Multitool.org Forum

Tool Talk => Cheap and Cheerful (or otherwise!) => Topic started by: ChopperCharles on June 28, 2018, 05:42:28 PM

Title: Jeep Multitool - Master Cutlery WM-JP03B
Post by: ChopperCharles on June 28, 2018, 05:42:28 PM
I looked for topics on this knife, but haven't found any. I snagged it for $20 new in the package off of eBay. It's a neat tool, with a nice case, and I'm going to give a little review.

First off, the blade is large, opens smoothly, and is quite sharp. It cuts receipt paper! It's one-handed opening with a nice liner lock.  However, there is side play to the blade. This is because on the blade pivot between the side plates there are 2 metal washers and 2 plastic washers.  This is to give enough room for a saw blade, can opener, and a flashlight on the back of the tool. In addition there's a fold-out plier and a flip-out stub where the bitdriver is attached. This bitdriver has a liner lock. The tool comes with a rather nice dual sheath, and a rather crappy chinese army knife. Plus a selection of bits and an adapter for the stub on the tool.

I like the main blade and the pliers. The pliers work really well, and they're beefier than the flip-out pliers in my Newpow or in the Ace multitool I have. The cutters cut wire from 24ga on up to 12ga stranded with ease. Zip ties are cut easily. The pliers have no looseness or play, and it's more difficult to bend them than it is to bend the Newpow pliers. The little flashlight is just an LED bulb with some tiny button cells, but it's actually bright and useful. The blade and pliers open on the same side of the tool, and the light can bend and position to illuminate what you're cutting or holding/turning with the pliers. Cool design. The handles are anodized aluminum, and the whole thing feels beefy and large in the hand.

I really like the toolset... but not all is well with this thing. Lets talk retention. Three tools have little round metal pins that snick into holes in the liners, to keep the blades closed. The main blade, the pliers, and the bitdriver stub. This works great for the main blade. It works too well for the bit driver stub. The bitdriver is so short it is quite difficult to extract with a nail. It's in that divot strongly. The best way to extract it is to pry it out with the bitdriver adapter, which you'll be needing anyhow. The plier retention doesn't work. There is a hole in the liner that the pin on the handle should fit into... and it's in the wrong place. So the handle is only held in by the friction of that pin against the liner. It looks like the pliers would line up if the handle wasn't curved, as the plier handle hits the tool handle before the plier handle would be fully seated into that hole. The plier handle could also be bent into a slight curve, and it would fit. Looks basically like one design engineer didn't bother to tell another that the tool shape changed, and so it broke a minor feature. The blade and bitdriver lock open with liner locks, and the pliers snap open and closed with a nice backspring.

None of that is a big deal. The big deal is the saw and the can opener, and to a lesser extent the flashlight.  None of these tools have any kind of retention whatsoever, other than friction. Friction keeps them closed, and worse, friction keeps them open. There is no liner lock and no backspring to speak of. I don't know how age is going to effect the looseness of the tools as time, wear, and use happens. It's just screw pressure and little plastic washers that keep the tools from opening and closing. I can't see how the can opener can work, really, without any kind of backspring tension. It's going to stick in the can constantly and be really awkward to use. The saw is usable, and makes short work of a stick, but if it gets stuck (and it will), it can close on you if you're over-zealous. Not enough in my experience to catch fingers, you have to consciously use a bad technique to get it to fold when using the saw.

The metal scales scratch easily and the Jeep logo is screen printed rather poorly. It's not completely opaque, and there are lines in it.

The sheath is really nice. With exception of a few loose threads, it's stitched well, it's very heavy duty material, the flap and back are made of multiple layers of nylon stitched together, so it's quite nice.  It's a little small for the multitool, but it does fit. One of the holsters is divided with a small piece of cloth. This gives room for the bits, while leaving a protected-from-scratches inner sheath for a 2 or 3 layer SAK. The chinese pocket knife that came with it is your standard crappy china job, and it's gone into my Crappy Tool Pile. The sheath best fits a Victorinox 2-layer, but a 3-layer will fit. Wenger knives are a little short, and unless you have a lanyard or long key chain on it (like the old Wengers all had), it will be difficult to extract. A 3-layer Wenger is thinner than a 3-layer Victorinox, and so it fits a little better. You can actually fit a 4-layer Wenger in there, but it's a little snug and when you pull it out, it wants to take the bits with it.

The bits all seem high quality, and the holder is nice rubber material.

Overall, I like this tool. I'm not crazy about the friction retention on some of the tools. I will test the can opener next time I want to eat something from a can (I'm not going to waste food just for a test), but I'm thinking it's going to be a total smurfshow. I think if you're looking for this type of tool, and the saw and LED are not important to you, the Newpow is probably a better tool overall. It's more compact, better constructed, better designed, and is just more pleasant to use. The bitdriver, unmodified, is less wobbly on the Newpow. It's also cheaper and readily available on Amazon.  But, for $20 this Jeep multitool does come with a really nice dual sheath, a saw, and a good light. I'd say it's easily worth $20 for one in good or unused condition. But not much more than that.

Also, after a few seconds using the bit driver, I modified it. I filed a small flat on the round bit driver adapter, so it would fully seat into the nail tab. It makes for a more solid, less wobbly bit driver experience. Photo attached to show what I mean. The Newpow bit driver is not liner-locked, but on the jeep tool it is. Unfortunately, on the jeep tool it doesn't open a perfect 180 degrees. (It does on the Newpow). Even though the liner lock is nice, this angle  means the driver is more awkward to use than the Newpow.

Charles.
Title: Re: Jeep Multitool - Master Cutlery WM-JP03B
Post by: ChopperCharles on June 28, 2018, 05:46:46 PM
Bit driver is not 180 degrees. Also showing mod I did to bit driver attachment so it sits in the tool better. Final pic is of the Newpow, and how it has a longer, straight bit driver. (Not liner locked though)

Charles.

Title: Re: Jeep Multitool - Master Cutlery WM-JP03B
Post by: gerleatherberman on June 30, 2018, 07:04:04 AM
Interesting MT there, CC!
I have a Stanley tool somewhere that has the handle you pull out to open the plier like that one, but the tool has a completely different style to it. The handles are rounded and the tools are retained with backsprings. I'll have to dig it out next week.
Thanks for the review, CC! :)
Title: Re: Jeep Multitool - Master Cutlery WM-JP03B
Post by: ChopperCharles on June 30, 2018, 04:35:24 PM
I probably have the Ace variation of the tool you're talking about. So far I've tried many of these knives with the fold-out pliers. This one is decent, the NewPow is really good, the Snap-On is actually not that great. Surprisingly, the Chinese tend to get these pliers pretty well, all things considered. Even the pliers in my $12 Avenger multi tool work well, with nice sharp cutters.

One other thing about this knife. The can opener is actually useless. Because of it's short length and position in the center of the tool, it cannot get purchase on a can lid, and also put the blade portion of the tool against the rim.

Charles.
Title: Re: Jeep Multitool - Master Cutlery WM-JP03B
Post by: gerleatherberman on July 01, 2018, 04:47:13 AM
You'd think someone, along the way in testing, would have caught that. :think:

Would it function left handed?
Title: Re: Jeep Multitool - Master Cutlery WM-JP03B
Post by: ChopperCharles on July 01, 2018, 05:19:11 PM
Nope I tried left handed too. The opener is in the dead center of the tool and it doesn’t work for either side.

Charles.
Title: Re: Jeep Multitool - Master Cutlery WM-JP03B
Post by: ChopperCharles on July 11, 2018, 08:05:59 AM
What I'd like to do is replace the useless and difficult to extract can opener with an early Wenger bottle opener. From knives with the weird can opener. The old style was on the opposite side of the knife, and the nail nick is thus on the opposite side, which will work perfectly for this knife. It also doesn't have a lock mechanism to have to file down. It should work.... except for the problem that all the teeny tiny screws that hold the scales on are locktited in, and they're soft and don't quite fit any of my precision bit sets tight enough that I can supply sufficient torque without risk of rounding them out. I may try a little brief heat from a butane micro torch, but I'm afraid of wrecking the nice anodized finish on the scales.

Charles.
Title: Re: Jeep Multitool - Master Cutlery WM-JP03B
Post by: gerleatherberman on July 11, 2018, 08:17:15 AM
Instead of a flame, maybe hold a 40w soldering iron tip to the screw head. I've seen that trick on YouTube a few times to reduce the risk of finish damage  :)