Today I (and a passel of other woodworking magazine editors and writers from the US and the UK) began two days of meetings with Festool at their German headquarters. Located in the region of Swabia – the premier manufacturing area in Germany – Festool has a modern facility with a long history of quality tool making.
The folks at Festool took care to explain their philosophy of only producing tool that meet the highest standards in the industry. They have a rigorous project development process that focuses on delivering systematic solutions to woodworking problems and that measures their efforts all along the way. The product development process is so exacting that it takes them an average of three years to bring a new concept tool to market. All aspects of the design effort are measured and held up to the initial goals set for the new tool. If a tool fails to meet the expected metrics, then it is reworked until it does. This supports Festool's mission of being the performance winners in every category in which they participate. (They realize that with this philosophy, they will never be the price winner.)
It is in light of those discussions that later in the day we were introduced to Festool’s newest offering the Domino joining system. You say that you’ve never heard of a Domino tool before? That is because it is a totally new product.
Looking like a high-tech biscuit joiner, the Domino is something like a hybrid of a router, doweling machine and a biscuit joiner. It forms perfectly shaped mortises for various sized “dominos” – which are in truth, mass-produced loose tenons. The dominos are made of beech. The concept is elegantly simple, but Festool’s execution is meticulously well done. The knobs and levers for setting the depth of cut and location of the domino slot are intuitive and easy. The series of attachment allow you to place dominos into the end of a narrow piece of wood (just under 1-inch wide) – perfect for picture framing. The cutters for the dominos range from 10mm down to 5mm.
The assembled editors (including your intrepid reporter) each got to use this new tool in the process of making a small stool. I have to say that I found the tool easy to use and very effective. I was able, after just a bit of instruction, to jump into using the Domino tool with confidence. And after just a short time, I ended up with a groovy little stool. I was also able to talk to a British furniture maker who had just finished using a Domino tool on a large project – he was effusive with praise for the tool.
Without a doubt, this new tool will make a significant splash when it arrives in the US in early April of 07. I will have more on this tool when I use it to build a project in my March April magazine.
A Year Older
Later, after our time in the shop, the entire group gathered for a lovely meal at a local restaurant. A good time was had by all – especially because it was my birthday. I was given a birthday “cake” with three candles on it. (The actual 51 candles would have violated a local fire ordinance.) The assembled editors sang Happy Birthday to You – giving evidence as to why they chose to write rather than sing for a living. It was a lovely ending to a great day.
Photos, top to bottom: One side of my stool. A domino in a piece of plastic. Your hardworking editor using the Domino tool. The same indefagitable editor using a slick Festool saw.
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