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Oscillating multi-tool

power tool which works by oscillation

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ6934510
Source-derived summary

An oscillating multi-tool or oscillating saw is a multitool and power tool that oscillates (rather than rotating or reciprocating), powered by battery or mains. The name "multi-tool" is a reference to the many functions that this tool can perform with the range of attachments available. "Master Tool" is also a trade name used in North America, short for the original tool by Fein called the Multi-Master. Attachments are available for sawing, sanding, rasping, grinding, scraping, cutting, and polishing.

History

This type of oscillating tool was originally developed by the German manufacturer Fein in 1967 with a design intended to remove plaster casts easily without cutting the patient.

This saw was patented as a circular saw with an angular oscillating saw blade. It was used primarily in orthopaedics for cutting plaster casts. The crescent pattern of the oscillating rotation cut through the hard cast without damaging the patient’s skin. The plaster cast saw was equipped with a more powerful gearbox to upgrade it to a chassis saw. The plaster cast saw formed the basis of FEIN's range of oscillating power tools.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Oscillating multi-tool” is power tool which works by oscillation. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Oscillating, multi-tool and power, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1967—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Oscillating, multi-tool and power is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “power tool which works by oscillation” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6934510. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1967.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Oscillating multi-tool” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.