I had been impatiently waiting for the arrival of the Leatherman Juice since I heard about it from Doug Ritters report from the January 2001 Shot Show (www.equipped.com) so when I finally saw them for sale at my local knife shop, the only decision I had to make was which model? I decided on the Juice S2 since it had all of the tools that I normally use and was lighter and thinner than the other models.
The S2 is 3.25 inches long, 1.125 inches wide and 0.5 inches thick. For me, it is a good compromise between size and utility. The side with the blade is slightly thinner than the other side. The tool weighed about 4 oz (120 g) on my postal scales.
The knife was quite sharp out of the box, but a few minutes using a Spyderco sharpmaker made it hair-popping sharp. It could cut a hair held on one side with a sharp slicing motion. The knife was used to trim wood, cut cardboard, peel fruit etc and kept its edge very well. The knife, together with the scissors and can opener are accessible without opening the pliers, a very convenient feature.
The scissors are serrated and seemed to be of good quality. The didnt need to be sharpened and can cut paper just by pushing (i.e. without closing the scissors up).
The can opener was initially a disappointment. I could not use it to open a can since it had no edge on it whatsoever. To correct this, I used the fine hone of a DMT diafold sharpener to put an edge on the right hand side of the can opener. This only took about 5 minutes. After that, it could open cans without any problems.
Opening up the tool, you get the needlenose pliers. They are of typical Leatherman quality and although downsized, are very strong. There are also wire-cutters and hard-wirecutters (use the notch) on the pliers.
Opening up the knife further, there is a lanyard and Philips head on one side, and a set of three flatblade screwdrivers on the other. The small flatblade is a little too big for my eyeglasses, but that can easily be remedied using a diamond hone.
I also like to have an awl, tweezers, saw, eyeglass screwdriver (the little one in the corkscrew) and hook/knife sharpener with me on fishing trips. I am planning to take the S2, DMT diafold and Victorinox Rucksak for this purpose. The Rucksak weights 3.5 oz so together with the S2 weighs about the same as a Leatherman wave. The advantages of having the 2 tools are that you can use the S2 pliers to hold something while you use some other tool on the Rucksak.
In summary, I am very happy with the S2. It is small, reasonably light weight and has all the useful features that I need. It has become my constant companion.
The S2 is 3.25 inches long, 1.125 inches wide and 0.5 inches thick. For me, it is a good compromise between size and utility. The side with the blade is slightly thinner than the other side. The tool weighed about 4 oz (120 g) on my postal scales.
The knife was quite sharp out of the box, but a few minutes using a Spyderco sharpmaker made it hair-popping sharp. It could cut a hair held on one side with a sharp slicing motion. The knife was used to trim wood, cut cardboard, peel fruit etc and kept its edge very well. The knife, together with the scissors and can opener are accessible without opening the pliers, a very convenient feature.
The scissors are serrated and seemed to be of good quality. The didnt need to be sharpened and can cut paper just by pushing (i.e. without closing the scissors up).
The can opener was initially a disappointment. I could not use it to open a can since it had no edge on it whatsoever. To correct this, I used the fine hone of a DMT diafold sharpener to put an edge on the right hand side of the can opener. This only took about 5 minutes. After that, it could open cans without any problems.
Opening up the tool, you get the needlenose pliers. They are of typical Leatherman quality and although downsized, are very strong. There are also wire-cutters and hard-wirecutters (use the notch) on the pliers.
Opening up the knife further, there is a lanyard and Philips head on one side, and a set of three flatblade screwdrivers on the other. The small flatblade is a little too big for my eyeglasses, but that can easily be remedied using a diamond hone.
I also like to have an awl, tweezers, saw, eyeglass screwdriver (the little one in the corkscrew) and hook/knife sharpener with me on fishing trips. I am planning to take the S2, DMT diafold and Victorinox Rucksak for this purpose. The Rucksak weights 3.5 oz so together with the S2 weighs about the same as a Leatherman wave. The advantages of having the 2 tools are that you can use the S2 pliers to hold something while you use some other tool on the Rucksak.
In summary, I am very happy with the S2. It is small, reasonably light weight and has all the useful features that I need. It has become my constant companion.
Making the transition to the Wave wasn't a big stretch. Your right though. The Juice is much better suited for that purpose being more compact and lighter. My car's ignition switch is gonna thank me.
