New Leatherman Arc is out

bikerector said:
Didn't know they were out of stock and hard to find. I've had mine for quite a while now.

Looks like they now have a bit extender that takes hex bits, which would have the same ability to allow any bits. And it's currently in stock on leatherman's site. Available on BHQ as well.

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There has been a long standing issue with the Leatherman bit driver extender. It has a retention spring which can be a bit of a pain to use with regular 1/4" hex bits. The bit will sink down a little too far into the end, and the spring clip can cause the bit to get stuck, and so it will often require using your pliers to extract the bit. In my opinion it's not worth the 25 usd that the extender costs.

There is a different bit driver extender from Leatherman which uses magnetic retention. It's called the Sight Adjuster Bit Driver Extender. It's 30 usd. However at this point you're getting pretty close to the 35 usd price that the Leatherman Ratchet extender is supposed to cost (even though it hasn't been in stock anywhere for ages).

There is yet a third option which is a cheap Chinese clone. I don't know much about it, but I think it costs 10 usd and uses magnetic retention.

Then there's another option with ratcheting called the 711L EDC ratchet, which is a tiny 1/4" hex ratchet that fits into the Leatherman bit driver. I don't know how much it costs but it doesn't really interest me because it's not straight like the Leatherman ratchet. It has a 90 degree bend and it is very short in length, which I'd imagine could pretty awkward to use with a full size multitool. I've never really been interested in it enough to try it out.
 
Guy McVer said:
There has been a long standing issue with the Leatherman bit driver extender. It has a retention spring which can be a bit of a pain to use with regular 1/4" hex bits. The bit will sink down a little too far into the end, and the spring clip can cause the bit to get stuck, and so it will often require using your pliers to extract the bit. In my opinion it's not worth the 25 usd that the extender costs.

There is a different bit driver extender from Leatherman which uses magnetic retention. It's called the Sight Adjuster Bit Driver Extender. It's 30 usd. However at this point you're getting pretty close to the 35 usd price that the Leatherman Ratchet extender is supposed to cost (even though it hasn't been in stock anywhere for ages).

There is yet a third option which is a cheap Chinese clone. I don't know much about it, but I think it costs 10 usd and uses magnetic retention.

Then there's another option with ratcheting called the 711L EDC ratchet, which is a tiny 1/4" hex ratchet that fits into the Leatherman bit driver. I don't know how much it costs but it doesn't really interest me because it's not straight like the Leatherman ratchet. It has a 90 degree bend and it is very short in length, which I'd imagine could pretty awkward to use with a full size multitool. I've never really been interested in it enough to try it out.
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For what it's worth, I carry a MulWark mini ratchet for my EDC. It is m7ch better for small spaces since it's thin and has worked pretty well. It's priced far better than the leatherman system and the leatherman has some play in thd system that's annoying, given the cost.

I'm sure the MulWark is Chinese made, but it's made better than the leatherman option. I just happen to have both now, having gotten the MulWark after the ratchet attachment.
 
bikerector said:
For what it's worth, I carry a MulWark mini ratchet for my EDC. It is m7ch better for small spaces since it's thin and has worked pretty well. It's priced far better than the leatherman system and the leatherman has some play in thd system that's annoying, given the cost.

I'm sure the MulWark is Chinese made, but it's made better than the leatherman option. I just happen to have both now, having gotten the MulWark after the ratchet attachment.
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I sometimes carry a Power Torque 1/4" hex ratchet. It's smaller and thinner and it's made in Taiwan. It's the cheaper equivalent to the Topeak Rocket Ratchet.
combo.jpg

Size comparison with 91mm Victorinox Compact and a 100mm Knipex Cobra XS

But I should underscore that at the point you are carrying something like this, it is separate from your multitool which makes it lose a little bit of its appeal depending on your particular needs and personal preferences. You are carrying a separate ratchet and a separate set of bits, although with the Topeak/Power Torque, you can store up to two bits in the ratchet itself, which may or may not be enough to get you through the small things that you might be carrying multitools for.
 
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For those who have trouble making out the small blurry text in the image, it's an email from Leatherman that says October 17th is the Worldwide release date.

I think also recently saw something claiming that there was a retailer already selling the Arc in Canada. It might have been another situation like with REI where they accidentally released it early and the supply is limited.
 
This is the one and only time I'll criticize the switch to Magnacut steel.

In my opinion, the previous choice of steel, 420, was very practical for a multi-tool. Why? Because we tend to subject these tools to abuse and use them for prying, demanding TOUGH steel that can withstand such treatment with little to no concern. While Magnacut is undeniably an excellent knife steel, perfect for what a knife should do, it may not be the ideal choice when it comes to unapologetic, non-knife related usage. Original 420HC, on the other hand, is both cost-effective and exceptionally durable.

However, I must emphasise that if we're discussing a folding knife primarily used for slicing, coring, crosscutting, peeling, and draw cuts, Magnacut undoubtedly stands out as the best stainless steel option available to us
 
Dingege said:
This is the one and only time I'll criticize the switch to Magnacut steel.

In my opinion, the previous choice of steel, 420, was very practical for a multi-tool. Why? Because we tend to subject these tools to abuse and use them for prying, demanding TOUGH steel that can withstand such treatment with little to no concern. While Magnacut is undeniably an excellent knife steel, perfect for what a knife should do, it may not be the ideal choice when it comes to unapologetic, non-knife related usage. Original 420HC, on the other hand, is both cost-effective and exceptionally durable.

However, I must emphasise that if we're discussing a folding knife primarily used for slicing, coring, crosscutting, peeling, and draw cuts, Magnacut undoubtedly stands out as the best stainless steel option available to us
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I think this is aimed at those who don’t carry a folding knife, but instead carry a multitool for their primary blade. I agree with you on the 420HC being easy to fix up if damaged horribly, but Magnacut should be pretty hard to damage badly unless you are doing some horrible thing with it. It has toughness much exceeding 420HC, getting up there with carbon steels.

This is coming from someone who was initially excited for the Arc. I will not be buying it anymore, the Rebar and the Surge do everything and more that I could possibly need out of a multitool, and I don’t even daily pocket carry either of them. Rebar lives at home, Surge in the car.
 
Dingege said:
420HC is at approx 40ft-lbs (this is the tougher steel)
Magnacut approx 18 at best

Source: Knife steel nerd ( literally who designed Magnacut)

Ofc we can argue the huge HRC difference but yeah just putting it out there
stainless-toughness-10-19-21.jpg
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Oh damn I didnt know that. 420HC is amazing I assumed it was down near 154CM
 
Dingege said:
Ofc we can argue the huge HRC difference
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Higher Rockwell = "More brittle" in most cases. 🤔

I wonder what Magnacut would rate for "toughness" if at 440A or 420HC hardness.

Admittedly, it would likely not hold an edge as well as it do at the higher Rockwell. Like steels, heat treat is a compromise for the attributes wanted. 420HC run "hard" (e.g.: Buck) holds an edge better than 420HC run "soft" (e.g. Case).
 
afishhunter said:
Higher Rockwell = "More brittle" in most cases. 🤔

I wonder what Magnacut would rate for "toughness" if at 440A or 420HC hardness.

Admittedly, it would likely not hold an edge as well as it do at the higher Rockwell. Like steels, heat treat is a compromise for the attributes wanted. 420HC run "hard" (e.g.: Buck) holds an edge better than 420HC run "soft" (e.g. Case).
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Hi,

There has been a misconception that has persisted for quite some time. If you consult the toughness chart, you can observe that Magnacut reaches 64HRC while still retaining approximately 10ft-lbs of toughness. In contrast, M390 exhibits less than 5ft-lbs at 62 HRC. The reason behind Magnacut's toughness at higher HRC levels is its lower carbide content. For instance, M390 has approximately 21% carbide content, whereas Magnacut only contains 9%.
 
Dingege said:
This is the one and only time I'll criticize the switch to Magnacut steel.

In my opinion, the previous choice of steel, 420, was very practical for a multi-tool. Why? Because we tend to subject these tools to abuse and use them for prying, demanding TOUGH steel that can withstand such treatment with little to no concern. While Magnacut is undeniably an excellent knife steel, perfect for what a knife should do, it may not be the ideal choice when it comes to unapologetic, non-knife related usage. Original 420HC, on the other hand, is both cost-effective and exceptionally durable.

However, I must emphasise that if we're discussing a folding knife primarily used for slicing, coring, crosscutting, peeling, and draw cuts, Magnacut undoubtedly stands out as the best stainless steel option available to us
Click to expand...

When it comes to everyday 'rough' use, ease of sharpening and pricing, personally I too would prefer 420HC over Magnacut for a MT.

Having said that, I can understand why they are moving from S30V to Magnacut, since Magnacut is tougher with similar hardness. But With the Magnacut the new ARC is now closer to 200usd, which is rather high, even for a LM flagship model.
 
I am curious what the angle of the bevel is. Does anyone know the degrees per side on the Free P4's main blade? It would be interesting to see if they changed it for the magnacut blade.

edit: according to leatherman's website, the standard angle for all of their plain edge knives is 32 degrees (16 degrees per side). The only obvious deviations from this that I can think of would be the Micra, the Squirt series, and the Style CS, which are all key chain sized multitools with chisel ground knife blades.

I'm willing to bet that they didn't deviate from their normal angle when making the Arc, but if anyone finds out what the actual angle is then I'll be interested to know.
 
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comis said:
When it comes to everyday 'rough' use, ease of sharpening and pricing, personally I too would prefer 420HC over Magnacut for a MT.

Having said that, I can understand why they are moving from S30V to Magnacut, since Magnacut is tougher with similar hardness. But With the Magnacut the new ARC is now closer to 200usd, which is rather high, even for a LM flagship model.
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Everything is getting crazy expensive.
 
Hey, first post here. I ordered an Arc today. I've been a Leatherman user since they released the first patent-pending version of the Wave. I've been eyeing the Free tools for years, and bought a T4 a while ago, but this was the first one in the series that had all of the features I want in one tool. The P2 didn't quite have everything; the P4 had a weird combination of not enough and too much. It looks from the site like they just got retired (?) so I'm guessing they will come out with a less expensive/less full-featured version of this new design after they've made their initial sales.

Among other things, the diamond file and scissors are important to me; I play guitar and bass and frequently have to trim my nails and sand down calluses and so forth, as well as taking off burrs or rough edges on frets, bridge parts, etc. Using the T4 file on my nails sucks and I'm psyched about never doing that again. Bit driver is cool to see too, I like the integrated drivers but they get worn after a while. I already have an extender so the world is my oyster. Thumb stud is also a nice touch in my book.

It's very expensive, yes... but I'd rather pay a bit extra for the right feature set than buy something that's still pretty expensive and not quite right. I still have my original Wave after about 20 years - it's only semi-retired - and I imagine I'll probably still be using this one another 20 years from now. I don't need the Magnacut steel but I'm not gonna complain.
 
Well, now that it's out I really want to be hyped up for it and buy it and be excited about it. However now that the Arc is a reality and I can just buy it, I am even less inclined to do so now that it is not just a future idea and is a current reality. If my life required some plyers all the time in pocket, I'd probably buy it. As of now, a Surge lives in my car and a Rebar at home and that is honestly overkill for my needs as it is. Happy for those that will get an upgrade with this Arc though.
 
I picked it up, with military discount it was 160. Which was steep, the most I've ever paid for a MT. I like the tool set and the 30% discount for mil was enough to make me grab it.
 
Have anyone here managed to get a HRC value tested on the ARC's Magnacut blade?

If so, please post.
 
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