Serious question, has anyone had good luck with those cheap oscillating multi-tool blades from Amazon?

I grabbed a 50 pack of those no-name blades for like 15 bucks a few months back. I figured for any rough demo work they'd be fine. First couple cuts on some pine trim and they did okay, a little wobbly but whatever. Then I tried to cut through a single nail and the blade just stopped cutting, like it was just spinning and not touching the metal. Switched back to a single Diablo blade I had sitting around and it chewed right through. So yeah, you get what you pay for I guess. Has anyone else found a cheap blade that actually holds up?

3 comments

3 Comments

black.oliver4d ago

Heard a story from my buddy @flores.mark's cousin about this exact thing. He bought a 100 pack of those cheap blades for like 20 bucks, figured he was set for life. First project was cutting some old baseboard and by the third cut the blade was smoking and smelled like burnt plastic. He tried to switch to a new one but the universal adapter was so loose it just fell off the tool. Ended up throwing the whole pack in the trash and borrowing a single Diablo blade from his neighbor to finish the job. Said the cheap ones were good for exactly one thing: slicing open packing tape on Amazon boxes. Anything tougher than cardboard and they just give up and die.

sean484d ago

Has anyone else had that moment where you realize you're basically just rubbing a cheap blade against wood hoping for the best? I swear my 50 pack blades got more use as paint scrapers than actual cutting tools. I tried cutting through some drywall and thought I broke my wrist from the vibration. My wife walked in and asked if I was trying to start a small earthquake in the garage. At least now I have a nice collection of paperweights that used to be blades.

flores.mark4d ago

Yeah @sean48, I gotta push back a little on the drywall thing though. Drywall knives are way different than utility blades. You're supposed to score the paper first, not try to cut through the whole board in one go. That's like using a pocket knife to chop down a tree. The vibration you felt was probably because you were forcing it too hard, not because the blades are junk. Those cheap 50 packs are definitely not great for wood or drywall, but they do fine for opening boxes and trimming drywall tape. Sounds like you just needed the right tool for the job, man.