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04/27/2016 |
 Before I get into the details of the Festool promo I want to apologize in advance to those readers who have complained about the occasion business driven blog. I just spent part of the day at the Brooklyn Library seeing the original of the Saw Book Quarterly that I mentioned a few weeks ago. But that blog entry won't be ready until next week (and I discovered some interesting factoids) But the Festool sale, demo stuff and classes info is timely. So here goes.
After months of worrying about moving, moving, (and then finding where we should put stuff) a whole bunch of things are happening at once. The really big news for May and June is a 15% off sale on all Festool vacuums and accessories. The new CT SYS (more on that later) isn't included but otherwise the sale starts May 1, ends June 30th, and gets you an instant 15% off on qualifying merchandise. This offer isn't connected to buying a tool so it is the ideal time to pick up an extra vac for the shop or jobsite. Bags, filters, and accessories and also included! Note: The promo is 15% off list, not on top of the 10% off you get when you buy a tool. After 5:00 on April 30th the promo prices will magically appear on the website and you can place orders for Monday shipping. Free shipping on all Festool orders over $50 still applies!
The New CT SYS vac is here and you can pre-order now. This is the most popular vac sold by Festool in Europe (after the CT 26) although when people first heard about it in the US we got a lot of pretty negative feedback. Too small, no wheels, under-powered, etc. More than one customer told me that it was a non-starter. Then, once we had our demo unit and could show people in the store, we got a lot of enthusiasm and pre-orders. I think it's a tool you just have to see. So if you are unable to come and you think it might suit just order one. You have 30 days to return any Festool tool and we pay return shipping.
Now that we have a proper ground floor store we are having classes and Festool demo days. First the Festool Demo Days.
Put Saturday May 14th, 2016 from 11am-2pm and Saturday June 4th, 2016 from 11am-2pm on your calendar. The cool bit is that in addition to having some serious Festool demos and the chance to try out just about any Festool setup, ask questions, etc. I plan to be there with our bins of sale stuff. When we moved we found tons of stuff that really we need to get rid of - but it's a lot of work to put it on the website. So I plan to just make up prices on the spot. Lots of new stuff, discontinued stuff, and stuff I just want to get rid of. Now I realize we are short sheeting our customers who live far away and can't come by. I apologize for that but I can't figure out any other way to do it that makes sense for us.
Sharpening classes. We thought a lot about what form the classes should take and we realized that the more people who can sharpen properly, the more people who will enjoy woodworking, and that's great all around. So we decided to offer our seminars for FREE. On Saturday May 21st from 12-1 and again on Saturday June 11th, from 12-1 I will be teaching an "Introduction to Sharpening Woodworking Tools". The call will be about an hour long but I will be hanging out longer to answer questions and stuff. I'm a big believer in technique more than the sharpening media and my goal is to teach hand skills not gizmos. I'm not sure if we will have a pre-registration, and most of the class will be explanation and demonstration. But I will have space set up so people can try the basic hand motions and technique. I also want everyone to get a sense of what a really sharp tool feels like in action. If you want to bring one (and I mean one) of your chisels to the class - by all means bring it. Please however don't bring chisels that have chipped edges or need to be reground (lots of secondary bevels). I will have tools to practice on and it might be easier to learn on those. Depending on demand and response I will in future also schedule sessions on learning to grind. Our goal is to start a steady stream of free classes that teach basic skills as a way to get started woodworking, or as a refresher. For the moment these classes are all on Saturdays, and as soon as my weekday schedule changes - and I have more time in the evenings during the week - we will add free sessions during the week too. Parking BTW on the weekends is pretty easy. Either in our driveway, near our driveway, or under the expressway. The subway (R train to 25th street in Brooklyn) is only 3 1/2 blocks away.
We will have more details as the classes and Festool demo days develop. See You Soon! |
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dan
Now you are offering free classes. Amazing. Probably good for business in the long run, Absolutely good for the world that more people will learn to enjoy woodworking and making things.
I am new to woodworking and find your site very helpful and informative. Thanks.
Not a bad idea for the future but first off let's get the classes rolling.
thanks,
joel
Please do. I attended a chisel sharpening demo you gave a few years ago and it was a revelation! Still, once I needed to grind a new edge, even with my wonderful mail-order jig, I could not understand how to control what I was attempting to do. Late last year Ben spent quite a while talking to me about grinding chisels and gave me a great tip that has made a sea change of difference in my ability to grind an edge on a bench chisel. Many thanks and looking forward to visiting the shop again.
Gail Middleton