Check it out! A new forum!

[Grant Lamontagne]

I've wanted to do this one for a while!

Since cheapos outsell all of the major manufacturers, it seemed kind of silly to me that we didn't have a place to explore the dark and dingy underbelly of the multitool world!   

Here's a cheapie to get us started....





The fact is, provided that you only want to use this set for bulky plier jobs, it's not a bad tool.



Of course, if you wanted to say tighten a screw or cut something you'd be pretty frustrated with this thing in a hurry.



Note the awesome scrutiny that Quality Control obviously places on this tool by the crooked 80's style puffy stickers and the rust spots despite only ever being out of a drawer long enough to get it's picture taken....

More threads a comin' so stay tuned.... or better yet, show off some of your not-show-off-ables! 

Def

[Lynn LeFey]

Oh my God....

It's like a whole new section made just for me.

It's.... it's beautiful, man!!!

(sniffle)

My cheapos... all together in one crappy pile.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Lynn, you are the one that helped me push this place over the line and make it happen!  Until you came along there was very little support for cheapos, despite the fact that they aren't all bad.  Of course, the bad ones are the fun ones, but there are a lot of decent cheapos too.

I knew you'd appreciate this one! 

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

BTW, I think I have that knife on the right.  The plier tool I pictured above was part of a seven or eight in one set of awful tools and Swiss type knives.  My mother in law gave it to me for Christmas a number of years ago.  There was a crescent wrench with fold out tools in the handles as well.

Horrible set and I'm not certain most of them survived the rigors of living in a drawer, and believe it or not the one I pictured above was the best of the bunch!

Def

[Lynn LeFey]

Yeah, I bought the Sheffield at the top of the picture, the knife, the silver swiss knock-off (used to have those ugly puffy red stickers), and my totally beloved Sheffield 12010 for $16 at a pawn shop. The PST knock-off (Sheffield 1200E) is the best copy I've encountered. The knife isn't actually bad. That SAK knock-off is TERRIBLE.

Thanks for the kind words. I grew up seriously poor, and it kind of hurts to think there might be poor kids out there not willing to show off their tools, talk about them, learn and grow, for fear of 'tool snobs'. I think most of us universally agree that most any tool is better than no tool.

Do you plan (or are you able) to pull the already-existing cheapo MT thread into here?

[Grant Lamontagne]

Send me links to whatever you think should be in here and I (or another moderator) would be happy to assist you. 

I may not have grown up poor, but I've been making up for it in my adult life! 

Seriously though, I have often thought we were becoming brand snobs (and in many cases we are) despite there being a liberal helping of cheapos and off brands being discussed here.  Hopefully this will bring the other end of the spectrum into the light.  I am quite fascinated by some cheapos, and while I do not condone the theft of someone else's intellectual property, if it happens and we don't talk about it we are doing the tool using world a major disservice.

Def

[jerseydevil]

Very cool!  Lynn, it's your own personal MT.O playground!    I have some cheapos laying around here, gotta get some pics up.....

[enki_ck]

Nice, I have one or two that I could do a review on. Great idea, Def.

[Outback in Idaho]

Excellent idea, Grant. 

If only had kept the cheapies that I tossed out a moving car or into the trash bin. Could of posted their devious pics here. So for now, just have to say GREAT IDEA!

 

[ozarkcajun]

You never know. With China, or other Asian countries making so much of what we buy, there maybe a brand or two that "aren't a bad little tree, Charlie Brown". Hoping this will be an interesting forum!!!!

[Grant Lamontagne]

Excellent idea, Grant. 

If only had kept the cheapies that I tossed out a moving car or into the trash bin. Could of posted their devious pics here. So for now, just have to say GREAT IDEA!

 

Next time you want to huck a multitool out the window of a moving car, be sure to film it because I'd sure like to see that! 

You never know. With China, or other Asian countries making so much of what we buy, there maybe a brand or two that "aren't a bad little tree, Charlie Brown". Hoping this will be an interesting forum!!!!

There's a lot of good stuff coming out of the Orient- MultiTasker tools are made there and I'd put their quality up against Leatherman any day of the week.  The design may have issues, but the manufacturing is top notch.  Ditto for some Spydercos.

Look at how intricate a printed circuit is:



Most of those come from China- are you suggesting that they can make those by the millions but the fifty or so pieces that go into a multitool are beyond them? 

The fact is, Asian manufacturers are more than capable of making things at least as, if not higher quality than anyone else- they just don't because that's not the stuff we buy by the truckload.  We are more responsible for cheap crap coming out of Asia than the Asians are.   

Def

[jerseydevil]

I agree with that 100% Def.  Case in point - my two favorite pocket MTs are Chinese made Gerbers, the Octane and the Balance.  Rough Rider knives make a regular appearance in my pocket.  All day today my folder was an Enlan L01.  I have lots of folders, but that's the one I chose and have no problem doing it.  There are a lot of good quality Chinese made tools and knives out there.  It took me a long time to realize that, and it sucks in a way, because I was really missing out.  Take a look at my Chinese folder collection thread in the Edged Tools forum.  I can take any of those knives and use them all day without any performance issues.  To me how well something works is more important than where it was built.  I've had my share  of US made duds on many fronts.

[Grant Lamontagne]

I couldn't agree more- that's why starting this particular subforum was important to me.  I don't know why I didn't do it sooner- just lazy I guess....

Def

[TMFKAMJ]

I saw this and thought, a new subforum! tis magic!

[Ombudsman]

A Mega Like for this new forum ! 

[dks]

I told people several times that a lot more people carry a cheap no-name multitool/knife/torch rather than any of the branded ones that we have forums for but they just do not listen..
As you said we need a place for the rest (the majority really) apart from the General forum that was the only option until now.

I have a few reviews or threads relating to cheaper stuff that could be linked (no point moving them I think as they are in the proper review section) here.

I am just not that happy with the Cheap and Cheerful title... sounds   cheap   

Maybe the title could change so as to embrace other not cheap but lesser known tools, like the Buck, Schrade etc...

[gregozedobe]

I am just not that happy with the Cheap and Cheerful title... sounds   cheap   

Maybe the title could change so as to embrace other not cheap but lesser known tools, like the Buck, Schrade etc...

I love the idea of this new forum, but tend to agree re the title. "Cheap and Cheerful" still has a slight odour of brand snobbery to me.  I'll suggest "Budget and No-name tools" as a title, but others can probably come up with something better ?

I have quite a few tools that definitely fit into this category, but not all are rubbish by a long shot.

[Outback in Idaho]

Scrap Yard and Other Oddities

[Grant Lamontagne]

The Mods and I went over and back again for a name for this forum and this was the best we'd come up with.  If folks want to submit names we could vote on them and the winner would get.... what else, a cheap tool! 

My original plan was to call it Cheap & Nasty, but as the forum was motivated in a large part by Lynn's posts the mods thought that was a bit insulting to her!   

Def

[dks]

"Others"

"Alternative Multitools"

"Tools with no Fan base"

"Tools for regular people"

"Various"

...

[AimlessWanderer]

I think Budget & Off-Brand Tools does sound better than Cheap and Cheerful. Not only would that provide a home for the likes of the popular Utilikey, but also for tools like the Wichard slip-joint pliers tool .... which isn't actually very cheap at all 

Or we could just call it Lynn's Lair 

[Landrew]

I used to work at a store where we sold a pretty nice multiplier, with wood grain handles, list price $19.99. we put them on sale for $9.99. Our cost was $2.88.

[Landrew]

Chinese tools are as good as they have to be, nothing more. If someone is willing to buy them at a certain price for a certain quality, that's the quality they will be. If higher quality is required, higher quality is delivered.  It's not a matter of what they can or can't manufacture; they have been able to manufacture basically anything.  They are on-track to land people on the moon, last i heard.

[nuphoria]

He wouldn't listen to me about the name...

[Grant Lamontagne]

I listened to all of you.... that's why its not called Cheap & Nasty!

Def

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

[Lynn LeFey]

My original plan was to call it Cheap & Nasty, but as the forum was motivated in a large part by Lynn's posts the mods thought that was a bit insulting to her!   

 

Oh, man... is it still insulting if it's true? 

[Grant Lamontagne]

Hey, check me out!  I'm the guy over here, not making any comments!  Yup, I'm not touching that one!

Def

[dks]

A thread that people may not be aware of that is within the spirit of this sub-forum:

http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,13689.0.html

The Great "inspired tools" thread..

[Lynn LeFey]

Good call on that.
 

I just came across a juice-alike, and wondered if it was worth the $20 it was listed for.

[Outback in Idaho]

Know what I like best about this forum? It does not reply on that stupid Adobe Flash. Lately it seems about every 5 minutes that I get notified on 90% of the other web sites that damned thing has crashed yet again!

About the only thing Adobe Flash is useful here is the YouTube videos.