I Test Cheap vs. Expensive Woodworking Tools

As a test, use only Wen equipment, none of your Festool equipment, for a month on everything you produce in your shop and then report your findings.

So looks to me like if you're making your living using these tools full time, the festool is worthwhile. If you're a hobbyist or doing a lil side work, Wen is a pretty good deal.

Building some intricate piece of furniture with all WEN and TEMU tools!

One huge detail that you didn’t highlight enough with the Festool track saw is that you’ve likely had that tool for over a decade, and it is still performing at top quality levels. I think it is important even for people on a budget to consider tool-life/warranties

Another thing with the sanders is going to be the long term effects of vibration to your hands/wrists. The higher-end sanders are much better at lessening fatigue over a longer usage time than the cheaper ones.

On the Wen tracksaw, try removing the anti reverse lock knob(it's useless), replace the factory blade with any decent brand, and give the track a good film of glide coat. These few things took my saw up several notches in cut quality.

I can’t even afford all the plywood you’re wasting!! 😂😂😂

First I would like to say I really enjoy your channel, & from what I've seen you are very gifted. Now with that said when I was 17 years old I started working with an old man doing interior trim, I worked for him for about 4 or 5 years "learned a lot from him" & then changed job's "doing the same thing" worked for a little larger outfit, "money talk's". I worked for them 7 or 8 years & then went to custom cabinet making, done that for about 18 years. So you can say I've got plenty of experience in woodworking, and I've gotta say Festool is absolutely stupidly way overpriced. I'll put my DeWalt, Milwaukee, & Makita beside it any day of the week. The tool isn't what makes the carpenter, the carpenter is what makes the tool.

As an amateur woodworker with limited funds for expensive tools, I really appreciate that you make videos like this. I have always felt bad about not being able to buy the really high-end tools but hearing from a professional that the WEN is just as good is so awesome!

Only ever owned the Wen track saw so can’t compare it to anything else but I can say that my biggest gripes with it would be power in thicker material, dust collection, and lack of accuracy on the bevel cut. I mostly am using it to break down plywood and straightline rip and edge on S2S lumber and I work exclusively outside so these haven’t been an issue that I’ve needed to go out and fix and for $100 for the saw and roughly that for 110 inches of Powertech tracks, it’s been invaluable for the hobbyist in me. If you’re just looking to breakdown plywood and 4/4 materials making 90 degree cuts, it’s well worth the savings. Also noticed for plywood that it greatly benefits from an aftermarket thin kerf blade. I’ve noticed a significant boost in power with one installed vs the standard kerf blade.

You should challenge everyone in the shop to build a piece of furniture that sells for more than the combined value of the tools used to make it

I regularly use a Wen track saw with Makita tracks. The tool has worked well for me for almost 3 years now and I have no complaints.

I have commercial grade tools in my shop at about 80% and 20% (tools I only occasionally use) that are cheap or “throw away”. The commercial tools I own have anywhere from 40 years to 15 years of use with zero issues and still function like the day I purchased them. At the end of the day, most hobbyists and DIY’ers do not need commercial grade tools and, most pros I know use a small percentage of cheaper tools for the once in a while job like me. Great video and informative for those wanting to try their hand at woodworking. You can always upgrade once you figure out which tools you use the most. I have quite a few Harbor Freight items and for the money, they did the job just fine on occasional use.

By no means am I a professional woodworker. I've always just made do with whatever tools my dad has accumulated over the years, mostly big box store stuff. Just my opinion, but I think if you're a hobbyist just making stuff for yourself, and friends and family maybe, I don't really see the point in spending that much money on Festool. Unless of course you have a massive disposable income. I usually get pretty decent results with budget tools if I take my time and pay attention to detail. Plus there's plenty of upgrades you can make to budget tools, like higher quality blades, bits, etc. There is one exception however, and that's a SawStop table saw. We had one in my high school woodshop and I've seen it save peoples fingers on 2 different occasions. I do hope to own one of those some day.

hey... I'm not even in a woodworking business but your delivery is so smooth n' interesting and the videos in themselves are so well done, I'm watching all of your stuff anyways, man! You're such a great presenter it's uncanny. Keep up your great work, man, absolutely loving it.

I own many Wen tools and have no complaints with any of them, I like that they are local to me as well. Their customer service is great and very knowledgeable on their tools and the prices are nice for a beginner.

As starter tools WEN is awesome. I have used some of their stuff I knew was going to be “once in a blue moon” usage. Their bench top sanders are just as good as more pricey brands. Drill press is worth it for how often I honestly use it, straight with no wobble . I also have the air filter, it works great.

When i upgraded to a festool rotex 150, my workflow was so much more efficient that it was immediately noticeable. I can put all my weight over the rotex and take my feet off the floor and it'll just keep going. I'd bet a large sum of money that the Wen would stop dead or explode. And I do the same kind of builds that you do, but for real paying clients, not youtube. So time really does matter, as does the quality of the finished product. The finish is a billion times better than inferior sanders which is super important. Same is true for their big router being better than other equivalents on the market and the domino machine is obviously the gold standard, I thick we can all agree on that. From my 25+ years of experience in the game, cheap tools like the Wen are for hobbyists only, they don't have the build quality or longevity of the more expensive machines. If you're a serious woodworker and do this day in day out, quality pays for itself in days or months, not years.

How about a video where you test expensive tools with cheap addons/blades/batteries and cheap tools with expensive addons/blades/batteries

I have never been disappointed with WEN tools. Glad you gave the demonstration. I wanted a track saw and was looking at Festool and just couldn’t justify it. I’ll be getting one from WEN in a couple of weeks.