Paratool Owners! Question about the wire cutter...

[PLAGUE CELL]

Hi all, new here and new to the world of multitools, though have wanted one for a while.

Got a BO Paratool yesterday and just have something to ask about the wire cutter portion of the plier head.

They of course operate like a heavy duty pair of scissors, with the edged jaws overlapping by a few millimetres by the time the pliers are fully closed so you can't see daylight between, like so:


So far so good on my paratool.

However, the cutting edges on mine don't physically touch as they pass like a pair of scissors, they just float over each other until the tips of the needlenose pliers meet. From memory I estimate a gap of about 0.5mm as they cross over.

I'd imagine thicker (but not too thick!) wire would be fine to cut with this, but I reckon stranded wire might get chewed up or forced into a kink in that small gap without being cut.

Can any Paratool owners confirm if the wire cutters on their own tool have this small gap? Trying to figure out if this is a dud from the factory or if this is normal for a Paratool!

Thanks for reading 

[enki_ck]

First of, welcome to the forum.

You are correct in your assumption. Never used the Paratool on stranded wire so I had to test it but it is exactly what happens with it.

Here are some pics.





It's not only a problem with the Paratool. The Victorinox Spirit has problems cutting stranded wire too as do some other multitools.

[kirk13]

Neat picture Enki

@Plauge Cell: Hi and welcome to the madhouse. Just had a peak at my SS Paratool,and yes,there's the gap. Most MTs will struggle with thin stands of wire,my Gerber MP425 had a particularly troublesome failure. Thing to remember is that no matter how handy a MT is,it's not a substitute for the proper tool.

[3rdpig]

Wow, that's pretty awful.  I'm on my way out the door, but I'll have to try my older Paratool when I get home.  I know some of my other tools cut stranded wire perfectly.

Here it comes, "The MTO Great Stranded Wire Cutoff Test of 2013".   

[enki_ck]

Wow, that's pretty awful.  I'm on my way out the door, but I'll have to try my older Paratool when I get home.  I know some of my other tools cut stranded wire perfectly.

Here it comes, "The MTO Great Stranded Wire Cutoff Test of 2013".   

Then I'll have to attach my video I did in a thread last week on a similar topic.

[captain spaulding]

 


Video isn't loading in the thread or on Youtube.

[enki_ck]

Video isn't loading in the thread or on Youtube.

That's weird. It is set to only show to people who have a direct link but I see 24 views of it. Anyone else having problems viewing it?

[captain spaulding]

Video isn't loading in the thread or on Youtube.

That's weird. It is set to only show to people who have a direct link but I see 24 views of it. Anyone else having problems viewing it?

Working now.  That was strange, but so am I so I guess it goes hand in hand. 

[PLAGUE CELL]

Many thanks for the replies guys. Seems a couple of people have the same little gap. I had a look on SOGs site and it appears that the paratool's wire cutters are marketed as 'hard wire cutters', so not too put out about the inability to cut twisted strands.

While at work yesterday I grabbed a few bits and pieces to try and cut when I got home. Some stranded wire, thick and thin guitar strings and a paperclip.

Unfortunately I didn't think to take pics but results were:

Stranded wire: Snarled up like Enki's photo unless I bent it into a V taut between the jaws, when it cut in one squeeze although a little chewed up at the end.

Thin guitar string (0.09inch steel wire): kinked up without cutting. Massively disappointed here as I am a sound engineer and bought this tool to use when working. The wire cutters would be one of the most used parts of the tool when on the job!!!

Thick guitar string  (0.12inch steel wire core wrapped with a tight coil of bronze, overall thickness ~0.32inch): The bronze coil was grippy so was cut by the jaws, however the steel core kinked up without cutting, so I just ended up stripping about .75cm of the bronze coil off and bending the steel core! Again, a disappointment.

Smallish paperclip (estimated 0.16inch diameter steel wire coated in black rubbery plastic): Perfect snip.

Gotta say I'm pretty disappointed here... light gauges of solid wire seem too small for this tool, simply closing that small gap between the cutting faces would sort it out I'm sure, it's not a leverage problem. It's not a heavy-duty MT so I would not really want to cut thick wire, I'd need it mostly for snipping guitar strings and it's fallen short. Maybe the Paratool needs an update :O

Got a Leatherman Kick on the way. Similar size and small tool layout. I'm in the UK so the small, non-locking blades on both the paratool and kick make it less hassle with the law.

If the Kick is also giving me grief I might just grab one of the higher-tier SOGs with seemingly better jaws. I'd have to remove the knife as it's big and it locks, too much hassle for UK carry! At least the SOG tools make it easy to swap out attachments, allowing me to carry a seperate legal blade.

Now... trying to decide whether to return the Paratool - it seems like most have this design flaw but I find the quirky opening mechanism quite charming

[Philthy]

My paratool cuts wire pretty well, about as good as the larger Vic Swisstool

[PLAGUE CELL]

My paratool cuts wire pretty well, about as good as the larger Vic Swisstool

Does yours have the little gap we've been talking about?


Would be interesting to see if older Paratools have the gap...

[Philthy]

Mine doesn't really have a gap, it's almost touching.  I would also add the cutter has a super robust shape.

[PLAGUE CELL]

It's on it's way back to Amazon, gonna try one more time from Heinnie then shall give up.

Surely not too tricky to cast a plier head with that tiny bit of extra metal

Just waiting on an email back from SOG about modifying a Powerlock to remove blades and swap in other bits (v cutter, scissors and wire strippers can only be mounted on left apparently so am asking why)