You're being a bit silly. The cutters that broke had a manufacturing defect, one that has nothing to do with the questionable geometry choice. The fact that those happened to show up on Arc tool, rather than Waves or Free P4s is just chance. Shit happens, and they will replace thr cutters for free without hassle. What more do you want?
that was a batch heat treatment issue, what is a real design defect is locating the cutters with one screw which means it can pivot, and using one size of replaceable cutter on pliers with different sized plier heads.
The old style cutters on my wave rubbed against the pliers, so i think they changed it to fix that. It used to, I fixed it by unscrewing and adjusting the cutters.
With my older Black&Silver Surge ive cut 2mm screws (bicycle pedal pins) with some effort but with Zero marks! I also cut 3mm stranded wires, part of a much thicker strand of the crane i work with (ofc, scrap cable who just was replaced). With my new Black Surge i could not cut even 2.5 mm hardwire, job that SquirtPS4 did with no problem! I ordered cutters for Mut EOD, without the notch, for electric cables, modified them a little and replace the faulty ones. After all, Surge have a wire cutter behind tbe pliers head. Im using these flat cutters mostly for zipties.
So far im at over 30 cuts on 14ga galvanized and about 7 to 10 cuts on 12ga and mine are still fine , but they came with that same artifact I thought I did something to them but its the exact same as your's.
I'm never getting another leatherman. I bought the cutter replacements, and they are the new style and broke again. Also, my pliers are now stiff, and when i try to open, they just collapse to the closed position
I have a Rebar from 2yrs ago with the New cutters, yes it works BUT the older cutter design was better! That gap is Not for Stripping wire, as in the older Can Opener Combination design- the V-Notch is for Wire Stripping. The new wire cutter Design is not good.
Great video. I think that it highlights that the new design is flawed. Never before have you had to have " proper technique " to cut hard wire. It's absurd
I still think it is weird that you have to eye ball what you are going to cut before doing it...If I recall correctly, Ben said in his video that it was not a wire stripper....
Too finicky. I returned mine for that reason and the scissors were damaged or just had a terrible grind on the blades right out of the box. I am a 35 year Leatherman owner fanboy.
If I had to guess, the pliers are binding because the cutters are rotating slightly. I’d like to see if removing the cutters will fix a binding pair of pliers. Still not a good design if regular use can cause a malfunction like this.
Up until Leatherman changed the cutters to a faulty design and it got attention because of the Arc, the "technique" was always to put hard wire as close to the plier pivot as possible. Decades ago when they would be demonstrating the original Leatherman at shows that is how they would do it. " You're doing it wrong" is just more fanboy BS trying to protect their beloved. I will never understand those types. Do let them get to you and keep making the good videos. 2:51 I heard a theory in another video (and in Ink&Iron's Scope video) that sounded plausible and now holds more weight after watching that bind. The theory goes it that Leatherman changed the cutter to force people to cut higher in order to stop warranty clams due to binding/breaking of the plier head. If that is true it's still BS because they should be working on a solution for whatever it is that is causing such bad binding instead of making the tool more of a pain to use for the customer. When Wave and Surge clones and make that cut with the "old technique" but newer REAL Leatherman tools can't, that speaks to a larger problem at play. 3:50 This may sound odd to people but when stripping stranded wire with a multitool I have found using the scissors the best way to go. Every multitool I have ever used that had an built in wire stripper notch, more often than not, would cut into and remove a couple of strands of the wire along with the insulation. If you practice with the scissors you can strip cut the insulation properly and then pull it off without a problem. If needed, after the cut use a dull area on the scissors to help pull away the insulation.
@@chrisschwent8451came here to say exactly this. This thing is not a precision machinist tool and should not require such precision for one of its main purposes. This is a design flaw through and through. Anything said to the contrary is simply coping and rationalizing.
You’re not wrong. It should work. It doesn’t work. So you can adjust your technique until you can replace them someday. Or you can bitch about it for internet points. Your choice. But only one will get your wire cut.
BTW as an aside, why is there even a hard and a soft wire cutter to begin with? Surely the hard wire cutter can cut soft wire as well, so why not make it all a hard wire cutter? Wouldn't that save money in the manufracturing process?
I assume it’s because if they were straight there wouldn’t be sufficient room for hard wire to slide down close to the pivot without having to splay the handles super wide. You also get more mechanical advantage being as close as possible to the pivot. But people have told me the EOD cutters for the Surge will cut anything you want so… looks like I’m ordering a pair of those 😂 I need to know now
@@inkiron3907 Gerber's cutters strip wire very well in the notch, i legit have an MP600-ST that i keep the carbide cutters in specifically for that purpose. I actually clipped a live wire with them and it was the one time i was actually able to rotate the cutters instead of replacing them. Lol
It’s not you, man! They messed up the design! You should not have to baby a $200+ tool. And you read the directions right on the air and followed them! ( New subscriber. Keep up the good work.)
Not so much a matter of "technique being WRONG" as a matter of there being a technique that will work with the new design, making them usable, albeit with more difficulty. Anyone sating that someone was "wrong" to use them the normal way is being an ass. But at the same time, if somone is just going to write the tool off entirely because they don't work exactly as expected, that's also pretty dumb.
It’s a redesign that no one needed… I can only assume it saves Leatherman money in some way. Otherwise it doesn’t make sense for them to invest in the change
I bought a Charge + alu few days ago in the EU market, there are little arrows on the plierhead next to the hardwire cutter part, pointing exacly there where you placing the wire with the new technique
My cutters that came on a 2023 Surge broke on a wire thinner than that coat hanger. I have no idea how that happened. I thought they were supposed to bend if anything, that's why they switched from 154cm cutters, but mine not only bent but created a fracture that had the chip fall out when I swabbed out the bit of rust from the old wire I had to cut. This was a test & they were not used before. This blew me away.
Leatherman is lying because they don’t want to fix the problem with there design. This was up till now a great American company that we all could be proud of, shame on them for letting the American public down.
I was using mine correctly and shattered the cutters while cutting 1 of the 3 strands in my Romex. ALSO the whilst cutting the sheath away from the Romex with the magnacut blade the magnacut took an edge roll!
I got my cutters swapped when I sent mine for warranty. Maybe you got some from the same bad batch as mine, in which case Leatherman is replacing those right now. I’d just ask them to send a new pair. The blade though… maybe warranty repair is the best option for you
Man this is still a weird thing happening to you. I have the gap at the bottom and mine do cut a coat hanger. It is harder to cut than if you move the hanger up to the area where you were cutting but mins still do cut. I have ordered the replacement cutters on Leatherman's site as they seem to have the old cutters on there now. So strange the plier heads are stiffening up on you and getting looser as to how you cut the hanger. If I was using hard wire cutters everyday I would not want to have to make sure I have them in the right spot to cut it.
The entire issue is with the cutter design. Have an old style that have no gap in on Garage #5. When I put the cutters from Garage #5 into a Rebar, there is now a massive gap in its' cutters. Want to buy more of the older style cutters. Heck with this new redesigned version that is curved. V notch wire stripper was better.
Good Day Everyone! Great Follow Up on your Issue with Replaceable Wire Cutters onthe ARC!!! Went to use my Diamond File on the ARC (had for over a Week now) & Noticed they DO NOT Lock in Place! Looks Like I will be Sending in for Warranty after taking a Video of the Problem... Really have to Question If Quality Control Non-Existant @Leatherman?
I’ve been stripping wire with the base of the cutters for years because it’s so much easier than the actual stripping function. No way the notch is meant for it though. My assumption has been that it was to improve leverage or something. My Knipex cobolt cutters have a similar notch
This is why I like sharing content because I can’t know what everybody else is doing with their tools. Thanks Huh… if bolt cutters have the rounded notch I wonder if it’s a strength thing… hard to know for sure
@@inkiron3907 yeah no real way to know until Leatherman says it… if they say it. But yeah it’s the Knipex 71 31 200. Mini bolt cutters. Go through things like butta
It's still a design flaw, that they shatter so easily with a 1/32nd misplacement is inexcusable.
It's called a batch of improperly heat treated cutters.
@@InGratitudeIam You put out a 200 dollar tool that breaks on a wire hanger and it's inexcusable however we define it.
You're being a bit silly. The cutters that broke had a manufacturing defect, one that has nothing to do with the questionable geometry choice. The fact that those happened to show up on Arc tool, rather than Waves or Free P4s is just chance. Shit happens, and they will replace thr cutters for free without hassle. What more do you want?
that was a batch heat treatment issue, what is a real design defect is locating the cutters with one screw which means it can pivot, and using one size of replaceable cutter on pliers with different sized plier heads.
@@Lord_zeel quality control, doing things properly, respect for consumer, respect for manufacturing, respect for business practices.....
They fixed the cutters. They are square again on the website. Maxlevel demonstrated the new cutters. So happy they fixed the issue!
if I order replacement cutters, will they also be the new square ones? thanks
The old style cutters on my wave rubbed against the pliers, so i think they changed it to fix that.
It used to, I fixed it by unscrewing and adjusting the cutters.
Hmm I’ve never heard about that problem before, but I can see how it could happen since the corner is much lower than on the new design. Thanks
Great content. Your testing is methodical and thorough. That stranded wire is the devil to strip even with a dedicated set of strippers
With my older Black&Silver Surge ive cut 2mm screws (bicycle pedal pins) with some effort but with Zero marks! I also cut 3mm stranded wires, part of a much thicker strand of the crane i work with (ofc, scrap cable who just was replaced).
With my new Black Surge i could not cut even 2.5 mm hardwire, job that SquirtPS4 did with no problem!
I ordered cutters for Mut EOD, without the notch, for electric cables, modified them a little and replace the faulty ones. After all, Surge have a wire cutter behind tbe pliers head. Im using these flat cutters mostly for zipties.
I’m a electrician and I didn’t cringe at all. I chuckled. Thank you for the video. Haters gonna hate bro. Can’t satisfy them all
Nice try Leatherman employee
Thanks for doing it right..
I agree with you, its weird design..
I tried everything but listening so I ended up learning after irking people in the comments 😂
Nice demonstration
Thanks
So far im at over 30 cuts on 14ga galvanized and about 7 to 10 cuts on 12ga and mine are still fine , but they came with that same artifact I thought I did something to them but its the exact same as your's.
I'm never getting another leatherman. I bought the cutter replacements, and they are the new style and broke again. Also, my pliers are now stiff, and when i try to open, they just collapse to the closed position
Nice!
When using the awl wire stripper trap the wire against the body by unlocking the awl.
That sounds like a better technique. Thanks!
yes but the knife does a better job and is faster, not safer tho
I have a Rebar from 2yrs ago with the New cutters, yes it works BUT the older cutter design was better! That gap is Not for Stripping wire, as in the older Can Opener Combination design- the V-Notch is for Wire Stripping. The new wire cutter Design is not good.
The older cutters are so easy to use. I agree, I prefer the older design.
Still bull. Those new designed cutters are flawed! Go back to how they were. Why the change anyway?
Right? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Must be something Leatherman isn’t willing to discuss.
As an electrician, I was definitely cringing
Great video. I think that it highlights that the new design is flawed. Never before have you had to have " proper technique " to cut hard wire. It's absurd
I still think it is weird that you have to eye ball what you are going to cut before doing it...If I recall correctly, Ben said in his video that it was not a wire stripper....
I agree with all of that. Why redesign something that works? And the wire stripping performance seems bad, but I don’t really know what I’m doing
Too finicky. I returned mine for that reason and the scissors were damaged or just had a terrible grind on the blades right out of the box. I am a 35 year Leatherman owner fanboy.
If I had to guess, the pliers are binding because the cutters are rotating slightly.
I’d like to see if removing the cutters will fix a binding pair of pliers.
Still not a good design if regular use can cause a malfunction like this.
technique or not it still shouldnt break and shatter
Agreed. Cutters on my Surge have cut coat hanger and other wire hundreds of times over 6 years and it’s fine.
Up until Leatherman changed the cutters to a faulty design and it got attention because of the Arc, the "technique" was always to put hard wire as close to the plier pivot as possible. Decades ago when they would be demonstrating the original Leatherman at shows that is how they would do it. "
You're doing it wrong" is just more fanboy BS trying to protect their beloved. I will never understand those types. Do let them get to you and keep making the good videos.
2:51 I heard a theory in another video (and in Ink&Iron's Scope video) that sounded plausible and now holds more weight after watching that bind. The theory goes it that Leatherman changed the cutter to force people to cut higher in order to stop warranty clams due to binding/breaking of the plier head. If that is true it's still BS because they should be working on a solution for whatever it is that is causing such bad binding instead of making the tool more of a pain to use for the customer. When Wave and Surge clones and make that cut with the "old technique" but newer REAL Leatherman tools can't, that speaks to a larger problem at play.
3:50 This may sound odd to people but when stripping stranded wire with a multitool I have found using the scissors the best way to go. Every multitool I have ever used that had an built in wire stripper notch, more often than not, would cut into and remove a couple of strands of the wire along with the insulation. If you practice with the scissors you can strip cut the insulation properly and then pull it off without a problem. If needed, after the cut use a dull area on the scissors to help pull away the insulation.
You're theory about fanboys is spot on sir.
@@chrisschwent8451came here to say exactly this. This thing is not a precision machinist tool and should not require such precision for one of its main purposes. This is a design flaw through and through. Anything said to the contrary is simply coping and rationalizing.
Good grief? One should just be able to stick the wire in and cut it! It’s a no brained! The ARC has an issue and Leatherman needs to fix it!
You’re not wrong. It should work. It doesn’t work. So you can adjust your technique until you can replace them someday. Or you can bitch about it for internet points. Your choice. But only one will get your wire cut.
I think I’ve done all the options 😂 bitchin’ on the internet generates a lot of traffic
CutterGate isn’t over. Why is there an indication of damage on your new cutting blade? Inquiring minds want to know…. 🧐
I am unsure if I did that. However, someone else in the comments claimed they had the exact same damage on their new cutters. This is getting weird!
BTW as an aside, why is there even a hard and a soft wire cutter to begin with? Surely the hard wire cutter can cut soft wire as well, so why not make it all a hard wire cutter? Wouldn't that save money in the manufracturing process?
I assume it’s because if they were straight there wouldn’t be sufficient room for hard wire to slide down close to the pivot without having to splay the handles super wide. You also get more mechanical advantage being as close as possible to the pivot. But people have told me the EOD cutters for the Surge will cut anything you want so… looks like I’m ordering a pair of those 😂 I need to know now
Never seen anything saying Leatherman cutters are wire strippers... Gerber's do, but not Leatherman.
You can see that statement a lot in my comments section the last three weeks 😂 I actually didn’t think Gerber’s pliers could strip wire… huh
@@inkiron3907 Gerber's cutters strip wire very well in the notch, i legit have an MP600-ST that i keep the carbide cutters in specifically for that purpose. I actually clipped a live wire with them and it was the one time i was actually able to rotate the cutters instead of replacing them. Lol
It’s not you, man! They messed up the design! You should not have to baby a $200+ tool. And you read the directions right on the air and followed them! ( New subscriber. Keep up the good work.)
Not so much a matter of "technique being WRONG" as a matter of there being a technique that will work with the new design, making them usable, albeit with more difficulty. Anyone sating that someone was "wrong" to use them the normal way is being an ass. But at the same time, if somone is just going to write the tool off entirely because they don't work exactly as expected, that's also pretty dumb.
Its still a flawed design
It’s a redesign that no one needed… I can only assume it saves Leatherman money in some way. Otherwise it doesn’t make sense for them to invest in the change
Ok. Confidence restored. Feel safe to purchase now...thanks!
What microscope and software are you using in this video?
I bought a Charge + alu few days ago in the EU market, there are little arrows on the plierhead next to the hardwire cutter part, pointing exacly there where you placing the wire with the new technique
My cutters that came on a 2023 Surge broke on a wire thinner than that coat hanger. I have no idea how that happened. I thought they were supposed to bend if anything, that's why they switched from 154cm cutters, but mine not only bent but created a fracture that had the chip fall out when I swabbed out the bit of rust from the old wire I had to cut. This was a test & they were not used before. This blew me away.
Leatherman is lying because they don’t want to fix the problem with there design. This was up till now a great American
company that we all could be proud of, shame on them for letting the American public down.
Considering that the previous cutters didn't have this problem, I can't really take your word that it's your technique that is the problem
I would just use the knife to strip wire but also why did they get rid of the v shape stripper
That is strange but it works
I was using mine correctly and shattered the cutters while cutting 1 of the 3 strands in my Romex. ALSO the whilst cutting the sheath away from the Romex with the magnacut blade the magnacut took an edge roll!
I got my cutters swapped when I sent mine for warranty. Maybe you got some from the same bad batch as mine, in which case Leatherman is replacing those right now. I’d just ask them to send a new pair. The blade though… maybe warranty repair is the best option for you
Man this is still a weird thing happening to you. I have the gap at the bottom and mine do cut a coat hanger. It is harder to cut than if you move the hanger up to the area where you were cutting but mins still do cut. I have ordered the replacement cutters on Leatherman's site as they seem to have the old cutters on there now. So strange the plier heads are stiffening up on you and getting looser as to how you cut the hanger. If I was using hard wire cutters everyday I would not want to have to make sure I have them in the right spot to cut it.
Yeah I don’t understand why they changed something that worked… I assume they were trying to save themselves money
The entire issue is with the cutter design. Have an old style that have no gap in on Garage #5.
When I put the cutters from Garage #5 into a Rebar, there is now a massive gap in its' cutters. Want to buy more of the older style cutters. Heck with this new redesigned version that is curved.
V notch wire stripper was better.
Good Day Everyone! Great Follow Up on your Issue with Replaceable Wire Cutters onthe ARC!!!
Went to use my Diamond File on the ARC (had for over a Week now) & Noticed they DO NOT Lock in Place! Looks Like I will be Sending in for Warranty after taking a Video of the Problem... Really have to Question If Quality Control Non-Existant @Leatherman?
at the bottom of the cutters, that gap is what causes the break in the teeth
I’ve been stripping wire with the base of the cutters for years because it’s so much easier than the actual stripping function.
No way the notch is meant for it though. My assumption has been that it was to improve leverage or something. My Knipex cobolt cutters have a similar notch
This is why I like sharing content because I can’t know what everybody else is doing with their tools. Thanks
Huh… if bolt cutters have the rounded notch I wonder if it’s a strength thing… hard to know for sure
@@inkiron3907 yeah no real way to know until Leatherman says it… if they say it.
But yeah it’s the Knipex 71 31 200. Mini bolt cutters. Go through things like butta