Riding the "Wave"

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Jan 1, 2009
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The Leatherman Wave that is.
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I have never been much of a Multi-Tool fan. Not because they aren't good. I firmly believe they are. I just never really climbed on the band wagon. Heck, I have just barely gotten into folding knives. I almost always carry a fixed blade.

Not too long ago, I received a wave as a gift. I played with it a bit, said thanks, marveled at all the cool options, and then promptly tossed it in the draw. Where it remained for quite some time.

Recently, as the whole Tactical/Bushcraft phenomenon had taken hold of an acquaintance. With that person becoming convinced they needed a special, purpose driven, knife to survive or enjoy the woods. I felt compelled to offer up some advice.

Now, I have more knives than any sane person should possess. But since we're all here in the asylum any way. I figure you folks can relate.

However, there is a huge difference between having, or wanting, or needing. Need is a necesstiy. The rest are just desires.

With that in mind, and possessed of a counter point mindset. I said any knife will work if you know how to use it. And with that being said. I grabbed my unused Wave from the draw and set out to prove a point.

I really wasn't expecting much out of my little Wave in the woods. I just wanted to show it would work. It does a very nice job on opening letters too. I found that out as it was in my kitchen table when the mail arrived. No photos everyone knows what an opened letter looks like.

Next up was the cardboard challenge. I have been enjoying this fine beverage named Founders All Day IPA. The beer it great. And it comes in a 15 pack. The problem is a 15 pack won't fit in my fridge standing up. Solution, take the top three cans out and slice down all four corners and then slice off the flaps. Again, no photos, we're cutting up a beer box here.

After some quick get acquainted tasks. It was off to the woods for a fire. In my mind, I equate fire with survival. If you have a fire you have a much better chance.

I didn't really need to survive on this trial. But a fire and some smoke would be a welcome device to drive away and disorient the cloud of Adirondack black flies that followed me wherever I went.

So I grabbed a stick and made some fire stuff.
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The plain edged blade did a more than acceptable job of getting me some feathers for tinder. Ecpecially given the fact that I had never used this knife before. Except for letters and beer box surgery. They should only get better. The main blade came pretty sharp. It could be better. But I have received many higher end knives that the edge would embarrass.

I have been messing a lot with all natural tinders lately. To the feather sticks I added some inner Poplar bark as a means the get the feathers going. And I used some Colt's Foot flower heads to get the bark going. Colt's Foot resembles a dandelion with little fuzzy parachutes ready to burst into flames.
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Unless you completly miss the Colt's Foot with your fire steel sparks. This is usually a one strike event. The Colt's Foot explodes into flames and is gone in seconds. But that is more than enough to get the bark ripping. The bark gets the feathers going and everything just takes off from there.

While the fire was catching. I got to investigating the Wave some more.

Basically you have four large main tools. Two blades, one serrated, one plain. A very agressive little saw, and a double edged file. One side quite coarse, the other a smoother diamond like option.
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It was right about here, that I started to take the Wave a little more seriously. This thing is a true, functioning Multi-Tool.

Bushcraft, or as I like to call it, Woods Roaming. Utilizes a lot of simplistic things to make life easier. That little saw is a great size for notches, pot hooks, and a whole host of other saw related tasks. Very cool!

Now, back to that fixed blade I discussed earlier. Or any fixed blade actually. And add in some of that Survival horse manure too. If you use knives hard. They will become dull. The file on the wave can remedy that. It might not give you the edge of some fancy sharpening system like a Work Sharp or an Edge Pro. But it would keep your knife's edge keen enough for any task. Again way cool.

In addition to the four main tools there is a nice assortment of other tools on board as well. A larger Slotted screwdriver. A medium slotted and phillips.

Also a tiny slotted and phillips. Think fixing loose glasses, cameras, or techy stuff.

Two more nice opitons are small but useable scissors, and a can opener. And of course there is a set of wire cutters in the plier jaws.

I attempted a feather stick with the serrated blade. It worked, but I need to work on that. It pays to keep in mind. This was on a piece of dry hard Cherry peeled from the forest floor.
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It nice that the Wave has a built in back up blade onboard. You know, that whole survival thing, six is five, four is three, and so on. Rope, seat belts, and other tough tasks will be dispatched with ease on the serrated side. Leaving your plain edge for the fine tasks.

The two main blades can be opened one handed. And they can be closed one handed with some caution. Everything locks open. So the chance of accidential closure is reduced.

Here is a shot of the Wave with my Canoe for scale. The two outside sticks were done with the Wave. The softer whiter one was done with my Canoe.
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Overall, I came away impressed. This is a handy little tool that I am now convinced will grow on me. I'm willing to bet, there are more little tools or gizmos tucked away in this thing that I have yet to discover. It seems Multi-Tool designers are like apple engineers. They like to bury some stuff three or four layers down.

I really hadn't planned on doing any sort of a review. All this was more just to prove a point to a friend. But this evening my wife's Ott Lamp. A severely overpriced craft light that built its reputation on a day light replicating fluorescent buls was loose at the base. She aske me if I could fix it. Leatherman Wave to the rescue. Out came the pliers, lamp is as good as new.

If you were lost in the woods. You could do a lot worse.
Nice tool,
 
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The Wave is an excellent tool indeed, nice to see another mate "hooked" by these little marvels.
Now you only have to step up, get yourself a Spirit and forget about the Wave :D

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It's ironic that you should be "discovering" the wave at the moment LV as yesterday I just rediscovered its big brother, the Charge tti. It packs a similar load out to the wave but with arty party titanium scales and an s30v blade as well as a cutting hook on the back of the serrated blade which, for survival purposes, could act as a superb gut hook. I don't like gut hooks however, so it is used for cable tie cutting as the blunt hook tip won't damage anything that shouldn't e damaged.
All in all the humble leatherman MT is a great buy. Many of the old cockies in my district make do with a leatherman and a victorinox butcher's knife as their only blades.
In my opinion a survival knife is any knife which you have on you when you need to survive.
 
The Wave is the quintessential multi tool. I've since returned to the Victorinox Spirit since my son requested my Wave, but I have great respect for the Wave.
 
It's hard to say no to the 420HC blade on any Leatherman...but particularly the Wave.Some today will say 'oh no it has to be a premium steel'...I disagree.It delivers a fine level of sharpness and performs well enough as a camping and hunting steel.Cheap steels of the 420 Series excel best as outdoors use and a lot of natural materials cutting...even 420J2.
 
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