Considering a Leatherman Crunch....thoughts?

J

jonnyt16

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Jul 17, 2007
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I carry a Victorinox Spirit now and am very happy with it but I often find myself in need of locking pliers while at work. So the other day I handled a Leatherman Crunch at the store and liked it. The deployment of the pliers was a little cumbersome but hopefully this gets easier and faster as you get used to it? I don't see a lot of talk about the Crunch on here so just wondering if anyone has experience with it and what your thoughts are. A photo next to a Vic Spirit for size comparison would be awesome too.

The other option I am considering is the Kershaw A100. From all the reviews I've read and watched, I really like this thing. However, it is discontinued and the secondary market prices are a little more than I want to spend.
 
You are right that the Crunch gets no love. I'm a Leatherman freak, and have never had my hands on one. I guess most guys don't need the locking feature, or if they do they carry a dedicated locking plier plus an MT. Who knows.

There is a pic of both here to get you started.
 
I had one for years and years and never used it so I gave it to a friend a few months ago. I never needed locking pliers and it only had a small amount of other tools. I'm all about leathermans though so if it fits your needs go for it.
 
The awesome crunch! I got the crunch bug a few years back and bought a couple of older pat. pend ones. They are a piece of art and an engineering marvel. A bit hard to get used to, since you can't just flip them open like a traditional multi tool. I keep one in the glove box of the truck, and one in the pack. Haven't used them too vigorously at all, but find they make a fine clamp. I've used them to clamp leather as it was being glued for sheaths. Pinching off a gas line. Various other tasks of the sort too. They'd make a great fly tying vise too, if one was so inclined. Thinking about it now, and all of the things I could use this for now that summer is here, I may just strap one on my belt next to the ever present wave. Good luck!
 
powernoodle said:
There is a pic of both here to get you started.
Click to expand...
Thank you sir! Yeah one of the things that draws me to the Crunch is its very compact size. Its why I love the Vic Spirit. I just can't stand bulky things on my belt (I even have a CCW but find myself going unarmed most of the time because of this) so if I went with the Kershaw A100 I'm afraid it would end up sitting in a toolbox instead of on my person.

I work out in the field for a municipality (Public Works, streets division) so I do a huge variety of different things almost every day. If you think about it, it really doesn't make sense not to have a locking ability on your pliers if you can choose to. I mean, depending on what you're doing, a vise grip can be like having a third hand! And for things like getting a completely rusted nut or a screw off, locking pliers can make all the difference in the world. Of course, I'm almost never too far away from a truck with a loaded toolbox while at work, but still.
 
Yeah, the smallest gun I have is a Sig Sauer P232 but even that rides in a DeSantis ankle holster most of the time to avoid being on the belt. I think having a gun (even something as small as a LCP) in my pocket would annoy me even more.
 
I had a Crunch for a while, but hardly used it, so I never got familiar with it. The pliers like found on a Wave fit my needs better. Other than that, the Crunch is a great design of a multitool.
 
I have a Crunch, but it has not made it to EDC...yet. It is a robust little tool though, not a cheap copy of a Vise-Grip, and just as fiddly as a Vise-Grip when time comes to adjust the jaws. A friend had the Kershaw, also a good tool, but a bit long for belt carry and the pointed tips of the jaws digging into the palm made for less than pleasant screwdriver use... There's also the Gerber Grappler, which does have a faster adjustment feature, but a less desirable set of blades IMO
 
I’ve got Vise-Grips I’ve used on the job for decades and they are going strong. One of the things I like about them is that I can take multiple small bites against a thick wire or thin rod. It will chew through stuff I couldn't touch with full sized linesman pliers.

I have no experience with the Crunch. Does it cut rod above its weight? Is it as all around tough and versatile? Are a extra tools worth the huge difference in price?
 
you'll get used to opening/closing it pretty quickly.


Raymond1000 said:
Why buy a cheap copy? Vise-Grip is the original and still the best. Carry 4” Vise-grip and a carefully chosen SAC. http://www.amazon.com/Irwin-1002L3-Original-Curved-Locking/dp/B00012FQGA/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1369966489&sr=8-16&keywords=vise+grip
Click to expand...

Raymond1000 said:
I have no experience with the Crunch. Does it cut rod above its weight? Is it as all around tough and versatile?
Click to expand...

vise-grip feels cheap compared to the crunch...any multitool is a compromised version of their full size counterpart. the main deciding factor is convenience (on your belt vs. in the back of the truck) rather than whether it outperforms their full size version - ofcourse not. ergonomics alone is obviously less ideal on a multitool and ergo's directly affects leverage when cutting rods, etc.
 
I've had a crunch for several years now. I found one in a brick & mortar nib for $40 so I added it to the collection. I carried it for a short time, but the interior tools & serrated blade just didn't do it for me. The built in 1/4" driver is the bees knees though! Every Leatherman should have this feature.
 
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