Should I purchase an oscillating tool?
From my own personal experience I can give you 4 reasons and tips for having such a handy tool around such as an oscillating tool. If you are a DIY type of person, willing to step up to a challenge, there are many tasks that can be done so much easier if you have an oscillating tool around. Another common name for this tool would be a multi tool, all it is, is a power tool that has an oscillating tool, which can be used for so many different purposes. You can saw, grind, scrape, polish, sand and even cut with this tool. There are many different tasks and purposes for which this tool can be used for. The head piece on this tool moves back and forth very quickly, which is why you can use different types of blades, because they either move so fast using sharp blades to cut, or create friction to sand, etc. It is very obvious that having a single tool, doing this many different tasks, can be a very productive tool and asset to have around. Get an amazing deal on a battery powered oscillating tool here on Amazon.
Different Types Of Oscillating Tool Blades
There are hundreds of different attachments and blades that can be purchased for the oscillating power tool. We can separate these blades into five major different categories according to my research.
- Cutting Blades– are going to be your standard sawing style blades that can be used to cut material in tight spots such as wood, drywall, PVC, etc. Most of the time these blades will be very straight and sharp, or will have teeth on the end of the blades like you would see in a reciprocating saw. Most of these style blades are perfect for the punch cut. Most typically done on drywall or wood, to quickly access an interior part of a wall as a result of damages or repairs needing to be done.
- Tile, Grout, and Masonry Blades – these will be your standard diamond coated or carbide blades which can help you chew up and clear out grout, kitchen or bathroom type tiles, or small light style masonry work that you may need to complete. You can also use this tool to cut through bricks, and hard concrete, giving you the opportunity to try more masonry related jobs.
- Polishing Blades – there will be an attachment that will hold a decent style memory foam or polishing pad. This will allow you to polish small materials in a small confined space as well. Because of how fast the head mechanism will spin or oscillate, these are perfect examples of why I will use these adapters to polish wheels on cars, glass mirrors, and metal working projects that need that special “shine” to them.
- Sanding Blades – are also going to be attachments that will have a various grits of sand paper or a all in one function that will create massive amounts of friction, because the oscillating tool will move so fast, it will sand through almost anything.
- Scraping Blades – is my all time favorite. Anytime I have to remove old paint, plaster, trim pieces, etc I will use the scrape style blade, that is very thin to a point to where I can turn my oscillating tool on, and move it across surfaces that would take hours to complete.
Oscillating Tool Tips
- Use a straight and flat blade when it comes to line style cuts. The reason why you need to do this, is because you will have a straight streamlined cut. This trick really works when you have to trim cabinets, wood trim. bottom of inner wall doors, and more. You also should you a straight blade when you have to do whats called a stab cut. For example, a pipe busts in the wall, you that area and drill the straight blade into the wall and cut a square, its easier to patch and close up, instead of removing entire sheets of drywall.
- Rusty bolts, nuts, and fasteners. Lets say you have to replace an old toilet. The two Johnny bolts that bolt the toilet itself to the floor, 8 times out of 10 will be severely rusted. When you try to put the correct size socket on there, chances are, it will break or strip the rusted bolt entirely. Use a bimetal blade to cut through, so you get a clean flush cut, and because these bolts are snapped into place at the bottom, you can reinstall your new toilet with fresh bolts.
- Removing copper piping or PVC piping, you should try using the oscillating tool. With how the design of these tools are, you can almost guarantee the reach and angles compared to your traditional tools will be out numbered. Always try to go from the bottom and up with cutting metal especially. Make sure you try and get a wide enough blade that will give you the chance to do a straight cut. This keeps the entire cut area flush and even, and you will need that if you intend of repairing something is chin.
- Over lapping shims and trim pieces can be a night mare, and trying to fit a saw blade in there is just impossible. This is why we always grab our oscillating tool, because the blades are so paper thin, that you can get a very clean and flush cut when it comes to cutting materials flush. Sometimes we have no choice but to use a shim or two, and with a flush cut edge, you can then cover up the areas showing the shims, giving your project an over all professional and organized presentation.
- Use better quality blades to save more money in the long run. For example, if you are cutting through tile or grout, you should never use a bimetal blade or wood cutting blade. You would be replacing the blades every few uses. However, if you had a carbide blade or diamond coated blade, which you can purchase on Amazon for a great price, you will get over 200 hundred uses. This makes sense for me, because I can spend $40 once, or spend $15 200 times.
- Instead of using a hand tool to slowly and painfully scrape old paint or plaster off your walls, you need to use the scraping blade that works well with your oscillating tool.
- A great way to really utilize your oscillating tool is to purchase some adapters and accessories for it. This unlocks many more doors and opportunities to use more types of blades and adapters, which will give you more ways to use the tool to make certain jobs you are doing, easier.
- When you go to remove wider pieces of wood trim when using your oscillating tool, what we recommend to do, you want to get a thin wood or paint scraper blade, and place a piece of flat sheet metal behind it. Doing this, allows you to freely glide down, and chew through the glue in no time.
- You can use an oscillating tool to prep all of your flooring quickly, by trimming the edges of door jambs, and wall corners. This will allow the flooring to snap directly into fit with no gaps or over gaps in fitment. You can also do small repairs to wood floors by cutting out sections at a time, and even sand and finish areas that make sense to use this tool in the first place.
- Surface glued materials such as soap dishes, towel bars, grip handle bars to support weight off and on the toilet,, shower, or bedroom use a very strong type of glue. You will need a very wide, thin, sharp blade that will help you scrape through just time.
Conclusion
Getting any job done will be faster, more precise, and overall satisfactory. The oscillating tool creates almost endless options for anyone needing the right tool for the right job. I did not do any comparisons with brands right now, but that article in in the works. This tool has already personally been my go to on so many projects I would have used over 4 different tools on. Having flexibility is very rare, and you should take the advantage of it any time you get the chance to. Remember to always have an idea of the the jobs you will need to use the oscillating tool for. Being prepared is half the battle, and you do not want to use wood or metal blades on any masonry work. Because of how advanced battery technology is coming, we also want to see how well a battery operated oscillating tool will compare to a corded one. Having cord restrictions really puts a damper on anyone needing to be in multiple places all most. Lithium Ion battery technology is putting an end to it, as I can personally say all of my multi tools and oscillating tools are battery powered. I can deal with that with the same result of a corded one! If you are still pondering on purchasing one, they also will have reviews of each product so you can get a real understanding of what was going on.