Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1517379
crimper. Leatherman's usual stuff. The handles are made of stainless-steel sheet and finished with a high-strength DLC coating - very good aesthetics were taken care of here. The handles are bi-colored, black on the outside and sil- ver on the inside, which gives a very good visual effect and makes the ARC simply a very nice item. For the record, the shape of the handles is almost identical to that of the FREE P4, but, after all, it's the same series.... The tools in the handles have been placed so that they can all be opened and retracted using only one hand, just as is the case with the P2 and P4, by the way, the same ways of locking the tools have also been used, although their set After a long hiatus, the new model in Leatherman's stable finally appeared. Of course, its premiere was slightly teased earlier, and a bunch of fans of the brand waited impatiently to be able to order a new tool. Well, honestly, #metoo. When the first photos showed up, I took a look at them and concluded that it might be a cool new tool. And yes, it is. Except that in its case it is difficult to talk about some kind of revolution, because.... Because once the ARC came into my hands, I was slightly surprised after opening the box as Leatherman's latest baby is a de facto an update of the FREE P4, which I've had for several years now. The ARC comes… from the FREE line up, which means that it is 100% one-handed. All tools, blades and pliers can be opened with one hand. FREE technology is pow- ered by a not-so-secret ingredient, the magnets. This magnetic architecture re- duces friction when opening and closing tools and greatly reduces the wear and tear on parts. Magnets are strong enough to keep the ARC folded while carrying it, e.g. in a pocket, backpack, bag or wherev- er you put the tool, but when you want to open it, just grasp the tool with one hand, force the handle slightly apart with your fingers, and then make a vigorous move- ment, exactly the same as when opening a balisong or butter-fly knife. In this way you will open the ARC releasing the pliers and to lock them in the working position you only need to squeeze the handles until you hear the "click" of the jaws on the spring lock. And there you go, the tool is ready to work. When you want to fold them, then - according to the instruc- tions - the flat parts of the jaws protrud- ing outside the handles are supposed to be a hammer. Well, indeed, it can be used in this capacity, although not for some heavy duty hammering. The jaws are quite powerful – I would classify them somewhere between Home and Work series tools. Of course, they have a tapered, wide and rounded part, interchangeable wire cutters (for soft and hard wires) and a connector and form have undergone significant changes, going to the positive. BLADE ARC's blade is as black as a fascist's con- scienceDLC-coated and made of Mag- naCut steel (C 1.15%, Cr 10.7%, Mo 2%, V 4%,Nb 2%, N 0.2%), which entered the market about two years ago. MagnaCut has strength and sharpness retention on the level of V4E steel, better corro- sion resistance than Elmax, and impact resistance equivalent to V4 steel. The plain blade has a sheep-foot profile and a one-handed opening stud. As with the other tools, it is locked with a back lock which is fully ambidextrous. The blade is indeed extremely sharp and holds the sharpness very well, on top of which the EQUIPMENT