Metal Cutting Blades For Oscillating Saw?

Well $12 sounds like a good deal. Fein used to charge about $40 for one.

Keep in mind that this video was made in 2020 so prices will be up because of supply chain issues.

I'll check out the video, but not only have prices gone up, some of the higher rated blades that I read about on certain sites have been discontinued.

e.g. There used to be a highly rated, reasonably priced Bosch model but that has now been discontinued. As we all know, just because that blade was a Bosch doesn't mean all Bosch blades are just as good. Good chance it was discontinued because they couldn't keep making good blades at that price.

BTW...I've been pretty satisfied with the Hotbest wood cutting blades that you suggested back in...wait for it...2020. That set is now "currently unavailable". Hotbest has a set of 10 bi-metal blade for $12. I guess I could try them, but a buck a blade doesn't give me confidence. Sometimes you get a real good, real fast, first cut, but then the blades really slow down, especially with metal.

Precisely! And why I say to not be brand loyal as no one makes the best of every thing. I suspect that they were discontinued because they did not sell well enough to continue production. Or supply chain issues. I have never seen a good selling item be discontinued because the cost to manufacture went up, they normally just raise the price. However some good items are discontinued because of a replacement version.

I think most of these blades are probably made in the same factory in China somewhere.

One would think a manufacturer would make a decent blade that lasts longer than 1 or 2 cutting jobs. We had tried using a DeWalt blade to cut through the side of the metal building/camp to install a 4" dryer vent. It took 2 blades and the cut was ratty at best.... both blades ruined.

Though not adaptable to a typical oscillating saw, I Googled to see what Stryker had, that might be helpful. I would suspect their diamond disc blade would do a much better job, however it would not be an oscillating tool. It would only be used with a drill, the disc spins, hence not applicable to an otherwise oscillating task. Stryker does have oscillating blades and the hand tools for them, but being a medical device the tool price is out of range for the average handiman, woodworker, etc. I did find this diamond disc on Ebay.... the diameter is a bit over 1"..... and at $25, this may be a decent price. Generally, to buy a medical item as this, you need to purchase through a dedicated medical supplier.

You would think a blade manufacturer could easily/readily make a diamond tipped blade, thought the price may be double what we pay now for an oscillating blade. A decent longer lasting blade would be worth the extra cost.

Long before there were oscillating tools on the market, Stryker had oscillating tools for surgical work. ... Best known by the general public may be the cast saw. Our original cast saw finally started malfunctioning and was replaced. I still have and use, now and then, that old saw in my wood shop. It has a circular blade and when one side dulls, you turn it a quarter round and use the next quarter circle of the disc. They cut through wood nicely, but not used for metal cutting.

Sonny

Pic of Stryker's diamond disc here, chuck it up like a drill bit:

Diamond is surprisingly poor at cutting steel or iron--you have to keep it very cool. If it gets hot the carbon starts going into solution in the iron (carbon is soluble in iron) and you lose your cutting edge, and even with oil cooling it can get hot enough to ruin the cutter quite easily.

The carbide or aluminum oxide cutoff wheels on a Dremel work fine and are cheap.

For cutting a hole for a dryer vent an oscillating tool would be my last choice. It's really a job for a hole saw or jigsaw.

However in answer to the original question, the only blades I have found for an oscillating multitool that work well on metal are the ones sold by Fein.

Except not all dryer vents are round. Ours is oval shaped as the inlet is larger than the gap between the walls. Hesse the pipe in the walls is also oval.

Most of the time, maybe. But when you're halfway out of the window,

One that does not use a particular tool does not have much knowledge of how it can be a better tool to use.

Many years ago I was just starting to bust up part of a basement slab to relocate a shower drain. All I had was a sledgehammer and a few cold chisels. I mentioned to a neighbor how much work it was. His reply:

"There's an old saying: If you are working too hard, you're probably using the wrong tool."

The next day he brought an electric jack hammer home from work. ;-)

I was not knowledgeable of that. Good to know, though. Thanks. I'm not much of a metal person. Most of my metal cutting is with a hack saw and/or tin snips. I had assumed a diamond blade might work fine. They worked fine cutting bone in surgery.

Sonny

A diamond-encrusted hacksaw blade can work for steel if used wet with plain water or an oil-water emulsion. Straight oil won't work.

One can also get hacksaw blades encrusted with carbide grit; this can be used dry.

And then there is always CBN (Cubic Boron Nitride), which is almost as hard as diamond, but can be used to aggressively cut glass-hard steel. Like woodworking tools.

Joe Gwinn