Done With Leatherman

[JustSomeGuy]

Heads up, this is a rant about the knife blades on the last three Leatherman products I've purchased. If you're not in the mood for a rant, you should skip out at this point...

RANT ON.

Bought a Leatherman FREE K4 some time ago and had been using it for light duty cutting chores around the ranch to save wear on my larger EDC knife. The edge on the Leatherman started to dull fairly quickly, which isn't unusual for me given the fact that I live on a ranch and one thing all ranches have in abundance is dirt, and dirt akes the edge off a knife quick like. Anywho, broke out the diamond honing rods to touch it up and checked it after a few passes. Shockingly, the light lateral pressure applied runnng it across the rods had snapped the tip of the blade off. Okie dokie then, chalked that one up to being a fluke and tossed it in the kitchen drawer with all the other knives needing remedial action...which I never seem to get around to doing.

Wife came home from town the following day with a Leatherman FREE T4. It went the exact same way as the K4...snapped the very tip off on the honing rods while touching up the edge. Into the drawer it went with me thinking it must be an issue with the blades on their FREE line of products.

Picked up a MUT. Was working with a piece of pvc pipe that had a few burs that I needed to knock off to get the fitting on. Whipped out the MUT, knocked the burs off and immediately noticed that I now had 4 new serrations where none were before. Based on a sample size of three, I'm concluding that their blades are incapable of handling even the slightest lateral pressure to the edge without chipping. I'm sure they'd probably be fine for straight forward cutting tasks, but in my case, where things need to get done right now with the tools available, the Leatherman products just aren't pulling their weight. So, no more Leatherman products for me.


RANT OFF.

So, I'm curious if anyone else has had an issue with chipping or breaking their Leatherman blades?

Read More

 

[s1xty7]

I typically carry a Swiss army knife these days, but my primary pocket knife used to be a Leatherman Charge TTi with an S30V blade (I got tired of the bulk after a while). Never had a single issue with that blade and I certainly didn't baby it, but I was using a standard whetstone at the time, not a rod, so the lateral pressure may have been more evenly distributed. This was 8 or 10 years ago though so no experience with the newer standard blade steel.

 

[solv3nt]

Leatherman has been making knives overseas for some time now, I don't believe they have any US made knives anymore. I haven't bought from them for that very reason.

As to the diamond rod, I can't speak to that, I sharpen my knives with stones.

 

[JustSomeGuy]

Leatherman has been making knives overseas for some time now, I don't believe they have any US made knives anymore. I haven't bought from them for that very reason.

As to the diamond rod, I can't speak to that, I sharpen my knives with stones.

I just use the diamond coated ceramic rods for light honing, serious sharpening is done with stones.

 

[JustSomeGuy]

I typically carry a Swiss army knife these days, but my primary pocket knife used to be a Leatherman Charge TTi with an S30V blade (I got tired of the bulk after a while). Never had a single issue with that blade and I certainly didn't baby it, but I was using a standard whetstone at the time, not a rod, so the lateral pressure may have been more evenly distributed. This was 8 or 10 years ago though so no experience with the newer standard blade steel.

My full size EDC is a Zero Tolerance with an S30V blade and it's never had an issue.

 

[nehalemguy]

Isn't Tim Leatherman anti-gun?

This goes back a way, but I know he supported John Kerry when he ran for Prez.

-E-

 

[solv3nt]

Isn't Tim Leatherman anti-gun?

This goes back a way, but I know he supported John Kerry when he ran for Prez.

-E-

The sad reality, is that if you shun all anti gun companies in the US, there won't be any companies to buy from.

Don't get me wrong, vote with your money and your feet, but we're a minority.

 

[Yarome]

Isn't Tim Leatherman anti-gun?

This goes back a way, but I know he supported John Kerry when he ran for Prez.

They can't get to our guns so they are sabotaging our EDC's, ya think?




Sneaky!!

 

[Nosferatu]

Leatherman has been making knives overseas for some time now, I don't believe they have any US made knives anymore. I haven't bought from them for that very reason.

As to the diamond rod, I can't speak to that, I sharpen my knives with stones.

Interesting. Everything on their site claims to be made in Portland. Are they building components overseas and just assembling in the US?

 

[Joe13]

Can only speak for myself…

My Wave is 20+ years old and I only recently (last 2 years maybe) took it in and it because I put way to much torque on the plyers.

Simple to drop off on airport way and shipped me my fixed tool within 2 weeks I think.

Knives and everything else has held up to some strong abuse, but it's also saved me a lot of time in my jobs by not having to get off a roof to grab a tool I forgot or didn't know if need.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Heads up, this is a rant about the knife blades on the last three Leatherman products I've purchased. If you're not in the mood for a rant, you should skip out at this point...

RANT ON.

Bought a Leatherman FREE K4 some time ago and had been using it for light duty cutting chores around the ranch to save wear on my larger EDC knife. The edge on the Leatherman started to dull fairly quickly, which isn't unusual for me given the fact that I live on a ranch and one thing all ranches have in abundance is dirt, and dirt akes the edge off a knife quick like. Anywho, broke out the diamond honing rods to touch it up and checked it after a few passes. Shockingly, the light lateral pressure applied runnng it across the rods had snapped the tip of the blade off. Okie dokie then, chalked that one up to being a fluke and tossed it in the kitchen drawer with all the other knives needing remedial action...which I never seem to get around to doing.

Wife came home from town the following day with a Leatherman FREE T4. It went the exact same way as the K4...snapped the very tip off on the honing rods while touching up the edge. Into the drawer it went with me thinking it must be an issue with the blades on their FREE line of products.

Picked up a MUT. Was working with a piece of pvc pipe that had a few burs that I needed to knock off to get the fitting on. Whipped out the MUT, knocked the burs off and immediately noticed that I now had 4 new serrations where none were before. Based on a sample size of three, I'm concluding that their blades are incapable of handling even the slightest lateral pressure to the edge without chipping. I'm sure they'd probably be fine for straight forward cutting tasks, but in my case, where things need to get done right now with the tools available, the Leatherman products just aren't pulling their weight. So, no more Leatherman products for me.


RANT OFF.

So, I'm curious if anyone else has had an issue with chipping or breaking their Leatherman blades?

I've never had an issue with breakage or chipping but the basic skeletool blade (420 steeI think?) goes dull insanely fast. Really annoying. I have had my skeletool cm (154cm steel) for many years now and it goes dull way faster than it should and is hard to get sharp. I think it suffers mostly from bad blade geometry but just a guess. The blade is quite thick.

So basically I don't use the blade now at all except for when I don't want to damage my edc knife. Got tired of sharpening it all the time.

My D2 Civivi knives I would say last maybe 10x longer before needs sharpening and are easy to sharpen compared to the 154cm skeletool. It shouldn't be that way because 154CM is not that inferior to D2 if it's done right. I prefer a bigger knife anyway for edc though. Still carry the skeletool 100% of the time though for utility. I'm dependent on that thing. But for the blade imo they are poorly done but not nearly as bad as gerber multitools I have had in the past which seemed to be made of peanut brittle they break so easily.

 

[Stomper]

I finally kicked Leatherman to the curb when FIVE TIMES IN A ROW they refused to warranty my losing my EXPENSIVE multi-tool in an attic, crawlspace, or above a T-bar ceiling….

 

[solv3nt]

Interesting. Everything on their site claims to be made in Portland. Are they building components overseas and just assembling in the US?

I suppose I could be wrong. It's been a while since I've considered them, but at the time, they didn't have any made in the USA.

 

[Member 53328]

I don't buy a multi tool for the knife. I automatically expect the knife to be a secondary thought on the design. I have a knife separate for utilitarian use. But that's just me. I have a multi tool in my rig but it's not getting used on a regular basis.

Quality across the board in multiple categories is going down the sh!tter as of recent.

 

[Joe13]

I don't buy a multi tool for the knife. I automatically expect the knife to be a secondary thought on the design. I have a knife separate for utilitarian use. But that's just me. I have a multi tool in my rig but it's not getting used on a regular basis.

Quality across the board in multiple categories is going down the sh!tter as of recent.

This^

My edc is a crowbar (D2 Esee Avispa) and my Leatherman is great for splinters since it's always sharp and has a good point. I use the serrated blade on the leatherman if I need it.

Not nearly as bad as my co-worker with a $250 snap-on multi-tool lol

 

[Knobgoblin]

Ditto ^^^^

I have at least 3 actual knives on me ( sometimes 6 or 8 ) . The multi tool is almost exclusively for the pliers, sometimes the file. Even the screwdriver bits are rarely used.

 

[Member 53328]

Ditto ^^^^

I have at least 3 actual knives on me ( sometimes 6 or 8 ) . The multi tool is almost exclusively for the pliers, sometimes the file. Even the screwdriver bits are rarely used.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has 2-3 knives on me on a daily basis. Haha

 

[Bears]

Does the wave count as a plus 2? Blade count for carry?

And my wave has been solid. It wore out after 15 or something years?
They replaced it with a v2.0 and its just fine. The edge is still sharp even with plenty of use.

Haven't seen a leather man issue that returning it for a new one didn't solve. Top notch company.

 

[Knobgoblin]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has 2-3 knives on me on a daily basis. Haha

It's not like we don't have enough pockets

 

[CLT65]

I always carry half-a-dozen blades everywhere I go. Here's a recent photo of me out for a jog.



The annoying thing (besides trying to scratch an itch or pick my nose) is how people are always telling me how much I look like some dude called "Huge Ackman". Never heard of him.