# FESTO router bits



## Dsel74 (Dec 17, 2012)

I am want to know about FESTO router bits, what are they made of HSS or Carbide tipped?

Are they any good?

What are they worth individually?

I am assuming FESTO router bits are early FESTOOL product before the company division and name change. Would this be correct??




Any info appreciated I tried google and got zip!


----------



## Phil P (Jul 25, 2010)

Dsel74 said:


> I am want to know about FESTO router bits, what are they made of HSS or Carbide tipped?
> 
> Are they any good?
> 
> ...


Hi n/a (be nice if you could fill in a name in your profile :yes4

As you've surmised Festo cutters are older cutters sold by the firm who nowadays call themselves Festool. These days the name Festo is used exclusively for the pneumatics/production automation products division, as was. The firm started out in 1925 as Fezer & Stoll but soon took the brand name "Festo" which was applied the portable electric tools, static woodworking machinery (e.g. boring machines, tenoners, etc - although manufacture of these finished in the late 1970s or so?) as well as the pneumatic products (including cylinders, valves, manifolds, etc). In the mid 1990s TTS Tooltechnic Systems was created, incorporating the manufacturing firm Tanos (van racking systems and tool containers, etc), but in 2000 it also took over the power tool manufacturing side of the Festo business (electric and air power tools) which were renamed Festool. Within a few years the business acquired part of the electric tool business of Karl M. Reich (trading as "Holz-Her") and incorporated some of the Holz-Her tools into the Festool range, most notably the belt sanders and laminate trimmers. Other Holz-Her tools ended up badged as Protool, a subsidiary (already?) producing construction and renovation tools (including a nifty chain saw which runs on a Festool-compatible guide rail) which had taken over some of the heavier tools formerly badged "Festo" (like a hand held chain mortiser and some massive circular saws, etc). - BTW If there are any German speaking members who'd like to correct that, lot please do so - my German isn't that hot so I might have misunderstood a few things!

All this means that your Festool cutters are pre-2000 and German-made (probably by a firm like Leuco or Oppold, so they're *good*). Festool still sell a limited range of router cutters today in the EU (don't know about the USA), in both HSS and TCT as well as a few TC-RT types with disposable carbide tips. One disadvantage, though, is that they all seem to have metric shanks, i.e. 8 or 12mm - no 1/4in or 1/2in shanks in any literature I've ever seen

I have no idea how to value such items. But, why do you want to know? Have you found a secret stash of 500,000 of them in a crashedlLufthansa freighter in the jungles of Borneo or 30 miles off the Nullabor Straight? Interested to know

Regards

Phil

PS I have still got my old Festo OF1000 - so that's dated - but I doubt that being a "Festo" as opposed to a "Festool" increases it's value at all


----------



## Dsel74 (Dec 17, 2012)

I picked up 28 Bits (new old stock) the little individual plastic cases on some are a little scratched from my poor transportation home. Of the 28 there are probably only 7or 8 different profiles so I have now got a few duplicates.

Trying to decide if I should keep them all as back ups which is probably not necessary or put them on ebay. If the are not worth much I will keep em, if the have some value then selling some of the surplus might be worth the effort. Either way I need to know more info on specs and value.


----------



## Dsel74 (Dec 17, 2012)

Also want to make sure I didn't waste my money on them probably more importantly


----------



## Dsel74 (Dec 17, 2012)




----------



## Phil P (Jul 25, 2010)

Dsel74 said:


> If the are not worth much I will keep em, if the have some value then selling some of the surplus might be worth the effort. Either way I need to know more info on specs and value.


Hi n/a

They are worth no more than any other second-hand router cutters, IMHO, which probably isn't a lot. Being Festo (or Festool) just doesn't make them special in any way, or collectors pieces for that matter. For myself I'd rarely consider buying a Festool cutter - they are grossly overpriced from the manufacturer (especially when you realise that they are bought-in in all probability) and Festool don't sell anything which can't be sourced elsewhere. In any case there are a dozen brands out there which are cheaper and equally as good (e.g. Titman, Leuco, Leitz, Onsrud, etc). I have recently picked up some brand new Elu TCT router cutters - in original packaging, but obviously 20 years old or older (and Elu also has a good reputation - they were the Festool of their day in the 70s and 80s). They are nice quality cutters, well machined, good brazes, thick carbide. They were also about 1/3 to 1/4 of the price of buying a premium quality tool new. Want a spec? Take a look at a current Festool catalogue and you'll probably find something similar to what you have - they are on line all over the place. 



Dsel74 said:


> Also want to make sure I didn't waste my money on them probably more importantly


Depends on price, really. If the seller wants new price or higher, then steer clear. If they are cheaper than buying an equivalent from Carb-I-Tool then go for it. Just remember, though, these cutters will have _metric_ shanks - so they won't necessarily fit your router

Regards

Phil


----------



## IRONMULE31014 (Feb 16, 2013)

Welcome Dsel


----------

