A month with multitools

Be interested to see how this pans out for you. I would have suggested the Alox to be the go for a rough work knife as you can clean them up really easily and they take a bit more rough and tumble, but I see you have a fine black example in the photo.
Heres to never feeling underknifed :thumbsup:
 
Storm 8593 said:
Be interested to see how this pans out for you. I would have suggested the Alox to be the go for a rough work knife as you can clean them up really easily and they take a bit more rough and tumble, but I see you have a fine black example in the photo.
Heres to never feeling underknifed :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
So far so good. Carried the Leatherman Free T4 at work yesterday, and then ended up just carrying the Rambler on my keys the rest of yesterday and today.

I might the Alox Cadet a try at work this week. It'll be interesting how it holds up.
 
StuntDouble said:
So far so good. Carried the Leatherman Free T4 at work yesterday, and then ended up just carrying the Rambler on my keys the rest of yesterday and today.

I might the Alox Cadet a try at work this week. It'll be interesting how it holds up.
Click to expand...

I imagine that the cadet, being an alox SAK, will hold up for whatever you need to do in your day to day life. :thumbsup:
 
LcSRuT5l.jpg


Got these two in my pockets today. The Leatherman will come out when I get home, and the Cadet will finish out the day.
 
If I am honest with myself, I have absolutely no NEED for a high end dedicated folder. Even as a contractor, a simple MT will handle most every job I need to do before busting out the tool kits.

My cutting needs are mostly opening parts and pieces that I will screw onto other pieces. I don't really NEED more than the stainless 400 series steel found on my Leatherman.

I could easily get by with the P4 in my pocket with nothing else 99% of the time.

That said, I do enjoy carrying and using a Microtech or CRK or whatever nicer dedicated knife for various reasons. However, the MT probably gives me more bang for my buck and gives me a set of tools that augment my creativity for problem solving.
 
Steely_Gunz said:
If I am honest with myself, I have absolutely no NEED for a high end dedicated folder. Even as a contractor, a simple MT will handle most every job I need to do before busting out the tool kits.

My cutting needs are mostly opening parts and pieces that I will screw onto other pieces. I don't really NEED more than the stainless 400 series steel found on my Leatherman.

I could easily get by with the P4 in my pocket with nothing else 99% of the time.

That said, I do enjoy carrying and using a Microtech or CRK or whatever nicer dedicated knife for various reasons. However, the MT probably gives me more bang for my buck and gives me a set of tools that augment my creativity for problem solving.
Click to expand...
I've actually eschewed high end folders for a while now, and I'm finding my limit for what I'm willing to spend on a user knife has decreased dramatically. Like you said, the MT gives more bang for the buck.

Just these past few days have kinda shown me just how often I need a dedicated folder, which seems to be a lot less than I originally thought. I have yet to come across something the blade of my Leatherman or SAK's can't easily handle, and in a lot of cases they worked better due to how thin the blades are ground.
 
It's been a while since I've had a pliers based multitool, and this Leatherman Free P2 was at too good of a price to resist.

2BDGTb7l.jpg


It has all the same tools as my Free T4, with the pliers and a longer knife blade. It actually feels great in hand, something I can't always say about every pliers based tool I've handled. I also like that it gives me the option to carry with a pocket clip, though I might stick with the belt sheath for now. It's actually kinda nice having mostly empty pockets.

This one will be replacing the Free T4 at work the rest of the week, so hopefully I'll get to put it through its paces.
 
The Leatherman got a workout yesterday cutting pipe insulation and tape to hold it on. That thinly ground blade just sailed through the insulation, and made my job a heck of a lot easier. Sadly, it was way too cold, and my hands too frozen to take the time to get a snap of it in use so here's a shot of the Leatherman trying to make a snow angel.

pOnDiQJl.jpg
 
StuntDouble said:
The Leatherman got a workout yesterday cutting pipe insulation and tape to hold it on. That thinly ground blade just sailed through the insulation, and made my job a heck of a lot easier. Sadly, it was way too cold, and my hands too frozen to take the time to get a snap of it in use so here's a shot of the Leatherman trying to make a snow angel.

pOnDiQJl.jpg
Click to expand...

Gotta hand it to ya, you're hanging in there! :thumbsup:

As sort of a minimalist version of your self imposed challenge, I've been doing the same thing with my little squirt. I figure if I could get by with a Case peanut and Sear's 4-way keychain screw driver, a real multitool should be duck soup. So for the past week and a half I've taken all other knives/tools out of my pockets except for my old army P-38 in my wallet. Its been there so long that I'm afraid upsetting some sort of cosmic ju-ju balance.

So far the squirt has helped fix an electrical socket, hand a shelf, adjust a door hinge, and for knife work opened all kinds of packages, cut some jute twine that tied up some coiled up 50 foot extension cord, and trimmed some flower stems of the flowers I brought home to Karen for putting up with me all these decades. The chisel ground blade makes a wicked sharp florist knife.

You've inspired me, StuntDouble!
 
jackknife said:
Gotta hand it to ya, you're hanging in there! :thumbsup:

As sort of a minimalist version of your self imposed challenge, I've been doing the same thing with my little squirt. I figure if I could get by with a Case peanut and Sear's 4-way keychain screw driver, a real multitool should be duck soup. So for the past week and a half I've taken all other knives/tools out of my pockets except for my old army P-38 in my wallet. Its been there so long that I'm afraid upsetting some sort of cosmic ju-ju balance.

So far the squirt has helped fix an electrical socket, hand a shelf, adjust a door hinge, and for knife work opened all kinds of packages, cut some jute twine that tied up some coiled up 50 foot extension cord, and trimmed some flower stems of the flowers I brought home to Karen for putting up with me all these decades. The chisel ground blade makes a wicked sharp florist knife.

You've inspired me, StuntDouble!
Click to expand...

Glad to hear I've been an inspiration!

I honestly don't know that I'll go back to carrying a regular knife at work at this point. Maybe when shorts weather gets here and I'm not using a belt anymore, but we'll see. It'll be interesting to see how the Free P2 stands up to salt water and sweat once the weather starts warming up here.

Today we’re out and about, so I’ve got my customized serrated Spartan and a Rambler. If the Spartan had a pair of scissors, I don’t know that I’d need anything else.
 

Attachments

  • 7A59961A-F796-4514-81B7-D224B5110408.jpeg
    7A59961A-F796-4514-81B7-D224B5110408.jpeg
    398.3 KB · Views: 5
StuntDouble said:
Glad to hear I've been an inspiration!

I honestly don't know that I'll go back to carrying a regular knife at work at this point. Maybe when shorts weather gets here and I'm not using a belt anymore, but we'll see. It'll be interesting to see how the Free P2 stands up to salt water and sweat once the weather starts warming up here.

Today we’re out and about, so I’ve got my customized serrated Spartan and a Rambler. If the Spartan had a pair of scissors, I don’t know that I’d need anything else.
Click to expand...

I've got members of my own family that do not, nor ever has carried a dedicated knife. My daughter Jessica and older son John both are huge die hard fans of the 58mm SAK's. Jess has had a classic on her keyring ever since high school, and John traveled a lot in his earlier career and carried a classic and a larger SAK in places he lived for a period of 6 months to a year. Netherlands, Spain, Costa Rica, Argentina, U.K., and Sebu in the Philippines. He keeps a small collection of the 58's, from a classic, to the mini champ, and gets a lot of milage from them. I think that they were inspired by my examples of the Case peanut and a few tools, and later their mother putting the tiny classic through its paces. Then my conversion to the 58mm's.

I guess the kids watch us closer than we realize. I can recall watching my dad deal with things with his little peanut and Sear's 4-way screw driver, and I went that was after I got the knife thing out of my system. Once I finished with the knife collection thing, I went SAk and only went to a Leatherman when one was literally given to me. I was very surprised at how much I used it, and how much I could to with the smaller blades on them. The squirt has been a huge surprise and its made me re-focus my attention. I rarely carry much of a dedicated pocket knife anymore, and when I do, its more out of a sentimental thing than need.
 
jackknife said:
I've got members of my own family that do not, nor ever has carried a dedicated knife. My daughter Jessica and older son John both are huge die hard fans of the 58mm SAK's. Jess has had a classic on her keyring ever since high school, and John traveled a lot in his earlier career and carried a classic and a larger SAK in places he lived for a period of 6 months to a year. Netherlands, Spain, Costa Rica, Argentina, U.K., and Sebu in the Philippines. He keeps a small collection of the 58's, from a classic, to the mini champ, and gets a lot of milage from them. I think that they were inspired by my examples of the Case peanut and a few tools, and later their mother putting the tiny classic through its paces. Then my conversion to the 58mm's.

I guess the kids watch us closer than we realize. I can recall watching my dad deal with things with his little peanut and Sear's 4-way screw driver, and I went that was after I got the knife thing out of my system. Once I finished with the knife collection thing, I went SAk and only went to a Leatherman when one was literally given to me. I was very surprised at how much I used it, and how much I could to with the smaller blades on them. The squirt has been a huge surprise and its made me re-focus my attention. I rarely carry much of a dedicated pocket knife anymore, and when I do, its more out of a sentimental thing than need.
Click to expand...
Thinking about the sheer number of people that go through life every day without actually needing a knife, I can definitely understand someone only every carrying a Swiss Army knife.

cr6AtoSh.jpg


Just a week left in the month, and I think it's going to be this group that will finish it off.

Victorinox Serrated Spartan Plus
Victorinox Rambler
Leatherman Free P2
 
StuntDouble said:
So, the month long experiment is over, but the multiool and SAK's haven't left my belt or pockets. I actually carried a dedicated folder on the 1st of Feb, but always ended up going with the Leatherman when a cutting chore came up.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

I'd give you a standing ovation, but I don't see an icon for applause. Good for you!!

Now thats over, looking back on it all, was there ever a time that you thought, "What am I doing? " Like a kind of pull of the knife nut obsession back to a dedicated folder?

And looking forward from this day, what is your feeling about carrying a dedicated 'knife' from now on?

I realize that talk of ditching a knife on a forum for and by knife nuts, is SAKrilegious, but there it is. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top