tested this by feel and by rubbing the endgrain with chalk to observe the surface imperfections. Tenryu explained the reason for this phenomenon and it has everything to do with the grind on the teeth. The Tenryu ATAF (Alternate Top/Alternate Face) grind makes a more aggressive shearing cut, while the Festool blade has an ATB (Alternate Top Bevel) grind which essentially burnishes as it cuts, resulting in a surface that feels smoother. I also noticed less tearout at the back end of the cut with the Tenryu blades. But given the fact that they have higher tooth count, this isn’t too surprising.
I honestly didn’t do enough testing to tell you one blade is better than the other. But if you are looking for an alternative to the blades Festool offers, its nice to know that these are available. Tenryu already has two on the market and you can purchase them here. I also heard from Tenryu that they will soon offer thinner kerf blades for the TS-55 plunge cut saw (.063″, 52 tooth and be supplied with its own riving knife). They hope to have the blades by the middle of October.
Demo Night 7/8/08 - Kapex, Mail Order Wood, and Other Stuff
So if you missed Demo Night last night, you missed A LOT! I started by discussing polyurethane durability and glue shelf life and showed some interesting examples of both. I then gave a little feature review of the Festool Kapex. And finally, I showed off the sweet lumber I just received for the upcoming Gadget Station. I then got into a discussion about mail order lumber and the company I have been working with lately, Bell Forest Products. And this is just a small sample of the session that ran about 2 hours and hosted nearly 100 people.
And please excuse the camera work. I pretty much did the best I could by myself. You should notice much improved video and audio though, so that’s a good thing. If you want to attend future Demo Nights, just check the Calendar periodically for updates.
53 - Miter Saw Safety
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Some general miter saw safety tips including clamping and operation tips. The Festool Kapex makes its first appearance in our show as well. And finally, some outtakes.
New Festool Tools
I had the privilege and pleasure of spending the last three days at Festool USA headquarters in Lebanon, Indiana for an Editors Event. The purpose was to give the editors of numerous woodworking and trade publications a sneak peak at some of the soon-to-be-released offerings, and my job was to relate my experiences and opinions on the new tools.
I know many of you may be thinking, “what’s so exciting about a few new tools?” After all, woodworking power tools haven’t changed much in that past 10 years. Let’s be frank here, the industry is not exactly a hot bed for innovation. Although I must admit that I am very happy to see advancements like the PM2000’s creature comforts, Steel City’s granite options, SawStop, and the inclusion of riving knives as standard safety gear in table saws. But in general, many companies move a button, add a new lever, and give the tool a paint job and try to pass it off as a new and improved model. That’s about as innovative as an amplifier that “goes to eleven”. The bottom line for me: any company that feels its worth their time to innovate and solve critical woodworking dilemmas certainly deserves my time and attention.
Now unfortunately, I am not able to go into too much detail at this point concerning things like price, release dates, and specs. Festool just isn’t ready to release that information. But what I can do is tell you what the tools are, what they do, and what they look like. The first item is a new trim router. Normally a trim router wouldn’t get me too excited. In fact, I just purchased my first one a few months ago when I needed to make a few hinge mortises in a tight space. The experience wasn’t great because of an inherent issue I have with trim routers. Their greatest features are also their greatest flaws. They are so light and maneuverable that they can be difficult to control and easy to tip. 
Festool’s MFK700, while slim and comfortable in hand, is also dense and features nice wide bases and big beefy handles for increased control. Not only that, the bases can be changed depending on the task at hand. What has me excited? The prospect of trimming edge-banding cleanly, safely, with NO DUST, and without a chance of gouging my veneer. I just released a video on edge-banding where I explained that I never bother using a power tool for trimming due to the setup time and the likelihood of screwing up the veneer face. Well, my week-old video is now out-dated. And my block plane is very sad.
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