HAS YOUR KNIFE/ MULTI-TOOL EVER SAVED YOUR BEHIND?

Tactical

Tactical

Joined
Feb 3, 2001
Messages
331
Hello again and greetings!
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I was wondering if any one would like to share any stories of how your knife or multi-tool saved you or some one else from a dangerous situation. Maybe a multi-tool helped you fix you car and avoid a dangerous walk? Or maybe you are FIRE or EMT and your one handed-opener, or rescue knife with glass breaker, got some one out of a bad situation. Maybe your knife prevented a dangerous situation around machinery at work? Finally the obvious, maybe your knife deterred a dangerous person. Thanks in advance for sharing! BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!
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Several years ago I had the opportunity to repair the windshield wiper linkage on my old Trooper with my Leatherman, along the side of a busy Inter-state highway on a trip home from Colorado. Weather was rain - freezing rain with several inches of semi frozen slush on the road. I did have my tool box in the back, but would have had to unpack the back of the rig to get to it. It would have been a real mess, tools and luggage sitting n the slush at the side of the road. Would have taken a long time to get to the tools I needed, just as long to fix the problem, and a long time to everything away again.

Did it save my life? I don't know, I don't think so. I suppose I might have been run down by an 18 wheeler that never caught up with me because I wasn't stopped for long enough. I did feel pretty exposed at the side of the road, and I was real pleased I didn't have to empty out the back.


Mike
 
A few years back, 5 of us on horse back and where doing a little hunting in the hilly area of S.E. Idaho. Going up a rather steep hill side, thru some brush, the horse in front of me stumbled a little, and then started to fight the rider. That's when I noticed the strand of old rusty barbed wire that went between the horses front leg and had one loop around its rear leg, and both ends where buried. I yelled at Jeff, the rider, to hold his horse still as possible because of his situation. Well, that Super Leatherman that was on my belt cut thru that barbed wire with very little effort. The horse really never settled down much, I just cut real fast and got out of the way. It would be anybodys guess what could of happened, but most likely the horse would have been the loser in that deal. The horse did get a couple minor cuts, but nothing that put him out commission, and that a little salve couldn't fix.
 
I don't have a life or death story but once while I was getting a haircut,the arm of the chair fell apart.The barber looked in horror at the parts on the floor as I handed him my Schrade Tough Tool.He was impressed (some people don't know about multi-tools) and actually bought one to keep at his shop.I can't sell him on the idea of always having it on him.
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"Just me and my multi-tools."
 
Hey thanks guys, it's always interesting around here!
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I posted the topic because I thought with all the bad press knives have gotten lately, it might be nice to hear of all the good they do. And ANY story is appriciated!
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Having your knife or multi-tool with you can certainly help keep many bad situations from getting worse! By the way I think poor visibility while driving IS a dangerous situation, good thing you had your multi-tool handy and the smarts to fix your wipers.
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And a horse beginning to panic...YIKES!
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Be careful out there!
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Although it was not a life or death situation, my Swiss Tool did keep me and an entire group of travelers from missing a day of travel. In rural South Africa, on a Sunday morning, the padlock to a trailer that carried all of our luggage was lost. With the pliers on the Swiss Tool, I was able to secure the latch with wire that held until we reached our destination. Although I saved the day, folks wondered why I carried a Swiss Tool and a couple of pocket knives with me.
 
A few years ago, when I used to walk home from work through Central Park in New York, I came to a field I couldn't cross, because of the construction. They were rebuilding the Great Lawn at the time.

I detoured through a fenced area to the north, only to find it was a sea of mud, and blocked at the other end. Unfortunately, when I got back to where I came in, they had closed the gate behind me, and padlocked it.

My Leatherman Supertool to the rescue, I used the wirecutter to pop through the chain, their lock dropped off, and I went on home.
 
Great post. My multitool and knives have save my behind and plenty of other folks' too.

One story: Last time a big hurricane came through Florida I came across a young bag boy trying to get home in the storm. He had wrecked his bike. Bent the derailer and sprockets. He was walking home ... 3 miles!!! Multitool to the rescue.

Course there has been more than one ocassion where I've helped folks only to have them make comments about me carrying a tactical folder or multitool.
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I bet MacGuyver used to hear the same crap about his duct tape.


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Stay back! or I'll...OUCH...cut myself.
 
In a word, yes. I'll post the link, then the text of my original message.

Here
http://www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum39/HTML/000630.html

"Hey guys

I'm not going to make this too long, because my hands still hurt.

Andy sent me a Steel Heart II loaner for a big hike i was going on this past weekend. I received it on the friday afternoon, about 2 hours before i had to go. I had a feeling that i would really need it. I never guessed how true this would be.

I have never been on a hike where more things went wrong. The radio broke, and it was decided (not by me) to press on anyway. We were walking along a razorback ridge when one of the members of my unit (venturers, not military) slipped on a big chunk of moss. He broke his lower leg at about a 70 degree angle, and promptly passed out. We splinted it and made a travois (the busse did most of the work) and began moving again (much slower). After another 1/2 hour or so, it started snowing. In Australia. We didn't have enough warm clothing to continue, and people were starting to get dangerously cold, so we fould a flatish area and set up tents.

It was not long after this that we discovered that the metho had leaked all through my pack, so we had no hot food. It started snowing harder, so we got into our tents and sleeping bags. It became obvious fairly quickly that we needed warmth. I grabbed all the warm clothes i had, grabbed the busse (gotta love that hands freezing to handle feeling) and exited to find wood.

After a little searching, a twisted ankle and a fair ammount of profanity, i found a dead tree. I promptly whipped out the steel heart, and began to chop. I don't remember much of what happened there (i was starting to get hypothermia), but i do know that i staggered back to camp with an armful of wood, somehow got it burning, and got some more wood. I knew then that the busse had saved my life, and quite possibly quite a few others.

For those that are interested, everyone is recovered except for some soreness, and Nick's leg. I'm still sure that the steel heart saved my life, and i will be forever gratefull to busse for making sucj a great knife, and have vowed never to be caught without one.

ok, i have to go, my hands really hurt now.

I'll see you guys later.

James"

I'm eternally grateful i had that knife....

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The beast we are, lest the beast we become.
 
While the knife didn't save my life, a knife I made for a LEO did save a kids life several years ago. The LEO (sherriff's deputy) came across an accident on his way home. The paramedics were already there and were working on the unconscious driver (teenage boy). The driver's throat had been crushed from the impact, and they needed to do a tracheotomy, but the scapel was missing from their kit. The LEO went to his car, came back with the little neck knife I had made for him, and the paramedics used it to do the tracheotomy. The boy recovered. Everyone lived happily ever after....
 
I was riding my mountain bike on the local trails several winters ago when I hit a patch of snow covered ice at speed and slammed into a tree. Ended up with a fracture in one of my forearm bones (the radi-something or other, Bio wasn't my thing), but didn't really know it at the time, all I knew was something in my arm hurt like hell and was *probably* broken, and I couldn't ride out of the woods. Used my folding pocket knife to cut some suitable small branches to use as splints, I remember this took forever since I couldn't use my busted arm to hold the branches in place, not to mention that I was in severe pain and lacking coordination. Cutting up the dressings I carry to tie the branches to my arm went better, but tying knots was next to impossible. Finally got my arm fixed up enough so I could ride/walk but for some reason I rode home which took over half an hour instead of biking to the nearest payphone that was about 5 minutes away. Anyways, everything turned out OK as I was only 16 back then and healed pretty fast.
 
Will Fennell calls me a "Glacier Skater" because of this incident, reprinted here from a past thread:

My old Camillus Pilot's survival knife saved my butt when I accidentally slid down a glacier (also got about 7 rolls of slide film of the adventure). I used it to stab and guide myself around the crevices (some so deep you couldn't hear rocks hit bottom when they fell through) and then slow me down enough to prevent me from falling off a straight 2000 foot drop. I hit a bunch of boulders at the bottom, and both the knife and I went banging and rolling over them, still doing about 40 mph. I stopped about 7 feet short of the drop. If I hadn't used the knife to slow down me down, I would have certainly gone over the edge.
I then used it after the fall to sharpen and notch a piece of elk horn, and lash that to my walking stick for better traction when getting out. I had to climb back up the glacier and up about 800 feet of rock cliffs (free climb). The elk horn/walking stick was a sort of makeshift crutch, since I had chipped a bone in my hip from the fall and had to spend another two weeks walking out after the climb. It was trying and painful, believe me. The hip still aches when it rains.

The knife withstood huge amounts of lateral stress when I kept stabbing into the ice -- I weigh about 185, and my pack was about 60-70 lbs. My friends who were there guessed that I was travelling down the ice at about 40 mph. Add that up and you'll get an idea of the amount of stress the knife had to endure (not to mention my poor body, LOL). Ths knife isn't even bent slightly.

I still have and use that knife; it's almost 20 years old now (first fixed blade when I was a kid), and was about 15 years old when this happened. And I'd been using it hard for those fifteen years. It has quite a bit of sentimental value to me as you can imagine.

Best,

~Brian.



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Brian Jones
Co-moderator
Wilderness & Survival Skills Forum
 
I changed a tire in an ex-girlfriend's tire on I-65 once at night, with my Wave and a Photon light (she had neither tire iron nor flashlight).

Not life-saving, but I was certainly glad I had them...

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Clay Fleischer
clay_fleischer@yahoo.com
AKTI Member A000847
 
As much as I love to play with fancy "Rescue knives" and such the fact is the only one I've ever REALLY needed has been my Leatherman Wave Tool. The day I fell in love with it I was working Medical Standby at the State Fair for a "Tough Truck" competition (basically taking ratty trucks, running them around a bunch of jumps and the last vehicle not bludgeoned in to a pile of scrap metal recieved the Alaska Tough Truck Award) there had already been a few injuries, but at the time all this occurred it was the tail end of the competition and people were getting more desperate to win. there was a small black truck- Chevy Luv as I remember that hit a jump which happened to be the EXACT same place someone else had broken there back the day before and stopped immediately. So, all of us Medics go running out there to check him out. severe pain lower back, vitals were fair. at this point O2 seemed like a good idea, unfortunately the oxygen wrench was back at base, so, the pliers on my Leatherman did the job, then the person holding C-spine was having a heck of a time, so we popped out the rear window with the large screwdriver on my leatherman, no broken glass, no mess made with a window punch. The extrication was to take about two hours due to all the roll bars, and safety measures in the truck, so, this turned out to be one of the best moves we made, and then of course we got to cut the seatbelt, which the serrated sheepsfoot blade was quite efficient at. for the record the guys back was broken in three different places, can't quite remember the exact location though, I'd have to check the runsheet. in any case there were quite a few other rescue knives floating around the scene, but none of them were able to do everything that was accomplished with my Wave.
 
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WOW!
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I am amazed at how any knife; from a traditional pocket knife, to a tactical folder, to a multi-tool, all the way up to a Busse can be a real lifesaver or problem solver! I knew there was a reason so many of us carry these wonderful things on a daily basis.
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Thanks, Thanks, Thanks, for sharing!
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I lead a quiet life, so my knives don't get to take part in many heroic deeds. Usually they just make my life easier - or at least more interesting...
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I did re-attach a lens of my glasses back to it's place with my SOG PowerPlier once - dang thing just fell into my lap (the lens, that is
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) when I was driving my car. Still had a little while to drive, and having only one corrective lense really screwed up my vision. So I suppose that could have been a dangerous situation.

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Tony S.

Just visiting this planet
 
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