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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
New Leatherman Arc is out
- Thread starter Guy McVer
- Start date
I have 5 waves that have served me well over the last 25? years or so; but I'm likely going to buy an ARC when i send in the waves for repair / tune up*. Saw an ARC at Scheels about a week ago.
I like many of its features including the magnacut blade (it is a selling point for me despite my carrying a dedicated knife almost all the time). One could argue that is a lot of money for a multitool - even more than some guns; but I have single purpose knives that are worth several times that so... For something that can ride on your belt as EDC, I can rationalize the cost.
* Three of my waves have broken tools, one has gotten too loose from heavy use, and one is too tight. My pet peeve with the wave is the smaller tools being difficult to open.
I don't understand why they didn't put a ruling on the ARC somewhere though...
I like many of its features including the magnacut blade (it is a selling point for me despite my carrying a dedicated knife almost all the time). One could argue that is a lot of money for a multitool - even more than some guns; but I have single purpose knives that are worth several times that so... For something that can ride on your belt as EDC, I can rationalize the cost.
* Three of my waves have broken tools, one has gotten too loose from heavy use, and one is too tight. My pet peeve with the wave is the smaller tools being difficult to open.
I don't understand why they didn't put a ruling on the ARC somewhere though...
I recently watched a youtube video where a guy claimed that he rolled the edge of the blade on the Arc just by cutting up some cardboard boxes. That's not supposed to happen with magnacut. I'm wondering if Leatherman didn't screw this up...
I would jump on that. At that price, the value is starting to look pretty good. I say go for it.
Yeah, there are no ruler markings on the frame of the Arc. None on the other Free series models either. They had some markings on the other side of the Free series file, but the Arc doesn't have that file.
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That’s where I’m at with it, I’d like to keep a multi tool in my wife’s car should I need it. I’d stick the Free in her car and keep it there while I daily the Arc.
The steel is a nice option, but my primary carry is a Sebenza so it’s not a big selling point to me.
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Save that nice Sebenza for the more delicate stuff and use the MT for the rest. Until my wife appropriated it for herself, I usually carried a carbon fiber William Henry to the office. I used it for slicing stuff; but no rough stuff. That is what my cqc7 was for.
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I don’t abuse my Sebenza but I’m not afraid to use it. But yes, I use my MTs for more questionable tasks that make me pause about using the Sebenza.
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Someone had apparently checked the HRC at
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+1, which is why a magnacut Leatherman blade isn't too appealing to me. Last thing I used my leatherman knife blade for was to pry open a lock on an office door I needed to get into... not something I want to subject my nicer knives to.
-Mike
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Well, I sprung for it. $150 after taxes out of my pocket, which is what I paid for the Free P4.
The Arc appears to be more nicely finished than the Free, the jaws have less casting marks and there’s little extra details. The scissors are crinked in a manner that doesn’t close all the way, they end up dinging the jaws of the pliers when closing. I find the one handed opening of the tools to be a bit more difficult than the Free. I’m not sold on the interchangeable bits just yet.
Overall, is it really worth $230? In my case, if I didn’t have the gift card I would have not gotten it. But I’m happy to have it and I don’t feel too bad about relegating the Free to ride in the center console of my wife’s car. The Arc will ride in my center console and in my back pocket.
The Arc appears to be more nicely finished than the Free, the jaws have less casting marks and there’s little extra details. The scissors are crinked in a manner that doesn’t close all the way, they end up dinging the jaws of the pliers when closing. I find the one handed opening of the tools to be a bit more difficult than the Free. I’m not sold on the interchangeable bits just yet.
Overall, is it really worth $230? In my case, if I didn’t have the gift card I would have not gotten it. But I’m happy to have it and I don’t feel too bad about relegating the Free to ride in the center console of my wife’s car. The Arc will ride in my center console and in my back pocket.
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For $300 that "multi tool" would have to do things that the Mrs. can do, maybe even better. 
For $300 that "multi tool" would have to do things that the Mrs. can do, maybe even better.
Nah... I already have a multitool that screws good and twists nuts.
PSA
There are now multiple videos on youtube showcasing a design flaw with the replaceable wire cutters which ship with the Leatherman Arc.
The wire cutters included with the Arc have been redesigned so that they have a small gap at the base of the pliers. These newly redesigned cutters have a very high tendency to break when used to cut hard wire, coat hangers, or small thin nails. The older replaceable wire cutters do not have the same issue and will happily cut the aforementioned items without any trouble.
If Leatherman intentionally did this in order to sell more replaceable wire cutters, then the problem may never be fixed.
As a workaround, you can swap the replaceable wire cutters from older Leatherman pliers to the Arc. Anything made before 2022 should work and won't have the same issue. Going forward, it appears that all Leatherman pliers with replaceable cutters will have the same tendency to break. In other words, this issue is not restricted to the Arc. It theoretically affects all Leatherman models from 2022 onward, but anything before 2022 should be fine.
To check whether your pliers have this issue, simply examine the replaceable wire cutters for a gap at the base of the pliers when they are closed. The old style replaceable cutters have either no gap or a very tiny gap that is almost unnoticeable. The newer redesigned replaceable cutters which break easily have a noticeable gap at the base of the pliers when they are closed. The cutters themselves are also rounded at the bottom, whereas the older style are not rounded at the bottom.
There are now multiple videos on youtube showcasing a design flaw with the replaceable wire cutters which ship with the Leatherman Arc.
The wire cutters included with the Arc have been redesigned so that they have a small gap at the base of the pliers. These newly redesigned cutters have a very high tendency to break when used to cut hard wire, coat hangers, or small thin nails. The older replaceable wire cutters do not have the same issue and will happily cut the aforementioned items without any trouble.
If Leatherman intentionally did this in order to sell more replaceable wire cutters, then the problem may never be fixed.
As a workaround, you can swap the replaceable wire cutters from older Leatherman pliers to the Arc. Anything made before 2022 should work and won't have the same issue. Going forward, it appears that all Leatherman pliers with replaceable cutters will have the same tendency to break. In other words, this issue is not restricted to the Arc. It theoretically affects all Leatherman models from 2022 onward, but anything before 2022 should be fine.
To check whether your pliers have this issue, simply examine the replaceable wire cutters for a gap at the base of the pliers when they are closed. The old style replaceable cutters have either no gap or a very tiny gap that is almost unnoticeable. The newer redesigned replaceable cutters which break easily have a noticeable gap at the base of the pliers when they are closed. The cutters themselves are also rounded at the bottom, whereas the older style are not rounded at the bottom.
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I watched several of those over the weekend.
I hate that, pliers and wire cutters are 1/2 of the reason I carry a multi-tool.
And still, I'm intrigued....
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That is a bummer. Hopefully, they'll fix it to help reduce cost of returns and warranty repairs.
That said... Many (about 23) years ago, I heard a former executive at Apple state they fell behind Microsoft and others because they didn't churn their products enough. Planned obsolescence is a real thing.
That said... Many (about 23) years ago, I heard a former executive at Apple state they fell behind Microsoft and others because they didn't churn their products enough. Planned obsolescence is a real thing.
I have also been seeing several different QC issues. For 230 usd they probably should have better quality control. In some places it's significantly more expensive. I suppose they bet on making their money with super high volume, and that probably meant that the QC would suffer. Now that the issue with the cutters has come up, I wonder how they are going to handle it. They may just choose to ignore it and then quietly update the replaceable cutter design without saying anything.
If they really want to make money with high volume then they ought to release a non-magnacut version of the ARC without the bit kit and without the sheath. No thumb stud would be great too because they could just use the regular blade from the Free series with the thumb slot. That should cut the cost significantly.
If they made a bladeless version I think that would be pretty neat. They could just have the saw and the file on one side and nothing on the other side. Or they could have the scissors and the saw, or the scissors and the file. Or maybe have a knife and scissors on one side and a t-shank adapter as one of the shorter side tools.
If they really want to make money with high volume then they ought to release a non-magnacut version of the ARC without the bit kit and without the sheath. No thumb stud would be great too because they could just use the regular blade from the Free series with the thumb slot. That should cut the cost significantly.
If they made a bladeless version I think that would be pretty neat. They could just have the saw and the file on one side and nothing on the other side. Or they could have the scissors and the saw, or the scissors and the file. Or maybe have a knife and scissors on one side and a t-shank adapter as one of the shorter side tools.
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I'll keep an eye on the wire cutter thing, but I've had zero QC issues with mine so far.
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Can't help but to think that Leatherman has partially fallen to the lifestyle trend trap. While they still offer their classics they seem to direct lot of their energy and resources to image marketing and releasing new products to be promoted by influencers, glampers and collectors. Almost every time Leatherman comes with something new I can't help but to wonder some of their design choices. Leatherman's wave+ seems to be almost perfect in tool selection and is celebrated by craftsmen worldwide but instead of refining and fine tuning the wave or making variations or revisions they seem to be constantly pushing some flashy models that always seem to come with flaw or two. Does leatherman even test their products through? Torture tests? Actual user tests? Too busy to push something new out to make money?
Victorinox is in some way the same with bringing something new of course but their SwissTool has been same for some 30 years(?). Even though it's still not perfect for me (for instance I'd like the pliers to be more needle nose) the tool selection is almost perfected and still works after all these years.
Victorinox is in some way the same with bringing something new of course but their SwissTool has been same for some 30 years(?). Even though it's still not perfect for me (for instance I'd like the pliers to be more needle nose) the tool selection is almost perfected and still works after all these years.
All of the patents ran out on the Wave and their other models. That's why they introduced the Free series a few years back. It's a newer set of patents. It's also why we've been seeing all these cheap Wave clones coming out of China. All of Leatherman's exclusive rights to their older designs ran out, so now anyone can use them. That's not the case with the Free series and the Arc, so it makes sense for Leatherman to push those as much as possible.