“Festool Buys SawStop!” That’s what text lit up my phone early Monday afternoon and my mind began to spin. My first thought was to double check the source – you know, there’s all that fake news running around. But sure enough, SawStop’s website carries the press release announcing the acquisition by Festool parent company, TTS – Tooltechnic Systems.
“We are proud to join a company with a shared passion for customer safety, product quality and meticulous engineering. Speaking for our entire team in Tualatin, Oregon and across North America, we are excited to join with TTS to bring safer woodworking to more people through new tools and in new markets around the world. With a family like TTS at our side, I can’t wait to see what we will accomplish together.”
– SawStop President, Dr. Stephen Gass
Festool Buys SawStop – What We Know
The big deal for SawStop employees is that the SawStop brand will continue to operate independently from their current Tualatin, Oregon facilities. That also happens to be the manufacturing town hosting Kershaw and Zero Tolerance knives as well.
What’s surprising is the speed of the transaction. According to the press release, we expect the acquisition to be complete in July 2017.
Conjecture
From here, all we can do is guess at what comes next after Festool buys SawStop. One thing is for sure – Festool engineering combining with SawStop safety is a win. Both brands carry a higher than average price point thanks to the engineering that goes into their products. I don’t expect that to change much, but incremental upgrades to the SawStop lineup may be coming.
When we did our table saw shootout, we didn’t really expect to like the SawStop model all that much. By the time we wrapped it up, I really wanted to keep it for my home shop. Even after sticking my hand in both the SawStop and Bosch Reaxx models to show proof of concept, the saw continued to impress me.
See What Happens When I Sacrifice My Hand in a SawStop Table Saw…
… Or in a Bosch Reaxx
But that also begs the question of the ongoing SawStop Vs Bosch lawsuit that seems to be gaining the title of the Neverending Story. Will Bosch be able to work out a deal with their fellow Germans?
We’ll see. For now, we’ll look forward to what Festool can bring to the table saw market. And dare I ask – will we see a non-safety table saw from Festool now?
