Gerber Legend 800

Gerber Legend 800 - The multi-tool

Written by Ken Friday, 13 June 2008 19:29

Article Index
Gerber Legend 800
The multi-tool
Tools continued
Problems
Conclusions
All Pages

The multi-tool

The main body of the Gerber Legend 800 is made of aircraft grade aluminium, presumably to save a bit of weigh (since it’s a chunky beast). The sides of the tool curve slightly, giving a nice feel in your hand, and there are thin, shaped rubber strips inset into the sides to improve grip. The metal body is covered with an anodised champagne-coloured coating, which will very soon become a duller grey!

On to the first tool, the pliers: the jaws aren’t quite small enough to be classed as needlenosed, but they are small enough for most delicate work in the field. Close examination shows them to be exceptionally well made, meeting up on perfectly milled tips. Small serrations for grip near the tip give way to a larger dished set of serrations for gripping bolts and larger objects. Set even closer to the hinge are the wire cutters.

Here is the Gerber’s first clear advantage over the Leatherman – these hardened steel triangular cutter blades are replaceable. Using the included allen key, the blades can be rotated 120 degrees when they become blunt, presenting a new cutting face, and when all three faces are blunt they can be replaced with new blades (which happen to be fairly standard lathe/CNC machine blades, available from most industrial and larger DIY stores). In use, the blades had no problem cutting through tough fencing wire, throttle control cables and electrical cables. The supplied blades have a small notch which makes them great for wire stripping.

Another big advantage the Gerber has over the Leatherman is that the pliers are sprung – absolutely invaluable if you are trying to use the tool one handed on a delicate job.

The knife blade isn’t anything particularly special. At just over 6cm long it’s a decent length, and it has a protruding thumb grip which allows it to be folded out from the tool one-handed. Like all the other tools, once opened it locks into place, and although it is JUST possible to pull back the locking catch and fold the blade back one handed, in practice you’ll want two hands for the job.

The half of the blade nearest the tip is a smooth curve. The half nearest the body of the tool is serrated for extra cutting power on tough rope and webbing. Obviously machine-sharpened, the blade is very keen, and holds its edge reasonably well. Unfortunately, it’s not totally corrosion resistant, and has picked up some staining from the (admittedly tough) marine environment it’s been used in. The serrated section will also prove difficult to keep sharp, requiring a specialised rounded sharpening tool.

Next to the knife is the Philips-head screwdriver. This is medium sized, and isn’t much cause for comment. It fits most Philips head screws I’ve used it on, apart from the very small, and has coped with tough jobs without chewing the head of the screw or damaging the driver itself. One of the nice things about the tool is that you can partially open the pliers to get more leverage on the driver, or fully open one arm of the tool to get extended reach (although the chunky body of the tool means it won’t fit in small spaces).

Along from the driver is the saw. This is another tool where the Gerber has outdone the Leatherman wave, since the saw blade is replaceable, and more importantly can be replaced with any 2 inch / 5cm jigsaw blade, the same as you would use in a power jigsaw. This means once the blade is worn you can change it, and you have a large choice of different blades for different materials – wood, metal, plastics etc. The Gerber came with a Remgrit blade installed, which is a multipurpose saw blade suitable for cutting pretty much anything (although maybe not as neatly as a material-specific blade would).