did you see the project video I published the other day about making this basket from scrap wood it's a really fun project that makes a great gift or something to sell if you're into that and it's not done the way you may think it's done so check it out at the link below if you haven't seen it is well worth five minutes or so of your time also at the end of this video will be a special surprise from our archives that I found it's way back from 10 years ago in the early days of this channel it's a three minute parody that still makes me laugh so stick around to the end if you want to see that but first I want to talk about something that is a bit controversial and I know many of you are going to have some strong opinions about this and I do want to hear your opinions so please leave them in the comments below now this all started yesterday morning when I fell into one of those YouTube rabbit holes and I ended up watching a couple of videos that feature this the Festool Domino if you don't know what this is It's a handheld power mortiser it's a shockingly handy tool that might represent one of the biggest Innovations in woodworking in Generations at least that's how I would describe the Festool Domino others might describe it as an obscenely overpriced gimmick designed by an evil Corporation to extract money from gullible people who think pricey Boutique tools can compensate for the crushing weight of their incompetent craftsmanship then it affects their souls that seems to be the two sides that people follow on they either love the Domino or they hate it at least on social media there seems to be little room for Middle Ground when it comes to this thing why what makes this tool so polarizing is it the green paint some people say that's the most expensive color and tools is it tool Envy it does seem that most people who are hating this tool haven't actually used it is it that some Festival users particularly online are a little bit arrogant about it or is it really just a principled stand over perceived price gouging again I want to hear your comments below why do you love Festool or hate Festool particularly the Domino but let me give my opinion first I think it mostly comes down to price and relatability now there are two versions of the Domino this one costs about 1200 bucks they also have an XL model for a whopping Seventeen hundred dollars now keep in mind you can create the same loose Tenon joinery with a homemade jig and 100 router but it is undeniable that the Domino is much faster and easier to use and if this thing was say 200 or 300 I think there would be far fewer people with their panties and a lot about it but 1200 to 1700 well I can understand how some may feel that's excessive so as Festool needlessly gouging us honestly I have no relationship with Festool and I don't know how much it costs to make one of these things it's certainly a very high quality but I do know a bit about the tool world and the cost isn't just in the manufacturing it's in the development now I'm not here to defend festools prices but I hear the price gouging argument about a lot of tool Brands and I think it's worth clearing this up every new innovation especially the true game changers just costs more money when they first come out because the folks who put in the time and the money and the brain power to come up with the new idea and who then developed it and engineered it to Perfection and they go through all the mountains of legal hurdles to bring it to Market they have to recover those outrageous costs and they have to make enough profit to make their effort and substantial risk worth taking that's why we have the patent system that gives them a period of exclusivity free from competition when they are the only ones who can make and sell their product and frankly they try to get any as much as they can for it but without that incentive we'd simply have far fewer Innovations especially in a niche craft like woodworking so when people say that Festool and saw stop or whoever should just give their patents away for the greater good I say I'd rather have these amazing tools even if they're a little expensive at first because without that we wouldn't have these Innovations at all everybody seems to forget about the fine multi-master that was another true Innovation for Woodworking and carpentry and even the medical field it was originally used to remove casts in hospitals today you can get a cheap oscillating multi-tool for as little as 25 bucks but for decades there was only one and it cost the equivalent of 600 in today's money that's a lot for an oscillating multitool and of course folks bashed fine back then like they do Festool today but eventually the patents expired more Brands came in to compete and the tool got much much cheaper and likewise festools patents are going to expire on the Domino in in a few years we're going to see knockoff versions on the market same thing with saw stop and any number of other truly Innovative products it's not a perfect system but it's what we have and without it Dominoes and tools like this just would not exist I know that's little Comfort to someone who simply can't afford to drop well over a thousand bucks on a handheld mortiser but frankly as I said I'd rather go through a period of high prices now with the promise of lower prices later instead of the tool not existing at all now that's my opinion on the price issue that seems to be dividing so many people over this tool the second issue that divides folks seems to be brand bias people are either for it or against it simply because of what they believe owning a Festool or similar premium brand says about themselves or about others it reminds me when I first started out on YouTube I was looking for a power sharpening system and I had my eye on the tormic now here's what I said let's face it we all want a tormac I mean the thing is big and fast and accurate and a complete setup will cost you well over a thousand bucks I spent months trying to figure out how to sell like part of my liver to try to buy a Tarmac but then I figured out a way to get a system almost as good for the price of something less vital like maybe a kidney or something a lot has changed since then and I don't just mean I've got better looking over the last decade I've built a business and earned a good living so I can afford nice tools now but there are some key points in that clip that I feel very strongly about you see back then I considered the price of the tormac which was more than a thousand dollars with all the jigs to be excessive especially for my budget it simply was out of my reach and I always thought it would be but I didn't bash the whole brand because I couldn't afford it and I wasn't jealous of other people who could instead I found alternatives I made my own jigs I modified other tools to get the job done until I was in the position to get the machine that I wanted and when I did get one I didn't become
