Oscillating multi tool for mortises

[Wells Griffith]

I have been thinking about buying one and wandering if anyone has used it for mortises. It is kinda like an electric chisel almost right?

[David Hawxhurst]

would not be my first choice. while it might work i would opt for a router over a oscillating multi tool.

[Wade Lippman]

That might be an even worse idea than the one a few weeks ago about milling some trees into 5,000sf of flooring.

[Tom M King]

I used one last week to mortise a 2x4 sole plate in a wall for a dryer vent. I wouldn't think about trying to do anything more accurate with one. You can make a "decent" cut with one, but nothing to approach a chisel.

[Peter Quinn]

Mortises? No, its a rough cutting tool in that respect. You might plunge through some sheet rock to install a work box, but making joinery quality plunges in hard wood? Probably not going to work. I love my oscillating tool, but not for that.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

Very difficult to control

[Ken Frohnert]

I have one - and I would think it would be impossible to be that accurate.

[Dave Zellers]

An electric chisel.

Are you in marketing by any chance?

I agree with every response thus far.

If we are talking super sloppy mortices, maybe. But you are still going to have to use a man powered chisel to clean out the waste.

But really, no. Fugetaboutit. The strength of a mortise comes from the close fit of the tenon.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I have been thinking about buying one and wandering if anyone has used it for mortises.
I've been considering it.
There's a few problems to overcome with one though.

The first problem is that, being hand held, you'll never have enough control over it to make the required precise cuts. The tool has to be mounted in some sot of carrier that will allow it to plunge down into the work. An old drill press might work. An attachment of some kind to a drill press might work.

The second problem is the blade flexes too much. Some sort of support has to be added to the blade so it can't flex.

The third problem is probably a show stopper. If you've ever used one, you'll know what I mean when I say, "you have to keep the tool moving for it to keep cutting".
I've used the Harbor Freight single speed, the Dremel and the Rockwell. All three of them work best when you keep the tool moving across the work. If you stay in one place too long, they have a tendency to burn the wood.
Given the first two things, mounting the material to be mortised on some sort of moveable platform would be - - difficult @ best.

The fourth problem is that the blade is too thin. It would require far too many parallel cuts & you'd still have a lot of cleanup work to do.
You could always just lay out the lines and plunge cut to the lines, but, then you'd still have to go back and dig out all the waste.

The fifth problem is that the blade oscillates. It doesn't make a nice straight walled plunge cut. The sides have some taper to them.



FWIW - if it matters at all as to why I was thinking about this.
I had to cut a small piece of trim on my CMS and there wasn't anywhere to hold onto it. I tried my HF tool and it worked just enough to make me think about somehow mounting it so I could get better cuts.
I had a whole hour to mull it over on the drive to and back from the lumber yard to pick up another full piece of trim I could safely cut.

[Lee Schierer]

I have a Bosch Multi-tool and used it recently to inset a door light switch in the pre-hung oak door jambs I purchased. I drew the opening I needed on the wood and carefully inserted the blade while running into the oak. I cut the opening a little under sized and cleaned it up with a chisel. The problem is the blades don't have a lot of set to the teeth so there is no place for the sawdust it creates to escape. You can build up a lot of heat if you don't back out of the ct frequently and blow out the sawdust. You also need a steady hand, though you could clamp a guide block where you want to start the cut to assist in getting the cuts started. I also used the tool to cut the recess into the existing jack stud for the switch box.

In my case, I didn't have a lot of options to set in the door switches since the doors were purchased pre-hung and disassembly would have been a problem.

There are lots of things you can do with a multi-tool that aren't easy to do any other way. It isn't a high precision tool, but it sure is handy when nothing else will do the job.

[Mike Henderson]

Instead of using a multi-tool, why not simply drill out the waste? Then clean it up with a chisel. It's a tried and true approach.

Mike

[Rich Engelhardt]

Yeeee hawww!!!
(Leave it to Festool to make the Fein look like a bargain ;) )

https://www.festoolusa.com/power-tools/oscillating-multitools/oscillating-multi-tool-vecturo-os-400-set-563007

They do have the innovative plunge base though.

And - curiously and untypical of Festool - no dust collection!
Wonder what's up w/dat?

[Jesse Busenitz]

Funny, I just watch the festool video on that and it looked pretty nice! Probably not the best tool for the job but it got it done.

[Jim Rimmer]

Inquiring minds come up with new ideas and new applications of existing technology. In current state, I would say no to mortises with an oscillating tool. However, future state with a good guide system, better more rigid blades, who knows. Right now, just too many existing better ways to do it.

[Mike Henderson]

Inquiring minds come up with new ideas and new applications of existing technology. In current state, I would say no to mortises with an oscillating tool. However, future state with a good guide system, better more rigid blades, who knows. Right now, just too many existing better ways to do it.

Ask and ye shall receive. Festool just announced a multitool. (https://www.festoolusa.com/power-tools/oscillating-multitools/)

Mike

[Rick Fisher]

I think it would be better for mortises if it would sit still...

And you whacked it with a hammer..