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Grand Harvest GHK2 Multi-tool Review

au Offline ReamerPunch

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Grand Harvest GHK2 Multi-tool Review
on: December 11, 2019, 03:44:27 AM


Dimensions and other info
Show content
Dimensions
Length: 3.93" (10cm)
Width: 1.57" (40mm)
Thickness: 0.67" (17mm)

Weight
Tool: 10.75oz (305g)
Tool and sheath: 11.75oz (333g)

Fasteners
Handles: Torx 8

Materials
Blade: 440 stainless steel
Pliers: 420 stainless steel

Cutting edge lengths
Blade: " (68mm)
Serrated blade: 1.1" (28mm)
Saw: 2.75" (70mm)

Info
Also known as: Bibury 13 in 1
Price at time of review: $34
Warranty: 10 years


Implement list
Show content
Pliers; spring-loaded (hidden spring), needle-nose
Non-removable wire-cutters
Blade; locking (liner-lock), oho (thumb-hole), clip-point, plain edge, hollow grind
Saw; wood, bi-directional , locking (liner-lock), oho (left-handed)
File; two-seded, locking (liner-lock)
- Flathead 4.5mm
Bottle-opener
-Flathead 5mm
-Wire stripper
Can opener; quarter-circle
-Flathead 2.5mm
Serrated blade: sheepsfoot, chisel grind
Phillips #1
Reamer-punch; sewing eye
Lanyard ring



The tool comes in a cardboard box and includes a sheath.

The sheath is hard nylon, single-stitched, velcro closure, and offers vertical and horizontal carry. The multi-tool fits in snuggly, if you put it with the lanyard ring first. It cannot go in the other way around.


The blades opens with just one hand, with a very smooth action. It was very well sharpened, and made short work of many materials. It locks with a liner-lock, which locks at %100 already, with no room to wear. At least there is no play when the blade is deployed.
Ergonomics are average. There are quite a few sharp edges and corners that dig into skin. Retention when closed is great.


The woodsaw opens one-handed with the left hand. The liner-lock will not engage if the saw is opened gently, although there is no play when deployed and locked.
It was nicely ground and very aggressive, making it very effective. The spine has 90° to allow scraping.
The protruding nail-catch of the lanyard ring and the saw's liner-lock interfered with ergonomics a little.
Unfortunately, the cut-outs are quite wide and expose the saw teeth when it is folded, and fingers may get scratched, should they find their way in there.


The file is cross-cut on one side, and single-cut on the other. Although it has a nail-nick, it can be deployed one-handed with the thumb very easily.
It worked well enough. Its liner-lock also protrudes a little, and is a hotspot. Closing the file, it grinds against the frame a little.
On its tip we find a flathead screwdriver. It would be best to use the bottle-opener's driver tip, as it is almost the same width, and will take more abuse than the file will before snapping. It worked well enough on screws that were not terribly stubborn.


The scissors open with a nail-nick, and require a strong finger-nail, as the back-spring is unreasonably firm. Retracting the scissors is also a little painful, due to the back-spring. They were nicely sharpened and fitted together, with no play.
Ergonomics are average, as there is no thumb-pad to operate them. Instead, your thumb will push against the plain thin handle, fighting against the spring-bar which could also be a little softer. There is room to make the handle thicker, which would make using the scissors much more comfortable.
When the handle is pushed against the spring-bar, the other scissor arm moves towards the spring-bar, much like Wenger scissors do. This may throw off the cutting angle and orientation, and care is required to cut exactly what you are aiming to cut.
The cutting edges are not in the same plane as the rest of their handles. There is a step behind the cutting edges, and when cutting something length-wise, material will stumble against those steps. Constant adjusting will be required to cut efficiently.
Performance was adequate for short cuts, of soft materials, close to the pivot. The tips were only effective on paper. Against thicker, stronger material, like large zipties, your thumb may give before the cutting occurs. The lack of a thumb-pad is quite evident.
Parachute cord had to be held taut to be cu, and even then, it took two or three cuts to get through it, and only close to the pivot.
As the cutting ability decreases the further away from the pivot, only about half the cutting edge will be used, and it is quite short already.


The reamer-punch tip is a little rounded but still pointy, and the edge is sharp. It drilled effectively, and it also has a sewing eye. It deploys quite easily with a nail-nick, and has a half-stop, which helps to close it safely, while also offering a different way of holding the tool while using the reamer.
Ergonomics are average, as the tool is quite wide, squared, and with many protruding elements.


The Phillips screwdriver is quite small, but fits well in #1 and 2 screws. It has a nail-nick, but since it has two back-springs pushing against it, the leverage was not enough to open it. It was easier to unfold it by the tip.
There is a half-stop for it as well, should you require more leverage.
It fits in the square hole bit adapter that many multi-tools use. There is some play, since this square shank Phillips is a little smaller than others, but the adapter can still be used.

The three short implements on the other side also ride on back-springs. Sadly, their nail-catches are too shallow, short, and overly polished for finger-nails to deploy the implements. Finger-nails will just slip off, if not damaged, due to the unnecessarily strong back-springs. Pliers and a metal pry-bar were used to deploy these, after my finger-nail split in two.

For all the trouble of deploying them, the pay-off was not worth it all that much.


The can opener cannot be used right-handed, as it was ill-positioned to properly hook onto a can lid. Left-handed was just as disappointing. It is still barely hooked onto the rim. Cutting was painful, and tracing around the lid was impossible after a couple of cuts. Fail.


The bottle-opener worked, but at the same time, just hooking its nail-catch on the cap and pulling will probably remove the cap before the opener deploys.
The flathead tip worked well enough, although it is are rounded-off.
The wire-stripper is an afterthought, too narrow and quite blunt.


The serrated blade was too short, too thick, and not well sharpened to do much work, hanging up on seat-belts and parachute cord, chewing its way through. As a rescue blade, it will not rescue anything, as even deploying it is difficult. Use the main blade.


Opening the very stiff handles we find the pliers. The retention mechanism is back-springs, and again, they are too strong for the tool. While they offer excellent retention when using the pliers, it takes a lot of force to open and close the handles.

Ergonomics are good. The scale on the scissors' side is the only 90° edge that may cause annoyance when squeezing hard enough. All other edges are nicely rounded. The tips do not meet. There is a hair of space left, which will probably not affect performance all that much.
The pliers and wire-cutters worked well enough for grabbing, twisting, turning, and cutting.
The tolerances are a bit off, and the wire-cutters grind against each other. When closed, the hidden spring is not strong enough to push the handles apart. Better tight than loose, one might argue.


The lanyard ring deploys easily, and has a hidden back-spring. When closed, its nail-catch protrudes slightly, reducing comfort when using some implements. It is thick enough, and the hole is 1cm in diameter, allowing for very large lanyards or carabiners.
Sadly, it cannot be used to aid in pulling the tool out of its sheath, as the tool will not fit the sheath in that orientation.



Quality control/Construction quality
The two handles are misaligned. The blade and saw liner-locks were not perfectly fitted. The file grinds against the frame when deployed. The back-springs are curiously strong, making implements difficult or outright impossible to deploy without metallic assistance.
The can opener was not positioned properly to open cans right-handed. The serrated blade was not sharpened well.
The tips of the pliers do not meet precisely. The wire-cutters grind against each other, to the point of rendering the spring useless.
The screwdriver tips of the openers are rounded.

On the good side, the blade, saw, and scissors are well formed and sharpened, especially for a less-known, budget tool. The file is an actual file that can grind off material. Nothing is loose. Retention on everything is excellent. Nothing has any play closed or opened. The screws are new and not stripped out. The handles are nicely finished, dull, but crisp.



Design
The back-springs and short implements are almost mirror-polished, which contrasts nicely with the matte finish of the handles and the blackened liners. The tool is compact, with a daring combination of cut-outs, thumb-slits, nail-nicks, and nail-catches. One handle is broader than the other, with an elegant curve off-setting the asymmetry.

The saw's teeth are accessible through the handle cut-outs, and may hurt the user's fingers.
The jimping of the saw and file liner-locks protrudes somewhat, and creates hotspots.
The lanyard ring nail-catch protrudes too much, and the ring itself takes up a lot of space. The saw and file leave big gaps in the handles, enough to house a few more implements under their edges, or to make them broader, especially the file.
The scissors do not have a thumb-pad, even though there is room for one. The back-springs make the tool quite heavy for its size.



Performance
The best performing implements really shine. The blade and woodsaw are made very well. Proper designing, grinding, and sharpening made these stand out. The scissors can perform decently, against soft materials, for short snips. The file gets a passing grade. The pliers are nothing special, though they will get the job done.
Of the shorter implements, the reamer and Phillips are decent and adequate for everyday tasks. The openers, their driver tips, and the serrated blade, may cause some frustration, as they are difficult to deploy. The bottle opener and two flatheads worked well enough, but access should not be this much of a hassle. The can opener and serrated blade are wasted space.
Ergonomics for the pliers are quite good, but fall short for other implements. Too many protruding points and sharp edges here and there that cause annoyance. The scissors are particularly uncomfortable for prolonged cutting or hard materials.



Conclusion
A mixed bag of good and bad, this tool was frustrating to use. While almost everything on it works, half the tools are hard to access. The back-springs are the stiffer of any in the industry I have come across, and limit the use you can get out of this tool. The longer tools are almost excellent, but not without their shortcomings. It was clear that the tool had potential, with a nice design and well-rounded tool-set. Alas, the construction quality, along with some questionable design choices, greatly handicap the tool. At this price range, other tools can be found, that offer better construction quality and quality control, that are not riddled with flaws.

The design looked good on paper and in photos. The tool selection was rather inviting. The shapes, the finish, the compactness; everything looked too good to be true, and it was. In hand, the many flaws became unmissable. Even the good aspects of the tool have a dark side. What good is a nice blade when the liner-lock is at 100% out of the box? What good are precise scissors, when deploying, using, and retracting them is painful? What good is a properly shaped bottle opener when you need another tool to deploy it?

I do not think I can recommend this tool as it is. There are just too many flaws, some big, some small, but all annoying. Quality Control should have eliminated some of them, and this only illustrates how little testing some multi-tools go through before release. It really is disheartening to see such a nice design be hindered by the negatives. Hopefully the makers will realize how inconsistent the tool is, and take steps to address the issues. Until then, there are other fish in the sea.


Pros
-Well rounded tool set.
-Good blade and woodsaw.
-Phillips can fit the square hole bit adapter.

Cons
-Low Quality Control.
-Can opener cannot open cans.
-Unreasonably strong back-springs.
« Last Edit: December 11, 2019, 04:12:15 AM by ReamerPunch »


Offline mikekoz

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Re: Grand Harvest GHK2 Multi-tool Review
Reply #1 on: December 22, 2019, 01:06:29 AM
   Great and thorough review! I have one just like this, but it is under a different brand name. I am real impressed with mine. Paid just under $35.00 for it and I will say that these cheap and chearfull brands are getting better and better to the point where they compare favorably to some of the name brand tools!


au Offline ReamerPunch

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Re: Grand Harvest GHK2 Multi-tool Review
Reply #2 on: December 24, 2019, 06:36:21 AM
Thanks so much!  :like:
Was your branded Bibury? That is a little nicer, mine has no logos on it. The price would be easier to swallow if the tool was on par with Roxon quality.
This and Roxon tools are manufactured in the same city, Yangjiang. Is that the Portland of China?

True, off-brand multi-tools have come a long way, and some are really nice. This is not. At least mine was not. Too many issues to recommend it.


au Offline ReamerPunch

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Re: Grand Harvest GHK2 Multi-tool Review
Reply #3 on: June 01, 2020, 12:20:24 PM
This and Roxon tools are manufactured in the same city, Yangjiang. Is that the Portland of China?

The NexTool Mini Flagship is also made in Yangjiang. :think:


au Offline ReamerPunch

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au Offline ReamerPunch

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Re: Grand Harvest GHK2 Multi-tool Review
Reply #5 on: September 06, 2020, 06:13:55 AM
Show content


Dimensions and other info
Show content
Dimensions
Length: 3.93" (10cm)
Width: 1.57" (40mm)
Thickness: 0.67" (17mm)

Weight
Tool: 10.75oz (305g)
Tool and sheath: 11.75oz (333g)

Fasteners
Handles: Torx 8

Materials
Blade: 440 stainless steel
Pliers: 420 stainless steel

Cutting edge lengths
Blade: " (68mm)
Serrated blade: 1.1" (28mm)
Saw: 2.75" (70mm)

Info
Also known as: Bibury 13 in 1
Price at time of review: $34
Warranty: 10 years


Implement list
Show content
Pliers; spring-loaded (hidden spring), needle-nose
Non-removable wire-cutters
Blade; locking (liner-lock), oho (thumb-hole), clip-point, plain edge, hollow grind
Saw; wood, bi-directional , locking (liner-lock), oho (left-handed)
File; two-sided, locking (liner-lock)
- Flathead 4.5mm
Bottle-opener
-Flathead 5mm
-Wire stripper
Can opener; quarter-circle
-Flathead 2.5mm
Serrated blade: sheepsfoot, chisel grind
Phillips #1
Reamer-punch; sewing eye
Lanyard ring



The tool comes in a cardboard box and includes a sheath.

The sheath is hard nylon, single-stitched, velcro closure, and offers vertical and horizontal carry. The multi-tool fits in snugly, if you put it with the lanyard ring first. It cannot go in the other way around.


The blade opens with just one hand, with a very smooth action. It was very well sharpened, and made short work of many materials. It locks with a liner-lock, which locks at %100 already, with no room to wear. At least there is no play when the blade is deployed.
Ergonomics are average. There are quite a few sharp edges and corners that dig into skin. Retention when closed is great.


The woodsaw opens one-handed with the left hand. The liner-lock will not engage if the saw is opened gently, although there is no play when deployed and locked.
It was nicely ground and very aggressive, making it very effective. The spine has 90° edges to allow scraping.
The protruding nail-catch of the lanyard ring and the saw's liner-lock interfered with ergonomics a little.
Unfortunately, the cut-outs are quite wide and expose the saw teeth when it is folded, and fingers may get scratched, should they find their way in there.


The file is cross-cut on one side, and single-cut on the other. Although it has a nail-nick, it can be deployed one-handed with the thumb very easily.
It worked well enough. Its liner-lock also protrudes a little, and is a hotspot. Closing the file, it grinds against the frame a little.
On its tip we find a flathead screwdriver. It would be best to use the bottle-opener's driver tip, as it is almost the same width, and will take more abuse than the file will before snapping. It worked well enough on screws that were not terribly stubborn.


The scissors open with a nail-nick, and require a strong finger-nail, as the back-spring is unreasonably firm. Retracting the scissors is also a little painful, due to the back-spring. They were nicely sharpened and fitted together, with no play.
Ergonomics are average, as there is no thumb-pad to operate them. Instead, your thumb will push against the plain thin handle, fighting against the spring-bar which could also be a little softer. There is room to make the handle thicker, which would make using the scissors much more comfortable.
When the handle is pushed against the spring-bar, the other scissor arm moves towards the spring-bar, much like Wenger scissors do. This may throw off the cutting angle and orientation, and care is required to cut exactly what you are aiming to cut.
The cutting edges are not in the same plane as the rest of their handles. There is a step behind the cutting edges, and when cutting something length-wise, material will stumble against those steps. Constant adjusting will be required to cut efficiently.
Performance was adequate for short cuts, of soft materials, close to the pivot. The tips were only effective on paper. Against thicker, stronger material, like large zipties, your thumb may give before the cutting occurs. The lack of a thumb-pad is quite evident.
Parachute cord had to be held taut to be cut, and even then, it took two or three cuts to get through it, and only close to the pivot.
As the cutting ability decreases the further away from the pivot, only about half the cutting edge will be used, and it is quite short already.


The reamer-punch tip is a little rounded but still pointy, and the edge is sharp. It drilled effectively, and it also has a sewing eye. It deploys quite easily with a nail-nick, and has a half-stop, which helps to close it safely, while also offering a different way of holding the tool while using the reamer.
Ergonomics are average, as the tool is quite wide, squared, and with many protruding elements.


The Phillips screwdriver is quite small, but fits well in #1 and #2 screws. It has a nail-nick, but since it has two back-springs pushing against it, the leverage was not enough to open it. It was easier to unfold it by the tip.
There is a half-stop for it as well, should you require more leverage.
It fits in the square hole bit adapter that many multi-tools use. There is some play, since this square shank Phillips is a little smaller than others, but the adapter can still be used.

The three short implements on the other side also ride on back-springs. Sadly, their nail-catches are too shallow, short, and overly polished for finger-nails to deploy the implements. Finger-nails will just slip off, if not damaged, due to the unnecessarily strong back-springs. Pliers and a metal pry-bar were used to deploy these, after my finger-nail split in two.

For all the trouble of deploying them, the pay-off was not worth it all that much.


The can opener cannot be used right-handed, as it was ill-positioned to properly hook onto a can lid. Left-handed was just as disappointing. It still barely hooked onto the rim. Cutting was painful, and tracing around the lid was impossible after a couple of cuts. Fail.


The bottle-opener worked, but at the same time, just hooking its nail-catch on the cap and pulling will probably remove the cap before the opener deploys.
The flathead tip worked well enough, although it is rounded-off.
The wire-stripper is an afterthought, too narrow and quite blunt.


The serrated blade was too short, too thick, and not well sharpened to do much work, hanging up on seat-belts and parachute cord, chewing its way through. As a rescue blade, it will not rescue anything, as even deploying it is difficult. Use the main blade.


Opening the very stiff handles we find the pliers. The retention mechanism is back-springs, and again, they are too strong for the tool. While they offer excellent retention when using the pliers, it takes a lot of force to open and close the handles.

Ergonomics are good. The scale on the scissors' side is the only 90° edge that may cause annoyance when squeezing hard enough. All other edges are nicely rounded. The tips do not meet. There is a hair of space left, which will probably not affect performance all that much.
The pliers and wire-cutters worked well enough for grabbing, twisting, turning, and cutting.
The tolerances are a bit off, and the wire-cutters grind against each other. When closed, the hidden spring is not strong enough to push the handles apart. Better tight than loose, one might argue.


The lanyard ring deploys easily, and has a hidden back-spring. When closed, its nail-catch protrudes slightly, reducing comfort when using some implements. It is thick enough, and the hole is 1cm in diameter, allowing for very large lanyards or carabiners.
Sadly, it cannot be used to aid in pulling the tool out of its sheath, as the tool will not fit the sheath in that orientation.



Quality control/Construction quality
The two handles are misaligned. The blade and saw liner-locks were not perfectly fitted. The file grinds against the frame when deployed. The back-springs are curiously strong, making implements difficult or outright impossible to deploy without metallic assistance.
The can opener was not positioned properly to open cans right-handed. The serrated blade was not sharpened well.
The tips of the pliers do not meet precisely. The wire-cutters grind against each other, to the point of rendering the spring useless.
The screwdriver tips of the openers are rounded.

On the good side, the blade, saw, and scissors are well-formed and sharpened, especially for a less-known, budget tool. The file is an actual file that can grind off material. Nothing is loose. Retention on everything is excellent. Nothing has any play closed or opened. The screws are new and not stripped out. The handles are nicely finished, dull, but crisp.



Design
The back-springs and short implements are almost mirror-polished, which contrasts nicely with the matte finish of the handles and the blackened liners. The tool is compact, with a daring combination of cut-outs, thumb-slits, nail-nicks, and nail-catches. One handle is broader than the other, with an elegant curve off-setting the asymmetry.

The saw's teeth are accessible through the handle cut-outs, and may hurt the user's fingers.
The jimping of the saw and file liner-locks protrudes somewhat, and creates hotspots.
The lanyard ring nail-catch protrudes too much, and the ring itself takes up a lot of space. The saw and file leave big gaps in the handles, enough to house a few more implements under their edges, or to make them broader, especially the file.
The scissors do not have a thumb-pad, even though there is room for one. The back-springs make the tool quite heavy for its size.



Performance
The best performing implements really shine. The blade and woodsaw are made very well. Proper designing, grinding, and sharpening made these stand out. The scissors can perform decently, against soft materials, for short snips. The file gets a passing grade. The pliers are nothing special, though they will probably get the job done.
Of the shorter implements, the reamer and Phillips are decent and adequate for everyday tasks. The openers, their driver tips, and the serrated blade may cause some frustration, as they are difficult to deploy. The bottle opener and two flatheads worked well enough, but access should not be this much of a hassle. The can opener and serrated blade are wasted space.
Ergonomics for the pliers are quite good, but fall short for other implements. Too many protruding points and sharp edges here and there that cause annoyance. The scissors are particularly uncomfortable for prolonged cutting or hard materials.



Conclusion
A mixed bag of good and bad, this tool was frustrating to use. While almost everything on it works, half the tools are hard to access. The back-springs are the stiffer of any in the industry I have come across, and limit the use you can get out of this tool. The longer tools are almost excellent, but not without their shortcomings. It was clear that the tool had potential, with a nice design and well-rounded tool-set. Alas, the construction quality, along with some questionable design choices, greatly handicaps the tool. At this price range, other tools can be found, that offer better construction quality and quality control, that are not riddled with flaws.

The design looked good on paper and in photos. The tool selection was rather inviting. The shapes, the finish, the compactness; everything looked too good to be true, and it was. In hand, the many flaws became unmissable. Even the good aspects of the tool have a dark side. What good is a nice blade when the liner-lock is at 100% out of the box? What good are precise scissors, when deploying, using, and retracting them is painful? What good is a properly shaped bottle opener when you need another tool to deploy it?

I do not think I can recommend this tool as it is. There are just too many flaws, some big, some small, but all annoying. Quality Control should have eliminated some of them, and this only illustrates how little testing some multi-tools go through before release. It really is disheartening to see such a nice design be hindered by the negatives. Hopefully the makers will realize how inconsistent the tool is, and take steps to address the issues. Until then, there are other fish in the sea.


Pros
-Well rounded tool set.
-Good blade and woodsaw.
-Phillips can fit the square hole bit adapter.

Cons
-Low Quality Control.
-Can opener cannot open cans.
-Unreasonably strong back-springs.
« Last Edit: January 25, 2021, 12:48:43 PM by Poncho65 »


 

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