After much observation of the topic of the Fein Multimaster and it's kin, I
decided to get one. Went for the Fein rather than the Bosch due to the
heavy use I can see it getting.

I'm very impressed. I've got a *lot* of tight cutting involved in the
controlled disassembly of my house (pipes, jammed chipboard flooring,
plasterboard to name a few).

It got a section of flooring chip up that had the drywall built partly on
top of it, whereby I discovered:

a) That lack-of-wallplate problem I mentioned a while back isn't quite as
bad as I thought. I found 3 joists where on a wooden plate - and the bits
that are on plasterboard correspond to where the integral garage was
knocked though into the living room (soon to be kitchen/diner) about 30-40
years ago. The joists on PB are less loaded than the rest of the floor so
I'm a bit less worried, but I reckon I'll try to fix as many as possible.

b) A bit of 1.5mm2 cable was squashed to buggery between the joist and
board, which may explain why I lost one whole lighting circuit. No I;m not
going to fix it, it's all coming out anyway. But worrying that it must have
been like that for 10 years.

I also took a section of plasterboard out of the dormer end wall and
discovered that roof timbers look in good condition and I've got loads of
space to run cables :-)))

The Fein isn't lightening quick to make long cuts, but I don't think you
could make it much faster given how it works. But it certainly makes the
nearly impossible quite pleasant, so worth every penny IMO.

BTW, I would recommend vibration-dampening gloves if using for long periods.
I got some, and even with those, it wibbles your nerves. I wouldn't use it
gloveless, having had an RSI near-miss that physio fixed a couple of years
back.

So far the best blades for me have been the 100mm circular saw for
plasterboard and chip, and the HSS plunge cut blade for all the fiddly
bits.

Cheers

Tim

Tim S wrote:

So far the best blades for me have been the 100mm circular saw for
plasterboard and chip, and the HSS plunge cut blade for all the fiddly
bits.

I find the pluge cut blades seem to be faster in many cases - even when
doing something like a floor. With practice you can surf along a board
as you cut with the plunge blades.

--
Cheers,

John.

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John Rumm coughed up some electrons that declared:

Tim S wrote:

So far the best blades for me have been the 100mm circular saw for
plasterboard and chip, and the HSS plunge cut blade for all the fiddly
bits.

I find the pluge cut blades seem to be faster in many cases - even when
doing something like a floor. With practice you can surf along a board
as you cut with the plunge blades.


Thanks John,

I'll try that next time.

Cheers

Tim

John Rumm wrote:
Tim S wrote:

So far the best blades for me have been the 100mm circular saw for
plasterboard and chip, and the HSS plunge cut blade for all the
fiddly bits.

I find the pluge cut blades seem to be faster in many cases - even
when doing something like a floor. With practice you can surf along a
board as you cut with the plunge blades.

I agree with the OP that vibration is a problem with the Bosch, but I'm far
too hard to worry about that :-)

The only downside of the Bosch is the cost/lifespan of the blades. They
don't seem to stay sharp for very long, albeit they are half the price of
the Fein blades. Are the Fein blades any better?


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

The Medway Handyman coughed up some electrons that declared:

John Rumm wrote:
Tim S wrote:

So far the best blades for me have been the 100mm circular saw for
plasterboard and chip, and the HSS plunge cut blade for all the
fiddly bits.

I find the pluge cut blades seem to be faster in many cases - even
when doing something like a floor. With practice you can surf along a
board as you cut with the plunge blades.

I agree with the OP that vibration is a problem with the Bosch, but I'm
far too hard to worry about that :-)

You Kentish Men[1] may jest of your hardness - but seriously, don't
underestimate wear and tear on your vitals, especially if they represent
your livelihood. I came across a paper a few weeks back highlighting the
dangers of oscillatory tools like this on the nerves in the hand. Didn't
make nice reading. A bit now and then is probably fine, like most things -
but if you were going for an intense session, especially for days on the
trot, then 10 quid or so for a bit of protection is almost certainly
prudent.

The only downside of the Bosch is the cost/lifespan of the blades. They
don't seem to stay sharp for very long, albeit they are half the price of
the Fein blades. Are the Fein blades any better?


Well, the 100mm circular blade appeared untouched after running a 2m cut
round plasterboard plus some chip.

The HSS plunge blade was doing fine until I decided to see if it could cut
nails. I was trying to slip it down the back of some skirting and chop the
nails in order to remove the skiting with no damage. It really didn't like
them - they were probably semi-hardened nails for masonry.

Cheers

Tim

[1] BTW are you a Kentish Man? I'm a Londoner, but my kids are a Man
(boy??!) of Kent and Maid of Kent respectively and they're proud of it. I
can see, when they're bigger, they'll be going the other side of Tonbridge
to have a pop at those Kentish types ;-

Tim S wrote:
The Medway Handyman coughed up some electrons that declared:

John Rumm wrote:
Tim S wrote:

So far the best blades for me have been the 100mm circular saw for
plasterboard and chip, and the HSS plunge cut blade for all the
fiddly bits.

I find the pluge cut blades seem to be faster in many cases - even
when doing something like a floor. With practice you can surf along
a board as you cut with the plunge blades.

I agree with the OP that vibration is a problem with the Bosch, but
I'm far too hard to worry about that :-)

You Kentish Men[1] may jest of your hardness - but seriously, don't
underestimate wear and tear on your vitals, especially if they
represent your livelihood. I came across a paper a few weeks back
highlighting the dangers of oscillatory tools like this on the nerves
in the hand. Didn't make nice reading. A bit now and then is probably
fine, like most things - but if you were going for an intense
session, especially for days on the trot, then 10 quid or so for a
bit of protection is almost certainly prudent.

Good point that. I don't tend to use mine for long periods, but I'll bear
that in mind.

The only downside of the Bosch is the cost/lifespan of the blades.
They don't seem to stay sharp for very long, albeit they are half
the price of the Fein blades. Are the Fein blades any better?


Well, the 100mm circular blade appeared untouched after running a 2m
cut round plasterboard plus some chip.

The HSS plunge blade was doing fine until I decided to see if it
could cut nails. I was trying to slip it down the back of some
skirting and chop the nails in order to remove the skiting with no
damage. It really didn't like them - they were probably semi-hardened
nails for masonry.
..

[1] BTW are you a Kentish Man? I'm a Londoner, but my kids are a Man
(boy??!) of Kent and Maid of Kent respectively and they're proud of
it. I can see, when they're bigger, they'll be going the other side
of Tonbridge to have a pop at those Kentish types ;-

I'm also a Londoner (Plaistow). We live north of the Medway so my daughters
are Kentish Girls (with attitude).


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk