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My cheap oscillating tool blades were burning through wood in under 10 cuts
Picked up a 20 pack of generic blades from a hardware store in Austin for like $12. After maybe 8 cuts on some pine trim, the wood started smoking and the blade was dull as a butter knife. Swapped to a single Diablo blade for $7 and it's still going strong after 30 cuts. Is there a middle ground here somewhere or are you just stuck paying premium prices for anything that works?
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henderson.vera24d ago
The burning comes from the blade design, not just the metal quality. Those cheap blades have zero relief behind the cutting teeth so the body of the blade rubs against the wood and creates friction. Even decent steel will smoke if the blade geometry is wrong. I ran a test where I took a worn out Diablo blade and a fresh generic one, same material, and the generic still burned worse because of how thick the blade body was behind the teeth. You can sometimes find good deals on blades from smaller tool supply places that sell industrial surplus, theyre not fancy brands but they use proper designs. Thats the real middle ground nobody talks about, look for blades that have a visible curve or taper behind the teeth, not just a flat piece of metal.
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kimr1024d ago
Bought a 12 pack of Hyper Tough blades from Walmart for $8 last year and they basically melted through a piece of oak trim after 5 cuts. Tried the same project with a single Bosch blade for $9 and got through all 40 cuts no problem. I did find a happy medium with the Freud brand blades from Home Depot, they cost around $5 each if you buy a 3 pack and last almost as long as the Diablo ones for me. The key is just avoiding the absolute cheapest stuff because those mystery metal blades are straight garbage in my experience.
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Nah, I've had the opposite experience - those Hyper Tough packs got me through a whole deck rebuild and they were fine, just gotta keep them sharp and not push too hard through the cut. It's more about technique than the blade brand unless you're doing super fine work.
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