Multi-tool Talk

[JR2ALTA]

I am looking for a multitool. Any advise would be great. A couple quick questions

1) Do you end up using yours on the job?

2) If could only have a saw or scissors which would you choose?

3) How important is a spring loaded-pliers vs a non spring loaded?


No need to answer these questions you can just talk about your multitool experience!

Thanks

[blackcat4866]

Re: Multi-tool Talk

I've carried a number of different Multi-Tools over the years. I've got quite a collection. For the longest time I carried a Gerber, but you won't see one in the pictures. Like all the best tools it carries a lifetime warranty, and it's a good thing because I broke one every two weeks. They always broke in the same place, right below the hinge. So I could use it for two weeks, then wait two weeks for the replacement. I tired of that quickly.

Gerber Multi-Plier 600.jpg

The one I carry now is the top one in these pictures. It's a Kershaw, and it hasn't been made in a number of years, but you can still find them occasionally new in the box. The last one cost me $100. I've had three of them. One I lost. One I left in airport security (they wouldn't let me carry it onto the plane). And I'm still using the third. The features I like the most are the vice-grip style locking pliers and the hack saw (no scissors). The Phillips screwdriver is unusable due to it's bluntness, and positioning in the handle. It has survived soldering, welding, hammering, and every other thing you can think of trying with it. It's also worked as a temporary crimp on the front left rubber brakeline, so I could have marginal braking on my trip home.

Multi-Tool Closed.jpgMulti-Tool Open.jpg

The other tools in the picture are certainly interesting, but haven't proved particularly useful.

[SwisSeV]

Re: Multi-tool Talk

I use my leatherman wave everyday. Mostly for breaking down boxes when the shipment comes in. The serrated blade on it stays sharp and holy cow its sharp out of the box, I gots the scars to prove it. The skizors are next to useless ImO. The pliers are particularly well made, but not spring loaded, and that's fine. I don't use it much on machines, but the little screw driver has saved me a trip back to the car in the past.

[sturmtrooper]

Re: Multi-tool Talk

I've never really liked multi tools, between the extra time of folding and unfolding and that the tools are never quite as good as the purpose built version.

[Iowatech]

Re: Multi-tool Talk

I have an old Leatherman. I almost cut my thumb off when I first got the thing as I didn't read how to unlock the blade that was locked in place, but that's just because I sometimes I can be an impatient dummy.
It helped a lot when I was probably in the Reserves though. I've also used the sawblade to cut wood and sheet metal as the saw blade seems impossible to dull.
The only complaint I have about my Leatherman is that if you need to use the pliers, the handles are open to where all the blades are folded, so it's kind of uncomfortable if I have to really apply a lot of torque. But it is a fairly old Leatherman, so the newer ones might be different.
I have a cheap multitool that came with a set of stuff from WalMart. The blades don't lock into place, so I suppose that would be pretty dangerous to anyone who hadn't learned the rule back in the day. But while it isn't a Leatherman or Gerber, it's OK for day to day stuff.
(The rule from back in the day: if you do something stupid with this and get hurt, it's your freaking fault. I miss that rule a little now and then, but it's so much better now I guess.)

[TheBlueOrleans]

Re: Multi-tool Talk

Ozark Trail P.O.C., I carry it whenever I leave the house whilst wearing clothes that accommodate a belt. (doesn't go well with the gi.)
Mainly only use it when I have forgotten to bring a specific tool with me on a call, which is rarely (but it does happen).
As for tools, I keep two different length JIS drivers, small pliers, small straight hemostats (roach clips for those of you who know how to chill), and a small flat blade screwdriver (mostly used for resetting the Tray 2 sensor on HP 4200-series printers), all in a belt holster I received as a gift around 5 years ago. Husky something-or-other, extremely useful. I'll have the toolbag with me, just in case I need something I don't carry on me, but 99% of my calls can be fixed with what I have in my holster.

Medicated Mondine rant.

Multi-tools are useful when the purpose-built tools are not at hand.
And they fit my philosophy:

"Never be unarmed."