These guys are great, they measure from 5cm to 50m at an accuracy of +/- 1.5mm. They are a real time saver and allow you to measure faster than ever before and obtain measurements previously requiring two people or previously impossible because of access limitations.

Featuring:

• Measure distance in meters, centimetres, millimetres, feet, or inches.
• Calculate area a volume.
• Determination of inaccessible heights using indirect measuring (Pythagoras function).

Normally $259, while stocks last only $169.
See this page for lots more information.

Plaster dust, water, sand, water, saw dust, big of a thumping, some more water, plaster mud - slip, slop, slap, drill!

Needless to say, this is very cool, but we don't recommend doing it.

Discussion topic.

How much action has your Festool drill seen and survived?

Each week a new and different coupon.

Register now and receive your first coupons.

SAVINGS - BONUSES - COMPETITIONS - FREE STUFF
SAVINGS - BONUSES - COMPETITIONS - FREE STUFF
SAVINGS - BONUSES - COMPETITIONS - FREE STUFF

Ideal Tools New Zealand located at www.idealtools.co.nz is the largest and best online store for Festool and Protool tools in New Zealand.

Featuring...

Free delivery for all orders over $250.

Rapid shipment from Auckland to all over New Zealand.

Our rewards program - earn store credit, not points.

Sales and technical support via email and 0800 phone number.

New Zealand specials and product offers.

New Zealand specific woodworking articles and discussion.

We look forward to providing our New Zealand customer with the highest standard Festool and Protool sales and technical support.

Below is a copy of the latest article from his blog, The Gentleman Furniture Maker. You will also find lots more articles and awesome works by John on his blog website.

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Pon-Pon, Gone…!

So settle down, and I’ll tell you a story, not a long one, but one that spans a good chunk of the last years work. Today is one of those mixed feeling days…. happy waving off one of our favourite children on a world tour, and sad and maybe a little apprehensive about how they go.

There have been several oblique mentions of this project on the blog over the last few months, and this has been a collaboration in the purest sense – we were invited to design and build a pair of traditional carcase dovetailed cabinets using hand tools for practically 100% of the project that would be married to steel frames conceived, created, coloured and gilded by Karl Millard, a goldsmith who lives a stones throw from our workshop here in Brunswick.

For my piece, I decided to use a variation on the skip tail layout for the dovetail joinery, and launched into to sawing and chopping out all the panels by hand. In fact, I had to build me up up a tower of plywood just to boost my meagre frame up to the right height to cut the tails into the long panels (2.2m).

Now, getting so intensely into detailed handwork is a curious experience. You start to see individual fibres, slight imperfections and there is a slow zooming in of focus until all your world is held in each passing moment measured by the breath. Now and then, just looking up from the work is a strange thing, almost as if the world re-constellates around you as you remember it being there. This white oak has also been a brilliant choice of material. Though he is hard to work for dovetailing, he is stiff in his form and his lovely swirling grain takes to the liming treatment beautifully.

So, if Anton of Great Dane is the big dog, Geoffrey Hatty surely is the big cheese and it is his twisted psyche that is at the root of this very curiously conceived and developed design.

In fact it could well be a surfeit of stilton that has led us into making this really quite unique object as well as the learning process that has enriched Karl and I so much of late. Geoffrey refers to his mysterious source of inspiration as ‘Pon-Pon’.

Karl and I have had a good time unravelling this strange thread, and a fine and extremely unique thing has been made. You are free to hate it, to be horrified or disturbed by his glowing golden eyes – do you see bandicoot, or venetian masques or alien domination? Please, if you can see anything else, do let us know – we are fascinated by the diversity of references that Pon-Pon 1 has fired off…

Whatever he reminds you of, to me his curious four-legged, eight eyed form, long neck and golden eyes suggest the kind of thing that comes alive in the wee hours, and dances to strange unheard music played on oaken arms and steel  strings, so tuck the children up snug at night, lest they see what they shouldn’t…

- John

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Visit The Gentleman Furniture Maker for more excellent articles and examples of John's work. Needless to say, John uses a awful lot of Festool tools in making his furniture, some of that we might go into at a later date also, but as a teaser, probably every project John undertakes will see him using his TS-75, OF2200 router, OFK500 trimmer, C12 drill, ROTEX sander, and a whole host of accessories.

I really love John's creations and know how dedicated he is to not only getting the details right, but ensuring the overall form is pleasing to both the eye and touch, yet remaining functionally excellent. More about my observations of John's design and build process I may go into in a future article.

Registering your new Festool or Protool tool within 30 days of purchase will ensure you receive an extra two years warranty above the 1 year standard warranty.

You can use this form to register tools purchased from Ideal Tools or any other dealer in Australia or New Zealand.

Festool and Protool products that can be registered for the extended warranty are clearly marked with the 1+2 logo on the tool packaging, the carton has an identification sticker denoting machine type and serial number. Typically this is all power tools and major accessories.

Register your new Festool or Protool tool here.

Today (Sunday) and tomorrow (Monday) are the last days to get up to $100 off Festool's most popular dust extractors.

Check out the CT26 HEPA and CT36 HEPA special and related accessories.

Check out the CT-MINI and CT-MIDI special and related accessories.

For more information on the Festool and Protool range of extractors, see this article 'The comprehensive extraction range from Festool and Protool.'

Although we have lots of great stuff in our Featured and Specials section at the moment, I thought I would highlight the most popular Festool guide rails 1400mm and 3000mm are really nicely priced at the moment. Perfect for anyone that might have been putting off buying a 3m guide rail for some time... now is the time to get one.

Other guide rails also at special prices.

Do you want fries with that?

If so, check out our Guide Rail System page for things like guide rail connectors and guide rail clamps.

In my view, the benefits of the SURFIX system are and excellent product combined with a productivity increase and ease of use.

Start oiling in no time, pack up in no time. No mess, no clean-up.

The system includes oil dispensers with the following components; plate, oil bottle, application sponge.

The filled oil bottle clicks into place and also functions as the handle. The safety valve allows easy control of the dispensed amount, seals off the oil bottle cleanly and protects the oil from drying out for a long time.

Being significantly more economical than a brush or cloth: the sponge, fastened with StickFix (Festool's micro-velcro material), absorbs any excess oil and then dispenses it where it's needed.

The dispenser is stored in its purpose made metal storage container, ready to go. No need to open oil tins, find and clean rag or brush, etc. Just start oiling your project.

And when you finish you just put the dispenser back in its metal storage container. No need to wash out rags/brushes or throw away, and no need to store any excess oil back into a bottle, no no need to clean up any other application containers. You just put the dispenser back into its storage container ready for the next oiling project.

It's the same when taking a break for lunch or overnight, no hassle with the SURFIX system.

In the metal storage container the sponge is kept charged and the bottom of the tin has dimples to stop contact spoilage.

See the SURFIX system in action.

About the oils.

There are three oils in total, one for heavy duty indoor projects, a special one-step oil which includes its own wax, and another oil for outdoor projects.

The Heavy Duty Oil is for indoor surfaces with heavy use; perfect for dining tables, worktops, stairs, children's toys etc. This oil is solvent-free, refines the wood permanently and guarantees a tough and resistant surface. It impregnates, repels water; porous, vapour-permeable. Impervious to saliva and sweat in accordance with DIN 53160.

The One-step Oil is for decorative indoor surfaces subject to less use, such as wardrobes, shelving or lounge room furniture. It applies oil and wax in a single operation and has outstanding polishing properties. This oil-wax mixture is solvent-free, cobalt-free; impregnates and forms a coating. And impervious to saliva and sweat in accordance with DIN 53160.

The Outdoor Oil protects all wood in outdoor areas from weathering, such as teak and other garden furniture, pergolas or timber decks. It includes natural anti-fungal and UV-blocking ingredients. The outdoor oil is a quick and easy treatment with no sanding down needed before follow-up coats. It's impervious to saliva and sweat in accordance with DIN 53160.

Use stand alone, or integrated into the broader Festool sanding system of sanders, high quality and specialised abrasives.

The SURFIX oil system takes advantage of Festool's speciality abrasives, primarily RUBIN, BRILLIANT, and VLIES types. RUBIN and BRILLIANT are typically used to sand both raw and previously coated timber, and many Festool owners will already be using these.

VLIES which are less well know are a non-woven sanding and finishing 'cloth' pad.

The Green VLIES pads are for working the initial coat of oil into a surface; and even ensures protruding wood fibres are trimmed to smoothen the surface.

The White VLIES pads are for non-abrasive polishing without grit and removal of surplus oil after initial coat 'drying'. And for even distribution and polishing of oil and wax for further surface refinement.

Using Festool abrasives and VLIES pads with the SURFIX system is an excellent way to get the best possible results. All these abrasives and pads are best used with your Festool finishing sander, the ROTEX and ETS 150/5 being highly suitable and the ETS 150/3 being absolutely ideal.

To make it easy to get started and explore the system, we have the SURFIX Oil Dispenser Set available. This set in a Systainer 3 (T-Loc) with all of the following included:

1 x Heavy Duty oil in dispenser OS-Set HD 0.3 litre in metal storage container.
1 x One-Step oil bottle 0.3 litre.
1 x Outdoor oil bottle 0.3 litre.
5 x oil sponges.
5 x green non-woven sanding pads.
5 x white non-woven sanding pads.
10 x sanding discs STF-D150 P180 RU.
10 x sanding discs STF-D150 P240 BR2.

Or you can replenish your SURFIX system with any of the items on this page.

Discussion topics.

Have you tried the SURFIX oiling system?

Which SURFIX oil would you use on your projects?

In 2009 Terry custom built for our workshop a set of six fold away workbenches, specially designed to maximise workshop space when not in use. Ideal for workshops which are shared with other hobbies or the family car. The workbench is mounted to the wall, and when not not required their legs fold against the wall and the top folds down. Protruding only 260mm from the wall.

They are 55mm thick in total, comprising 35mm water resistant chipboard base with 19mm West Australian Karri work surface and 65mm Victorian Ash trim. Thick and solid enough to mount a heavy duty woodworkers vice. They are incredibly solid and can take significant weight and a real pounding like a good workbench should be able to when required. Worktop dimensions: 1085mm x 635mm.

Included are tool boards which hang on the wall using a simple French cleat system. These tool boards feature two Victorian Ash tool holders which hold the tools via two rows of concealed magnets. There is no direct magnet to tool contact, only timber on tool to avoid tools being scratched by the mounting system. Additionally they feature a whiteboard for project notes. Back board dimensions: 1130mm x 1150mm.

Four of the six workbenches have a series of 19mm dog holes in the worktop. These dog hole work brilliantly with Festool MFT-SP surface clamps and Walko surface clamps, as well as lots of other workbench dogs and clamps.

All surfaces are finished in tung-oil for easy cleaning and refinishing. They are in excellent condition as they have only had two years of intermittent use and only need a light rub-over with fresh oil to bring them up like new again.

They are being retired and for sale (individually or as a set), but are only available for pick them up from our Williamstown (VIC) workshop.

Valued around the $1,000 mark, these workbenches are available at $480 each. Contact me at support@idealtools.com.au or call 1300 769 258 if you are interested. Thanks.

Tools and clamps not included.