Fein Multimaster - Is there a cheaper alternative

Snapping off a jigsaw blade and smooting off the sharp edges is a lot more work than using the multimaster :-)

The above is botty talk.

Lord Hall, and infinitely safer.

Might be - although I've never bothered grinding the edges. And it's just that most DIYers will have a jigsaw, but not so the multimaster.

IME if the fixing is inside the wood, TCT will go through most without complaining. But if it hits a part of the fixing that's not surrounded by solid material (nail head or whatever), there is a fair chance of losing a tooth or two.

I *did* try your method, and the problem I found was that because the saw's stroke is far longer than the thickness you're trying to cut, the length of the blade is almost immaterial. The saw just bounced about and showed signs of distress. These days I always cut next to the joist with a padsaw and screw a length of 2 x 1 to it to support the board, but even that cut is a pain to get started. Jigsaws don't plunge well and anything else leaves > 3mm kerf. So I suppose the question is, will one of the Fein attachments cut through a 3/4" floorboard (albeit only in one place) to allow you to get a padsaw started? I imagine they would publicise it like crazy if it were possible

How is this done with a MM? IME small blades on wood have trouble clearing themselves unless they're on a router

Take pendulum action off. It's quite easy to cut floorboards in this manner with a jigsaw. Much better than cutting a huge wide slot in the board, or splintering it to bits, too. A little practice first, if necessary...

Of course it would. This senile man is a walking disaster area. Please, no one take any notice of him.

Fillets are not good. Try using a Rotothingy across the joist. The depth can be ser.. They now very cheap. I saw one for £17 in Aldi.

If you use the Multimaster there is no need to use a padsaw. For both the cross cut and for removing the tongue if necessary the 65mm wide blade works just fine. There is no damage to any adjoining boards and you can even cut right up to a skirting board without damaging the paint if you use a slight angle on the cut. I've used it on 3/4 oak boards no problem.

I'm not quite sure what you mean. You snap the blade so the length is the thickness of the board at the bottom of the stroke. Make sure you break it so there's a tooth just above the break. You then start with the jigsaw near horizontal and slowly but firmly rotate to the vertical position then proceed as normal, keeping a firm downward pressure. It's one of those jobs where you mustn't be scared of it.

Since you obviously never use tools price is the only consideration?

The 'rotothingy' will make far to wide a cut compared to a jigsaw. Not that you'd care.

Maybe I'll e-mail Santa then

or wide boards

If you're complete klutz.

With a blunt chisel, brute force and ignorance.

I've seen the mess that plumbers make of decent wooden floors.

I bought a saw with two TCT blades for less than the total cost of one decent blade (and everything still works fine after several years) - I'm not so worried about it :-)

Don't care how sharp the chisel is - cutting against the grain like this will cause damage if not supported.

You have only just found that out?

There are a variety of saw blades in different shapes and some with an extremely fine kerf.

The oscillatory action is also in very small amounts.

As a result of both, there is very little material removed in the first place, and that which is seems to be cleared with little difficulty.

The segmented and segmented/depressed blades are also very effective in this and other applications.