Leatherman Juice S2 vs. CS4

my juice s2 arrived this morning and it IS a very good tool and very pocket-friendly. But the blade is no comparison for vic's blade IMO. And while scissors' backspring is stronger than vic's I have a bad feeling about those scissors :S . or i'm just a sak person :D Has anyon got any problems with juice scissors so far?
 
sak_fan said:
my juice s2 arrived this morning and it IS a very good tool and very pocket-friendly. But the blade is no comparison for vic's blade IMO. And while scissors' backspring is stronger than vic's I have a bad feeling about those scissors :S . or i'm just a sak person :D Has anyon got any problems with juice scissors so far?
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Although I agree the Vic blade is preferable, for as often as I use it, the Juice blade has done the job every time. As for the scissors, I have found them not as good for some things, better for others, overall acceptable. The combo tool also lacks the finesse of those on SAKs, but ten minutes working the edge with a stone improves the can opener function greatly (something Leatherman neglects, for some reason, but easy enough to fix), and the cap lifter opens bottles without drama. You will have to make the determination for yourself, but for me, those implements are quite adequate.

As for the rest; the slotted screwdrivers are stubby but sharp cut, much better than those over-polished ones on SAKs, and the excellent phillips head driver can be accessorized with an adapter and bit kit. All that is well and good, but the main reason for carrying a Juice is its superior light duty needle nose pliers for which Vic has no counterpart in that size category. I wish they offered a competitor, but they don't. OTOH, if frees me from the quandary of having to make a choice.
Lucky me :D .
 
I agree with znapschatz's assessment. When I got my Juice CS4 I was initially underwhelmed at the can opener tool for sure. But I've opened cans with it and it works fine, even without extra sharpening. The awl, however, definitely needed sharpening. Leatherman tools in general lack a certain elegance to them that Victorinox accomplishes. Victorinox tools are not only functional, but actually rather beautiful. The Leatherman, OTOH, is very function over form. But the Leatherman integrated pliers beat any SAK pliers (except the Swisstool platform) and I've come to have some respect for the ingenuity of the Juice series design, even though I still wouldn't call them beautiful.
 
Great thread. It made me look into Leatherman's latest offerings on their site. Lo and behold! They have something geared towards electrical guys now! The Squirt ES4. As an electrical engineer, I cannot even express in words how nice it is going to be to have a proper wire stripper in my pocket. I will still have to strip the odd 10 gauge wire manually, and I think I'll need a bigger wire cutter for anything larger than 18 ga., but this is going to make my day.

It is funny, isn't it, how Victorinox is so hung up on polish that they round off their screwdrivers' edges, which actually hurts functionality? Likewise, Leatherman puts so much effort into their overall design (including sharp screwdrivers) but then neglects the edges of the cutting tools? For instance, what is up with the chisel grinds on their smaller blades? The un-sharpened awls and can openers? I don't know about you all, but I sometimes use a can opener or awl for scraping, and some kind of edge is needed there. It's like they acknowledged that a knife, screwdriver, and scissors need to be sharp to be useful, but then bead-blasted the hell out of everything else. :)

Anyway, thanks for reminding me to look into Leatherman's offerings again. I have an original Leatherman, a Micra, and an original SwissTool. All but the Micra are too big and heavy for realistic pocket carry. As a result, the Micra got more use than the other two put together.
 
Blop said:
How did you get it? I tried but didn´t gwet the thing into the can. What was wrong with my technic? Any help?
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Maybe mine just came sharper than the average one. I bought it used, so perhaps it was sharpened by a prior user.

But in any case, it ripped through a can top faster than even a SAK can opener.
 
my scissors's backspring stucks a little when i use it. they made the backspring too near to scissor's piece. so when i push , the spring doesn't only rub the scissor's part's surface but it stucks a little too. it's not a big problem but i think if i use it this way the spring can be loosen. can you recommend a good lubricator/ oil for leatherman? i will also use it for the pliers' joint. they are a little tight

or am i just wrong :D and scissors should be like that ? or the pliers
 
sak_fan said:
my scissors's backspring stucks a little when i use it. they made the backspring too near to scissor's piece. so when i push , the spring doesn't only rub the scissor's part's surface but it stucks a little too. it's not a big problem but i think if i use it this way the spring can be loosen. can you recommend a good lubricator/ oil for leatherman? i will also use it for the pliers' joint. they are a little tight

or am i just wrong :D and scissors should be like that ? or the pliers
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Leatherman recommends WD40. Actually, any light lubricating oil should do. Some members of this forum prefer gun oil, but I don't like lubricants on the moving parts of multi-tools that linger too long. Oil attracts pocket lint and all forms of gritty things that migrate into the pivots. Mine worked in without any lube at all.
 
thanks for the advice i will search for wd40. by the way did you see the photo? is there a similiar thing with your scissors? i mean is it normal? because i think that tension can loosen the spring
 
sak_fan said:
thanks for the advice i will search for wd40. by the way did you see the photo? is there a similiar thing with your scissors? i mean is it normal? because i think that tension can loosen the spring
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Even after looking at the photo, I am not entirely clear as to the problem. Your Juice scissor looks exactly like mine. Simply working it for a while may perhaps smooth up the moving parts.
 
all the tools execpt the scissors opens easily right now but the scissors started to malfunction :( i know you and leatherman itself recommend WD-40 but i did some quick search and they say that although WD-40 is a good lubricant it isn't the best oil for loosening the joints. Some people recommend 3-in-1 . Do you know any other oil for this job? my scissors don't open properly. some times the spring just sticks to the scissors part
 
sak_fan said:
all the tools execpt the scissors opens easily right now but the scissors started to malfunction :( i know you and leatherman itself recommend WD-40 but i did some quick search and they say that although WD-40 is a good lubricant it isn't the best oil for loosening the joints. Some people recommend 3-in-1 . Do you know any other oil for this job? my scissors don't open properly. some times the spring just sticks to the scissors part
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Go with 3in1, WD40 can gunk parts up.

My Juice scissors work perfectly, if you can't get them to work with oil/use then send it in to LM :)
 
I tend to think of WD-40 as more of a cleaner and water displacement medium more than a lubricant. It will work to loosen up stiff parts just fine. But there are true lubricants out there, and WD-40 isn't one of them.
 
It is commonly repeated that WD-40 isn't a proper lubricant, but this is false. The thing about WD-40 is that it dries up after a while, and leaves a protective film. But in the meanwhile, it does work to loosen up tight joints. When it DOES dry up, the lubricating properties are mostly gone, but this is actually what you want. Then, the steel parts can wear against each other and grind each other down, so that eventually, the scissors will work as smoothly as you could hope for.

Leatherman made those scissors tight for a reason: so that after some wear, they would settle in to an acceptable level of friction.

The scissors on my Squirt ES4 were the same way when new. Now that I've exercised them a bit and used them a few times, they're perfect.

It's always tricky with scissors: They need some friction to cut well, but the friction fights the spring and vice versa. Make them smaller, and it becomes even more of a challenge.

Just try not to obsess over it too much in the meanwhile.

Moving on, I see that the OP asked his question about 9 months ago and never bothered to respond, and that sak_fan resurrected a 7 month old thread to ask his question. The rest of us fell in line, trying to be helpful, and now we have a zombie thread on our hands. :)

This is a delicate balance too: Do I search and resurrect an old thread, so that folks will know I tried to find the answer on my own? Or do I start a new thread, and risk someone claiming that it has been discussed before. ;)

col902: If you're still around, how about letting us know what you've got?
 
Smaug said:
It is commonly repeated that WD-40 isn't a proper lubricant, but this is false. The thing about WD-40 is that it dries up after a while, and leaves a protective film. But in the meanwhile, it does work to loosen up tight joints. When it DOES dry up, the lubricating properties are mostly gone, but this is actually what you want. Then, the steel parts can wear against each other and grind each other down, so that eventually, the scissors will work as smoothly as you could hope for.
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Ok. I'll buy that. Sorry for spreading false information.

I didn't mean to suggest that putting WD-40 on metal parts to make them work together better is a bad idea. The stuff is made for metal. I think my "not a true lubricant" stance was wrong, and I retract it.
 
BoxANT said:
Go with 3in1, WD40 can gunk parts up.

My Juice scissors work perfectly, if you can't get them to work with oil/use then send it in to LM :)
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yeah i will probably do that but the thing is i live in Turkey and LM says that if you don't live in USA you have to give the tool to the authorized service center and they will dicide tools usability. and leatherman website shows only 1 authorized center :D i don't know if they accept this. i won't send it to them just for this afterall. it will have many years of service to me. but i'm suspicious about getting benefit from this tools warranty in Turkey

Smaug said:
Moving on, I see that the OP asked his question about 9 months ago and never bothered to respond, and that sak_fan resurrected a 7 month old thread to ask his question. The rest of us fell in line, trying to be helpful, and now we have a zombie thread on our hands. :)
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yeah i'm the mad scientist who makes strange experiments on forums :)
 
Thought I'd put my two cents in on an old post. I pack my Juice s2 as my EDC but I carry it on my belt rather than in my pocket. I have a Victorinox multitool which is a beatiful multitool but I find it better for carring in my boat or motorcycle EDC bag due to weight. My Godson is with rd Special Forces Group out of Bragg and I have a SOG PowerAssist which is awesome but HUGE and would be really great if i still needed to crimp detonator cords. Great for my old 4 wheel drive vehicle though. My other primary EDC carry is a Leatherman Wave which is heavier than the s2 but I really like the one handed knife extraction and the locking blades. I carry this on all but extended backpacking trips where I carry the s2. Be safe. Lew
 
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