My review of the Irwin 6LN VISE-GRIP Locking Multi-Pliers with blade

[C0untZer0]

I am a sucker for multi-tools, and Menards had these on sale for $15.00, and there was a $5.00 mail-in rebate, making the price $9.99, so I bought their multi-tool this morning.

It looked neat, and it had a bit driver, and I just thought it was cool.
It wasn't until I opened the knife that I realized there was a problem. The knife is just kind of bolted on the side of the handle and the blade opens right next to the plier jaws. I actually tried cutting some stuff and you can't really cut with it. You can slice away at things but if you try to cut through something, the pliers hit the right side of whatever you're trying to cut and you come to a stop. I don't know why I couldn't see that it would happen just by looking at the tool, but it wasn't until I tried to cut something that I realized it. You can get around it by just using the tip of the blade, angling it downward and making small passes, but I think its just a bad design. I also think there are some multi-tools that in a pinch you could use them as a weapon, but not the Irwin Multi-Pliers.

I still could have lived with that, there are a lot of cutting jobs the blade could do, anything that was no more than an inch in diameter - for example. But when I extended the blade I found a real problem. The blade is about the cheapest folding setup I've run across. The blade was just loosey-goosey. It had about 3/16" of play in it, I mean I could wiggle it at the tip and it would travel back and forth about 3/16" of an inch. I didn't expect it to lock up rock-solid but this thing had way too much play to it. It uses a liner lock and when I actually looked at the liner lock, it was a really thin piece of metal and I couldn't see anything that prevented over-travel. The spring just stopped where it stopped because thats how far it went when fully let out.

I was super-disappointed.

I took it back to Menards after just buying it.

I was pretty hyped about getting what I thought was going to be decent pliers, a bit driver and a serviceable blade for $9.99 but wasn't to be




.

 

[hso]

Thanks for the warning!

 

[shiftyer1]

Does the knife separate from the frame in some way? If not someone clearly didn't think that one thru. I like vise grips and use them a lot but I really don't see how the shape would be convienent as a driver or knife. It's just to wide.

I will say that a set of vice grips is good for all kind of things. Knobs, faucet knobs, valve knobs, window cranks in the truck, a shift lever on the bike once in a pinch, all kinds of levers and handles, I think I held a wheel on the axle of my lawn mower with one once. They're right up there with bailing wire and duct tape in the necessity department. lol

 

[C0untZer0]

You can separate the knife. That actually is something I don't like about the tool. The knife isn't integrated well, it seems like an afterthought that they literally bolted on to the side of the lower handle. You can separate the knife, but you'd need a new, shorter bolt for the pivot, and you'd need to buy some washers to tighten that blade up, and after all that, you'd still have an inadequate locking mechanism.

I thought about turning the blade so that it opens out the back, the opposite end of the plier jaws but the handle and the knife are curved so if I rotated it, the knife would bow out from the plier handles.

When I started thinking along those lines I realized I was really laboring to try to like the tool. It was just time to admit defeat and cut my losses.

 

[hso]

It is no surprise that when a tool company tries to adapt a product to add a knife blade that you're not always going to get a well thought out product. You frequently don't get a good knife, either. Irwin seems to have fallen down here. They did a similar product attempt where they patterned the 5WR after the Leatherman Crunch, but the reviews on the Irwin were lackluster.



The folks at Leatherman did a good job with their Crunch, but they didn't just tack a knife onto a pliers as a gimmick, they understand knives. I've had a Crunch for a bunch of years and keep it the glove box since the locking pliers feature isn't usually needed on your belt like the standard pliers (and the blades are opened from the inside instead of out).

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[C0untZer0]

Wow.

Everything I learned about the Irwin multi-tool from buying it I could have learned by just searching YouTube and watching this review.

I had my phone with me so I could have researched it before buying it too.

It's just that I was standing in front of it in the isle and it had this big sign on it it - SALE !, AND a mail in rebate...

Its like it short circuited my brain.

 

[hso]

I can't tell you how much junk I've bought the same way.

At least we have a way to warn others off of making the same mistake.

 

[WestKentucky]

I really like Irwin tools, but they are one brand I know not to get high-tech with. If it is pliers I want, I buy pliers. If it's a knife I want I buy a knife. I don't typically go for the gimmicky super tool without serious contemplation, and that comes from some buyers remorse over some things that say Gerber on the side. I really like Irwin though. Slip joint pliers, or their button adjust version of slip joints are top notch, as are other pliers, vises, clamps etc. Their attempt at adding a knife is not too far removed from what we would expect Chevrolet to do if trying to turn a Silverado into a combo truck/boat/airplane. They took what they are good at and added to it. Like a Silverado with a hull and wings, it's not always practical, or a good idea, but it usually is interesting enough to sell at some price point.

 

[Sistema1927]

Proof once again that just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should.

 

[Tirod]

Yep. And they make things because they sell, not because we really need them.

 

[rcmodel]

Back to:

'If you build it, he will come '!
(Kevin Costner - Field of Dreams.)


Or,
'A fool is born every minute'
(P.T. Barnum.)

rc

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Thanks for warning.