Dear Lazyweb

[simont]

My Leatherman is beginning to get long in the tooth. (Specifically, and somewhat unimpressively, its pliers now don't open and close properly, due to protruding nicks on the wire cutters which I apparently caused recently by using them to cut wire.) What multi-tool should I replace it with?

My current one is the long-defunct Leatherman Flair, which I bought because it was a Leatherman-type tool but also had a corkscrew and bottle opener; I thought, and still think, that this seemed like a generally useful combination. The Flair also has two other ‘picnic accessories’ which are completely pointless (a spreader and a cocktail fork, for goodness' sake), but it includes a blade, pliers, scissors, a useful range of screwdrivers and assorted booze-opening technology in one convenient package, and that's all been consistently useful to me for years.

If I could design a new multitool myself from scratch I'd leave out the silly picnic accessories, add a few more screwdrivers, have the tools fold out from the outside rather than the inside, and probably make the knife blade much smaller. (My own best judgment says the Flair isn't in violation of UK knife-carrying legislation, but on the other hand I don't actually need a blade longer than a couple of centimetres since I only really use it for opening packaging; so if I were designing from scratch I'd play it a lot safer.) Oh yes, and I'd make the wire cutters out of pure adamantium, bah.

But it isn't feasible to design one's own multitool from the ground up, so I probably want to buy some reasonably good approximation to the above. I've done a bit of googling, but nothing has really stood out for me as being obviously what I want. Any satisfied users out here with personal recommendations?

Comments

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

No idea about new ones, but you could file the lumpy bits on the wire cutters down for the time being. I have files, not yet X files.

[emperor]

I have a SwissTool (I think the SwissTool X Plus 3.0337.LH, but I don't have it to hand to check), and am very pleased with it.

[simont]

No corkscrew, though, am I right?

(I'm not kidding about the usefulness of the Flair's corkscrew. It works well enough that it isn't only for emergency use: at crowded parties it's often quite a lot easier for me to dig out my Flair than to wander around several rooms looking for the house's official corkscrew. The official one would generally be a bit easier to use if I could find it, but not easier enough to warrant going and looking.)

[emperor]

Mine definitely has a corkscrew (that lives with the extra bits, IYSWIM, and attaches to the main bit).

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

The knife and fork look like they could easily be ground into a sharp chiselly-scrapery thing and a generic sharp point respectively, both of which are things I need fairly frequently.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

I don't know, a multitool seems tailor made for, well, tailor making... Well, maybe not, but you can imagine a generic frame, into which you can slot lots of different tools. I guess it depends how non-trivial the tessellation is. And it's never going to be plausible, but I imagine a big Swiss factory where they make frames with holes in, and all sorts of different implements, and a flip of the switch can assemble any different combination, and you can place an order, and they add that to the queue.

It'd probably also include the legendary horse-hoof-stone-plucker-out device, which I think has to be included on all such tools out of some sense of cosmic balance.

> If I could design a new multitool myself from scratch

That sounds pretty sensible selection.

Is a "spreader" a knife designed for spreading butter and spreads? If so, it at least sounds sane to have two knives, one for touching food, and one not.

(Does knife legislation cover scissors? If you wanted a longer blade, can you just have long sharp scissors where one blade can be folded out of the way if you want. Normally I'd never image such a loophole would be left, but the knife legislation seems to care a lot about image and intent.)

(I'm afraid I don't have any actual advice.)

[simont]

a multitool seems tailor made for, well, tailor making

Yes. I did google for custom multitool construction services in at least some hope of finding something usefully available in that area, but no luck (unless I missed it).

It'd probably also include the legendary horse-hoof-stone-plucker-out device

Ha, yes, good point. If the rhino has a hoof pick, nobody else has any excuse! :-)

Is a "spreader" a knife designed for spreading butter and spreads?

It isn't a knife at all: it's just a completely blunt flat piece of metal in a cutesy shape. I'm sure it would be ideal if I wanted to use my Leatherman to spread butter, but it's just not the tool I want to be using for any such thing: I don't want to touch my food with something that's been sitting in my trouser pocket unwashed for years on end, and neither do I want to put it back in my trouser pocket to fester once it's covered in food!

[aquarionical.livejournal.com]

Gerber used to do a build-your-own multitool service on their website, but it looks like they retired it a year or so ago.

[simont]

Oh, is that what happened? I did find a couple of promising-looking links but nothing useful at the end of them. That'd explain it.

(Bah. So if only I'd nadgered my Flair last year...)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

It isn't a knife at all:

Ah, thank you. I guess like a butter knife's butter knife, the sort of knife that a butter knife would carry around because it was non-sharp, to the point of not having any blade.

Now I'm just imagining something like this:

Narrator: Whenever I learn a new skill I concoct elaborate fantasy scenarios where it lets me save the day.
Woman: Oh no! The killer must have followed her on vacation!
Woman: But to find them we'd need to search through 200MB of emails looking for something formatted like an address!
Man: It's hopeless!
Offpanel voice: Everybody stand back.
Offpanel voice: I have a multitool!
<<SPREADER!>>
Everyone: <<cheer>>
(http://xkcd.com/208/)

I don't want to touch my food with something that's been sitting in my trouser pocket unwashed for years on end, and neither do I want to put it back in my trouser pocket to fester once it's covered in food!

I had something witty to say about how you were logical, but I've forgotten it. But yes, that would be a good plan :)

[fanf]

The Leatherman Juice or Victorinox Cybertool seem close to what you are asking for.

[kaberett.livejournal.com]

Nod, I have one of the smaller-and-without-saws Victorinox cybertool thingies - Simon, we were talking about meeting up in September anyway (and I'm leaving the country on Friday :) ) - I'll have it with me then if you want to have a play around with one and are prepared to wait that long?

Otherwise gerald_duck has the larger version (with saw etc) on him almost all the time, and you see him in the Carlton. And ThinkGeek sells them.

[simont]

I'm happy to wait a while, so yes, that sounds good, thanks :-)

[sacristan.livejournal.com]

When I left Lucent, my going-away present was a Juice XE6. It's a scary shade of purple, but it's smaller than most tools and has both a bottle opener and a corkscrew. The screwdrivers are good - the philips looks clunky, but is superb.

I took it off my belt once since I got it - my wedding day. |-)