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The Ubiquitous Chinese SOG Toolclip knockoffs: Many Models Reviewed

au Offline gregozedobe

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  • Apparently it is possible to have too many tools;)

Also, so far from what I can find, original manufacturers of quality plier tools (not just the poor copies that abound everywhere) include:
  • Coast (Pocket Mechanic, Pro Pocket Mechanic, Sport Mechanic)
  • SOG (ToolClip)
  • Al-Mar (4x4 and QuickPlier/Quicksilver/QuickClip)
  • Russian military (6e6 Ratnik multitool)
  • Wenger (SwissGrip and MiniGrip/PocketGrip)
  • AG Russell (Pocket Tool Box)
  • Marble's (Fishing pliers)

LMK if I'm missing any!


I've come across several older MTs that are a similar design (but not identical) to the Marble's Fishing Plier.  I'm not sure exactly where they were made, but seem to be marked as German (mostly Solingen), Japan, France or Italy.  There are minor variations in design & tool sets.
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au Offline gregozedobe

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I've come across several older MTs that are a similar design (but not identical) to the Marble's Fishing Plier.  I'm not sure exactly where they were made, but seem to be marked as German (mostly Solingen), Japan, France or Italy.  There are minor variations in design & tool sets.

Here is an example of a German one currently for sale on the bay of thieves (possibly priced a bit high IMO):
https://www.ebay.com/itm/283061653384
babola: "Enjoy your tools and don't be afraid to air your opinion and feelings here, but do it in courteous and respectable way toward others, of course."


us Offline gerleatherberman

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Thank you, gregozedobe!

You know, at some point, we'll need to start archiving the photos we take and have found, to begin work on a fixed plier MT timeline/database. This will make updating the MT.o wiki more efficient. I don't know if it has been done already, but I sure as heck couldn't find any. :ahhh

Heck.  I'd love to contribute to the MT.o wiki. The data and photos are a bit lacking with obscure, new and rare stuff.. I have copious photos and a fair collection(230+) to work with.  Particularly the stuff that isn't OG LM, Vic, and Gerber MTs.  But, I sent a wiki edit request and didn't get a reply. Guess someone doesn't care to kicj for me. ::)
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us Offline Poncho65

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Thank you, gregozedobe!

You know, at some point, we'll need to start archiving the photos we take and have found, to begin work on a fixed plier MT timeline/database. This will make updating the MT.o wiki more efficient. I don't know if it has been done already, but I sure as heck couldn't find any. :ahhh

Heck.  I'd love to contribute to the MT.o wiki. The data and photos are a bit lacking with obscure, new and rare stuff.. I have copious photos and a fair collection(230+) to work with.  Particularly the stuff that isn't OG LM, Vic, and Gerber MTs.  But, I sent a wiki edit request and didn't get a reply. Guess someone doesn't care to kicj for me. ::)

I am an editor but don't have admin rights :ahhh

Throw sLaughtermed a PM and that should do a bit better in getting editing rights ;) We can always use editors :salute: :like: :like:


us Offline gerleatherberman

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Thank you, Poncho! :cheers:

I'd like to put my excessive collection to use at some point. :)
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us Offline ChopperCharles

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I'm about at the end of my findings for the copies, and switching gears to pulling together info about  the Coast plier tools. I plan to make a big post with all the dates and information I have, which could in turn be used to feed the Wiki :)

Charles.


us Offline gerleatherberman

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Excellent! Thank you, Charles! :cheers:
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us Offline ChopperCharles

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Today I'm reviewing what I consider to be the pinnacle of this type of plier tool: The Coast Pro Pocket Mechanic (Type 2). Around 1995, Coast designed an entirely new scissor-type plier head, and upgraded the Sport Mechanic and Pro Pocket Mechanic tools to this new head. The Pro Pocket Mechanics received an entirely new lineup of tools, as well as a red LED and activator button in the handle scales. There are blunt nose and needle nose versions of this plier head. The blunt nose is the beefiest, with a nose that is 11.7mm wide and approx 4.6cm long from the leading edge of the scale to the tips. The jaws open a maximum of 2.9cm at the tips. The handle starts out the same width as the jaws, and then is cut back on the side to make clearance for the backspring driver.

The needle nose pliers are a much narrower 9.1mm wide at the pivot, and taper down 4.3mm wide at the tips. They measure a considerably longer 6.1cm long from scale to tip, and open to a maximum of 3.7cm at the tips. The handle also has a cutout for the backspring driver, but it is a very shallow cutout.

To put this in perspective, the original Pocket Mechanic has a two piece jaw that is 7.8mm wide, and all the copies have scissor jaws that are 7.8mm wide. The blunt nose are 3.9mm wider than the original type head, and the needle nose 1.3mm wider. However, this isn't the whole story. Both the original Pocket Mechanic and the scissor-jawed Chinese copies pivot on a 4mm rivet. The pivot for the new plier head is 9mm wide, and the pivot area itself is more than 2cm wide. What this means is that the new plier heads are extremely robust and beefy, and they resist twisting far more than the earlier Coast design. Since the pivot is separate and self-contained, the tool peening has zero effect on jaw operation. Putting a lot of force on the tool cannot loosen the jaws or otherwise effect the operation of the pliers.

This is really good news! I wanted to spell all of this out here before reviewing the operation and quality of the jaws, so you'd get a good understanding of just how different these tools are. But before I do, I want to mention that only Coast produced tools of this type. There were no copies. Any tool that appears similar was made by Coast and re-branded.  There was a version of the Sport Mechanic sold in 1996 under the "Nature Company" brand, two different Brookstone versions that have entirely different plier heads (one with plastic scales, one with metal scales, neither of which have a spring or a handle lock), and a slightly modified Pro Pocket Mechanic with rubberized scales and "Endeavor" branding on the side. (Endeavor was the company that made the Gator Grip). There was also a version made for Chrysler, for their 1997 Master Tech Gold Tool Award, which was given to Chrysler employees who passed all of the monthly training courses in an entire year.


So there are multiple different tools with this new "Type 2" head. I'm reviewing both the needle nose and blunt nose Coast Pro Pocket Mechanic, as those are the only tools I've been able to locate. I have four copies of this tool, two blunt-nosed, and two needle nosed. One of the blunt-nosed has the Endeavor branding. There are minor differences in each tool, likely due to upgrades and changes from year-to-year. There is however VERY little difference in the overall quality, and in the jaws. Which is great!

Jaws: A+

As I said, I have four copies of this tool, two blunt-nose and two needle nose. All four have extremely smooth jaw operation. The Endeavor has the thickest and stiffest spring, and that spring also opens the jaws less wide than do any of the other springs. The needle nose pliers have thinner, weaker springs with lighter action, which also open handles slightly wider. The jaws are all precisely machined with perfectly aligned tips, perfectly meshed teeth, no side offset, and side-to-side play measured less than the thickness of a sheet of paper. The handles have deep lock grooves cut in them, and the wire ring that holds the handle closed snaps in with a solid click. However, on all but one of these, if I squeeze the handle the spring rotates down from gravity, and the pliers open one-handed. This is really useful when removing them from the belt sheath. I don't need my other hand to open them and have them ready to use. This is a very well-thought-out design.

Cutter: A-

Every single one of these cuts 18 gauge speaker wire, 16 gauge with extra-thick insulation, and 12 gauge stranded wire. The blunt nose also cut 24 gauge stranded wire, but neither of the needle nose could manage that. All four cut various sizes of zip ties with a satisfying SNAP. The only real complaint is the cutters are blunt and meet at a flat 180 degrees. Most of the copies have an angle filed to the cutters, so they don't crush the wire as they cut it. These definitely crush the wire as they cut it. It's not a huge big deal but 12ga wire does show a distinct crush at the end of a freshly cut wire. Because they're perfectly flat, these do not work well on hard wire at all.

Tools: B+

The tool combination in the Pro Pocket Mechanic is excellent. You get
  • A bottle opener with a #4 flat blade screwdriver and a sharpened wire cutter notch (sharpened notch is only on the needle nose versions)
  • An aggressive double-cut file that quite quickly files down mild steel. On the reverse are two laser-etched rulers, 0-2 inches (w/16th markings) and 0-5cm (w/mm markings), and the end is a 1/4" flat screwdriver.
  • A Very nice inline #2 phillips driver, which is a good 6.3cm (2.5") long. The driver is formed really well on 3 of the four tools. One of the needle nose tools has a deformed driver. Seems to be a random occurrence, as I've checked current and completed eBay auctions and haven't found another with a defect like that one has.
  • A very nice 6.7cm (2.64") chisel-ground combination blade
  • A pretty decent pair of scissors. The blunt-nose models have springless scissors with a riveted pivot. The needle nosed versions each have a different type of spring scissor, with a screw pivot.
  • A #2.5 flat driver on the scissor backspring.

The backspring scissors are very nice, very easy to use, and they don't pop open too far when my thumb slips off the handle. They work similarly to Wenger scissors. They're not nearly as good as Wenger scissors, though. They won't cut through blisterpack, they're pretty much good for paper, bandages, or thin cardboard. One of the needle nose pliers has a very good pair of spring type scissors, with a large pivot screw. (This is the one with the bad driver). These scissors have a divot under the handle for the spring to ride in, a very high quality victorinox-style spring, and large scissors that open quite widely. All four pairs of scissors can cut 8 sheets of paper at once. The springless scissors cannot manage 16 sheets at all, and the spring style only fair slightly better, managing short, difficult cuts. Only the spring-type scissors could cut paracord, the springless need the rivets tightened.

On three of the four tools, the backsprings are very strong and snap the blades shut solidly. They also require significant force to close an open blade. One of the copies has very weak backsprings It also has a significantly thinner main blade and bottle opener tool. I don't know if it's an early model or a later model. It has the best scissors of the bunch, but also a misshapen driver. The misshapen driver is the only QC issue I've found on these tools, and I've either purchased or seen actual pictures/video of at least 20 different copies. So it's not something I think you have to worry about.

The backspring flat driver locks into position on the two blunt-nosed models, but on the needle nosed versions the tang is rounded so it doesn't engage the backspring. This means the small driver is only held up by friction on the needle nosed versions.

The scales on these models have a LED "flashlight" and a button to operate it. This makes the scales extra-thick on one side, and adds some extra beefiness to the tool. The flashlight is just a single 3mm red LED, and is quite dim. It's a useful little feature though. There are other models of this tool (Sport Mechanic, or one of the models made for other companies) which do not have the LED, and thus are slightly thinner.

The bottle opener varies in thickness on these tools. Both the Endeavor and the matte-scaled needle nose have thin bottle openers. As a bottle opener alone, it's not a big deal. But the bottle opener has a flat driver on the end, so the beefier the better. On these two tools, using the flat driver to screw in a tough screw resulted in the driver twisting with very minimal force. On the other two tools, the driver did not bend even a slight bit when applying significant force to a screw.

The play in the tools is nonexistent in three of the tools, and just barely there in the one that I mentioned as being not up to the same standard of quality as the others.

Sharpening: B-

The main blade isn't very sharp. It will cut paper, but just barely. The needle nose both have wire stripper notches that are sharpened, and this is really nice. The scissors seem sharp enough to work as scissors, but they're nothing especially awesome. The file is wonderfully aggressive.


Peening: A+

All of these tools are peened very well, even the lesser-quality version. The peening does not in any way effect the jaws, only the integrity of the handle and tools. There's far less force put on the rivets when operating the tool as well. It's a far better design and far more durable.

Sheath: A+

The sheaths are very nice for these tools. They're thick, heavy duty nylon with double-stitched seams, loops for horizontal or vertical carry, and a small front pocket for extra items. The Endeavor sheath has two internal compartments. A large, deep one at the back, and a thin one at the front. There is also a small front pocket like the other sheaths. It has TWO loops on either side. Both fit either an AA Maglite or a ratchet. You can carry quite a bit with this pouch. Ratchet, flashlight, pliers, extension, bits, and a Gator Grip universal socket all fit within the pouch easily. (Although it weighs a ton on the belt like that)

Other Things of Note:

The lesser-quality needle nosed tool can be recognized in eBay auctions by the distinctive 90 degree bend to the end of the spring, the thinner blade, and the matte black scales. The better version of the needle nose has a robustly thick blade and semi-gloss scales.

There are variants of this with other companies' branding on them. These plier heads were also used on the Sport Mechanic model.

Overall: Buy One

The Coast Pocket Mechanic that I reviewed a couple pages ago is a really good SOG clone, with nice scales, a nice spring, and a better tool selection. This tool is far, far better. It's more like an approximation of a Wenger SwissGrip, except that it came out at the same time as the SwissGrip, or perhaps even a year before. It's a big beefy tool with a good (soft) wire cutter, good blade, good file, good drivers, decent scissors, and a bottle opener. This is the pinnacle of affordable fixed plier tool design. I'd say this is better than the Kutmaster by FAR, better than the SOG ToolClip, and the plier part is better than that on most of the folding multi-tools out there. It can't hold a candle to the SwissGrip... but then what can, really? This tool is around $20 on eBay. The SwissGrip goes for $200. This is an absolute STELLAR buy.


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« Last Edit: July 20, 2018, 09:30:22 AM by ChopperCharles »


us Offline ChopperCharles

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Pics showing needle nose version, and the LED flashlight in the scale.

Charles.
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us Offline ChopperCharles

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Scissor details. The scissors on the very bottom are the best version. Unfortunately, that tool is of slightly lesser quality than the others. Distinctive matte scales and sharp curl to the end of the spring point this one out.

NOTE: Spring style scissors seem to change from copy to copy. The springless scissors are always the same.

Charles.
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us Offline ChopperCharles

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The very bottom and very top bottle openers are the thin, easily-bent versions. The two in the middle are the beefier, better versions. The "Endeavor" branded model has the longest, best formed phillips driver.

Charles.
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« Last Edit: July 20, 2018, 09:40:03 AM by ChopperCharles »


us Offline ChopperCharles

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The Endeavor-branded case actually goes to the blunt nosed pliers with the black LED scales. The yellow Endeavor-branded pliers came to me without a case.  With this Coast-branded blunt-nosed plier tool and Endeavor-branded case came a gator grip and an adapter specifically made for these pliers. Pretty neat. The yellow Endeavor-branded model should come with the same setup, but a different black and yellow case with an alligator "Gator Grip" logo on it.

Charles.
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us Offline Poncho65

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More great pics and write-ups CC :like: :like: I really like that socket adapter as well :o :like:


us Offline ChopperCharles

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Some comparison shots.

Left most plier is a very good SOG-knockoff.
Next is a 1st gen Coast Pocket Mechanic.
Then the robust, blunt nosed 2nd gen Pro Pocket Mechanic, which came in the PMG2500CP kit with a Gator grip and over-sized sheath.
Finally the rightmost plier is the lower-quality needle-nosed Pro Pocket Mechanic. You can see the difference in the blade thickness quite easily.

Charles.
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us Offline ChopperCharles

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Here are the last two pics showing the size in my hand.

Charles.
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us Offline ChopperCharles

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And here's a video showing the one-handed opening (and closing) for the pliers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdJqRADkRLg


Charles.


us Offline ChopperCharles

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I went ahead and sharpened the Endeavor branded blade until it could cut receipt paper. Then I went and made 30 slices through a cardboard box, each slice minimum 12 inches long. This heated the blade up quite a bit. I then tested it, and it was able to just barely cut receipt paper. It tore it a bit, whereas before it cut almost perfectly cleanly.  Not sure what that really says about the blade quality.


Charles.


us Offline gerleatherberman

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More fantastic information, observations and commentary, Charles! Thank you. :salute:
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us Offline ChopperCharles

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Just an FYI, the white LED conversion on the Type 2 Coast scales works really well. The LED *is* a lot brighter with two cells, but it works fine with one cell, and is a thousand times better than the red LED that it comes with. Unfortunately the LEDs I purchased have pretty short leads, so some soldering is required to extend one lead to fit the scale.

There is room in the scale to add a second battery, but that would require building up a housing with JB Weld to hold the second battery, and some wiring, and it all just doesn't seem worth it when just replacing the LED makes it so much better.


Also, if you haven't figured it out by now, after all my many reviews, my conclusions are thus:

While there are a few stand-out models here and there, there's not an easy way to tell when you're just looking at photos on eBay. Many of the name brands have QC issues, and the quality of the tool varies wildly from copy to copy. Most of the cutters are rubbish either because the cutter is malformed, or because the rivets are not adequately peened.  Almost all of the copies have very poorly peened rivets, and some are about to come apart before you even use the tool.

The only tools with consistent quality are those made by Coast Cutlery. They have good plier heads and good tools. The type 2 jaws are exceptional in both needle nosed and blunt nosed, but the type 1 jaws are very good as well. And the type 1 pliers are far thinner and lighter, which makes them MUCH easier to pocket carry.  They're all peened very well. Sure, every now and then you might find a Coast with an issue, but I'm finding them to have very consistent quality. I can't say the same thing with the other brands.

After the Coast tools, I'd recommend the Sheffield just because it's put together so well. It's no SOG, but it's riveted well and the tools are quality-made and beefy. The tool is sharpened well to boot. I like the Australian SOG copy. The jaws are good on that one, and the cutters work well, but the tools are not as good as the Coast or the Sheffield. There is also a limited supply, and no brand name or any identifying information on them. So long as the eBay auction is going, they're worth snagging. But even those need some work, they're not riveted very well.

Beyond that, the Alltrade versions are decent. But not easy to find in unabused shape.

One last thing of note. Peening the plier pivot is a horribly bad idea. It's cheap, but it's not precise. Coast manages it because they obviously have invested in production machines that can peen a rivet just tight enough so that the pliers don't have side-to-side play, but loose enough so as not to cause binding. Some of the poorly cutting pliers could be remedied by replacing the rivet with screw pivot, which can be tightened by hand until the perfect balance between drag and play is achieved, and then locktited in place. This won't fix poorly machined cutters, though.If the cutters don't meet or are at an angle from each other, they'll never cut anything.

Anyhow, go for Coast. They're the tools most worth getting. I'm going to mod a couple of these plier tools and then sell everything except the modded tools and the Coast tools.

Charles.


us Offline ChopperCharles

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Today I'm going to back-pedal a bit and review one of the type 1 pliers made by Coast. This is the Sharper Image Pro Pocket Mechanic. It has the type 1 pliers, and it's an early model without the spring-loaded jaws. It has "Sharper Image" branding on it, and this was useful in helping me definitively date it. I know for fact this was sold in 1997, and likely 1996. It was mentioned in a February 1997 Popular Mechanics article. That would make this one of the last springless type 1 multitools sold by Coast. (Coast switched to making spring loaded pliers in late 97).

As I said this has Sharper Image branding, and is so far the only "Pro" Pocket Mechanic I've come across with a type 1 jaw. It also has gray scales instead of black, but otherwise is obviously a Coast tool. (The "Coast Port. USA" stamped on the bottle opener confirms this.) I received it brand new in the box! This is made in Taiwan and is model number CM150 from Sharper Image.

Jaws: A-

The Coast type 1 jaws are excellent jaws. Every model I've come across has had precision tips that can pull out arm hairs, a large gripping area far better than that of the copies, zero play and zero offset. These are no exception. However, this is a brand new tool, and there is some drag on the pliers. It was significant drag fresh from the box, but they are wearing in nicely and have already loosened up quite a bit. The culprit is the ever present ding on the end of the bar stock that makes the spacers around the head. I'm guessing these parts are stamped out, and the corners are deformed slightly during that stamping process. If the parts were machined or sanded after that stamping this wouldn't be an issue.

I've not encountered this particular drag issue on any other Coast-made pliers. It will work itself out eventually, or you can help it along with a punch and a hammer, to knock down the burr on the edge that is causing the drag.  (This is what I will probably do).

Being a springless jaw is not a big deal with this tool, because it is quite easy to get a finger under the handle and open it. Plus it's a very comfortable tool to hold in the hand. Still, I prefer the spring loaded jaws, and these *are* tight right from the factory, so they can't get an A+ from me, regardless of how well machined and tightly toleranced they are.

Cutter: A+

These cutters made short work of everything I threw at them. 24gauge cut difinitively. 12gauge cut with snap that shot the end of the wire across the room. It handled the extra-thick insulated wire with just as much aplomb. Zip ties are no problem for it either. These are the blunt cutters that meet at 180 degrees to each other, which can crush thick wire as it cuts it... but these do an absolutely stellar job of cutting wire regardless.

Tools: A

While I prefer the toolset of the Type 2 Pro Pocket Mechanic, I can't fault this toolset at all. This has a nice thick blade (2.5mm at the tang), a serrated blade with a very aggressive, properly treated file, and a well-formed large flat head, a saw blade, a 1.5mm thick bottle opener with a small flat screwdriver, and a VERY nice backspring phillips driver. The shining star are the scissors on this model though. They can cut through paracord with relative ease. They're on par with older Wenger scissors, better than 85mm Evolution scissors, but not anywhere near the "single-snip" of 91mm Victorinox scissors. They have a nice spring action and open quite wide, and have a screw pivot.

All the backsprings snap open and closed nicely. The scissors and main blade backspring are weaker than the backsprings for the other three tools. This is fine for the scissors, but for the main blade I'd prefer a strong backspring to keep the blade from folding up during use. The phillips driver snaps open strongly on its backspring, and resists folding about the same as a SAK backspring driver. The driver is almost identical in shape and size to a Wenger backspring phillips, but it has a bit more length. That doesn't translate to more reach though, because of the plier handle in the way. It's a very good toolset. If the blade backspring was strong this would be an A+.

Sharpening: A+

The main blade appears to be sharpened to about 20 degrees. Somewhere between 20 and 25, but closer to 20. That's really good! Fresh out of the box it cuts receipt paper with ease. The serrated blade can't cut receipt paper, but it can easily manage to cut plain paper, and it goes through paracord like it's butter. The file is sharp and aggressive, and the two wire stripping notches (one on the serrated blade and one on the bottle opener) are sharp and useful.

Peening: A

There is some slight side-play to the tools, but it's not bad at all. The tool is peened very well, with each rivet having big round heads that are ground down flush with the sides of the tool. Every rivet is peened well.

Sheath: A+

The sheath is made from heavy duty ballistic nylon, just like the other Coast sheaths. It's double-stitched and embroidered well. It can be horizontally or vertically carried. This is how a sheath should be made.

Other Things of Note:

I really like this tool and this toolset. I'm not missing the spring-loaded jaws as much as I thought I would. I also really enjoy how this tool fits in my hand. The Type 2 pliers have better jaws and are bigger and beefier and an overall better tool, but these smaller tools with the type 1 jaws fit in my hand better, weigh less, and are just really nice to carry and use.

Overall: Buy one!

I don't know how rare a Pro Pocket Mechanic with type 1 jaws actually is. This is the first I've seen on eBay or in photos. The toolset is really great, the feel in my hands is great, and the pliers and wire cutters are excellent. You really can't go wrong with one of these.


Note: In the photos below, the last photo shows the beautiful plier head... and the small scar that's forming as the jaw wears on the edge of the spacer that's poking into it and causing drag.
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« Last Edit: July 25, 2018, 07:01:17 PM by ChopperCharles »


us Offline ChopperCharles

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Today I'm reviewing a Coast Sport Mechanic with the type-2 needle nose jaws. After handling many of these tools, and scouring the internet and newspaper archives to see pictures of early model Coast plier tools, I believe that this is a later model. The earliest models did not have a hard wire notch. I am not sure when that was added. The quality of the screws that hold on the scales was very good in the 90s, throughout the period when the type 1 jaws were made. The screws on this tool are zinc plated and badly formed. The cross is not in the dead center of the screw, and they're often not completely round.  This is typical of the Chinese copies, not of actual Coast models. There is no "Coast" stamping on any of the blades. This is not atypical for this mode, but it has me wondering if this might be a Chinese-made version. The scales on this version do not have an LED, and are thus thinner than the Pro Pocket Mechanic tools. That, coupled with the fact it's one tool thinner than the Pro Pocket Mechanic means this feels a lot smaller in my hand. It's still a massive tool, but it doesn't feel as massive.

Jaws: A+

I love these jaws, and every pair I come across is well made with precision tolerances and smooth action. This is no exception. The spring is nice and light, the retention clip works well and falls away when the handle is squeezed, there's no side offset, minimal side play, and they pull out arm hairs with gusto.

Cutter: D

Woah, what happened here?! This is the first of the type 2 pliers I've found where the cutters are actually BAD. 12ga wire cannot be cut, neither can zip ties, they're just bent and stretched. Smaller wires are cut with stragglers left, or insulation left uncut. These can be cut a second time and they'll cut completely, but damn. I've got 5 of the type 2 pliers now, and this is the first one I've come across that wasn't perfect in the cutter department. Looking at the cutters I can't see anything obviously wrong. There is a very little play in the pivot, but not enough to cause a problem. (Not anything I'd call abnormal or out of tolerance). I'm not sure why these are bad.

Tools: C+

Well first and foremost, this Sport Mechanic has one of the tools I've been waiting for in a Coast. The early drawings on the Coast website show all of the Pro Pocket Mechanics having a can opener, but every one I've seen in the flesh and in photos has the bottle opener with screwdriver tip. The Sport Mechanic with type 2 jaws is the only one that I've found so far that actually has the can opener. And it's a monster of a can opener too! It's different than the opener on the Sheffield, and much like a massively scaled-up Victorinox opener. It's 1.8mm thick with a blade portion that's sharpened on both sides. The wire notch is not sharpened. It is beveled, but I wouldn't call that sharpening. All this is well and good and had me really excited... at least, until I tried to open a can. It can't do it. It doesn't latch on to a lid, and the sharpened blade doesn't reach down far enough to pierce a normal can. It could be made to work on a large can, but it still doesn't latch on.  I don't understand how this tool got past development or quality control. The Sheffield design lacks a screwdriver tip, but it works, and it works well. I don't even think this tool can be filed and modified to latch on to a lid, because there's so little material left to work with.

The remainder of the tools consist of a pair of scissors, a combination edged blade, a woodsaw, and a backspring phillips driver.  The main blade has the nail nick on the opposite side from all the other type 2 tools, and it nestles in between the scissors and the saw. The blade sits low in the tool, making extraction difficult. It is 2.5mm wide. The saw blade is the typical middle-quality saw that does a decent, but not great job. This scissors are pretty terrible. They cannot cut paracord and struggle to cut through 12 sheets of paper. The moving scissor blade is shorter and smaller than the fixed blade, which has me wondering if this is a factory second assembled from crap parts. Still, the scissors do cut paper well, and are acceptable for light usage. They're about the same quality as the scissors on the copies. They also sit higher in the handle than the scissors in any of the other type 2 tools.

The backspring phillips is the same thickness and quality as that of other tools, and it is retained by a backspring in the extended position. But it has a lot of friction in the movement, even after oiling, and it doesn't appear to be held down by anything other than that friction.

Because of the useless can opener and the mismatched scissors this can't get too great of a rating... that said, the blade and phillips driver are of great quality. The backsprings open and close each tool with a solid snap. They're the same tools as the other Pocket Mechanics, but the design, fitm and finish is not quite as thought-out as the other models. Again, this leads me to belive this might be a Chinese-made version.

Sharpening: B

The blade and the serrations will easily slice through regular paper. The plain edged part of the blade will bite into receipt paper and may cut it a little bit, but it then tears it. The wire notches are not sharpened. The saw is sufficiently sharp for light-duty use. The blade is good, some points taken off for the wire notches.

Peening: C

I'd like to say "no surprises" here, but unfortunately there are. All the other models of the type 2 pliers I've encountered had recessed rivets that were peened and then ground flush with the body of the tool. This tool is different. The side plates don't have the recessed holes for the rivets, and the rivet heads are domed on one side. In fact, the side plates appear to be chrome-plated steel instead of stainless steel. The rivets are poorly peened. They appear to be clipped by hand and hammered by hand. The large rivets that hold the handle to the plier head appear to be peened well enough, but the rest are done poorly. I'm surprised there is no play in the tools, looking at that tool pivot rivet. Still, the tool appears to be held together tightly regardless, with no gaps and no problems, so what was done is holding. Likely due to the lesser stress on the tool itself from having the plier head be a robust entity not dependent on the handle rivets for structural integrity.

Sheath: n/a

This tool did not come to me with a sheath, so I cannot evaluate it.

Other Things of Note:

After seeing the rivet job, I'm convinced this is a Chinese-made version of the tool. Corners have been cut and the tool has gone from perfect machine-made rivets to poorly-done hand-hammered rivets.

Overall: It's still better than the copies.

This is the worst quality Coast tool I've come across. The cutters don't work and the rivets are poorly done... but honestly, it's still above the quality of almost all of the chinese-made copies of the type1 plier. The excellent plier jaws make up for a lot, and the tool blades are good. Sure, the can opener doesn't work, but it works as a caplifter, and that makes it no different than the other Coast tools, and still one-ups the caplifter/blade on all of the copies. The scissors are Chinese quality, but still usable... and so yeah, the tool is still better than the copies. But as far as Coast tools go, it's the worst I've come across so far.

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us Offline ChopperCharles

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Here's a comparison between the Coast can opener, which does not work, and the Sheffield can opener, which works most excellently. You can see the fundamental difference is the hook that is present on the Sheffield. On the Coast there is no hook, just a lonely piece of metal stabbing out into the void.

Charles.
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us Offline ChopperCharles

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Also, wanted to make something clear that I've noticed as I've been messing with the Coast tools, and haven't made obvious yet.

The SOG ToolClip was released in 1991. The Pocket Mechanic in 1993. All of the Coast tools with the original style of jaws are obvious copies of the SOG. All of the side plates have the hole for the flat driver. Coast didn't put the little flat driver in, and rightly so, as it interferes with extraction of the saw tool, has no lock, and is just dinky. But the hole is still there. The side plates are shaped differently for Coast's different style head, but they left that hole.

Charles.


gb Offline Wspeed

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Excellent reviews ChopperCharles :cheers: :like: :like:
This is very interesting information  :tu:
fail to prepare prepare to fail


us Offline ChopperCharles

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I'm putting together a timeline for the Coast plier tools, later to be expanded to their other multi tool offerings. Some of it is conjecture, but I have a lot of actual facts and evidence as well. It's all coming together slowly though.

Charles


gb Offline Wspeed

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 :popcorn: :tu:
fail to prepare prepare to fail


us Offline ChopperCharles

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So I just received an actual SOG ToolClip, and will be posting a review of it here. You may be surprised at my opinions of it. :)

Charles.


us Offline gerleatherberman

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I think I know the outcome.  :pok:  :D

Collectors like them as a SOG first. But, I can't remember anyone actually using one recently. They aren't practical. :-\
Pontificating particularly pious positions pertaining to polymorphic paraphernalia. G-Man.


es Offline ThePeacent

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I think I know the outcome.  :pok:  :D

Collectors like them as a SOG first. But, I can't remember anyone actually using one recently. They aren't practical. :-\

Well, jimislash does carry one, but he's the only one so far and he's a weird guy  :D
My toys:

MTs: Surge (2x), Skeletool CX, Rebar, Blast, Fuse, Micra, Squirt (3x), Wave, Crunch, Mini, Spirit (2x), Pro Scout, MP700 (2x), Diesel, Powerlock, PowerPlier (2x), PocketPowerPlier, Blacktip , ST6 (2x), 5WR, A100

SAKs: Bantam, Executive, Ambassador, Minichamp, Classic Alox, Champion, Farmer, Explorer, Swisschamp, Golf Tool, Wenger Champ, EVO 52, Pocket Tool Chest


us Offline gerleatherberman

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I think I know the outcome.  :pok:  :D

Collectors like them as a SOG first. But, I can't remember anyone actually using one recently. They aren't practical. :-\

Well, jimislash does carry one, but he's the only one so far and he's a weird guy  :D
Cool that someone enjoys the ToolClip! :)
Which sub-boards does he frequent? I don't remember seeing that username.  :think:
Of course, I can barely remember my own name, so you can't take me too seriously. :rofl:
Pontificating particularly pious positions pertaining to polymorphic paraphernalia. G-Man.


 

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