Their saving grace is to do a lot of tasks - but not necessarily do them well, when compared to dedicated tools.
When making horn scales, I quite like to use a dremel to remove the bulk of the material from the blank sheet - leaving the rough banana-ish shape which can be refined into something that looks nice. Having variable speed settings is a big help - trying to control it while in 'maximum-whirling-death-mode' is a nuisance and came close to ruining blades, before I upgraded.