WHy do my multitool wirecutters die on 22-gauge wire?

S

Sword and Shield

Joined
Apr 3, 2004
Messages
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I carried multitools for years. Leatherman Super in the early 90s, Gerber 800 later, 800 Custom a bit later. Yet, they've all had the same flaw.

Cutting this stuff. Even the wimpy "wirecutters" on a SAK plier can nip it, but every multi has gouged the crap out of the cutters, making them hard to open or close. I didn't carry my Leatherman for 5 years because of the wirecutter gouges basically holding the pliers closed.

Why is this? I can zip through this with much lower tools, why do multis die?
 
Weird. My tiny p4 leatherman squirt keychain was cuting through barbed wire yesterday without a hitch, and I assume that barbed wire is much tougher than that stuff.
 
Never been gouged by anything that light, but I've had them wiggle just enough laterally that it won't cut, just bend stuff in that weight range. I just stick a pair of dykes in my bag of tricks and call it done, but something that light I'm just as likely to use the scissors in my Micra for. :P
 
Sword and Shield said:
I carried multitools for years. Leatherman Super in the early 90s, Gerber 800 later, 800 Custom a bit later. Yet, they've all had the same flaw.

Cutting this stuff. Even the wimpy "wirecutters" on a SAK plier can nip it, but every multi has gouged the crap out of the cutters, making them hard to open or close. I didn't carry my Leatherman for 5 years because of the wirecutter gouges basically holding the pliers closed.

Why is this? I can zip through this with much lower tools, why do multis die?
Click to expand...

Funny , I have been thinking the same thing for as long as I've carried MT's.
I use mine several times a day on a daily basis , my current MT is a Leatherman Kick.
I tried cutting the head off of a fairly skinny screw and now you can see where the cutters ( that are darn stout mind you) have a little gouge , and now they get caught when trying to open or close.

Makes me think the steel used in MT's is soft.... ?

By the this happened on my Gerber and my Schrade MT's also.
 
The cutters on a multi-tool are much like scissors, they slice not pinch. The 22AWG wire to to soft and small.
 
rebeltf said:
Funny , I have been thinking the same thing for as long as I've carried MT's.
I use mine several times a day on a daily basis , my current MT is a Leatherman Kick.
I tried cutting the head off of a fairly skinny screw and now you can see where the cutters ( that are darn stout mind you) have a little gouge , and now they get caught when trying to open or close.

Makes me think the steel used in MT's is soft.... ?

By the this happened on my Gerber and my Schrade MT's also.
Click to expand...

This may be. I use that wire a lot at work to bind keys together and also for periodic Q&D repairs, but I've always been amazed that the cutters that handle triple-strand appliance wiring die on soft wire.
 
I've experienced this problem with numerous multi tools over the years. I do have a couple of Leatherman tools that will still cut small stranded wire (my PST I bought 14 years ago still does actually). Typically I find that the Leatherman tools loosen up over time and while they will cut solid wire and even tough materials like small fish tape and ceiling tile grid wire fairly easily, as mentioned above, due to the scissor effect of the cutters, they lose the ability to cut small stranded wire. Rather than a clean cut, they get all bound up because the cutters won't slice through the wire. I've found that the SOG Powerlock will cut about any wire it comes across and I've got a Gerber Diesel that actually cuts small stranded wire pretty good. The only thing with the Gerber though, is that due to the lack of a hard wire slot, I think cutting anything too tough would damage the blades and fubar it for cutting any kind of wire. I have a SOG that work paid for so I've not been shy about testing it out - so far it's cut fish tape then turned around and cut and stripped 22 awg stranded wire. I searched long and hard for the "perfect" multi tool for low voltage electrical work. I finally figured out that my good 'ole Klien dikes are the way to go. The multi tool still comes in handy, but I quit worrying about trying to cut small wire with them anymore unless I absolutely have to.
 
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