Being drawn to the dark side...

A

allenC

Joined
Jun 18, 2000
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I love knives.
All kinds of knives...traditionals like a stockman or a congress or a peanut, Swiss Army knives, one hand tactical folders, fixed blades...you get the idea.

But during the Covid 19 period, I've been doing more projects and repairs and maintenance and...I have been carrying my Leatherman Wave a lot.
I'm now starting to think that I might not be able to go back to a one blade one hand tactical folder...even if I also carry a Swiss Army knife.
Multi-tools are just so darn handy.
When I'm not carrying my Wave I really miss it.
 
So you are saying it's hard to Wave goodbye? Ooh, ooh, maybe you need a Wave opening feature on your one blade tacticals to ease the withdrawal. In all seriousness, you haven't gone to the Dark Side, you are approaching Enlightenment on the true power of carrying tools all the time. Multis may not be as good as a purpose-built unitasker, but they make things possible. I once helped a friend's daughter move into an apartment and had to disassemble and reassemble all her Ikea furniture with a Leatherman micra because that's all the tools there were. It never dawned on me that neither the mother nor daughter would not even have a screwdriver.

I always carry 2 small tools now, because of the times i have needed to turn a bolt and hold the nut at the same time. People give me a hard time about all the bits and pieces I carry, but I am the one they shout for when they need stuff done. The only problem with Multis is that you may feel like Batman with his utility belt, metal detectors are your Kryptonite......
 
Allen, I have to agree with Biting on this. You are approaching an enlighten state that you are lucky to experience. Have a screw drive or two has saved my butt on several occasion when I was able to fix something far from home. A buggered up fishing reel out on a boat in the Florida straits, a conked out motorscooter on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, and many more occasions where a simple tool made all the difference in the world.

Allen, look at me, this is serious; A knife with only one blade is a one trick pony. All it can do is cut. Thats it. It can't open that can for you, it can't take apart the gunned up fishing reel to unguent on some deserted lake shore or out on a boat. It can't fix anything mechanical that you have to undo screw to take off a housing to get into something to finagle and screw with into get it working again. it won't cut and Make a new spring form a paper clip like a multitool can. It won't adjust the sights on the new S&W revolver. It won't be of nay use replacing the coolest hose on the parking lot outside an Autozone car parts place. It won't take apart the cloths dryer door to replace the broken spring latch in it. Most of all, it won't do most of the things a multitool can do when life throws a curve at you and you need to fix something and your not at home with a whole tool box at your disposal.

I've been a knife nut most of my life, but in a subdued way. I started off with a boy scout knife dad gave me at age 12. In the army I used the issue Camillus 'demo' knife that was nothing but a all steel Boy Scout knife. Then I discovered SAK's. I've had big SAK's, little SAK's and medium size SAK's, and fixed a lot of stuff with them. I had traditional pocket knives like stockman, peanut, jack, and they came and went. But I ALWAYS had a SAK on hand. Then about 5 years ago someone gave me a Leatherman squirt. My world changed.

Now I had small pliers to grip stuff that my senior citizen fingers couldn't anymore. More importably, I could now hold that nut on the back that I was turning a screw into. For the past 5 years now I've teamed up the squirt with a small SAK and so far its been great. I don't carry a dedicated knife anymore at all. Just SAK and small Leatheman. Just too damm handy to have some basic tools along.

To borrow. phrase from a Bogy movie; "Knife?, we don't need no steenkin knife?"

Okay, I changed it a bit. But the point remains. Here we are in the 21st century, and the odds are we won't be skinning any buffalo anytime soon. I don't think we'll be taking out enemy sentries, or being the mountain man after beaver pelts. But we are surrounded by a more complex life style that our grandfathers could ever imagine. Theres stuff to be fixed. And then theres the "some assembly required" thing. The entire universe is held together with number 2 Phillips screws, and theres staples to be pulled, and cans to be opened, wires to be connected and a cold brewski to opened when the job is done. Nothing beats a multitool, no matter is its a SAK or Leatherman.

All those other toys the knife magazine pushes, are all one trick ponies.

Go with the Leatherman.

But stay away from metal detectors.
 
I have a Leatherman Wave in my vehicle but unless I'm going somewhere far from my vehicle, that's where it stays. My body is not a tool drawer and I carry enough other stuff already. That said, a multi-tool is far more useful than a knife alone.
 
Been done with moderns for a few years now and never look back.
I've always loved my medium and smaller multitools, but mostly for everything except the knife.
Eventually I realized I didn't need them much when not at work as I have tools everywhere including about 40 pairs of pliers, so I cut back to a squirt and eventually a Sebertool M4.
I'm not sure I'll ever stop carrying a multitool.
 
I always carry two SAKs: an Executive and a Spartan (or a Pioneer in place of the Spartan). I usually also carry a modern folder, mostly a Spyderco, but I always have the two SAKs, and on most days it’s the SAKs that see the most use.

If I’m going to have uses for a more substantial pliers-based multi-tool on a particular day, I carry my Victorinox Spirit on my belt. But most of the time I don’t need the pliers-based MT.

How many knives...”traditional” or modern...over the years have we seen with busted-off tips because the owners used them as a screwdriver or a light-duty prying tool, and the fine tips of their knives weren’t up to the task? A basic, $20 Victorinox SAK would have solved the problem with no broken blades.

Jim
 
Big SAK fan here, and rather than a single knife EDC, I always carry some form of a SAK with me.
 
I wish they'd reverse the arrangement of pliers and cutters. I'd have more use for pliers at the bottom and snips at the end.

If someone made a multitool in that configuration I'd likely carry it during my workdays, but I don't have enough use for the current configurations to warrant toting one around. I keep a Wingman in each of our vehicles and in the house though. They're handy in a pinch.
 
I'm a multi tool guy. I carry a knife as part of my edc kit. I carry a MT because I feel naked, literally insecure, without one. I'm currently finding the admittedly overpriced Leatherman P4 to check off all my required boxes currently. Then again, price is relative. I just dropped nearly 5 bones on a snicky-snick OTF today.

I love tradionals. The loyal SAK, the classic Case, the well built and coveted GEC. However, as a contractor trying to do everything at once, gimme a good MT over a nail-breaker.
 
James Y said:
How many knives...”traditional” or modern...over the years have we seen with busted-off tips because the owners used them as a screwdriver or a light-duty prying tool, and the fine tips of their knives weren’t up to the task? A basic, $20 Victorinox SAK would have solved the problem with no broken blades.
Jim
Click to expand...

Jim, if I had a buck for every Old Timer or other beat up pocket knife with a broken blade tip or the whole blade, my retirement would be a lot more plush!

I think a lot of people who buy a pocket knife who are NOT a knife nut, thinks of it as in the same league as a .99 cent screw driver from the dollar store. Just some cheap tool to be used to destruction and replaced. I once worked with a guy who had a Old Timer stockman with two of the three blades snapped off, and the unbroken one had been sharpened on an electric grinding wheel. After the last blade was done, he'd chuck in the trash can and go buy a new one.

I asked him why he didn't just buy a SAK ands answer was insane.

"I ain't buyin no foreign made knife. Besides, everyone knows they're a piece of junk that don't hold an edge."

When I asked him why he thought that, he went over to his tool box and took out a red handled beat up pocket knife that had a silver cross on the handle. It was a Chinese knock off that was pure POS. He really thought since it had a red handle it was a SAK. I tried to set him strait but he'd made up his mind. :eek:

I think Struther Martin said it best in Cool Hand Luke; "Theres some men you just can't reach." :(
 
I agree with others who decry the move as more enlightenment that dark descent.

I started with a Gerber MT, the one you flip the pliers out the end. It's a good one.

Been through several others, now I pack a LM Sidekick. I like the spring loaded pliers. And it was inexpensive.

In my never ending quest for the smaller, lighter carry stuff I think I will get me a Squirt and see how it works for me.

Multitools are just too practical and useful to not have around.
 
I've carried a multi-tool daily for many years now (Vic Swisstool Spirit X). My lifestyle has changed over the years from needing to use it almost daily to only needing it on occasion, but still it has gotten me out of a pinch many a time and I wouldn't be without it. It has not, however, ever made me consider not carrying a knife. To say that I find having a separate easier to access cutting tool handy would be an understatement. Plus there's the fact that I simply enjoy knives, and usually carry at least two. My Swisstool is in my pocket everyday along with my flashlight, modern folder, SE Dragonfly, and often a traditional as well. The key for me was finding pants that have dedicated "knife pockets", which rather than using for my knife I find perfect for slipping in a multi-tool to carry securely and unobtrusively.

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Many general contractors (like myself) start out with one specific trade of which they become proficient, maybe licensed. You spend many years of hard, hand-on work learning your specific trade and you learn which tools work and which ones you like. With that in mind, as a GC I have all the tools I need in my truck which is usually a few steps away from me to do my main contribution to my jobs which is all manner of wood work. These days I don't wear my tool bags every day, but on the job when I do, they are filled with full sized brothers of the implements on a multitool. No real need for me to carry one, although I admire those tools a lot.

I have to say though, that probably about half of the tradesmen on the job carry some kind of multitool. They are fiercely loyal to the particular model and brand they prefer, usually having tried a few different tools, and a couple of the guys I know swear that they have worn a couple of the Leathermans out. Apparently, that takes about 8-10 years of being on a job site in a workman's hand.

I get a kick out of my plumber; when he sees something that requires an implement on his multitool, he reaches for it without looking. He cut the flap off a sheath and carries it in that with about 1/2" of it sticking out. He pulls it out, flips it open and is ready to go.

I think they guys that use these tools on a regular basis "get them". Whether they are little dinky keyring models or some big honkin' folding tool box of stuff, I don't think of these as knives. To me, these are real tools in the strict sense. Sure wouldn't feel bad about carrying a useful tool!

Robert
 
I normally have a work van and carry bag full of tools, but so many times a multi tool has saved me when I'm out of town or down the beach and away from all my tools.
I keep plenty of tools in my Xterra as well, but the times we were in the girlfriend's civic or 3+ miles both ways walk to the truck and back I felt way screwed till I remembered my multi was with me.
You can fix a lot of stuff with a Leatherman Squirt, imagination, desperation, and the kind of time you get from being mildly stranded.
 
I keep some crappy no name multi tool in my cars glove box that comes in handy a few times but I just can't bring myself to lug one of these things around. Plus I just like using my pocket space for knives more :D
 
I tried carrying a MT on my person as part of my EDC but, it just did not work out.

Having one nearby has worked out great though. So, the wife has one in her car (SAK also). I have one for the Cherokee (plus SAK).

Another for the house and one in the bug out bag. I also have a SOG Power Tool for the bike’s tank bag.

I think that is all of them. Most are modified Gerbers. I do have one Leatherman Wave.

I prefer the Gerber 600 but the Wave is a better tool.
 
I guess the closest I have come is to use my Alox Pioneer, it was handy and was the only small tool I needed when camping, or at home when I needed a can opener or bottle opener. I hope my lack of a multi tool in times of need does not mean I lead a boring life. I guess it just shows how the mundane, day to day things proves that a good EDC is essential. The one you have on you. Wait, wait....I do remember I do have a Wave in a pocket of one of my travel bags. So I do have one, but a little heavy to carry. Carrying vs. access then, something to ponder.
 
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For years and years I wore a tool belt as an electrician. When I moved into a supervisors roll I bought a Leatherman surge ( actually 2 so when I did something stupid I had one to carry while the other was heading back for service) and I carried it along with my knife several years and only took it off my daily carry after wrist surgery when I only had one hand for 12 weeks. For what ever reason I never got around to putting it back on but it is always in my work bag. Great tool that kept me from walking to the shop every time I needed a screw driver or pliers.
My wife has the Ti version of the wave whatever it is called. I had it cerakoted pink for her and for years every time she uses it at work ( office setting) she gets compliments about how handy she is and always thanks me again.
 
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