What's your favorite multi-tool? I mean that folding one you keep with you at all times at work.

JohnNY

Gerber Multi-Plier?
Leatherman?
Swiss Army?

Let me know, please.

kevinj_4

Leatherman Wave

New England SteamWorks

I've tried them all, and don't like any. Maybe I am strange, but I always want the right tool in my hand for every job.

Except, perhaps, when I cheat with channel locks once in awhile...

BobC

I had a few leathermans but settled on the Kershaw because it had long nose jaws that I found handy. I was working as a tech on mail sorting machines at that time and carried that on my belt for 8 years.

Bob

hot_rod

I could never get on board with them either, something about a folding tool that seems compromise. Also too big for your pocket and too much technology on your belt with phones now being a must have.

A good quality 4" lock blade for reaming, stripping wire, sliver removal, lock picking, etc. Just remember to leave the knife home when you fly

JohnNY

Yes. We all agree on "the right tool for the right job" thing, and I'm on a 20-year CRUSADE to get my guys to stop using channel locks, but doing estimates and walk-throughs, it's handy to have something in my kit to open a control cover or strip a piece of wire to jump out a couple of terminals. Today I needed a file.

My Skeletool came up short.

Jamie Hall

Leatherman Crunch. Always on my belt. However, if I'm actually going to go and do something and I know I am, I take along whatever is really right... it's when I hit something walking by that the Crunch comes into play. But that's the nature of what I do.

RickBlackford

Leatherman Super Tool. Loosened up a little bit to flip open easier.

EBEBRATT-Ed

Gerber.
I prefer having the right tool but when I am 2 blocks away and 40' up away from my truck......................I use what I got

hvacfreak2

Sog Power Plier , I've had mine for 18 years .

Mad Dog_2

Military Spec. Leatherman. Plus an amalgamum of assorted little, proprietary devices on my keychain that would give Schneider from "One Day at a Time" a run fo' his $$$$$...Mad Dog

MilanD

Not many multi tools have a file. Leatherman Wave does. I lost count on how many times I used just the file.

Solid_Fuel_Man

Swiss Army (Wenger) with the nail clippers. Best nail clippers I've ever had and used as much for the pesky metal/wood sliver. Had this one for over 10 years. As a rule, at work I always keep a hot stick (non-contact voltage detector) and an 11in1 screw driver. Those 3 tools keep the MacGyver in me satisfied.

Have a couple of leathermans, but always find them too bulky to keep on my person at all times like a Swiss Army knife.

RayWohlfarth

I like the all in one screw driver from Home Depot, the orange one. That color is easy to find It can get me into almost any control panel as it has 1/4" 5/16" nut drivers and philips and flat head bits.

delta T

I will be the heretic against you @JohnNY, I always carry a pair of channel locks in my side pocket. They are very useful as a way to pick up things that are hot (something just soldered for example), pull the odd nail if you don't want to go all the way back out to the truck for a hammer or nail bar, the list goes on and on. I use them all time and feel naked without them. I will say that as a substitute for a pipe wrench they are horrible, and I don't use them for anything like that. Right tool for the right job....

I have gone through about 10 different multi tools, and I don't like any of them. Doing a walk through, I usually just take my tool pouch which has screwdrivers, allen keys (metric and SAE), wire strippers, dikes, nut drivers, small crescent wrenches, small end wrenches, and some linesmans pliers. Usually have everything I need and it can go around my belt or over my shoulder.

hot_rod

As a youngster I always carried a Boy Scout scoutmaster knife, the pre-Leathermen tool. Bought one every Christmas for my dad, he wore them out.

Later I graduated to the biggest Swiss Army knife, great quality and tons of unique blades. I even used the tweezers and magnifying glass, carried it in a leather sheath on my belt.

I've downsized to this handy card.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@RayWohlfarth , I think those orange screwdrivers are made for HD by "Buck Brothers". I have a few of them. Dirt cheap and they hold up really well

ChrisJ

I had many Victorinox knifes.........kind of collected them for a while.

I don't think I've ever found a "multi-tool" I truly liked. I wanted to like them..........I liked buying them, messing around with them but never found them actually useful.

I recently sold my mint, never used Swiss Champ XLT on Ebay for a lot of money. I guess they stopped making them or something. It had pliers, scissors, even a small bit set in it.




I've been tempted to buy one of the plier type ones that fold out from Leatherman but I've got a feeling I'll dislike it as much as any other.

BillW

I have a SOG Tool-Clip that I've carried around for at least 20 years. It has a blade, saw, screwdriver/file and pliers/wirecutter. The only thing I don't like is that the blade doesn't lock, and can close back at the most inopportune times.

mattmia2

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1487451#Comment_1487451

the big blade is good for adjusting thermostats in prison

Larry Weingarten

Hi, Some comments suggest a backstory 👮‍♂️… I just keep the officer's Swiss Army knife on me and about 500 pounds of tools in the truck. 😉

Yours, Larry

Intplm.

A smaller Leatherman. I'm tired of s**t in my pockets.

GroundUp

I've had a few of the knockoffs and a couple Gerbers, but I've been stuck on a Leatherman Kick for close to 20 years now (after making fun of my foreman for carrying one and then asking to use it all the time) and use it a dozen times a day for anything from filing a hangnail to cutting open the packaging of another Leatherman. I have one in the glove box of every vehicle, and I don't leave the house without one on my belt unless I'm doing white collar stuff. I break them a lot (ya know, the old knife/pry bar trick) and usually buy another while those are in for warranty, so I think I have 6 or 7 of them now. Heck, I just used the one on my belt 20 minutes ago to cut a slit in a banana so I could get it open without crushing it and less than an hour before that as a hammer to engage the starter on an old Honda ATV. If I'm on the job I always bring in normal tools, but if I'm at the top of a ladder and need to strip a wire or deburr a pipe, heck if I'm crawling down to get a stripper or reamer when there's something that does both of those things on my hip already.

EBEBRATT-Ed

I have a couple of Gerbers. There the same except 1 is more like a needle nose pliers and the other is more of a blunt nose. They gotta be over 20 years old. Years ago I broke the philips tip and sent it back to Gerber and they sent me a complete new tool. Don't think they still do that. I also have a Leatherman.

psb75

Question: do ANY of these "multi-things" have a set of different-sized "Torx®" bits in them? Just try to take off the compressor hood of a Rheem HPDHW! There are 3 different screw heads! I've lost several of these "pocket tools" to the TSA at the airport—the reason being: that I habitually "dress" with one every morning.