Oscillating tools are my least favorite power tool, but they're indispensable for certain tasks, like rehabbing windows and sills. I dislike how quickly the blades wear out, and how expensive those blades are.
"Everyone in the construction trades seems to know that if you want high quality blades, then the big tool companies pretty much have you locked into their high price saw blades," writes Michigan-based inventor Jim Dimond. "Everyone also knows that those same saw blades often have more material left to use if they could only be sharpened."
For that reason, Dimond invented, patented and sells this Oscillating Tool Blade Sharpener. You can order it with a diamond grinder if you're using carbide blades, or a CBN grinder for steel or bi-metal blades.
"It's super fast and easily makes entire rows of properly shaped new teeth on your oscillating saw blades, but it does it in a unique way. This unique patent pending design shapes and sharpens blade teeth in a criss-cross way."
"It's much like how you would sharpen a knife using a stone. You sharpen one edge of your knife, then flip the knife over to sharpen the other edge. By sharpening one edge at a time, it forms razor sharp V shape that is the sharp cutting edge of your knife. Our grinder froms one edge of a row of teeth first, then it forms the opposite edge of that row of teeth. This forms an incredibly sharp edge and points on the teeth...just like sharpening your knife one edge at a time. It's a criss-cross way of creating blade teeth."
Here's a demo of the machine, and it does indeed look effective:
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Dimond hand-builds each machine along with two employees. He sells them for $200 through his company, Tigers Teeth.
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In addition to steel blades oscillating blades, the sharpener will sharpen bi-metal and carbide (CBN or diamond grinding wheels) metal cutting blades. A set can be easily added to the teeth using set pliers. Ground blades are actually quite sharp. The sharpener is primarily for pros who purchase quality name-brand blades. It will also sharpen circular saw blades, reciprocating saw blades, hole saws, drill bits, step drill bits, masonry drill bits, and more in both carbide and steel.
I don't know why he thinks those blades are expensive, they are about 50 cents if you buy bulk.