The scissors are a good idea. I've used scissors on knives and I like them alot. They work really well on some of the one's I've used. They're a little small but I doubt they could make them much bigger. As for the other stuff, you're right about being personal choice. Alot of people, alot of features.

The Victorinox knives, I'm not too familiar with. I guess everyone has their preffered tools, but I've noticed that so far everyone seems to have something they would change. Could you maybe get together and talk to the manufacturers about adding some things and removing others till you get a knife that more or less has all the features you want without all the extra junk that you don't use?

Just a thought, maybe you could even name it the ETS multi-tool. That may not even be a good idea but it's something to think about I guess.

Pulled out my Leatherman Supertool in response to your post. Purchased from Brigade Quartermaster's over 12 years ago, when they offered them with a black finish. There are wear marks on every blade and tool. Next to a good fixed blade and a flint, I could not imagine going into the bush without it.

M

I just took a look at my old Gerber ( I have a newer one as well) and I've used every item on it save one. In fact, I had to look on line to see what the heck that item is. Turns out it's a lanyard ring, which I guess makes a lot of sense if you're working on a tower or over water.

I EDC a Leatherman Supertool. I find that I use it everyday, mostly the plyers, crimpers, and screwdrivers. You are correct when you say that there are better tools in the toolkit. But the toolkit is somewhere else, and usually I don't need a great tool, just a little prying, crimping, etc. I also EDC the Leatherman in the woods, not so much for dealing with natural items, but with man made items. Some piece if gear needs bending, tightening, loosening, etc.

Are they in your pocket right now, ready for immediate use? I doubt it. What do those six tools weigh in total, 6 or 8 pounds? That's about a third of my entire hiking pack weight for a 1 or 1.5 day hike. Visualize yourself being separated from all the juicy gear in your vehicle. What tools are available to you now? I'll bet it's not a bowsaw, two folding saws, two tomahawks, and a machete.

The key to multi-tool utility is to EDC them. That way when you need a basic tool it is right there with you, not over in your car 10 yards or 10 miles away.

Sure, you can name a dedicated tool that will outperform the one on a multi-tool: Bowie knife, bow saw, shears, fullsize pliers, etc. But can you name a tool that provides the vast majority of those tools' utility, weighs about 8oz and rides easily on your belt? I can, it's called my L-e-a-t-h-e-r-m-a-n.

Regarding uses & other criticisms:

- the scissors are excellent for shaping tape & moleskin for treating hotspots & blisters. Also priceless for trimming toenails, which is more important on long hikes than you might think.

- the needlenose pliers are perfect for working with wire, which is so useful that Doug Ritter includes it in his PSK. Ditto the wirecutters. I also find the Leatherman needlenose pliers very useful for picking up small items like screws that I dropped into places I can't reach with my fingertips.

- the little saw is great for fine whittling work like fig-4 triggers & such, along with making clean cuts on wood up to 2" or so. Combined with a quality BCB wire saw you are covered... for a whole lot less weight and bulk than your bowsaw and two folding saws. The Leatherman saw is also great for cutting the softer plastics/polymers that would just be torn up by a big knife blade.

- handles on the newer Leathermans are very comfortable. If these rounded handles bother you then you need to develop some calluses.

- a Phillips head screwdriver is eternally useful, but do you carry one in your pocket every day? I don't. Wait, I do: it's on my Leatherman. Same with the 8" ruler; it's commonly useful when I say "what size is that blah blah blah". I don't carry a tapemeasure each day.

- the knife blade on my Leatherman Charge Ti is a decent 154CM steel and is a fine backup to my EDC Ritter RSK Mk1.

- the Leatherman can opener and bottle opener are the same tool, so the bottle opener is not costing you anything.

It all boils down to what you value.



While on an EMS call at o'dark-thirty we had to break in to the house because the patient couldn't get up. The door was extremely solid and we didn't want to destroy it. I found a window near the garage and was able to pry away to outer casing with my Leatherman pliers, open the window and get it that way.

If you are in a situation where you need to improvise with available materials, it is really helpful to have a basic knife, pliers, wirecutters, saw, and screwdrivers on hand... right there on your belt at all times.

Since buying the pocket clip accessory for my (new style) Wave, I've found that I carry it on my person quite a bit more.

The more I carry it, the more uses I find for it. It's handy at all of the usual places like the range, fishing, camping, hiking, etc. It's also pretty good to have around while traveling, too. One time I checked into a hotel room on a weekend. The maintenance staff was nowhere to be found and the hot water for the bathroom sink hadn't been turned on yet, as it was a newly remodeled room. Leatherman to the rescue.

Sure, I could have skipped the hot water, or lugged all of my stuff to another room, but the Leatherman made all of that unnecessary.

I find my Wave and Ti very usefull. As a back up tool, with 2 blades and a saw on it, it's very hard to beat. It's also one of the more carefully throught out tools on the market.
Obviously a fixed blade knife and a saw are to be prefered in a survival situation, but if you ain't got 'em, you ain't got 'em.

well, I can see the field is somewhat split between those that EDC a Leatherman and those that don't. I saw several good reasons to carry one and I can understand why they are carried so often. I wasn't saying that they are junk or that they shouldn't be carried, I was simply wondering if the high price was worth it. I can see that for many, the price is not too high for the uses they get out of their Leatherman and in fact, the usefullness they get out of it would make it worth it to pay twice what they cost.

I don't really use the tools that are on a leatherman that much so I wouldn't have the needs that some of you have. I usually keep my BOB near me at all times and here in Alabama, it's not really looked weird upon. I take mine to work sometimes to go though it and just take stock or even just play with some of the gear.

I say, if you use what you have, it's worth whatever you're willing to pay for it. It's good to see that there are so many uses for such a tool. Keep the stories coming, they are very interesting and informative.

I think my leatherman wave was the best $65 I've ever spent. I used it extensively when I was afloat this summer. I used the pliers and screwdrivers on a whole variety of fittings on our 60 year old ships, including fixing racks, screwing light fixture covers back on, in the dry stores hold...

My oddball story is that I needed to scrape some white paint off a porthole (window) that someone carelessly smeared some paint on. I couldn't mentally justify using my $120 Benchmade to scrape paint, so I used the large flathead screwdriver on the wave and it worked like a charm.

I also used it as a makeshift potholder when we forgot ours hiking in the ADK.

Having split careers between blue collar and white collar work for the past two decades, I can say that my multi tools were used and carried on my person a lot more often when blue collar. In Baghdad I sat at a desk most of the time but still kept the Wave on my belt just because I could and it was the right thing to do there. In Manhattan and here in Brisbane, I am in the office and don't need to carry the tool on my person, but I stll keep it at my desk and take it home with me every night. I just don't use it hardly at all now. Instead, I picked up an SAK classic which is small enough to fit in the front pocket of my slacks, but still has a blade, a file of sorts with a slotted screwdriver end, and a decent scissors. I still use this tool at least once a day.

For EDC, I guess it depends on your motivation. My wave used to be the most used item I had when I was a field tech working on communications equipment and computer systems for a living, so I always kept it at hand. Now it is sufficient just to have it nearby, just in case. That just in case thing is the catch. If you have it and don't need it, maybe you can call it a luxury, but if you need it and don't have it, what do you call it then?

Perhaps the best endorsement for edc'ing a multi tool is that it is the one item Les Stroud always takes with him. He will forsake every other bit of gear, but never his Leatherman or his cameras. That alone is enough to tell me what is smart investing.

As for most unusual use, well, I used mine once to arc the solenoid on an old ford pickup to get it started. I won't do that again and don't recommend it for others unless it is urgent. I've met a couple folks who've used a Leatherman to completely field dress and quarter a full size elk. Field dressing an elk with any knife is a chore, but they didn't seem to struggle any more than most guys using specialty knives. My brother used his as a sliding weight on a fishing line to unstick a lure in a river. In my opinion that wasn't worth the risk, but he seemed to think so at the time.