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Thread: In praise of the Multi- tool

  1. #16
    I buy my blades from Northern, using a $5 off $15 coupon that I get regularly. Blades are bi-metal. When a blade wears out, I take it to the grinder, and convert it into a scraper. Used my HF multi-tool today to scrape some caulking.

  2. #17
    Join Date
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    I have the Bosch Multi tool....started with a HF one....gave it to a friend to use and uh well....anyway I find the tool to be invaluable....has saved me a lot of time and can do many different ops. The blades are expensive tho', to me anyway. Where is the best place to buy blades?

  3. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Raymond Seward View Post
    The blades are expensive tho', to me anyway. Where is the best place to buy blades?
    Yes they are very expensive to me as well. The best deal on blades I can find currently are Imperial Blades - 10 for $79.98.
    These are 12TPI x 1-1/4". This still seems expensive @ $8.00 each but I am buying them locally so no S&H charges on top.

    Still, how much do the ones from Northern end up costing and are there suggestions for better prices from other sources too?
    "... for when we become in heart completely poor, we at once are the treasurers & disbursers of enormous riches."
    WQJudge

  4. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Benjamin Miller View Post
    I have the cheap red Harbor Freight one and absolutely hate to use it due to the noise, but it's a very useful tool occasionally. I mainly use it to trim shims when installing windows and doors, and to trim door casings and jambs so that flooring can fit underneath.

    I could never see a multitool replacing a reciprocating saw, however. A reciprocating saw will eat 2x4's for breakfast when doing demolition, and with a good blade will also tear through steel. I probably have a dozen methods of cutting steel, including a plasma cutter, but I reached for the reciprocating saw last week to cut up a cart made of square tubing.
    I thought it might be worth it if I elaborated a bit on my enthusiasm for the "multi function oscillating tool" (sorry about the confusion) by describing a few ways I have discovered its essential place in my tool box. For some reason that I can't explain, this has been the winter of remodeling bathrooms. I am on my 3rd bathroom since November (with a few other projects in between) and in all cases the multi-tool has saved the day.

    1) Mirrors and wall sconces over the vanity. The centerline is the centerline and so the position of the mirror is locked in . The light on either side can only be pushed in or out from the mirrors edge so far before they don't look right. Even more constraints when there is a wall immediately to one side. You know where I'm going with this - how to you mount a light fixture when there is a stud in the way? Remember - this is a remodeling project. In 2 of 3 cases with finished rooms on the other side of the wall. In comes the multi- tool. It is the fastest and safest (least jarring/destructive tool) for taking a space for an electrical box out of one side or out of the entire face of the stud and even to a partial depth. Non load bearing studs are no longer an impediment to mounting light or plumbing fixtures to me .

    2) This week I need to replace a badly out of level floor of plywood and linoleum attached to 2 layers of wide wood sub flooring all on top of some, from the day, tree trunks for floor joists. Needed to cut right along the walls and kind of like an archeological dig - one layer at a time - to reveal what I had to work with without destroying some good sub structure. In the old days I would have snipped off the ends of a few Bosch jig saw blades to make them the 1" or 2" long as needed. Then still I would have needed to cut further away from the walls then I wanted. Now I just work the multi-tool cutting along the wall one depth at a time with complete confidence that I'm not cutting into joists or into a good sub floor. Each layer comes up with complete control. Not all that fast but I don't end up wasting time repairing.

    This archeological approach with the multi-tool comes in handy for cutting up flooring, or walls, or ceilings beneath, or behind, or above which you know there is plumbing or wiring.

    I don't think of it as a demo tool but rather as a precise take apart tool . Blades of all sorts - for cutting wood, metal, plastics, as well as for scraping and then there is the sanding pad feature. I did try sanding once and for that the HF tool was pitiful. I don't know how well the Fein or other better models works as detail sanders but for me the HF tool is relegated to saw status. For that it is just excellent.
    "... for when we become in heart completely poor, we at once are the treasurers & disbursers of enormous riches."
    WQJudge

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sam Murdoch View Post
    I don't think of it as a demo tool but rather as a precise take apart tool
    Dude- awesome description. Anyone that wants my Fein MultiMaster will have to pry it out of my cold dead hands.

    With a playful tone, I've actually said to clients, "I'm going to need to surgically remove this"

  6. #21
    The answer to expensive blades is to clamp the blade turned scraper in a vise and remove the metal between the hidden new teeth with a triangle file. If there is no trace of the original teeth spacing, hold a 1/4 x 20 bolt up to the edge and use it for a guide.

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
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    I have the Bosch and it is most certainly a useful tool to make unusual/how the heck type of cuts.
    Wood: a fickle medium....

    Did you know SMC is user supported? Please help.

  8. #23
    Join Date
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    Don't forget another aspect of these type of tools.

    The safety factor.

    With the short travel the blades have, they don't cut skin easily.
    You really have to work at cutting yourself with one.

    I'm perfectly comfortable handing mine to a kid and letting the kid use it.
    IMHO - it's safer than a crosscut handsaw.
    My granddad always said, :As one door closes, another opens".
    Wonderful man, terrible cabinet maker...

  9. #24
    I have the fein and a friend bought the harbor freight one. From his review I gathered that the blade rotated annoyingly all the time in use and it was the master of vibrating all the feeling out of your hand. These are useful tools, you'll have it for life, get a decent one. Since feins patent ran out there are plenty of decently made options available for less than the fein. Do yourself a favor and don't buy one from harbor freight, spend the extra $70 and get a non-fein name brand if you need to keep costs down. My friend has the 12v milwaukee and has given it a lot of work without any issues.

  10. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by Andy Pratt View Post
    I have the fein and a friend bought the harbor freight one. From his review I gathered that the blade rotated annoyingly all the time in use and it was the master of vibrating all the feeling out of your hand. These are useful tools, you'll have it for life, get a decent one. Since feins patent ran out there are plenty of decently made options available for less than the fein. Do yourself a favor and don't buy one from harbor freight, spend the extra $70 and get a non-fein name brand if you need to keep costs down. My friend has the 12v milwaukee and has given it a lot of work without any issues.
    My experience with the HF Chicago Electric tool does not support your friends experience. I have used a Porter Cable and it was not better in any substantial way to HF tool. I used an old Fein last spring for 3 months and was not anymore impressed either.

    Except for the too short chord, the noise (equal to both others mentioned) and the very crammed hard plastic storage box, the HF tool for less than $40.00 has been a wonder. No performance issues whatsoever!

    I don't have any patience for tools that don't work. I am not hesitant to spend more $$$s in order to get the best uncompromising tool for the job. I did hesitate to buy this one but I have no complaints the way I use it. I would not use it for detail sanding.
    "... for when we become in heart completely poor, we at once are the treasurers & disbursers of enormous riches."
    WQJudge

  11. #26
    Join Date
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    NE Ohio
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    Do yourself a favor and don't buy one from harbor freight, spend the extra $70 and get a non-fein name brand if you need to keep costs down
    You mean like the $99.00 Dremel I had for a little over a year and used less than a half dozen times that just stopped working one day?
    The HF cheapy saved the day when that happened.
    My granddad always said, :As one door closes, another opens".
    Wonderful man, terrible cabinet maker...

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