I wanted to review an old favorite of mine, one that has been discontinued for almost two tears now: the Leatherman Juice Kf4. Mine is "storm" grey and is model number 80187. It gives you more tools than the Juice S2, and makes an almost-perfect EDC multi-tool. The entire package weighs 5.5 ounces and while it doesn't come with a sheath, they are readily available for around $5. The Juice Kf4 will cost you around $55 in stores. I think it would make a handy EDC choice, and here's why...
Closed, it's 3-1/4" long. That's shorter than the blade of most "tactical" knives. It's 1-1/4" wide and 9/16" thick, which is still within reason. The entire tool, except for the handles, is made of stainless steel. The handles are anodized aluminum, and they're available in either "storm" grey or "solar" yellow. Closed, there are no sharp edges or corners on the Juice. Everything is rounded and the tool slips nicely into a pocket. On the handles, you get a small ruler anodized on; a US "inch" ruler that's broken down into 1/8" graduations and spans to 3", and a metric "centimeter" ruler that spans to 7cm. We'll start with the tools on the inside of the Juice Kf4 since they're the same as on the Juice S2; only the tools on the outside are different.
The Pliers: A Leatherman standard tool. It's stamped LEATHERMAN TOOL on both sides. When fully open and in the clamped (closed) position, there's 2-1/4" of pliers exposed. The needle-nosed portion is 3/4" long with an open capacity of 1-9/16"; the inside (bolt turning?) portion is 1/2" long with an open capaity of 1", and the wire cutters are 1/4" long with an open capacity of 5-16". you also get hard wire cutters, which I've never used. The pliers work great, but again, they're for light-duty or emergency use. They've served me well at work and emergency work on the car without fail, and I'm confident they'll last for a long time if I treat them right and not expect them to perform like a Charge.
Lanyard Tab: You get a lanyard tab with a hole diameter of 1/8". It's not large enough for gutted 550 cord, but I put one of those large Victorinox keyrings on it and stuck my lanyard in that. It works just fine; it's a lanyard tab, not much to say about it. It makes retrieving the Juice from its sheath easier.
Phillips Screwdriver: Next to the lanyard tab is a #2 Phillips-head screwdriver. It's 1" long and is ideal for light jobs. It opens via thumb pull; just snag your fingernail on it and pull it out. While nothing on this tool locks open, the Phillips driver will stay open until you close it; there's no play in it and it's quite solid. I wouldn't use it as hard as I would a normal screwdriver, but for emergencies and light work it's great. You can also stick Leatherman's Bit Kit extended on it for more versatility. Underneath mine, I keep a set of Victorinox tweezers.
This brings us to the other side of the handle, in which we get a lot of screwdrivers. They all open with the same thumb snag like the Phillips...
Medium Flathead Screwdriver: It's 1" long and the driver itself is 1/8" wide. It stays open with no play, and you'll have to use some force to close it. This is a good thing; it won't just slip shut onto your fingers.
Small Flathead Screwdriver: Right next to the medium driver is a small one. It's also 1" long and the driver is 1/16" wide. It's pretty ideal for eyeglass screws, but I can't think of another use for it. I was going to file mine down into an awl, but I decided against it. No play in this one, either. A word of caution: if you use your fingernail to pull out the screwdriver, be careful not to cut yourself on it. The corners are sharp and are at the right angle for a small cut.
Large Flathead Screwdriver: The last screwdriver. It's 13/16" long and the driver takes up the entire width of the metal at 1/4" wide. Use it for, well, screwing or unscrewing larger flathead screws. I've found it the most handy size for industrial applications, ie. door screws and such.
All of the other tools are accessible without opening the pliers, which I find handy. A very quick tool comparison of the Juice Kf4 and the Juice S2: they both have the same blade. The Juice S2 has scissors and a can opener; the Kf4 replaces these with a wood saw and a reamer. The Kf4 also adds a file (see below) and a serrated sheepsfoot blade (see below).
Blade: The blade on the Kf4 can be opened without opening the pliers. It opens via nail nick and is a slipjoint; no lock on it. It's made of 420HC stainless, and it's 2-3/4" long with a 2-1/4" cutting edge. It has a modified leaf-like elliptical shape; kind of like a Grohmann. It's 3/32" thick (just between 1/16" and 1/8") and is hollow ground. It came pretty dull, but it sharpened up quite easily and will now shave. Even though there's no lock, once it's open, it's stiff. No flex or movement at all until you choose to close it. This is a nice length for EDC and would work very well as a general task blade. It's the same exact blade as found on the other Juice models.
File: 2-3/4" long. One side is a standard cross-cut file; the other is a diamond-coated file. the "edged" portion of the file is a metal saw. I've only used the metal saw for light things and it's proven to be useful. The cross-cut file is a bit rough to use as a fingernail file, but it works nicely at removing wood or burrs off of metal. The diamond file is nice for a quick touch-up of your blade in the field.
On the other side of the tool we get another set of tools within one handle, and here they are...
Serrated Blade: Leatherman gives you a fully-serrated sheepsfoot blade. It's made of the same 420HC as the main blade, and it's 2-3/4" long with a 2-1/4" cutting edge. It's hollow ground on both sides so it's not a true chisel grind, but only one side is sharpened. The serrations are of the scalloped kind rather than the toothed kind, which I think is more useful for cutting fibrous materials. In my testing, the Kf4 went through seatbelts and nylon webbing pretty easily. You get some shallow grooves on the back of the blade that look like thumb ramps, but they just don't work for that purpose. They're too shallow and by design of the tool, your thumb can't reach them because the other handle is folded on top of the other handle, making thumb placement impossible. I use the thumb ridges to let me know which blade I'm opening and not confuse it with the main blade.
Reamer: Call it a reamer or call it an awl. Mine came very dull and needed a pretty good amount of patience on the coarse diamond before it became usable. There's an eye for sewing, but I find it useless. The sharpened portion of the reamer comes in handy for striking a ferro rod. This reamer is awful compared to the Victorinox reamer, but it's still better than nothing and you can always put a point on it. You have to open this tool to get to the next one, which is a...
Wood Saw: Hey, how about that!? This tool actually stacks up favorably to the Victorinox wood saw. It's 2-3/4" long and is cross-cut like the Vic saw. It cuts on the pull stroke only, but that's fine. Mine has resisted filling up with wood pulp quite nicely, so it must be something in the design. I've found this saw a little easier to work with than the Victorinox saw; probably because the teeth on this one are slanted to cut with a pulling motion, while the Vic's teeth are pointed straight down and tend to bind a bit when starting.
Overall, I'd give the Juice Kf4 an A- if we were in school. I like the scissors on the Juice S2, but I can part with them knowing I'm getting some nice tools instead. Plus I always have my Victorinox Classic on me, and guess what? It has a pair of scissors. If you can find a Juice Kf4, pick one up and carry it for a week. I promise you'll be more than satisfied for the price.
Check out the (discontinued) Juice Kf4 at Leatherman's site... http://www.leatherman.com/multi-tools/retired-products/juice-kf4.aspx
Closed, it's 3-1/4" long. That's shorter than the blade of most "tactical" knives. It's 1-1/4" wide and 9/16" thick, which is still within reason. The entire tool, except for the handles, is made of stainless steel. The handles are anodized aluminum, and they're available in either "storm" grey or "solar" yellow. Closed, there are no sharp edges or corners on the Juice. Everything is rounded and the tool slips nicely into a pocket. On the handles, you get a small ruler anodized on; a US "inch" ruler that's broken down into 1/8" graduations and spans to 3", and a metric "centimeter" ruler that spans to 7cm. We'll start with the tools on the inside of the Juice Kf4 since they're the same as on the Juice S2; only the tools on the outside are different.
The Pliers: A Leatherman standard tool. It's stamped LEATHERMAN TOOL on both sides. When fully open and in the clamped (closed) position, there's 2-1/4" of pliers exposed. The needle-nosed portion is 3/4" long with an open capacity of 1-9/16"; the inside (bolt turning?) portion is 1/2" long with an open capaity of 1", and the wire cutters are 1/4" long with an open capacity of 5-16". you also get hard wire cutters, which I've never used. The pliers work great, but again, they're for light-duty or emergency use. They've served me well at work and emergency work on the car without fail, and I'm confident they'll last for a long time if I treat them right and not expect them to perform like a Charge.
Lanyard Tab: You get a lanyard tab with a hole diameter of 1/8". It's not large enough for gutted 550 cord, but I put one of those large Victorinox keyrings on it and stuck my lanyard in that. It works just fine; it's a lanyard tab, not much to say about it. It makes retrieving the Juice from its sheath easier.
Phillips Screwdriver: Next to the lanyard tab is a #2 Phillips-head screwdriver. It's 1" long and is ideal for light jobs. It opens via thumb pull; just snag your fingernail on it and pull it out. While nothing on this tool locks open, the Phillips driver will stay open until you close it; there's no play in it and it's quite solid. I wouldn't use it as hard as I would a normal screwdriver, but for emergencies and light work it's great. You can also stick Leatherman's Bit Kit extended on it for more versatility. Underneath mine, I keep a set of Victorinox tweezers.
This brings us to the other side of the handle, in which we get a lot of screwdrivers. They all open with the same thumb snag like the Phillips...
Medium Flathead Screwdriver: It's 1" long and the driver itself is 1/8" wide. It stays open with no play, and you'll have to use some force to close it. This is a good thing; it won't just slip shut onto your fingers.
Small Flathead Screwdriver: Right next to the medium driver is a small one. It's also 1" long and the driver is 1/16" wide. It's pretty ideal for eyeglass screws, but I can't think of another use for it. I was going to file mine down into an awl, but I decided against it. No play in this one, either. A word of caution: if you use your fingernail to pull out the screwdriver, be careful not to cut yourself on it. The corners are sharp and are at the right angle for a small cut.
Large Flathead Screwdriver: The last screwdriver. It's 13/16" long and the driver takes up the entire width of the metal at 1/4" wide. Use it for, well, screwing or unscrewing larger flathead screws. I've found it the most handy size for industrial applications, ie. door screws and such.
All of the other tools are accessible without opening the pliers, which I find handy. A very quick tool comparison of the Juice Kf4 and the Juice S2: they both have the same blade. The Juice S2 has scissors and a can opener; the Kf4 replaces these with a wood saw and a reamer. The Kf4 also adds a file (see below) and a serrated sheepsfoot blade (see below).
Blade: The blade on the Kf4 can be opened without opening the pliers. It opens via nail nick and is a slipjoint; no lock on it. It's made of 420HC stainless, and it's 2-3/4" long with a 2-1/4" cutting edge. It has a modified leaf-like elliptical shape; kind of like a Grohmann. It's 3/32" thick (just between 1/16" and 1/8") and is hollow ground. It came pretty dull, but it sharpened up quite easily and will now shave. Even though there's no lock, once it's open, it's stiff. No flex or movement at all until you choose to close it. This is a nice length for EDC and would work very well as a general task blade. It's the same exact blade as found on the other Juice models.
File: 2-3/4" long. One side is a standard cross-cut file; the other is a diamond-coated file. the "edged" portion of the file is a metal saw. I've only used the metal saw for light things and it's proven to be useful. The cross-cut file is a bit rough to use as a fingernail file, but it works nicely at removing wood or burrs off of metal. The diamond file is nice for a quick touch-up of your blade in the field.
On the other side of the tool we get another set of tools within one handle, and here they are...
Serrated Blade: Leatherman gives you a fully-serrated sheepsfoot blade. It's made of the same 420HC as the main blade, and it's 2-3/4" long with a 2-1/4" cutting edge. It's hollow ground on both sides so it's not a true chisel grind, but only one side is sharpened. The serrations are of the scalloped kind rather than the toothed kind, which I think is more useful for cutting fibrous materials. In my testing, the Kf4 went through seatbelts and nylon webbing pretty easily. You get some shallow grooves on the back of the blade that look like thumb ramps, but they just don't work for that purpose. They're too shallow and by design of the tool, your thumb can't reach them because the other handle is folded on top of the other handle, making thumb placement impossible. I use the thumb ridges to let me know which blade I'm opening and not confuse it with the main blade.
Reamer: Call it a reamer or call it an awl. Mine came very dull and needed a pretty good amount of patience on the coarse diamond before it became usable. There's an eye for sewing, but I find it useless. The sharpened portion of the reamer comes in handy for striking a ferro rod. This reamer is awful compared to the Victorinox reamer, but it's still better than nothing and you can always put a point on it. You have to open this tool to get to the next one, which is a...
Wood Saw: Hey, how about that!? This tool actually stacks up favorably to the Victorinox wood saw. It's 2-3/4" long and is cross-cut like the Vic saw. It cuts on the pull stroke only, but that's fine. Mine has resisted filling up with wood pulp quite nicely, so it must be something in the design. I've found this saw a little easier to work with than the Victorinox saw; probably because the teeth on this one are slanted to cut with a pulling motion, while the Vic's teeth are pointed straight down and tend to bind a bit when starting.
Overall, I'd give the Juice Kf4 an A- if we were in school. I like the scissors on the Juice S2, but I can part with them knowing I'm getting some nice tools instead. Plus I always have my Victorinox Classic on me, and guess what? It has a pair of scissors. If you can find a Juice Kf4, pick one up and carry it for a week. I promise you'll be more than satisfied for the price.
Check out the (discontinued) Juice Kf4 at Leatherman's site... http://www.leatherman.com/multi-tools/retired-products/juice-kf4.aspx
