Although I consider myself a minimalist, somehow I managed to accumulate a bunch.
Since age 12, my EDC was a Boy Scout knife knockoff. It was actually quite serviceable and in 15 years I hankered for nothing else. From the first I regarded my pocketknife an everyday necessity and used everything on that four blader so often I couldn't imagine carrying anything other than what we now call a multi-tool.
After impulsively giving my Kamp King to a girlfriend (who promptly lost it) I went looking for a replacement and discovered the world of SAK. My first was a Wenger that I used to death, followed by a Vic that was stolen, but not before I discovered the utility of a belt pouch. I promptly re-filled mine with a Swisschamp, and for the next 10 years considered myself set.
Then I became aware of Leatherman tools. Intrigued by the addition of full sized pliers to the tool mix, I purchased a PST. It was okay, but the Swisschamp was more useful to me as an EDC, so I traded off the PST and went back to SAK. But when the Supertool came out, I revisited the matter.
For an acceptable increase in weight, the Supertool offered enough strength in its locking tools that for the first time I could consider a "pocket" (actually, belt) item almost as good as a dedicated tool. I began alternating the Swisschamp and Supertool as EDC, sometimes when carrying one wishing I had brought the other. The only things I missed on the Leatherman were some of the SAK amenities, so when the Micra was introduced, my joy was complete. I found it to be a perfect complement to the ST and that was my outfit (well, still sometimes trading off with the champ) until just a few weeks ago when I sprung for a Charge.
To tell the truth, I had thought the Charge was a gimmick, which was my previous opinion of the Wave. The only reason I bought the Charge was a super bargain, so I figured it was worthwhile to try it out and if I didn't like it to sell it off as a used piece for what I paid new. BTW, I'm keeping it. Pretty much the same story with a Squirt P4.
Meanwhile, since my friends and family consider me a knife guy based on all the way back to my Kamp King days, occasionally I am gifted with sharp objects, so (and here's the wind-up):
My collection consists of
V'nox Swisschamp
Tinker
Minichamp
Leatherman Charge Ti
Supertool
Supertool 200 (a spare, another bargain I couldn't pass up)
Micra
Squirt P4
Thanx for your indulgence. I doubt there is anyone else I deal with who cares in the least about this topic.
