Would Rambo have carried a multi-tool?

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ElCuchillo

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Hey guys, I've been reading posts on here as well as on other forums, and I wonder if our grandfathers would have carried a multitool. I mean, they were working men who for the most part carried non-locking slipjoints. These were not collectors items in their hands, they were hard working tools, many times inexpensive, no frills, no nonsense knives used for one thing. Work. Hard work. Our grandfathers had them, and many of our fathers had them, and now we not only use them, but collect them as relics from a time long gone. However, if multi-tools as we know them today had been around in the days of our grandfathers, would THEY have been the EDC of choice? Again, remember, many of these old schoolers were hard working men. Would they be carrying a Leatherman, or Gerber, or Swisstool? Would the Rambo movies and the like have featured a Surge, lets say, rather then a big bulky "Survival" knife? Back then a man needed to be prepared for anything. It was the old scout mentality. What do you think our past would have been had their been multis available back then?
 
If the manufacturing process and technology of today was around back then, then I'd say definately they'd carry a multitool.
 
i really don't think they're all that different from us. if we carry em, they'd have carried em.

edit: regarding rambo, he still wouldn't have one. supposedly rambo 4's comin out. we'll see if he has one. also, he was issued "every ultramodern piece of equipment we have" in rambo 2, and abandoned it. they'd have probably issues him a safety knife to cut his chute free, but he still used the knife.
 
In "Rambo-His Last Mission", if you watch it carefully, he uses a SOG multi-tool to adjust the bolts on his fellow patients' walkers and wheelchairs at the old folks home.
 
I don't know about John Rambo specifically, but if a SF soldier had the good sense of a goose, he'd get one.
 
Gerber is standard issue with Canadian army but they can carry Leatherman as well.

Lots of US military carry them too.

And, Rambo is a muti-tool ;)
 
Why would they have a multi-tool when they didn't have multi hardware? There probably wasn't much use for a philips screwdriver before there were philips screws. Or wire cutters before wire. The multi-tool then would have been a hatchet.
 
It's interesting how pop culture cunningly steers us away from reality. I recently read a statement in a major knife publication that has been echoed by 3 close friends who have experienced war first-hand: War is basically an extended camping trip with someone shooting at you. Their most used and relied on tool (which they ensured they brought with them) was simply a Leatherman multi-tool. One of these friends, having been deployed several times and all but destroying its blades and other handy items each time, has repeatedly sent it back to Leatherman for full refurbishing with new blades, tools and pliers. These men remark that it's these "lowly" tools that made the most difference in their daily lives.

I am somewhat perplexed by the boom of "tactical" knife designs flooding the market by production and custom makers. Even though I myself cannot often hold back the drool when laying eyes on and holding some of these functional works of art, I question whether they are truly useful in everyday life, or simply playing to our "theatrical" fantasies. This question quickly arises by the powers that be if you've ever had to use an edged tool/weapon in self-defense. Sure, they can cut and can be used for self defense, but so can my CRKT Rollock. Which is more likely needed - a defense knife for daily chores, or an EDC that can serve double duty for protection. As a knife crime survivor, I still believe the latter is true.
 
ElCuchillo said:
I wonder if our grandfathers would have carried a multitool. ... Would the Rambo movies and the like have featured a Surge, lets say, rather then a big bulky "Survival" knife? Back then a man needed to be prepared for anything. It was the old scout mentality. What do you think our past would have been had their been multis available back then?
Click to expand...

"Would the Rambo movies and the like have featured a Surge, lets say, rather then a big bulky 'Survival' knife?"

Lord, I nearly slipped a disc on that tangent! :p I'm 100% unsure what the silly Rambo movies have to do with our grandfathers and their choice of EDC.

For the record, I do think good quality multis would have been a big seller to hardworking guys in any era, although as popcornpicker alluded to, they've probably have featured a slightly different assortment of tools. Perhaps an awl in lieu of a phillips head. But knife, file, saw, screwdrivers, pliers, wire cutters, can/bottle openers? Yeah, I reckon Grandad would have had one on his belt while driving that old glass company truck around Miami (per-nounced Miamuh, of course) in the 30s, 40s and 50s.
 
Speaking of Rambo has anyone seen the trailer for this movie. Stallone's antics remind me more of Jason from Friday the Thirteenth movies.:barf: :barf: :barf:
 
popcornpicker said:
Why would they have a multi-tool when they didn't have multi hardware? There probably wasn't much use for a philips screwdriver before there were philips screws. Or wire cutters before wire. The multi-tool then would have been a hatchet.
Click to expand...
The 1800s era in the US was a period of constant innovation- in fact the number and type of new products dwarfs anything we now experience. Many youngsters grew up with the idea that science and technology would rule the world in the coming centuries and they wanted to become inventors. Thousands and thousands of products came to market and were available for purchase- tho most didn't last too long in the marketplace. A good example of this is the bicycle- today we have a few major bicycle manufacturers ie Shimano is the king. In the 1890s there were hundreds and hundreds of bicycle makers - often one in every town.

As for our grandfathers.....the men from the 1800s tended to love gadgets like the multitool. My grandfather was born in 1881 in the Oklahoma Territory and became a master electrician through home study. He absolutely loved multi-tools and had many different such tools- measurement tools, fence fixing tools, complex pocket knives, pipe tools. He died in 1966 but would have appreciated and likely purchased the many new multi-tools.
 
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