Microtool quality, am I the only one with problems

Joined
Oct 6, 1998
Messages
957
Hi everyone,

What was supposed to be a day of joy turned out to be a almost complete disapointment.
I received 3 minitools, 2 Leatherman Micra's and one Sog Crosscut. Two out of three were not OK. One Micra had those tiny scissors returnspring "hooks" not returning but hanging and one had to manually help them spring back.
So in effect these scissors had no functioning return action. Does anybody have a self to do fix/solution?
The SOG Crosscut was the biggest disappointment; The scissors were wobbly to say at least but this was partially caused by the two "screwpins" not screwed together, they were just undone with threads showing.
when fastened by hand the wobble was partially gone, SOG says they have locked them with locktight, I think they ran out in it on mine. One of the four so called gears was bent 15 degrees outward so when opening the "tool" they almost didn't touch the oposite gear. The file is useless for filing your nails, the Micra's is much better.
The tweezers although wider then the one from the Micra couldn't pull a hair from my arm, and no I don't have tiny arm hair I fall in the heavy kind of hair distribution type of guy.
The tweezers had a 3/64" difference in the length of the legs and there was a burr on them from "sharpening" they touched only at the extreme point. The toothpick (plastic stake) can be used for killing "modern plastic allergic" Vampires nothing else, I couldn't get it between my teeth.
The small srewdriverblade on the caplifter was rounded by "polishing" and slipped a screwslot of a tiny screw off my glasses, the Micra was grinded perfectly no polish on the head.
Cutting with the Crosscut turned out to be a big disappointement to, OK it may cut a little more each snip of the scissors but 1. it did so with more force needed then with the Micra, so where do the gears come in this story ? 2. The cutting action was much rougher then with the Micra. 3. It can't cut as close to something as the Micra can, I tried it on my fingernails, a friendly advise don't do try that with the Crosscut if you like normal nails afterwards.

My conclusion, I'm glad I didn't spend $ 45 on the Micra and $ 60 on the Crosscut in Holland. But even so I could have just bought myself 3 SAK's with better though tinier scissors etc. but I never ever had a DUD SAK and now have 2 minitools that are defective.

I won't be troubling myself with expensive postage costs and hassle sending the defective Minitools back to Discount Knives, and I point out that I ABSOLUTELY don't blame Brian for this unfortunate mishap as I don't, I blame SOG and Leatherman.
I hope the Micra can be made operational,if somebody can give me a suggestion I would welcome it.
The Crosscut will retire to a nail on the wall so that I can always see my DUD of the Millenium.
I just hope somebody of those "Proudly made in the USA" Tool companies starts realizing that selling quality is better then trying to earn a fast buck by cutting corners and producing more then quality control can handle.
I for one have learned my lesson, the hard way, I could have bought 2 nice SAK's for the money I spend on the two rejects. For me it'll be SAK until somebody proves me different.
Best regards, and congratulations with your 223 years of existance as a Nation,
Bagheera

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[This message has been edited by Bagheera (edited 05 July 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Bagheera (edited 05 July 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Bagheera (edited 05 July 1999).]
 
Bagheera, I own a Micra and have handled others and the CrossCut at stores before and none have shown the problems you have described. Of course being display pieces you would expect to get the best out for the consumer to handle.

I won't be troubling myself with expensive postage costs and hassle sending the defective Minitools back to Discount Knives

Personally, if a dealer expected me to pay return shipping on a defective product, it would be the last time I ordered from them. While it may not be Brian's fault, it is certainly not yours.

-Cliff
 
Dear Cliff,

I wish to point out that I haven't had a chance to inform Brian of my findings, I know he will probably ask me to send the problem microtools back.
The point is I always have "his" stuff delivered to a "company" friend in the USA and she takes care putting them together with company mail for the the place I work for, this is a cheap and efficient method. From Holland back to the USA is just a hassle and I'll probably try getting them replaced by the Company importing them in Holland.
The point I wish to make is THIS should not happen, quality control should catch those DUDS.
Take care, Bagheera
 
No arguement from me there, what you describe seem to be very obvious problems that could easily be seen. You might want to contact SOG and Leatherman directly, and see how they respond. If they don't get any feedback then they obviously can work to improve their QC or anything else.

-Cliff
 
Hi, I just like to post an update on the "faulty" Microtools post.
Monday July 5 I wrote an rather lengthy email to SOG and didn't get any reply back from them. Yesterday to my surprise a small package arrived at my home address with a 2 page letter by SOG's Customer Service Supervisor Ron Anderson, in the package was a complimentary "free of charge" Crosscut that really was an Eye opener compared to what I received just a week ago. Everything on the tool worked fine and every bolt was tight no wobble anywhere. Tools nicely polished no round edges etc.
The customer service of SOG receives an A+ from me. The only stupid thing was I sold the faulty one for $12 (half of original cost) to some Scouting person I met on a Scouting campground, he knew about the faults! but wanted the tool anyway. This way I got half my money back. I think it's only fair as Ron Anderson asked me to send the faulty Crosscut back for examination that since I don't have it anymore I send him the beautifull new one back.
SOG After Sales is OK.
Best regards, Bagheera

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Cliff,

You raise something that has bothered me for some time. Dealers and manufacturers requiring the ELU to pay shipping for knives that are defective. Benchmade not only requires that you pay to ship the knife to them, but also requires you to pay for shipping it back to you.

In my opinion, this is exhorbitant for a knife that they did not manufacture properly in the first place.

My gripe for the day!
smile.gif


Daniel
 
Daniel, no arguement from me. I would only buy from that dealer/company once. It is hardly my fault they made a mistake.

-Cliff
 
Bagheera,
I can't say much about the SOG Crosscut, but I've had good luck with my Micra. I wish the blade were a little better out of the box (big bevel on one side, tiny bevel on the other, WTF?). Once I put some good lubricant on mine the scissors never did stick (they did stick a little at first). After it had been used quite a bit the sticky springs seemed to have worked themselves out. Even the little flat philips screwdriver works pretty well. I'm a SAK (Victorinox only) fan myself and alternate between the Micra and a few different SAK's. The one thing that I missed on the Micra was the tooth pick. If you take one of the tooth picks from a standard SAK you can insert it between the arms of the tweezers on the Micra so that it is held in place when the Micra is closed. The toothpick is somewhat vulnerable to crud out in the open like that but I'm sure the underside of those SAK scales get pretty gross too after a while. The toothpick in the tweezers also helps make the handle feel a little bit more solid. I really wish they had just left the tweezers off the Micra. They work OK, about as well as the Victorinox ones, but I always have a pair of Uncle Mike's Sliver Grippers on my keychain (and they work better than any tweezers I've ever used). I had no idea that the Micra was so expensive in Europe. They are $20 US here. Of course you all can buy SAK's with horn or stag handles. How do they treat knives and knife owners in Holland? I know that Britain and France seem to feel that any tool with an edge is a weapon. I have a friend that is just moving back from Rotterdam but I doubt that he owns a knife so asking would be pointless (no pun intended).

Sorry you were disappointed in your latest tools/toys. I know that feeling and it is a real let down.

Take care,
Paul
 
Hello Paul, thanks for the tips. All Tools and Microtools are expensive in the Netherlands you can expect to pay over $115 for a Leatherman Supertool and so on. So working for an American San Diego based company I have knives, tools and scouting stuff send to San Diego and from there it's put in regular shipmnts between or US office and the Dutch one. This is cheap and quick.
Paul Dutch laws are tightning and all folders with a blade with either a sharpened false edge or double edge (dagger like) are illegal to carry around. push daggers are illegal even !! the tiny "zipper" pushdagger from Cold Steel. Bayonets are considered illegal to have in a car or carrying them, only collecting them and keeping them in the house is permitted. So buying one in a surplus shop or gun shop poses a problem as you have to carry the purchase home. So one wraps a lot of newspaper around it and uses extreme mounts of tape so that no cop can honestly say to you that i ready for use.
Paul, strange as it may sound but often one can buy SAK's cheaper in the USA through internet dealers then I can buy them here in Holland. I normally go to Germany because driving 15 miles gives me a 30% cheaper price on the SAK's.
By the way the replacement SOG Crosscut I got was a beauty ! it works perfectly.
Take care, Bagheera (Piet)

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Paul, the kinfe blade on the Micra is chisel ground and is only ground on one side and not the other. BTW, I have 2 micras and love them they work fine. Scissors were a little sticky at first but some good lubricant fixed that.

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Johnny
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Mfg`s not reimbursing shipping to them for their fault is bad.Charging to return is extortion.Talk about ripoff!

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Johnny,
Either my Micra is very different from yours or you and I have very different opinions of what a chisel grind is. My Micra is definitely ground on both sides, although oddly. The only chisel ground knives I have seen that have been ground on both sides are those that have been "dished out" on the flat side like a good Japanese chisel. Bud Nealy has done this on his knew Y2K model. Maybe Leatherman has changed their production.

Paul
 
My Micra blade is flat ground on both sides (I can see the grind relative to the stock on both sides of the tang), but the edge bevel is only on one side, which is different from other knives I've seen. I guess the one-sided edge bevel gives the appearance of chisel grind.
 
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