Harbor Freight is one of my favorite hardware stores, and I spend a considerable amount of time browsing its aisles. For a person who loves both hardware and scavenger hunts, Harbor Freight combines the two in a way Home Depot, Lowe’s, Northern Tool, and Ace Hardware could never.
Tools at Harbor Freight fall into three buckets, almost in equal measure: steals of the century, outright junk, and fair only for its modest price. The Gordon 20-in-1 Multi-Tool ($40) lands firmly in the latter with a clunk, although not quite as heavy a clunk as I’d like.
I’ve had too many roadside breakdowns and apartment moves veer away from certain disaster only because I had the right multitool on me at the time, so I don’t take judging them lightly. When Harbor Freight introduced the Gordon in 2024, I heard a great deal of buzz about it.
The Gordon’s hype was that it would make all the more expensive multitools seem silly, that you could get the same tool for half the price of a Leatherman, and so I was always destined to spread my collection of multitools across the table next to the Gordon and see how it stacks up.
In short: The Gordon 20-in-1 Multi-Tool sits in an uncomfortable section of the multitool market. For just a few dollars more, you can buy a multitool of better quality from a major multitool brand, as long as you don’t mind giving up a few tools. If you want the full complement of 20 tools, though, the price gap between it and its more premium competition widens to the point where it may, for some, just about make sense.
Looking for a new multitool? Check out GearJunkie’s Best Multitools Buyer’s Guide for more of our favorites.
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Tool Utility
7.0
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Fit & Finish
6.0
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Size & Weight
7.0
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Durability
6.0
- Number of tools: 20
- Weight: 8.5 oz.
- Closed length: 4.06"
- Open length: 6.36”
- Width: 1.53"
Pros
- Budget price
- Blade and tools lock open
- 20 tools is more than most sub-$50 multi-tools
- Most mini-tools are of fine quality
Cons
- Gritty tool operation
- Fit and finish could be better
Harbor Freight Gordon 20-in-1 Multi-Tool: Review
First impressions of the Gordon weren’t terrible, but they weren’t that good, either. My immediate thought was that the tool felt less solid than the Leathermans, Victorinox Swisstools, Gerbers, and SOGs I’ve used, and I’ve used nearly every one of them on the market over the last five years.
Compared to any Leatherman, the metal that comprised the handles felt thinner. Though neither they nor any of the Gordon’s 20 tools flexed when I tried to bend them like an Olive Garden breadstick, the multi-tool itself felt a bit cheaper, a bit more like a tin cup pounded into the shape of a tool.
A Nitty Gritty Need to Lubricate
Harbor Freight may have designs on Leatherman, or at least the lower end of Leatherman’s lineup, but Leatherman shouldn’t worry. You feel the difference between the premium multitool brands and the Gordon when you unfurl it.
Everything opens and closes as if sand were packed between the moving parts. Closing the pliers, they catch every time when the wire cutter portion of the jaws meet, and then you have to complete the pinch by adding a bit of extra muscle. It isn’t hard to squeeze; it’s clunky. Ugly feeling, even.
Gear should come ready to work from the factory, but it’s not always an automatic deal killer. Sometimes a great truck comes with junk tires, or a fantastic knife leaves the store shelf with a dull blade, or an excellent pair of rain boots needs a couple of beads of seam sealant.
Such trifling things shouldn’t keep you from buying them, because these things are easy to remedy. Maybe all the Gordon needed was some lubricant to vanquish the grittiness.
After working the Gordon to see whether it’d loosen up and smooth out with use (it didn’t, I gave a squirt of lubricant to one side of the Gordon and a squirt of WD-40 to the other side. WD-40 isn’t an ideal lubricant, but as an omnipresent tool in nearly everyone’s toolbox, an awful lot of people will use it, and so I did, too.
Neither one had a huge difference. Predictably, the tool oil smoothed out the operation a little more than the WD-40, but it couldn’t eliminate all of the gritty, rough operation in opening and closing the Gordon. Definitely give it a little lubrication if you buy the Gordon, but don’t expect it to be as smooth as a more premium tool.
Steel Yourself
All the tools, including the knife blade and saw, lock using a mechanism familiar to anyone who’s used one of Leatherman’s tools. The knife is made of 5CR15MOV stainless steel, compared to the 420HC that Leatherman uses.
Most people won’t need exotic steels, especially in a run-of-the-mill multitool. All they’ll care about is whether the steel holds an edge, resists corrosion, and if they decide to get into sharpening their own knives, how easy it is to sharpen.
420HC is so common as to be almost the standard stainless steel among premium multitool brands (check out our explainer on common knife and tool steels), with some occasional S35VN stainless steel. Some turn up their noses at 5CR15MOV, which isn’t as hard as 420HC and doesn’t hold an edge quite so well, but for a $40 multitool, it’s an acceptable steel.
I wish the Gordon came sharper from the factory, though. Most people aren’t going to want to sharpen their knives as soon as they unbox them. It was fairly so-so at slicing through basic cardboard boxes and scraps of denim jeans. Compared to Leatherman, Victorinox, Gerber, and SOG, the blade was duller from the factory.
If you buy the Gordon, you’ll want to sharpen the knife blade right away, and unless you know how to sharpen knives, that means paying somebody to do it. That erases some of the cost savings from the Gordon’s lower price. I did like Harbor Freight’s decision to put teeth on the bottom edge of the file, though. Too many multitools only have files on the flat sides.
Acceptable Build Quality
Leatherman’s multi-tools are made in the U.S. Victorinox’s Swiss Tools are made in Switzerland. The Gordon is, predictably, made in China. I’ll swear up and down all day that China can make goods of highly impressive quality. I just wouldn’t hold the Gordon up as one of my examples.
Its build quality is fine. Just fine. It doesn’t meet the standards of major brands. Leatherman, SOG, and especially Victorinox put an extra level of finishing on tools. Edges are rounded off just a bit more, and the tools open and close smoothly. Even the nylon fabric sheath that came with the Gordon felt just a little too snug compared to those that come with Leatherman, Victorinox, Gerber, or SOG.
Nothing on the Gordon rattled or felt like it would come off. None of the tools failed to work. I had no complaints about most of the mini-tools, such as the eyeglasses screwdriver and bottle opener. The tool selection for the Gordon is conventional, with all the usual appearances you’d expect from a 20-count multi-tool such as the Leatherman Wave Alpha, and no surprises.
There are just a few omissions that wouldn’t fly on more expensive tools. Take the screwdriver bit tool as an example. The reversible Phillips/flat bit driver worked fine on a variety of screws, but it just slid into and out of its holder. Most other multitools have a small, simple lock that you depress to keep the bit in place, preventing it from getting lost. The Gordon doesn’t.
The scissors were robust. Lots of people particularly value scissors in a multitool, and these might be the best scissors on a multitool that I’ve used. Stack of 15 pieces of printer paper? Went through it like a pro. The thumb lever is particularly wide and meaty, which helped on such a tough test.
Harbor Freight Gordon 20-in-1 Multi-Tool: Conclusion
The Gordon 20-in-1 Multi-Tool puts me in a strange position, because at $40, it feels $10 too expensive. It occupies the market right below Leatherman, SOG, and Gerber, and above all the no-name knock-offs that you’ll find in groomsmen’s goodie bags and given away as freebies for test-driving the latest SUV down at the dealership.
It gets the job done, but it does so in a somewhat clunky, less pleasing manner. If I had two $20 bills and not a penny more, I’d grab the Gordon and not spend much time considering other multitools. But if I could scrape together a few more bucks over the next couple of weeks so that I could afford a Leatherman or SOG, I’d do that in a heartbeat.
The Gordon is a fine tool for the money, neither a poor buy nor a steal. If not for the knowledge that there are better tools further upmarket, I’d just sharpen the Gordon’s knife and happily get on with my life. But even at the shallow end of Leatherman’s lineup, I’d rather spend another $10 and make do with six fewer tools on the slightly smaller Leatherman Rev than choose the Gordon.
Or better yet, I’d live out of a peanut butter jar for a couple of weeks to save up for a Leatherman Bond or Leatherman Wingman, because at $60 and $70, they’re not that far beyond the reach of the Gordon.
