The Great Kershaw A100 Multi-Tool Beat The Leatherman Crunch!

One of the only vise grip tools still sold.
Irwin Vise Grip - amzn.to/4cziTTB
www.wiki.multitool.org/tiki-i...
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[@paulbosley6448]

Had one it was awesome. Its somewhere on the side of I 65...broke down Kershaw saved the day then somehow got left behind...drove 90 miles back the next day but couldn't find exactly where I was. Always hoped someone found it.... better than thinking it got buried and lost forever:)

[@hvacbudget8600]

That sinking feeling when you can't find your tool is the worst!

[@Baggytrousers27]

Thinking that it made someone else's day gives my heart the warm fuzzies.

[@IraFriedwald]

Got one at the Kershaw factory store sale one year. Paid about $35.00 for it. Still have it in my car. Great tool.

[@hvacbudget8600]

@@IraFriedwald That is awesome!

[@edwardhance3894]

I didn’t know of the kershaw a100 until now. But I have the same thought as the crunch, if only it came with scissors.

[@12345678927164]

Never knew about this tool. Have to pick one up now. Has all I need

[@hvacbudget8600]

Nice!

[@machmat33]

I purchased an A100 at a kiosk in a mall has to be in the 90s (could have been in the 80s), it was $120, which was a ridiculously high price for multi tool. A year before I was given a Gerber, that had a slip out pair of pliers that did not lock. The A100 is the best multi-tool i have ever owned and i have owned many. Plus points: locking pliers, this is not a toy or gimmick, this is a real tool. Needle nose where the tip is accurate, serrations match and there is very little twist. Once again not a gimmick, a real tool. And this tool is ready to work one handed right out of its case. The leatherman gyrations are not for me, either I am too impatient, too lazy, or the task is too immediate. It is important to be able to go from case to working immediate and with one hand. Same is true for the knife, immediately available to work. As for the rest of the tools. The hacksaw blade is a plus, in a pinch it will cut through a bolt or a lock hasp, but it is also perfect for PVC pipe and other plastics. Not the best for wood, teeth are too fine, but in an emergency when you have but one tool available.... Screw drivers are screw drivers, what can you say, I never found the weird blade of the Phillips to be an issue, and at 90° it will take a bunch of torque. Both the file and saw are proper steel, and will corrode if wet, especially around salt water. Scissors would be great, maybe a bit driver, second knife blade, these ones that use a disposable blade are nice, an awl could be useful. I have half a dozen ... and some I have paid near a hundred bucks used.... I purchased back in the day another four and gave them as gifts. And when they because no longer available reached out to those people asking if they used the tool or if it just sat in the top drawer, and offered to buy it back.... no one would give it up LOL There was available, way back when a copy, made informed Asia I would assume, that was available on ebay for under $50. I bought a couple of these, this was before Kershaw stopped offering the A100. They were unbranded perfect examples, exactly the same as the original. My suspicion is that the original manufacturer was selling outside the brand, probably a copyright infringement or patent infringement. I even went so far as to contact Kershaw directly to ask why they stopped offering the A100, were they considering bring it back to market, and why not? I explained that used examples were going for $150 and NOS for $250. Why would you not take advantage. I got PR speak and no answers. Since the A100 multi-tools have blossomed into quite the industry, with hundreds of offerings and many high quality, and expensive offerings. Still, and i don't know why someone has not brought the A100 back? Would I pay $250 for a new one .... no .... at least not until I destroy the ones I have, then maybe. I have broken the tip off of the knife blade on a couple, i replaced one with a replacement found on ebay. The other i sharpened the squared off end and it might be a better tool. I have one unit that I broke the hinge point, attempting to cut a piece of piano wire. Stupid move on my part. One gets used to these tools being nearly indestructible.... and they are not. Who knows maybe your video (thank you) and others will raise an awareness and help bring one of the very best tools back to market.....

[@hvacbudget8600]

@@machmat33 Really appreciate you sharing your real life experiences!! Very valuable for the multi tool community!

[@Kyoko12345678]

They should bring it back, awesome tool !!!

[@ToolTechGeek]

That is a nice design. 👍

[@maxdeane1092]

Thanks for another awesome comparison

[@hvacbudget8600]

@@maxdeane1092 Thanks!

[@markjones8958]

I heard you say something about not using your Crunch, for fear of breaking/damaging it. I get it. I bought one back in 2021, LM had discontinued it, then brought it back for a short time. I was able to pick one up for $90. I carried it for a short time and then they permanently discontinued and I just put it away. Saving it for one of my grandkids.

[@hvacbudget8600]

@@markjones8958 definitely makes sense!

[@Dirtyhairy69]

@@sz-4b0B9I how often do you use your crunch?

[@markjones8958]

@@sz-4b0B9I They will value it. It will be from their grandpa. Not everything is about monetary value.

[@nightshadefern162]

There was an Irwin/Schrade multitool made about 20-25 years ago. Basically Irwin vice grips in needle nosed format, Schrade tools in the handle. Unfortunately- not all that great. Knife was single bevel, other tools were just not on par with newer multitools. I have one I found in a general store- it was there so long the plastic packaging was yellow. Wish they had done it with a decent tool set and more robust vice grips- the alligator type just dont have the grab side to side. Neat to see these older ones.

[@Baggytrousers27]

There is so much potential in this design! If the patent has long since expired, then that's a perfect opportunity for one of the up and comers to revive/reiterate/revitalise. Fingies crossed some enterprising clever clogs decide to do so.

[@hvacbudget8600]

@@Baggytrousers27 Definitely!

[@MultitoolsandBlades]

If you think the A100 is rare, try finding the A100TA tool adaptor

[@IraFriedwald]

I have the tool adapter too!

[@kathleensmith370]

great info

[@mattyvlietstra5017]

Awesome tool

[@hvacbudget8600]

Thanks!

[@johnflais3776]

The A100 has indeed the nicer toolset, but the pliers don't seem to fold up, placing it into an entirely different category of tool due to "folded length" imho.

[@TylerSnyder305]

There were replace implement packs sold for these at Sears if you wore out the file and saw.

[@hvacbudget8600]

That is awesome!

[@TheBentastic]

It's all made by KAI in Japan, Kershaw's parent company. Where Craftsman sold seperate parts in blister kits, Kershaw didn't. Kershaw sold a very cool bit adapter though. You're crocodile is actually way more rare than the original Kershaw and Craftsman models.

[@hvacbudget8600]

@TheBentastic Really! Wow! I have to say I am really liking the A100!

[@unfi6798]

They're both great tools. Bringing it back will be awesome but require update additional tools that locks etc. For it to be marketable, quality of the metal use & the price is a balancing act. Specific craftsmen/users will buy if it suits their purposes. We will butcher the A100 making the pliers either detachable or folded & making all tools outside obtained..

[@hvacbudget8600]

@@unfi6798 Sounds interesting!!

[@garyp.7501]

The Crunch is better because it collapses down and not poke a hole in your pocket.

[@IraFriedwald]

It came with a belt pouch

[@joshuakoonts3934]

I'm confused, why is everyone saying Kershaw but the tool you're showing is a Craftsman?

[@hvacbudget8600]

@joshuakoonts3934 Kershaw was the brand that made it, also let craftsman sell it under their brand. There is a shrade tool with a craftsman brand and also I think some others as well.

[@andrewfett142]

👍🏼

[@hvacbudget8600]

Finally found a tool with a function the Goat can't do, LoL!

[@andrewfett142]

@@hvacbudget8600 😆vicegrip ability would be very cool. Hey did you see my goat mud test? 🙂

[@seeveiw]

I had the Keyshawn version I feel it was the best tool ever made the crunch is to cheaply made and flimsy I have one and I am greatly disappointed by it They quit making the kershaw and I don’t know why all I can find is way overpriced used ones

[@edwardfletcher7790]

That idiotic phillips driver is totally cursed for recessed screws 😬

[@hvacbudget8600]

@edwardfletcher7790 good point!

[@pastiesandagstring]

“You raised my hopes then dashed them expertly. Bravo!” Don’t understand why Leatherman discontinues their unique tools that have no competition. It just drives up the resale market and doesn’t help them any. Yet they keep making tools like the wave which have like 100 different cheaper alternatives to choose from. The only affordable option now isn’t very desirable either. It’s just a normal vice grip they slapped a blade on so it’s like well why bother? The knife will be too awkward to use and it’s not any more compact than a regular vice grip so there’s just not much point. might as well just carry 2 separate tools.

[@hvacbudget8600]

@pastiesandagstring For a little while there was a crunch clone that was very good but unfortunately it disappeared. At one time it was about $20.

[@MultitoolsandBlades]

Leatherman didn't design the Crunch. They pay an annual licencing fee plus royalties per Crunch made. As long as consumers buy enough of them, Leatherman will make them.

[@pastiesandagstring]

@@MultitoolsandBlades well I don’t know the specific politics of their licensing bs. Really that doesn’t even matter. Point is they were basically the only ones who produced these and now they don’t. So there is no way to know if they’d be selling because buying them is not an option.

[@pastiesandagstring]

@@hvacbudget8600 yea I stumbled across that in my search. It looked like 1 to 1 clone but seems to have disappeared pretty quickly and sadly quite a while ago. Such a shame because it’s a great tool but they’ve basically become an expensive novelty now because no one wants to risk damaging them.

[@mowgli2071]

The reason why they keep redesigning the wave is exactly because there are so many cheaper alternatives. This is why you have the charge, garage number 5, Free P4, and Arc. I have a feeling the surge clones will force a new multitool for the surge market. In a seperate but related subject, if the Dual Force was redesigned, say to add a needle nose and scissors, I think you'd see a new surge variant almost immediately.

[@Bugsyerin5646]

Crunch far out performs this. It's a pity Leatherman is so backwards and short sighted and I have welded on my crunch and worked in the bush with it. It never let me down just Leatherman let me down.

[@simonh6371]

How do you mean LM let you down, is it because they discontinued the Crunch and/or didn't make more modern incarnations of it? I think the Crunch is definitely better as it's way more compact, for what this Kershaw provides you might as well carry a dedicated Vise Grip and other tools as well. I think the Crunch is definitely a better design, the only drawback is that all of the tools are not immediately accessible...I like the fact that it has a 1/4 in bit driver (not LM proprietory bits which I don't rate) but to use it you have to unscrew the tightening screw which is a bit of a faff.

[@markjones8958]

@@simonh6371I think LM could have modified/improved the Crunch and it would have been a good seller. Unless they just priced it too high, which seems to be the going thing.

[@simonh6371]

@@markjones8958 Personally I like the older desigs, even though accessing tools is not as quick as on more modern models like Wave, Free Series etc. but the quality of the individual tools strikes me as being better. I have a Rebar and a Bond, which is basically a PST.

[@hyund9i]

Found one for $100 but l’ll pass.