Festool with guides vs. table saw

The plunge saws along with an MFT and additional longer guides could easily do the job of a tablesaw. I prefer to have both as I like having multiple ways of doing a task or solving a problem, but with some know-how, the Festool stuff can do a ton of stuff. I mostly use mine to cut bevels and knock down sheet goods. I prefer a tablesaw because I’m use to setting the fence and ordering my cuts. You can use stop blocks and clamping elements and a tape measure and do the same thing with an MFT plunge saw and guides.

Take a look at eurekazone.com for another alternative. I have this system too out in my garage. My tablesaw and festool stuff stay in the shop.

In terms of safety, the Festool stuff would probably win in most categories. I still wouldn’t part with my tablesaw, but with practice and understanding the system in both it’s applications and limitations, I’m not sure if there is anything I couldn’t do on my MFT that I can do with my tablesaw. I suppose I couldn’t create a destructive kickback with the MFT that I could with the tablesaw. (smirk)

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Check out Woodshopdemos.com. John Lucas has been testing the Festool line for about the last 6 months. Tons of information there. And about lots of other things as well.

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

Similar questions, especially about things like cutting tapered table legs, have recently come up over at the Festool Owner's Group.

I don’t have a lot of table saw experience, and my Dad’s got a few shorter fingers because of some table saw experience, so I’ve no desire to work with a tablesaw that’s not either a SawStop or a euroslider of some sort. Among other reasons, that’s why I went with the Festool TS55 saw and MFT table.

I think for the most part it’s about thinking about your cuts in different ways. There are some dadoes I couldn’t cut with the Festool saw that’d be easy with a tablesaw, but I can cut them with a router. Technique for tapers took a little practice, and I’ll probably be refining my technique on that as I build more tapered leg furniture. Accuracy is mostly a matter of how much you’ve let the rubber strip on the rail wear, but since you can move it fairly easily, accuracy is easily within visual limits (if you can see the line to put a razor blade in it, you can push the rail up against the blade).

There are certainly some cuts that are faster or easier on a tablesaw, and some that are faster or easier with the Festool saw, for me the safety and portable shop make the Festool win, and if you’re comparing against a sub $1000 contractor’s saw, I think the scales tip towards the Festool. If you don’t want the dust collection, you might also look at the EZ Smart rails and a matching saw, but the Festool gets so much stuff right that I’m a convert.

-- Dan Lyke, Petaluma California, http://www.flutterby.net/User:DanLyke