The Great British MTO cable tie scissors test

[Cupboard]

A few weeks ago the subject of cutting cable ties with MTs came up, and specifically what to do when the tie is tight on to something. A knife isn't ideal because you might cut the bundle, you often can't get the plier's cutters in so really it needs to be scissors.

At the gathering this weekend I brought along some typical 4.8mm cable ties (I resisted the urge to bring my meter long, 1/2" ties!) and we had some fun cutting bits off cable ties with the various scissors available. None of the tools we used were "beaters" as such, the scissors seemed in decent condition, but we didn't use brand new tools for the most part either. We also didn't go easy on tools - I borrowed a bit of inner tube so I could put more pressure on the thumb pads on a few tools (my Vic Manager for instance). I tried all of the scissors but there was a small team of us doing the testing so the results aren't just my opinion. The results are below!

Fail: the scissors couldn't cut the tie. Sometimes this was because I reached my thumb's pain threshold before anything happened (Wenger serrated scissors ISTR fell in to this camp), sometimes this was because the tie slid right out the end of the scissors and you couldn't get any purchase on it (Wingman) and sometimes this was because the scissors separated.
Semi pass: the scissors did cut the tie but it was either a lot of effort (multiple tries at the same spot) or painful.
Pass: the scissors cut the tie.
Good pass: the scissors cut the tie really easily.
Sometimes the scissors would cut a tie near the pivot but not out towards the tips. I have tried to note this where it happened.

Buck X-Tract Essential: Fail: scissors are too big and flimsy so they spread.
Buck X-Tract Fin: Good pass

Fake SwissCard: Fail 

Gerber Balance: Fail
Gerber Dime: Fail
Gerber MP400/600 (Same scissors): Semi pass, better than the Juice
Gerber MP700 - Pass
Gerber Splice: Good at base. ISTR the scissors separated near the tip.
Gerber/BG Strata: 1/2 pass, 1/2 fail. I also couldn't use the locks

Leatherman Juice: Semi pass
Leatherman Micra & Squirt CS: Very good pass, really solid right to the tips and one of the best tested.
Leatherman PSTII: Semi fail
Leatherman Pulse: Semi pass all the way along.
Leatherman Squirt PS4 & Style PS: Pass! Actually quite good.
Leatherman Wave: Pass, very difficult at the tip due to lack of leverage.
Leatherman Wingman: Complete and utter fail, no purchase at all and not sturdy enough either. Quite amusingly bad!

Paul Chen Multi Tasker: Very good, unsurprisingly! But if you're going to carry something this big just to cut cable ties you might as well carry side cutters.

Sog (on a Powerlock but they're the same across the range): Fail. They just wouldn't go through.

Vic 58mm: Semi pass: painful
Vic 84mm: Semi pass: painful
Vic 91mm: Semi pass: painful
Vic Swisstool: Semi pass, they did well at the base toward the pivot.
Vic Swisstool Spirit: Semi pass: hard work

Wenger 65mm: Fail
Wenger 85mm: Semi pass toward the pivot, fail at tip.
Wenger Ranger - Good pass for the first 3/4 of the scissors, fail for the tips.

Hopefully that should be of use to someone! There are obviously some tools missing, the Suspension for instance, however the scissors on them might be similar to another tool (like the MP 700 in this example). And you shouldn't be buying a Suspension anyway The glaring omission to me is the Surge - sorry.

Many thanks to everyone for bringing along tools to be tested and in some cases allowing them to be, essentially, abused.

[kirk13]

And everyone thought we were just goofing off

[Zed]

Good test  ive found the surges scissors great on zipties 

[Taxi Dad]

we were counting on you bringing the 'surge' Paul  (shame you couldn't make it mate, next time?)

[Zed]

we were counting on you bringing the 'surge' Paul  (shame you couldn't make it mate, next time?)

Even if i have to cycle up michael   

[nate j]

Thanks for posting this.  New respect for the Micra and Style CS; may have to pick up one or the other.

LM, I'm still waiting for my DC4 though...  

[3rdpig]

I cut plastic wire ties all the time and I've always considered the Gerber tools to be the best of those that have scissors in the handle, so I'm rather surprised they failed so hard in your tests.  I just bought a Balance and it seems to have the same scissors that the Fit does, and I've cut dozens of wire ties with those and it cuts them pretty easily.

I have large hands and strong fingers, maybe that's what it is, but I find the Juice scissors to be marginal and the Vic scissors even worse, and I've got dozen Vic SAKs and a Spirit.  I've got a Swisstool too but it has no scissors.  And the scissors in my Powerlock are unusable for anything tougher than heavy paper.

And yea, the Micra and Squirt S4 scissors go through them like butter, but I'm mainly talking about tools where the main tool isn't scissors.

I'm not sure what size ties I'm cutting, they're the size I usually find in computers and other small electronics, not the tiny ones, but not the large size I see in automotive stuff.  I've got a few big ones, I'll have to give them a go.

[theonew]

Leatherman Squirt PS4 & Style PS: Pass! Actually quite good.
Vic 91mm: Semi pass: painful

Cutting tight cable ties and trimming nose hair are among the very few tasks where scissors are required or even close to being the most efficient tool. For most other things a sharp knife is faster and more accurate. Yet everyone just seems to fawn over scissors, to the point where they pay money to have them added to an Alox SAK What a waste of a larger SAK layer when

Vic 58mm: Semi pass: painful

gets you the same functionality.

Thanks for this test

[Taxi Dad]

Leatherman Squirt PS4 & Style PS: Pass! Actually quite good.
Vic 91mm: Semi pass: painful

Cutting tight cable ties and trimming nose hair are among the very few tasks where scissors are required or even close to being the most efficient tool. For most other things a sharp knife is faster and more accurate. Yet everyone just seems to fawn over scissors, to the point where they pay money to have them added to an Alox SAK What a waste of a larger SAK layer when

Vic 58mm: Semi pass: painful

gets you the same functionality.

Thanks for this test

try trimming fingernails with a *sharp knife* ! 
personally i'd have scissors on a multitool/SAK rather than a *knife blade* (if I had to choose one or the other (and not just because of the silly British laws) but i'd definitely have scissors over a PE blade + Serrated blade on one tool.
I often here the statement "you can do most jobs with a knife blade that you would use scissors for", well maybe.... but I think of it like this. "I could dig a well with a bucket, but i'd much prefer a shovel !"

[xt60043f]

I insist you include the SOG V-Cutter in this test.  That thing will demolish ANY cable tie.

[HankSolon]

Vic Swisstool: Semi pass, they did well at the base toward the pivot.
Vic Swisstool Spirit: Semi pass: hard work

I allways cut cable ties with the pliers.

[Taxi Dad]

as said at the start of this thread "it's not always possible to get to a cable tie with pliers"
we didn't try V-cutters (did we?) perhaps that needs another test? I've had success with the 'Wingman package opener' V cable tie  and different shaped blades ARE much easier/safer to use sometimes (think rescue blade/Vic butter blade)

[kirk13]

I think the only v-cutter we had was on your Powerlock,but I thought the definition of the test was about scissors/snips cutting cable ties

[Raukodur]

Quite pleased the Style PS and Squirt PS scissors passed the test well, those are the scissors I have gone for my EDC currently.

[Cupboard]

I would like to see how a cutting hook fares actually - I should have tried TD's Powerlock in hindsight.

I allways cut cable ties with the pliers.

I do where I can but more often than not the tie is tight on to the bundle so I can't. I so sometimes managed to lop the ratchet bit off.

[Steinar]

try trimming fingernails with a *sharp knife* ! 

Err... That's what I've been doing for, I dunno, 20 years or so? I never use clippers, scissors or files for my nails. Perhaps my knives aren't sharp enough for them to be useless at the task? 

I mainly use scissors on multitools to remove plastic tags from new clothes and stuff like that.

Thanks for the test, brave MT.o of The Other Side Of The North Sea! (I never dare writing anything specific about those isles of yours, I always get UK/GB/etc wrong anyway. )

[stealth007s]

I really like the Micra and Squirt S4 for cable tie cutting.

[theonew]

try trimming fingernails with a *sharp knife* ! 

Err... That's what I've been doing for, I dunno, 20 years or so? I never use clippers, scissors or files for my nails. Perhaps my knives aren't sharp enough for them to be useless at the task? 

I mainly use scissors on multitools to remove plastic tags from new clothes and stuff like that.

Thanks for the test, brave MT.o of The Other Side Of The North Sea! (I never dare writing anything specific about those isles of yours, I always get UK/GB/etc wrong anyway. )

 

[Cupboard]

Thanks for the test, brave MT.o of The Other Side Of The North Sea! (I never dare writing anything specific about those isles of yours, I always get UK/GB/etc wrong anyway. )

The meetup was in England and involved people from across the UK. The UK is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The biggest contiguous block is the island of Great Britain, which includes England, Wales and Scotland. There are various smaller "Crown Dependencies" like the Channel Islands.

So, "UK" is the state (that is you'd be at war with The UK), GB is the big island on which quite a lot (but by no means all) of The UK is based and people from The UK are British people.

Edit: and I used "Great British" (or originally Breat because I'm a bit useless) in the title as a bit of a joke. It was a fairly large scale (i.e. great) test by some Brits (i.e. British) on the island of Great Britain.

[Steinar]

Yeah, simple...   

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Nice one Mr Cupboard, Sir  There's a fair few surprises in that list Tom, and I was quite surprised sitting there watching too. There were a number of tools that I didn't expect to be phased by those tie wraps which really struggled.

Gerber/BG Strata: 1/2 pass, 1/2 fail. I also couldn't use the locks

  That had me in stitches!!! It wasn't the fact that you struggled with 'em, it was the way your face contorted and shoulders shrugged as you tried to "will" those locks open with every essence of your being 

[scrappy]

Nice list f results, thanks!

[nate j]

Nice one Mr Cupboard, Sir  There's a fair few surprises in that list Tom, and I was quite surprised sitting there watching too. There were a number of tools that I didn't expect to be phased by those tie wraps which really struggled.

Gerber/BG Strata: 1/2 pass, 1/2 fail. I also couldn't use the locks

  That had me in stitches!!! It wasn't the fact that you struggled with 'em, it was the way your face contorted and shoulders shrugged as you tried to "will" those locks open with every essence of your being 

And where is the video??? 

[AimlessWanderer]

I was laughing too much 

[Cupboard]

It should have been so easy, yet wasn't! 

I think (hope?) the locks might have have been a bit wonky - when I did them with my spare hand I could straighten them and they moved easily but I just couldn't get the purchase on them in my holding hand to do it. Problem is I was the only person struggling 

My Spirit has similar locks and I've never had a problem with them.

[Lynn LeFey]

In my testing, this is one of the few absolute wins of the SOG Crosscut over the Micra in performance. I'm a little sad one didn't show up for the party. The compound leverage at the scissor tips makes it a tad easier.

Awesome to see the Squirt line and 58mm Vics doing so well here. I like both of them, and particularly for their compact size, they're surprisingly capable cutters.

For ease of reference, I'm going to cross link this to my scissor test thread.
http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,36798.0.html

[AimlessWanderer]

In my testing, this is one of the few absolute wins of the SOG Crosscut over the Micra in performance. I'm a little sad one didn't show up for the party. The compound leverage at the scissor tips makes it a tad easier.

My bad  Thought I'd packed it, but it was sat at home all lonely and frightened 

[Lynn LeFey]

Not a problem at all. It's close enough to the Micra for most people's needs. When I was working IT, and had to do a lot of cable tie cutting occasionally (moving servers or whatever), it was an advantage. Nowadays, it doesn't matter.

If you'd like to just try it at home and give your opinion, that'd be cool. I admit to my own possible bias, and confirmation from someone who is theoretically more sane than me would be cool.

[AimlessWanderer]

Not a problem at all. It's close enough to the Micra for most people's needs. When I was working IT, and had to do a lot of cable tie cutting occasionally (moving servers or whatever), it was an advantage. Nowadays, it doesn't matter.

If you'd like to just try it at home and give your opinion, that'd be cool. I admit to my own possible bias, and confirmation from someone who is theoretically more sane than me would be cool.

That's me ruled out then 


 

I will see what size tie wraps I have though 

[Blackbeard]

Put down the MT, Diagonal cutting pliers are best for this, your fingers will thank me.