I HATE the saw on my Leatherman Surge

S

SuzukiGS750EZ

Joined
Dec 30, 2008
Messages
4,474
So my girlfriend and I took a walk through the woods today and i decided to show her how to setup a snare. So she picked out a tree and we started to make the trigger. Well, it was seasoned wood, which my victorinox saws have no issue with, but this leatherman saw was just crappy! I compared the two saws and the victorinox saw is more symmetrical while the leatherman saw teeth are more 45 degree angled. I don't know how to explain it. Anyways, that kind of ruined it for me. I mean, I love the surge, but maybe i'll have to carry my camper with me for the saw or something.
 
The saw blade on the Victorinox farmer is the reason I bought one.It is an exellent little saw blade.
 
That's why I always carry a few extra blades in the sheath alongside my bit kit.

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I might need to go the extra blade route. if i do, i'll end up cutting it to size and making the notch in the end for a carry on, and keeping a longer one for bigger work in my pack. Any blades you guys recommend for all kinds of work, not just wood (not a universal blade, but different kinds of blades).
 
It has hardly been 30 minutes since I pulled the trigger on a Leatherman Surge on that auction site, so this is good info to have. I'll stop by the hardware store and pick up a few blades to see what works best for wood.
 
And that's the reason why I carry a farmer on me too. Just in case something doesn't work like it should
 
Great info. I hate to admit it, but I did not know Leathermans were meant to cut, only on the pull. Also, that the Surge has quick change blades, and apparently can use hardware store bought blades. I love my Wave but might give the Surge a look. Great info, I love Blade forums!!!!!
 
VictGerbSogCamill said:
Great info. I hate to admit it, but I did not know Leathermans were meant to cut, only on the pull. Also, that the Surge has quick change blades, and apparently can use hardware store bought blades. I love my Wave but might give the Surge a look. Great info, I love Blade forums!!!!!
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Isn't it great when you find out that something you liked already is even better than you had realized? :)
 
The jigsaw blade in the Surge pictured is a Bosch Progressor blade for wood, and would be a very good blade for wood and softer plastics. The Progressor metal-cutting blade is great for metals and harder plastics. These blades have variable pitch teeth, like a Japanese pull saw, so they cut very efficiently.

I am glad I wandered over here. I did not know that the Surge took t-shank jigsaw blades. Very cool.
 
Designing a blade to cut on the pull allows for a thinner kerf. A thinner kerf means less wood to cut (waste) and less work.
The Japanese Dozuki is an excellent example of a thin-kerf pull-stroke saw; incidentally, my first introduction to this type of blade.
To cut on the push stroke requires more skill and a thicker blade, generally speaking, since the blade may buckle under load. On the pull stroke, the blade is in tension, therefore no buckling issues.
In Western carpentry, thin bladed saws often have stiff backs, as in a back saw or dovetail saw. This helps keep the blade stiff and lessens the chance of buckling, though I have a old dovetail saw I was a little too aggressive with...
my 2 cents.
 
lightsnknivespdx said:
Leatherman Tools Yangjiang Factory held biggest protest in 10yrs against Leatherman USA (Portland) for unfair work practices!! http://bit.ly/sd8P3C Please use Google translate and help these poor workers out.
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Like you suggested, I looked up the url and applied Google translate. The site it brought up had a report on a strike at a plant owned or controlled by Leatherman. Details were sketchy, but when I went into the site to investigate further, the next thing I found was a really, really long, largely incoherent religious rant about Marx and devil worship. It was serious nutjob stuff and makes me wonder if this whole website is credible. Could you post some other sources for the Leatherman story?
 
lightsnknivespdx said:
Leatherman Tools Yangjiang Factory held biggest protest in 10yrs against Leatherman USA (Portland) for unfair work practices!! http://bit.ly/sd8P3C Please use Google translate and help these poor workers out.
Click to expand...

I emailed Leatherman about this and received the following reply:



Leatherman Tool Group, Inc. purchased LED Lenser flashlights last year. As part of this purchase we acquired the factory that the lights are produced in. The only thing produced in this factory is LED Lenser lights and headlamps. NO Leatherman products are produced there. The companies are completely separate. The only Leatherman manufacturing facility is still (and always will be per Tim Leatherman) based in Portland, OR.

The entire factory has always run two shifts save the assembly area. In order to bring the assembly area in line with the output of the rest of the factory, we decided to split that are into two shifts as well. We gave the folks there approximately a four-month notice that this would happen. On the day that it actually did, about 10 people who were quitting their jobs of their own volition anyway, instigated a protest with the rest of the assembly workers. The protest lasted a half a day and the next day everyone came back to work on their own.

There has been no issues raised from the workers since and the two-shift implementation. Let me know if I can answer anything else.
Thanks!

Juli Warner
Marketing Communications Manager
Leatherman Tool Group, Inc.
Leatherman / LED Lenser
503-253-7826
 
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I have had a leatherman surge for 6 or 7 years now it's been so long i can't really remember but i have never had to replace my saw blade and it's still sharp and works great.
 
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