Vic pliers sticky

[A.L.]

I tried to cut a bit too thick wire with my swiss champ pliers' wire cutter, resulting in bending the teeth (I think). Im really surprised it did that, since I didn't really press that hard.

The irony of this is that the magnifying glass that I use as loop is in the same tool so I can't check closely what's going on. My bet is just that the wirecutter part has bended and is taking against the other side hence making the pliers a bit "sticky" (the spring doesn't have enough strenght to open it back up).

Any ideas how to get it back? I tried scratching off some metal but didn't seem to work. The tool functions well, but just unpleasant to use.

 

[STR]

You probably rolled the cutter over some so its draggin by that rolled edge real bad. May need to take a small diamond file to that to shave it down so its not wedging so bad when you rotate the plier. I did the same thing once on mine.
STR

 

[A.L.]

That's what I suspected, thanks for the reply!

btw, wich part did you file?

 

[shecky]

I did the same thing on my Spirit cutting a small fish hook. I've found Leatherman plier heads a bit better in this regard, where the edges of the hard wire cutter don't quite bypass each other. Even if they deform, they don't bind each other.

To fix the Vic, you'll have to very slightly file the deformed overhang on one or both of the cutting edges, so that the flat surfaces of each cutter bypass flush against the other, shearing the material to be cut. Be careful, because of the edges are filed too much, there will be a gap where the cutting edges meet, which encourages the wire to be cut to instead spread the plier jaws apart laterally, which not only doesn't cut the wire, but also usually binds the pliers up and wears on the pivot joint.

 

[STR]

That's what I suspected, thanks for the reply!

btw, wich part did you file?

When I tweaked mine the ding area was plainly visible to me. I simply opened the pliers as wide as I could and got my small diamond round file in there and and took the area that was folded somewhat inward toward the other cutting blade and honed it down until it worked smooth again. It was not a quick job. Eventually I got it smoothed back out and surprisingly the cutters still work and cut wire, chain link and more just fine. You can see the tweak still though. You have to remember though my old pair are one of the originals. These had straight cutter blades with no half moon shapes to them like the new ones. It may be even more difficult to file the new ones. I was noticing that on the new pair I just bought and the pair bought before that that I had thought I'd use to replace my original ones. I did finally retire the originals when I found the Swiss Tool X on the for sale forums here. I'll say this. The old sheath my first pair came in is a much heavier duty better made sheath than what they give you now. Its noticeably heavier duty by a long shot than the thin nylon you get as the standard sheath today. The metal file is beefier though on my new one and it has scissors but no serrated blade which for me will be just fine.

The pliers on any of these are going to tweak from time to time and regardless of how good they are and whether you carry a Swiss Tool, Gerber, SOG, Leatherman or older Kershaw or off brand they should always be considered a back up for in a pinch. I've actually seen the Gerbers snap apart cutting chain link where my Swiss Tool just kept going and I've done it so many times with that old one its apparent that cutting chain link fence is well within its ability but I don't think its something you should do routinely with all of them. The Leatherman pliers are usually better both for being true needlenose and for opening wider but I've found the Swiss Tool is about as tough as any of them. I'd venture to say if what you cut tweaks the Swiss Tool that it would tweak any of them based on my personal experiences. I don't think one plier is harder than another. They are probably made of similar steel that gets to a similar hardness for a typical plier.

You may have to see about contacting Vic about fixing those if you can't. A small diameter polish wheel on a long stem mandrel in a dremmel may be the only way to reach in there if you can't use a file.

STR

 

[A.L.]

Thanks again!
If I can't fix it, I guess I could send it back. I could also try asking the keymaker shop that sharpens stuff etc if they could fix it.. I'll see into it if I can find out a way.