Anyone else have a problem with Marble's safety pliers?

[ChopperCharles]

I just got a brand new copy from eBay, and the plier jaws don't close all the way. The plier handle hits the body of the tool before the jaws close all the way. That means they cannot cut wires (or fishing line) either. That's a BIG problem. There are some other minor niggles I don't like about the tool (poorly placed nail nick for the main blade and useless file), but the big problem is the useless wire cutters and jaws that can't grasp thin items. Should I attempt to send this back? Or is this common?

Charles.

[clown]

I just got a brand new copy from eBay, and the plier jaws don't close all the way. The plier handle hits the body of the tool before the jaws close all the way. That means they cannot cut wires (or fishing line) either. That's a BIG problem. There are some other minor niggles I don't like about the tool (poorly placed nail nick for the main blade and useless file), but the big problem is the useless wire cutters and jaws that can't grasp thin items. Should I attempt to send this back? Or is this common?

Charles.

Sorry to hear about your dud, Charles.  It's sad that Marbles seems to have gone the way of so many other once storied American brands with regards to quality. 
  I don't have this particular tool but when it comes to sending it back or not I would ask if the issues you discovered will keep you from using it as you intended or keep you from enjoying the tool.  If the answer is yes to either of these then there's really no point keeping it. 
  I would imagine that while you might have gotten a lemon when it comes to the plier issue, the nail nick placement and useless file will likely be the same even on a replacement. 
  If you give up on the Marbles there are other similar tools out there you could try. 

(Just saw your post in the SOG forum and edited out my suggestion to try the Micro ToolClip  )

[ChopperCharles]

Well the nail nick is not a big deal to me. The jaws not closing is. The thing is, I think I can just grind some of the handle away to make it close all the way. So if they’re all like this, I’ll grind and keep it. But if I’ve gotten a dud I’d rather exchange it for one that doesn’t need mods.

There is also the possibility that the eBay seller has factory seconds or something that he is selling. So may be a better idea to find another seller as well.

Charles.

[gregozedobe]

I just had a good look at the two (brand new) examples I have (purchased 2013), and they are both the same as yours - gap on the plier teeth and the cutters don't meet either.  I doubt that a replacement will be any better so my suggestion is that you ask the seller for a refund and look for something else.

[ChopperCharles]

Well, that sucks.

I figured it's only $13, so I might as well try and make them usable.... and... well... I can't. Not easily. I ground down the handle so it didn't contact the frame when fully squeezing the pliers. In retrospect, a better idea would be to heat the handle and bend it slightly, as I had to take off a LOT of material to get the jaws to close. Once the jaws closed, I noticed the jaws weren't square to each other. So I broke out the file and made them square. This got me able to sorta cut insulated speaker wire. I can't cut zip ties with them and I can't cut bare stranded wire with them. Moreover, they're an ergonomic fail. Even IF the wire cutters worked, the full force of cutting happens when the plier handle is in the completely closed position. The pliers are small and this means you have to use fingertip pressure on the handle to get any kind of leverage, instead of using the meaty area behind the first knuckle. The spring is also overly strong, making using the pliers uncomfortable. I was able to bend it a little to reduce the pressure, but it's still a bit too much. They feel nice in the hand, I'll give them that. I really do like the way the polished and smoothed stainless body feels in my hand. The locking mechanism is ingenious, and I enjoy that aspect of the tool. The blade is not sharp, nor is it close to sharp. It cannot cut paper out of the box, and after 20 passes on both sides of a little field sharpener tool, it's still nowhere close to sharp and still cannot cut paper. The file at least does file. It's a single cut file and not very sharp, but it does file aluminum. That's more than can be said for the Micro ToolClip.

While it's a nice looking tool, and feels good in the hand, it joins the Micro Toolclip in being largely a fail. However, the Micro Toolclip beats out the Marbles in several key factors:

1. Out of the box, the ToolClip cuts zip ties and insulated wires. Uninsulated wires are bent instead of cut, and even insulated wire cuts aren't clean, but they do the job. A brand-new, unmodified Marbles tool cannot cut wire of any thickness. A modified Marbles tool can cut wire, barely. They're not clean cuts, you have to pull the last bit of wire off. They cannot cut zip ties even modified.

2. The SOG blade is sharp. It's a Good Blade. The Marbles blade is not sharp at all, and though it can probably be made sharp, I don't care to invest the time for such a disappointing tool.

3. The SOG has far, FAR more leverage available. It is a much shorter tool, with shorter handles, and it even has a larger plier head. However, it has a smurfton more leverage available for cutting wires or gripping things. I attribute that to the better handle design and the cutter style.

4. The SOG springloaded pliers feel like the perfect tension. The marbles tension is overly strong, making the tool fatiguing to use. Even after bending the spring to reduce the pressure, the spring action is still overly strong.

5. The SOG plier heads are machined to close tolerances, and they close all the way. The pliers line up. They can pull out arm hairs. They work as pliers should.

6. Both have smurfy files. It's a tie here, but the SOG at least was intended to have a good file. The Marbles was always intended to have a smurfy file.

7. The marbles nail nicks are placed too far away from the top edge of the blade, making reaching them difficult. the knife nick is also partially hidden behind the file tool, making extraction difficult. I found it easier to open the Phillips screwdriver and pinch the blade to open it.

8. The ToolClip has a clip. The marbles does have a nice sheath, but the clip is far more convenient.

9. The Marbles tool required extensive modification to become "somewhat" usable. The SOG Micro ToolClip, for all its flaws, doesn't. It's more useable out of the box than an extensively modified Marbles.That alone would make it the better tool.

The only way the Marbles is better than the ToolClip is that the Marbles screwdrivers beat the SOG. That's it, really. The SOG's phillips driver is a sad joke. The Marbles driver is useful for some screws where a short T-handle can reach. The marbles flat driver is also much larger and more capable. But as pliers they fail miserably. And they're intended to BE pliers, the drivers are an afterthought on both tools.

I don't collect tools just to collect them. I plan to USE my tools. I'm collecting plier tools at the moment because I'm looking for a few that work for me. Sadly, the Marbles tool, even modified, doesn't make the grade. Which is really sad, for some reason I really WANT to like this tool. It feels really good in my hands. The design is neat, and has so much potential if they would just have executed it ever so slightly better. So... my brand new, now modified Marbles will probably end being sold at my next yard sale.  Ah well. I'll probably keep the semi-rigid sheath though, it's pretty nice and would fit a 2-layer SAK (up to 120mm) very well.

Charles.

[Poncho65]

Sorry to hear you couldn't get them to work great even after modding but sounds like you gave it a great go

Lots of great thoughts and comparisons in your last post as well

[ChopperCharles]

So, I'm gearing up to review a bunch of fixed-plier multi tools, so I bought another Marble's safety pliers so I'd have a stock unit to do my tests and comparisons on. Low and behold, the one I received actually works as intended. The jaws close all the way, and the wire cutter cuts wires. Not the cleanest cuts, but it cuts them. The handle has more bend and sticks out more, and this gives some more leverage too. The wire cutters aren't perfect, they leave a snaggle, but they do work acceptably, with the ability to more or less cut bare stranded wire. That's a huge, huge difference from the last set I purchased. The blade is also sharp enough to cut receipt paper, but I do notice a small ding in the cutting edge. There are also some regular wear marks around each rivet - likely caused by the peening process, and a smalls scratch as well. The phillips screwdriver on this copy wiggles quite a lot, and it gets in the way of the blade closing. The copy with the bad jaws doesn't exhibit this. I thought it was just bad peening, but upon further inspection it appears my new copy is slightly different. First, it's missing a small washer on the pin for the screwdriver. Second, the screwdriver is angled slightly on my first copy, and is at right angles on the new copy. This means the blade part of the screwdriver can catch on the handle, keeping it inside the space where the blade should fold into. The slight rotation of the screwdriver prevents this.

This leads me to some interesting conclusions.

1. They're supposed to be identical. That means there is WIDE variation from copy to copy. Such a small sample size should not exhibit two tools with such widely different issues.
2. The first copy I have is an updated version. The washer and the rotation of the screwdriver seem to imply this. This would mean that the second copy I got (likely an earlier version), is not broken or bad in any way, it just has a design flaw that was rectified later. And it would mean I only received one copy with a major QC issue.
3. There are two distinct versions, but the early version is still not *supposed* to have an issue with the screwdriver getting in the way. Meaning I do have two bad copies.

At any rate, there seems to be quality control issues with the Marbles pliers. I'd suggest buying from Amazon because of their stellar return policy. It's annoying to have to keep returning copies until you get a good one, but if you really want a good one it's the best way. Perhaps even buy three at a time, keep the best one, and return the others.

Overall, now that I have a copy that has working pliers and wire cutters, I do like the thing quite a bit more. It's now a usable tool, and it really feels nice in the hand - and comes with one of the best holsters I've come across. I'm going to label it tentatively as worth the risk.


Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Used my Marbles pliers today for some minor electronics work. Lead bending, and cutting. Very minor, but it was a pleasure to use it. I do really like this tool, even with its QC issues.

Charles.

[Poncho65]

Used my Marbles pliers today for some minor electronics work. Lead bending, and cutting. Very minor, but it was a pleasure to use it. I do really like this tool, even with its QC issues.

Charles.

 

[Alan K.]

 

[ChopperCharles]

Okay, well damn. Got me there. Here are some pics of the pair of Marbles that is acceptable. The cutters cut, the plier tips meet, and it all works well, except the phillips screwdriver issue. You can really see the problem in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSv9qhgLH-o

Pics below. Other than the screwdriver falling into the place where the blade needs to sit, these pliers work well and are very comfortable to hold and use.

Charles.

[gerleatherberman]

Bought an older example and the pliers tips meet perfectly. However, there is a gap in the cutter section. 

I expected it to be a silly little tool and I was not disappointed.


Will post some pics in a bit.

[gerleatherberman]

[ChopperCharles]

 I ended up taking my pliers with the good cutter, drilling out the screwdriver rivet, and replaced the screwdriver with one from the tool that had bad cutters. I used stainless rod and peened it over and when I was done it looked like stock. There wasn’t a mark on it. So I gave it to my firlfriend’s step Dad for Xmas last year. He’s a big fisherman dude, and was tickled about these.

For actual fishing I can see them as being useful. For actual use I think the SOG mini toolclip is a better tool, even with the abysmal file. If these were more reliably constructed I might think otherwise. Put a Nite Eyze stick-on clip on it and it’d be just as useful as the mini toolclip.

Charles.

[gerleatherberman]

Thank you for the information, Charles!

It does feel like it could be a decent tool if the QC was stepped up a bit. The blade and drivers on mine work very well, with SAK-like snap. Just wish the cutters met.

[cody6268]

It's a shame, when apparently these are made by the same people who make Rough Rider; which is generally quite good, along with most Marble's knives.  If they worked on it, it would be rather nice. The Multimaster is too soft--cut a piece of steel wire, and you've ruined the cutters. Most other competition--falls apart with real use.

[gerleatherberman]

The Marbles safety pliers are in a different class than the MultiMaster, as the Marbles is really small(not keychain small, but small for a fixed pliers tool, similar to the SOG Micro ToolClip) and the MultiMaster is mid-large sized for a fixed pliers tool. It'd be cool if they made a larger Marbles safety pliers, but built properly.