Gordon Multitool Fail

Lessons learned can be applied to better tools

[@thisfishsmellsgood4084]

Also for all we know, you broke it just to shit on the company. You seem like that type of person

[@AtomicBleach]

Well take it to any harbor frieght and get a new one. Cant do that with leatherman. You will be out of a tool for a month or so while it goes though warranty.

[@billybunter3753]

Wouldn't have happened in the first place with a leatherman!

[@MontanaEbiker]

Mine said lifetime warranty when i bought it online. You may want to bring it in and swap it out for a new one!

[@Toycoma]

I broke my Leatherman rebar that same way

[@nightshadefern162]

Did they replace or fix it?

[@f.avilla6383]

@@nightshadefern162 i have a Gerber, not sure of the exact one, but its about 10 years old, i broke the file, and emailed Gerber, after i filled out their warranty and took pictures, they mailed me a new one.

[@Robertssurvivalsystems]

Im Glad I happened across your vid, I was just about ready to buy one of those. Thanks for the 411.

[@nightshadefern162]

I think holding off until they get the process hammered down might be prudent. 😅

[@MilledSteel]

Same here

[@lospanchos68]

I’ve broke the pliers on leather man rebar tool, and skelatool twice. Sent them back to leather man and they fixed with minimal questions asked. Take those back to harbor freights chances are they will take care of you.

[@mdsuave13]

are you going to show your file mods, I have a wave and your mods were impressive

[@nightshadefern162]

I think I did show the finished product after the file mod on the crayfish trap video, unless it got edited out. The file mod turned out really good has a few new features too. Stay tuned and Ill do a more in depth in it.

[@richardsullivan1776]

That's too bad. I'm a huge Leatherman fan. I'm not one for the many "Wave" clones out there but this was the one I really liked. Its currently sold out at the two nearest stores about 30- 35 miles away in my area. I wonder how the other people's experience is going with the Harbor Freight Gordon 20-1.

[@nightshadefern162]

This tool may have permanently sold me on the (actual) Wave+. Other than the qc issue, I loved how it functioned and just how downright useful it was. Even broken, I’m still running it over my Swiss army knife. I also wonder if I simply got a lemon or if that spells disaster for the Gordon and its reputation.

[@richardsullivan1776]

@@nightshadefern162 I purchase many of my Leatherman's used online. You can find a nice secondhand Wave for $60. I love mine. I carry it with me almost everywhere. 25-year hassle free warranty. I'm still carious about the Gordon. Like you said, it could very well be a lemon.

[@keeperoftruth5951]

Good news is it has a 90 day warranty

[@thisfishsmellsgood4084]

As I spoke to the salesman, it is actually a lifetime warranty. It says ninety days, but the manager told me it is a lifetime warranty.

[@billybunter3753]

​@@thisfishsmellsgood4084And it's gonna need it, time and time again!

[@sidben-Yehoshuwa]

35.00 dollars nuff said

[@Spanky8402]

My Ozark Trail Multiforce broke just like this. I had it for a year, but I mostly used the bit adapter and flat driver as a lite pry tool. The pliers were used as big tweezers, until I needed them to twist a nut off. They gave way a little and I looked at it and the entire jaw fell to the ground. The metal looked grainy, or like you said, kinda powder look. I think it's a sign of over heating. Our plier head probably had a stress fracture and it was either hidden by the finish, or deep in the metal. I had a pair of Stanley pliers that broke on me and I got a replacement and I had the replacement since the early 2000's, so I think it could happen with any heat treated metal. I personally know a few contractors who have a Multiforce like mine that broke and since it was 1 of the 1st Wave Clones, many people tested them, so in my case with my Multiforce, I probably got a defective plier head. I put a wire stripper head on the Multiforce handles and I love it even more like that. Thanks for sharing your experience. I personally like full sized bits and I have a Leatherman Knifeless Rebar, with the bit adapter. I have a few flat bits but I don't really like them. I use my multitools daily, mostly for the bit driver's, but I also need Torx and Square bits though. If I was just a DIY or EDC my multitools, the flat bits would be a awesome space saver. Like you said in other comments, you could have gotten a lemon or Gordon messed up. Time will see. I wouldn't write off the company for 1 breakage.

[@nightshadefern162]

Might just be growing pains so to speak, not every product comes out of the gate perfect. Good info and thanks for the comment.

[@billybunter3753]

The old saying comes to mind, you only get what you pay for!

[@6atlantis]

Are the cutters replaceable. Whether they are or aren’t I wouldn’t be cutting 90 wires like that with a multi tool. Not that it can’t do it but that’s when it’s time to pull out the snips or bolt cutters, I’d rather keep the multitool pristine for occasional snips or emergency snips lol

[@6atlantis]

I’m realizing now you were using the pliers not the cutters, I think lol.

[@nightshadefern162]

Correct, however it may not have mattered, as the break was below the cutters. The cutters are not replaceable. The cutters had no issue with 18 gauge galvanized wire- they were sharp and kept an edge.

[@akbychoice]

Looks like a powdered metal sinter process was used but not correctly.

[@nightshadefern162]

Sounds like you are more knowledgeable about that sort of thing than I. Is there a reason the flaky stuff would just pop through the surface? The other side of the pliers is now getting bubbly- obviously not being used. Weird stuff.

[@thisfishsmellsgood4084]

It's not a rip-off. It was a bad cast mine. I've been beating the crap out of daily bend thought that it was going to snap, but nope, it still hasn't.

[@reg428]

That's always my concern when I see cheap multi tools. It's the quality and heat treatment of the steel.

[@daviddarlingauthor]

Do you think it's just a bad one-off?

[@nightshadefern162]

That could be. I have seen some photos of others breaking in the same spot. Maybe a bad batch?

[@andrewfett142]

👍🏼 Dang😲

[@Mike-kc8rl]

These overseas cheapos are never going to be as good as a Leatherman,who put their tools through the tests and beyond! As they say ,you buy cheap,you buy twice!

[@nightshadefern162]

This thing has been a gateway drug into multitools though, and helped me figure out what I really want, need and can do to a tool to make it really fit my needs. And weed out Leatherman or other brand multi tools that I might ultimately have been disappointed with. In some ways, it may have saved me hundreds.

[@dontblameme6328]

You get what you pay for.

[@zachrogers1985]

I broke my Leatherman 300 doing the same job on our chicken coupe.

[@nightshadefern162]

Same sort of break? (I swear I’m going to have to weld some good pliers to one of these tools to get it right)

[@astaschak]

Almost looks like it was broke before and got brazed back together and resold as new.

[@nightshadefern162]

I wondered if that might be the case. Its possible!

[@keeperoftruth5951]

The tool hasn't been in the shelf long on enough for it to have been a harbor freight store to send it back to corporate to be fixed and resold

[@JordanClifford-wl5ms]

Stopped watching after you tried comparing a forged tool to a multi tool. Forging and castings are two different things my guy.