Steel comparison: LM - Vic - Gerber - SOG

[ThePeacent]

So, I just wanted to ask you guys what's your opinion on the steel used in these 4 brands for the MTs, specially the wire cutters and blades. A bit of discussion, if you will.



These are my opinions after carrying all brands' tools for many years:



Please chime in with your opinions and experiences!



LM - Their wire cutters (non replaceable) are hard, they rarely dent and dull progressively, in the long run. Hard to deform.
Their replaceable wire cutters are hard, but not prone to chipping, and do really add life and time to the tool's function.
LM blades are super easy to sharpen, hold an edge reaonably well and can be brought back to shaving sharp in a minute. Nice heat treat, consistent and trustable (sp?). Medium rust resistance





Vic - Wire cutters are the toughest and harder to dent/deform. They never fail to cut, but are limited to some really specific types of wire. They need a lot, a lot of use before getting dull. The blade steel is really soft, dulls easily and bends with minimal effort. The blades are easy to bring back to high sharpness, but not as easy as other brands. Hard, hard to rust





Gerber - Soft steel, bends with medium force and doesn't hold up to years of use before dulling. It's tough and flexible, though, and I find it easy to fix or repair. Replaceable versions are crap, they do well at nothing. Their blades are the softest of all brands, get hair popping sharp in no time but lose their sharpness as quickly. Can be fixed and tuned in almost any material available. They never chip, they deform. Rusts easily





SOG - Wire cutters are so soft that they defeat the Compound Leverage's advantage. Harder to fix than Gerber's, and will fail to cut many types of common wire. The blade steel is the hardest of all four brands, gets scary sharp but can chip if treated badly, and takes a bit more time and technique to sharpen. Rusts easily





What are your thoughts, and what have you found after using your MTs? Thanks guys!

[SteveC]

Nice comparison 

[Poncho65]

Great comparison and pics I have found very similar experiences with Vic and LM but I even though I have a SOG and a Gerber MT I haven't ever really used them that much  I do have a Gerber knife that I have used some and it seems to sharpen and hold an edge fairly well but it is over 20 years old and in that length of time a lot has happened to Gerber (both good and bad ) I do need to get my SOG out and try it a bit just to see how it holds up though Like I said good pics and good thread

[shark_za]

When it comes to the knives you are discussing Leathermans 420HC, Vics X55CrMo14 and Gerbers 420HC on some models or 420J2 on others.
My Gerber Octane uses 420J2 and is horrible.

Leatherman offers upgrades to 154CM and even S30V in some models. Far superior to the rest. But are they needed on a multitool?

[Poncho65]

When it comes to the knives you are discussing Leathermans 420HC, Vics X55CrMo14 and Gerbers 420HC on some models or 420J2 on others.
My Gerber Octane uses 420J2 and is horrible.

Leatherman offers upgrades to 154CM and even S30V in some models. Far superior to the rest. But are they needed on a multitool?

I swapped out the PE blade of my Wave from 420HC to a 154CM years ago and my Wave stays scary sharp much longer than it did with the original steel blade LM 420HC is on the rest of my LM and I am very pleased with how they perform as well but the little bit higher end steel does seem to edge out the competition 

[Monrogue]

Interesting comparison

Sent from my SM-G920R4 using Tapatalk

[jerseydevil]

I agree that Gerber replacable cutters suck. As to the non-replaceable ones, tools, and blades, I have never personally seen an MP that has failed.  I was in the home improvement field for over a decade, and saw lots of them. Very popular tool choice in that profession.

[anditsgone]

For blades i like the Vic steel the most, i could not get my leatherman blades as sharp as the vic blades and i couldn't notice a lot of difference in how long the edges last.

For wirecutters i have not accomplished to damage neither a vic or lm wire cutter. I am not really fond of the replaceble cutters because they didn't really cut braided wire that good and also kept rubbing against eachother.

[ThePeacent]

SOG wire cutters are definitively soft.



It bugs me, having the C.Leverage but being unable to cut big, hard or stranded things.



 I've bent and deformed a Powerlock head completely (misalignes, dented...) with not so hard use, and my PPP and BlackTip weren't able to cut pretty basic wire, even though the compound leverage exerted great amounts of force.



And I agree, the MP series are true beasts!



None of my 3 MP600 have ever failed, broken or dented.

[zoidberg]

You might find this interesting. High Tensile Wire Cutting Test, Warning: Minor Tool Abuse