My piler's wire cutters always get jammed when i try to cut wire such as fishing cable or bike steel cables...take at least 10 presses to cut through the wires and it gets jammed easily as in when i try to open the pilers useing the normal way, the handles fold, i then have to use a key to pry it open...any1 got the same problems? I use a gerber 800 legend and LM charge XT...and is there any piler multitool that won't fold when upen outward pressure i was thinking of SOG power lock(compound gears might help this)?
-
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$250 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.
Questions on pilers on multi tools
- Thread starter wadly
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2000
- Messages
- 1,537
Not sure what the problem is if it's happening on more than one tool 
The Gerber Legend 800 has wire cutters that rotate so you can use a fresh blade after the first one wears, but it sounds like maybe your plier jaws are bent or the cutters are dull and hitting each other. I have a minor problem with one of my Leathermans beacause I cut some heavy cable and made the cutters rub against each other. 
The Gerber Legend 800 has wire cutters that rotate so you can use a fresh blade after the first one wears, but it sounds like maybe your plier jaws are bent or the cutters are dull and hitting each other. I have a minor problem with one of my Leathermans beacause I cut some heavy cable and made the cutters rub against each other. Some things to look at. Are the jaws pivot point loose? That might cause the cutting edges to be too far apart and the wire is simply getting bent between them. Are the cutting edges sharp? If they have been used a lot, they might simply be too dull to cut and they are just bending or mashing the wire between the jaws.
Also, the wire you are attempting to cut is multi-strand. Multi-strand generally has to be worked in smaller "chunks" with conventional wire cutters or undersized wire cutters. Your probably cutting some of the outer strands but not getting through all the strands and the whole mess is just getting pinched between the cutters. You can try to work the cutters around the outside strands by rotating it as you cut enough to eventually work your way completely through which is how I do it. Or, you can try separating the cable and slip one of the jaws through and cut fewer strands at a time. Usually this is more difficult than my first suggestion because there's a vinyl covering on the outside, though that can be stripped away first, just more work.
Mike
Also, the wire you are attempting to cut is multi-strand. Multi-strand generally has to be worked in smaller "chunks" with conventional wire cutters or undersized wire cutters. Your probably cutting some of the outer strands but not getting through all the strands and the whole mess is just getting pinched between the cutters. You can try to work the cutters around the outside strands by rotating it as you cut enough to eventually work your way completely through which is how I do it. Or, you can try separating the cable and slip one of the jaws through and cut fewer strands at a time. Usually this is more difficult than my first suggestion because there's a vinyl covering on the outside, though that can be stripped away first, just more work.
Mike
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2004
- Messages
- 1,500
I think you're missing his point.heathah said:You might try lubing the pivot point on the plier head to see if that will help it open up easier.
I've had this happen to me a couple of times: when trying to cut multi-stranded wire, not all the strands shear cleanly, and several end up between the closed cutters. The errant strands are wedging the jaws of the pliers apart in the axial direction; no amount of lube will help overcome that sort of binding.
In these cases, I pull the handles apart so that they're pointing in 180° apart. (Imagine the plier jaws pointing to 12 o'clock; pull the handles open til they're pointing towards 3 and 9.) Then, I just grab then both, and pull, hard. Didn't need to pry them apart with a key.
This can happen when the jaws get loose in the pivot, allowing the cutters to pull slightly apart. (The first time it happened to me, it was with a 10-year-old PST that had gotten real loosey goosey!) Dull cutters can cause it to, by allowing the strands to get between the cutters rather than shearing them cleanly.
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2001
- Messages
- 2,726
wadly said:
The SOG models would solve your problem. So would Gerber's 400 and 600 series models.
However...I think your best bet would be to work on tightening up the jaw pivot on the ones you have. I have experienced the same problem, but not with any that weren't a bit loose, for one reason or another.
--Bob Q