Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Leatherman Crisis!

Hey, anybody know how to un-stick the pliers on a Leatheman? Both M and I have totally horked our multi-tools up cutting tie wire.

I tried spraying mine out with brake cleaner and then lubing it with Marvel oil. I've worked it back and forth about 46,392 times and it's not working at all.

Doom!

5 comments:

Radio Bloger said...

The cutting blades on the leatherman are softer than a regular pair of side cutters.

I have done this to all of my leatherman tools, if you take a close look you will likely see a chink, bulge, or bend in the cutting blade in the lower inside v area of the pliers.

You can attempt to remove some metal with a file or a dremel tool but the cutter will never be the same.

Joel said...

The cutting blades on the leatherman are softer than a regular pair of side cutters.

I've noticed that with his: His cutter blades are all F'ed up and that may be why his pliers won't open. My Leatherman is about twelve years old and the cutter blades have held up much better than his (also I think mine have cut a lot less tie wire, since during our cutting sessions off-site I used a pair of diagonal cutters and I don't think he did.)

But my pliers simply don't work freely at all, even when the jaws are separated enough that the cutter blades aren't working. It's never done this before. I thought it was a simple matter of cleaning and lubing them, but nothing seems to help.

CaptGooch said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
CaptGooch said...

Among the many reasons I carry a Leatherman daily is that the company has a no questions 25-year repair or replace warranty.
I quote their letter to me:

Thank you for contacting us regarding your Leatherman(r) tool. All Leatherman(r) tools have a 25-year guarantee against defects in material and workmanship. Engraving of any kind is not covered under our warranty.
Since we do not have a paid for repair service if our warranty department does not opt to repair or replace it would be sent back as
is. I would send it in as about 95% of the tools that we receive are covered.

Please send your Leatherman tool to:
LTG
Attn: Warranty Dept.
12106 N.E. Ainsworth Circle
Portland, OR 97220

We highly recommend sending tools to us via UPS or Fed-EX as they are
automatically insured and trackable to our door. We cannot be
responsible for items that do not reach us. Please include a letter with your name, street address (we return items via UPS), phone umber and a brief description of the problem with the tool. Your only cost is postage and insurance to get the tool to us. No proof of purchase is necessary to take advantage of the warranty.

If your tool is not repairable, but has not been retired, it will be replaced with another tool of the same style. Should the tool be a retired model it will be replaced with the most comparable tool available.

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Teresa Gregg
Leatherman Tool Group Inc.
-----

And yes a Leatherman is super handy but no it is not really a replacement for an actual assortment of hand tools in terms of constant heavy [or commercial] use.

I would substitute an 8 inch pair of Klein linemans pliers and save the new Leatherman you will probably get from Tim Leatherman and his excellent crew at Leatherman Tool Group.[for the price of the postage one way]

Sorry to butt in.

CaptGooch

Joel said...

Thanks, Gooch! I may try this.

J