The Ubiquitous Chinese SOG Toolclip knockoffs: Many Models Reviewed

[WoodsDuck]

Well, the early models don't have a spring, and the pliers are very useful without it. It can be replaced. I replaced it in a mod I'm working on, and can detail it in another post when I'm finished with the mod. But essentially I cut a piece of metal out of a Leatherman pocket clip, bent it, dremeled it, and fit it into the backspring. I had to disassemble the tool and re-peen everything to do it, though.

Unfortunately the SwissGear isn't the most useful model, because of the fish scaler. But it's still a great pair of needle nosed pliers.

Charles.

Looking at the way it fits together, I came to the same conclusion about how to fit in a new spring. But I'm really not wanting to deal with the rivets and all that, so I probably won't.

[ChopperCharles]

IF, and it's a big IF there is enough of the spring sticking out, you can possibly remove it without splitting the thing apart. It will just pull straight out... pressure from everything riveted together keeps it kinda stuck, so you may have to apply heat. I've not had one broken off with enough sticking out to be able to do this yet, but it is feasably possible.

Charles.

[geequeue]

Got the Urban Gear tiny toolclip, pic for size reference:

[WoodsDuck]

IF, and it's a big IF there is enough of the spring sticking out, you can possibly remove it without splitting the thing apart. It will just pull straight out... pressure from everything riveted together keeps it kinda stuck, so you may have to apply heat. I've not had one broken off with enough sticking out to be able to do this yet, but it is feasably possible.

Charles.

There's a bit of a stub. Not much, but perhaps I'll get lucky.

[ChopperCharles]

This is how the spring is installed. You can see the clip I used to make my replacement spring. Works great so far!

Charles.

[WoodsDuck]

So I snagged a mint condition example of the yellowish logo Endeavor tool. This thing definitely has the beefiest pliers I've ever seen in a MT, and the spring is absurdly powerful. It's like working out with one of those spring-loaded hand exercisers. The blade is so unevenly ground I can't tell if it's supposed to be a chisel grind or what, and I have yet to extract the flathead driver from the backside with my puny human fingernails. The blade I can fix and I'm sure the tools will loosen up with some oil and work. The spring might be a dealbreaker as far as actually using this one goes, though. It's really that strong.

[ChopperCharles]

You get used to the spring pretty quickly. Or well, I did at least. But I hit the gym 3x a week, so your mileage may vary. The backspring tool will loosen up with a good soapy cleaning, working the tool vigorously, then lube. I had two like that, but cleaning and lubing fixed them.

The blades are all mostly chisel ground, but there's also a small back edge on the blades. The back bevel also exists on most - but not all - of the Pro Pocket Mechanics and type 2 Sport Mechanics. Only two copies I have so far sport a truly chisel ground blade.

Charles.

[WoodsDuck]

To clarify; I have arthritis in my dominant hand, which makes it difficult to squeeze things like this. So my mileage definitely varies 

[WoodsDuck]

Okay, so I got my hands on one more model; an unused Sport Mechanic. This would probably be my favorite of the bunch if not for one problem; the tips of the pliers don't meet up that well. Kind of ruins them as a set of needle nose pliers since the precision is lost.
It's a shame because I like everything about the design (well, I could do without the fish scaler), and it's otherwise really good quality. It even came with the original box, inspection sticker, and manual. Chopper, I think you mentioned this sheath being pretty good, and it definitely is.
I like this enough to probably buy a second one to hopefully get better pliers, if another surfaces.

[ChopperCharles]

Did you snag a Type 1 or Type 2 Sport Mechanic? Got pics? Sad to hear about the pliers. They may be fixable. Can you post some pics?

Charles.

[WoodsDuck]

I'll try to post pics tomorrow afternoon. On my way to bed for an early start on work in the morning.

[WoodsDuck]

Okay, so I didn't get around to messing with this until today.
Here are some shots of the pliers. It is currently sans handle scales and oily because i gave it a bit of a soak;







As you can see, the jaws are kinda funky out of the box.

[WoodsDuck]

I can feel slight play in the fixed half of the pliers, so maybe some peening on those rivets could help.

[WoodsDuck]

So I did a bit of peening and that seems to have removed any detectable play in the fixed half of the pliers, though the alignment is only fractionally improved.

[WoodsDuck]

The pliers on this thing are giving me nothing but trouble... the action was super stiff when I got it, but I figured I could loosen it up with some deep cleaning and oil.
I cleaned it out good with soapy water and worked oil into the pivot, then worked the jaws a couple hundred times, to almost no effect.
 So the fixed half of the pliers moved when it wasn't supposed to, and the moving part is so stiff it requires two hands to operate.
It's pretty disappointing, because I like the rest of the tool a lot. Even the scissors are pretty good. I'm not ready to give up on it yet, though. I'll keep trying to break in these pliers.

[ChopperCharles]

I've never seen Coast pliers with such a misaligned head or that are stiff enough to require two hands.... and I have around 20 pairs now. (I know, I'm sick).  You say they're unused... you sure?

So, looking at your pics, the bottom jaw is dragging against the spacer. Hold the pliers in a vise so that only the riveted area of the fixed jaw is held in the vise. Use a punch and a hammer to ker-plang! the spacer sideways to create more clearance. The pliers are riveted at the fixed jaw and at the pivot, and you can bend the side plates a little to get clearance. I did this with the junk copies all the time to get them to loosen up, but I've not needed it with the Coast pliers yet. The fact that the rivets were loose on the fixed jaw tells me you either have an abused copy or perhaps a factory second.


Charles.

[WoodsDuck]

I've never seen Coast pliers with such a misaligned head or that are stiff enough to require two hands.... and I have around 20 pairs now. (I know, I'm sick).  You say they're unused... you sure?

So, looking at your pics, the bottom jaw is dragging against the spacer. Hold the pliers in a vise so that only the riveted area of the fixed jaw is held in the vise. Use a punch and a hammer to ker-plang! the spacer sideways to create more clearance. The pliers are riveted at the fixed jaw and at the pivot, and you can bend the side plates a little to get clearance. I did this with the junk copies all the time to get them to loosen up, but I've not needed it with the Coast pliers yet. The fact that the rivets were loose on the fixed jaw tells me you either have an abused copy or perhaps a factory second.


Charles.

There are no signs of use anywhere else. Everything but the pliers is in excellent condition, and like my Endeavor example it had what appeared to be whatever lube they put on it in the factory. Old and resinified, of course.
I'm guessing it's a defect that slipped through. Unless the previous owner did nothing but take it out, do something really stupid with the pliers, then just put it back in the box for however many years.

I'll try loosening the spacer today. Though I don't currently have a bench vise so it might be hard to secure it well enough.

[WoodsDuck]

Well, I beat the smurf out of those spacers, and it worked 

They're only a little tight when fully closed, I think due to the back side of the spacers being a little tight on the arm. But that's actually not a bad thing, as this model lacks a bail to lock the pliers down.
So now it's functional, and still tight enough to not flop open when I use the other tools.
Kind of a pain I had to work on it this much just to get the darn thing to a reasonably usable level, but now I'm going to EDC it for a while and see if it was worth the hassle. Many thanks for the advice, Chopper, and for the great thread!

[WoodsDuck]

Also I just bought a lot of 15 tools just to get another Sport Mechanic 

[gregozedobe]

Also I just bought a lot of 15 tools just to get another Sport Mechanic 

Instant expansion of your collection !         

[WoodsDuck]

Hey Chopper, I know it isn't exactly a Toolclip clone, but did you ever try one of these?

[ChopperCharles]

I have tried the Sheffield version, and it's kinda smurfty. I've been eyeing the Coast version, which these appear to be poor copies of. They're $17 brand new. eBay item number 272006465290.

The Sheffield version wasn't THAT bad. It had a good (for a knockoff) blade, a sorta-okay file, and a smurfty backspring screwdriver. The wrench itself was of the cheapest possible quality, and attached to the handle via two rivets.

The Coast version has more tools and appears to be a lot higher quality.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Today I found my first COPY of a type 2 plier. It's pretty bad. I'll post pics and info tomorrow. It's easy to tell these, because they have the crappy short and badly-made backspring screwdriver, not the quality machined part like the Coast tools have. There are other differences and a completely different toolset to boot.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

And here we go with the copy!

On first glance, this looks like an early Coast model. The scales with the press-on red plastic rivets were short-lived, and reserved mostly for one-offs made by Coast for other companies. However, it's quite easy to see this is not a coast product by the tool selection and the poor design. First off, the backspring screwdriver is incorrect. It's a short stubby cast driver, where the Coast drivers are all machined from round rod. Second, the combination bottle opener and fish scaler is not a Coast-made tool. Third, there is a backspring pakage hook tool. The screw that holds the handle spring on is the wrong type -- it should be a round headed screw, but instead it is a flat-topped screw meant to be countersunk. The blade tang is marked "Stainless Steel China", and the "China" is mostly hidden as it's stamped in the pivot area of the tang. Finally, the sheath is a very thin nylon, and is not thick and robust like a real Coast sheath.

Quality wise, this tool is far, far below that of a Coast. The jaws are okay, and they operate smoothly -- until you attempt to open them more than the spring does. Then they quickly become stiff and sticky.  The cutters don't cut anything. Not wire, not zip ties, nothing. The cutters are shaped differently than Coast cutters. They have a proper bevel on them, where Coast cutters have two flat surfaces that sort of smash wire as it cuts. Still, the Coast cutters work, and these don't at all.

On to the tools. The scissors are surprising. Coast scissors in the Type 2 pliers either have a springless system (somewhat like Wenger scissors), or a spring and a screw pivot. These have a spring and a rivet pivot. They're copies of the better Coast scissor design, and they cut paracord in one go. Not quite as easily as Victorinox scissors, but they do a good job. The spring is typical for copies -- it's not very springy. It's worse than the Coast spring, which at least does its job as a spring. Still, the scissors work.

The blade is thinner than the blade in the Coast tools, and it doesn't have as deep a belly. It is a plain edged blade and is very poorly ground. It is not sharp at all.

The saw is typical of the chinese knockoffs. The Coast saws are thinner at the top and wider at the teeth, so that the blade doesn't get stuck in the wood you're cutting. This saw is the same width top and bottom,

The serrated blade surprisingly is a close match to a type 1 coast serrated blade. The file is decent and aggressive.

The package hook is absolutely worthless. It's obvious they had blades and scissors with tangs that require a backspring tool (smaller tang). So they shoved a package hook in there. Which is fine, it's not the most useful tool, but that'd be great... except that it is directly underneath the plier handle, and hits the handle when extending. This makes it largely useless. They could have moved the package hook and main blade to a different location, except that the tools have to be in a particular order for the nail nicks to all line up and work. It's a huge bodge that Coast would have never have made.

Except for the surprisingly good scissors, this tool is a fail. An actual Coast tool is designed and built to far better quality. That said, this is a decent attempt. It's better than the majority of the type 1 copies.

Charles.

[WoodsDuck]

They actually found a way to make the parcel hook less useful. Bravo! 

[WoodsDuck]

So I got the other Sport Mechanic I ordered, and it has great pliers. It's one of the kind with sprung pliers, but of course the spring is broken.
It's in good shape, other than someone thoughtfully pre-stripping the heads of the scale screws for me, and putting a couple nicks in the blade edge. But these are things even I can fix.