I'm getting older, and with age comes changes. I work with an electric utility, and I don't have to go out of the office as much now. At one time my EDC had up to four knives, all work related: A stockman knife (clip, sheepfoot, and spay blade); a Leatherman Supertool™; an assisted opening, liner-lock pocket clip knife; and a non-folder cable knife in a belt sheaf. The cable knife dropped first, with a work-issued assisted opening hawksblade pocket clip knife with liner lock (handy for cables); then that dropped back to a smaller pocket clip knife.
This year I dropped the pocket clip knife and the Supertool™ - and I don't feel right. The issue is I've come to rely on the multitool a great bit.
First, I tried my Victorinox Pioneer™. This dates from a previous attempt at cutting back on my EDC, since it was a close fit to the now defunct "Demo knife" (a misname, because it had zero to do with demolition) issued to US armed forces, and Camilus had just, er, folded. The Pioneer™ turned out to be so nice that I hated that for my usual EDC, preferring to use it as a dress knife. What it has going for it is that spear blade; awl; can opener/screwdriver; and bottle opener/screwdriver. But what I miss is that it lacks a Phillips screwdriver and pliers. Then, cutting some grass and twine that got wedge between the cutting head of a string trimmer and the shaft, I realized why I like the stockman: the clip blade serves as a workhorse blade for such tasks, leaving the two smaller blade, usually with a sharper edge.
Alas, the stockman isn't a multi-tool. But I had a Gerber Shard™ that goes on my key ring, and it has two flat and one Phillips, and can also serve as a small pry bar. But it's a bit unwieldy to use. and the small flat isn't really thin enough for small screw heads. For a can opener, I put on a P38 can opener bought online. Yet, with no pliers, I'm not satisfied with this solution.
That brings me to what I once did: carry a stockman and the Leatherman multitool. My first was the original, but it wasn't quite robust enough (end of the blade broke; wire cutters dinged), and the blades didn't lock. This led me to the original Supertool™ These blade do lock and it's more robust, though the steel on the small screw driver is a little soft. I particularly like the wire strippers. I've worn out I don't know how many holsters. But, starting with my next to last holster, I noticed the multitool rattled around. My guess is that the newer version the 300, is a little wider. when folded. And it's not a light carry tool.
Sigh.
The obvious question is how often do I use a multitool it. The answer is it depends. It's a convenience tool, one that saves me from going to the tool box for quick repair jobs. It often lets me fix something right there and then. I particularly miss the pliers, wire cutters, stripper, and screw drivers.
That is my quandary. If I go to the Leatherman Wave™, that's that's a good bit of change, and it has more do-dads than I need. The Supertool 300™ is cheaper and has just the tools I need, plus an awl, but isn't that light.
Yes, I've looked at other, non-Leatherman multitools. Some have a bad case of tacti-cool. Some are cheap. I tried a cheap, tiny, one with the Craftsman name, but it turned out to have snips instead of pliers, and the tools were too tiny. Another cheap tool turned out to be too bulky to be acceptable.
This may be an issue where I'll have to settle on a less than optimal solution, and be done with it.
This year I dropped the pocket clip knife and the Supertool™ - and I don't feel right. The issue is I've come to rely on the multitool a great bit.
First, I tried my Victorinox Pioneer™. This dates from a previous attempt at cutting back on my EDC, since it was a close fit to the now defunct "Demo knife" (a misname, because it had zero to do with demolition) issued to US armed forces, and Camilus had just, er, folded. The Pioneer™ turned out to be so nice that I hated that for my usual EDC, preferring to use it as a dress knife. What it has going for it is that spear blade; awl; can opener/screwdriver; and bottle opener/screwdriver. But what I miss is that it lacks a Phillips screwdriver and pliers. Then, cutting some grass and twine that got wedge between the cutting head of a string trimmer and the shaft, I realized why I like the stockman: the clip blade serves as a workhorse blade for such tasks, leaving the two smaller blade, usually with a sharper edge.
Alas, the stockman isn't a multi-tool. But I had a Gerber Shard™ that goes on my key ring, and it has two flat and one Phillips, and can also serve as a small pry bar. But it's a bit unwieldy to use. and the small flat isn't really thin enough for small screw heads. For a can opener, I put on a P38 can opener bought online. Yet, with no pliers, I'm not satisfied with this solution.
That brings me to what I once did: carry a stockman and the Leatherman multitool. My first was the original, but it wasn't quite robust enough (end of the blade broke; wire cutters dinged), and the blades didn't lock. This led me to the original Supertool™ These blade do lock and it's more robust, though the steel on the small screw driver is a little soft. I particularly like the wire strippers. I've worn out I don't know how many holsters. But, starting with my next to last holster, I noticed the multitool rattled around. My guess is that the newer version the 300, is a little wider. when folded. And it's not a light carry tool.
Sigh.
The obvious question is how often do I use a multitool it. The answer is it depends. It's a convenience tool, one that saves me from going to the tool box for quick repair jobs. It often lets me fix something right there and then. I particularly miss the pliers, wire cutters, stripper, and screw drivers.
That is my quandary. If I go to the Leatherman Wave™, that's that's a good bit of change, and it has more do-dads than I need. The Supertool 300™ is cheaper and has just the tools I need, plus an awl, but isn't that light.
Yes, I've looked at other, non-Leatherman multitools. Some have a bad case of tacti-cool. Some are cheap. I tried a cheap, tiny, one with the Craftsman name, but it turned out to have snips instead of pliers, and the tools were too tiny. Another cheap tool turned out to be too bulky to be acceptable.
This may be an issue where I'll have to settle on a less than optimal solution, and be done with it.
