What's in MacGyver's pocket?

January 11, 2006 8:30 PM

What kind of pocket tools would you recommend?

After returning to New York City, I opened my checked luggage to find that the TSA had searched my bag. No problem, right? Well, my pocket knife and two gizmos for my keychain were missing. Aside from pitching a fit to the TSA, I have the feeling that I won't be seeing them again, so it's time to move on.
What I liked about the knife (the 5510 model) was that it could be quickly drawn, came to a point with both staight and serrated edged, and had a low intimidation factor (no one ever shouts "He's got a knife!").
The tools were tiny, and on occasion handy.

With a little ebay-fu I could obtain replacements for 50 or so bucks, but I thought someone might know of a better tool to carry around.
I kind of like the Leatherman Charge XTi, what with titanium making it lighter and more durable, but not the price tag and the bulk of a multitool. Part of me wants to get a swiss army knife, but that could be misguided nostalgia.

Any suggestions?

posted by blueneurosis to shopping (12 comments total)

I think the Leathermans are neat but they can be a bit heavy. Regardless, I would still want a regular pocket knife as the knives on Leatherman's are more awkward to use.
posted by 6550 at 8:43 PM on January 11, 2006

I have a Leatherman Wave and I recommend it -- it avoids the awkwardness that I think 6550 is referring to because the two knife blades (as well as a saw and a file) are on the outside, so you don't have to fold out the entire tool to get to them; I can easily open any of the outer blades with a flick of my thumb.
posted by camcgee at 9:00 PM on January 11, 2006

Second for the Leatherman Wave. I use it for work, and often use it around the house even though I have better and more specialized tools. I always know where it is since I put it on 5 days a week, and it's more convienent to grab it then dig through a tool box in the closet.

Both knive blades are easy to access, no need to flip the tool open, and you can do it one handed easily.

Probably alot less likely to be counted as a 'weapon', but then those tools you had were pretty ineffective and really shouldn't have been taken. I can see the knife, but 2 small tools? Bah. Tell them to refund you the money or give you back your items. Threaten a lawyer, and when they still do nothing, sulk and by new ones, cause there's no way you'd win in court. :(
posted by Phynix at 10:20 PM on January 11, 2006

I'm a little partial to your SwissKey since I wrote a litte review on it in issue 04 of MAKE. As far as a larger tool goes - I have several Leathermans in small (micra), medium (Original), and large (Super) so I'll only upgrade to a newer model if I lose one.

If you're already looking there, may I suggest an eBay search for "TSA" which pulls up government auctions of confiscated knives and tools - perhaps even yours.
posted by marc1919 at 10:45 PM on January 11, 2006

Ooo. Gadget thread. *swoons*

I've used the Leatherman Wave and it's quite nice. The blades aren't at all difficult to use or open - but it'll never be a pure replacement for a good single blade folding knife. The balance, heft, and offset always will be a tad off to someone used to actually using a good workman's or sports folder as a utility blade. (Say, carving or whittling, rope cutting, camping or hunting, etc.) But it's certainly good enough that the average Joe can forgo the folder in place of the Leatherman.

And Leatherman blades are fscking sharp. I can use the rounded tip blade in my Micra as an X-acto knife for trimming paper or cutouts or whatever. I'm consistently astounded at the amount of abuse Leathermans can take with zero fuss.

I'm not a huge fan of the SwissTech tools. Way, way too small. The little mini pliers aren't all that useful, and the bits too big and too fiddly. For the amount of metal in the SwissTech multitool, and just a bit more space, you can carry a Leatherman Micra or Juice and get twice the tools. My Micra is about 4-5 years old now. I've yet to break one. They just get lost or stolen.

I carry the following pretty much everywhere, except flying:

Leatherman Micra
Coast "Fisherman's friend"

These two are velcro-ed together with thin strips of adhesive velcro on the handles. It forms a nice little metal block smaller than a pack of gum in my pocket. One has scissors, the other has fine needlenose pliers. The Coast tool also has an awl/punch like tool on it that's extremely useful for untying knots, popping open CD drives, hitting reset buttons, putting small holes in things, prying out splinters and more. Both have assorted bits, blades and drivers. It's nice to have both because it's not much more weight and room, and having two independent tools drastically increases the range of tasks that I can accomplish.

On belt:

"Remington" brand Leatherman-style plier multitool with a driver bit set and bit adapter. Not super high quality, but affordable at about 10-15 bucks. Unlike most cheap-ass Leatherman clones, this one actually has beefy forged and milled pliers that can take some abuse - with decent leverage stops and a hefty spring load. The blades and fold-out tools are decent. The handles are cast aluminum, rather than the cheap stamped and folded steel stuff - perhaps even more comfortable than a Wave. The handles are quite large for a multitool. Though, I'd replace it with a Wave or Crunch in a heartbeat.

I also carry a Pelican brand 2xAAA Xenon waterproof/blastproof penlight, with spare batteries in "Nite Ize" belt holster. I used to carry LED lights, and I still have LED headlamps and lights and whatnot, but something about them just isn't as bright or clear as a good Xenon bulb. Plus the Pelican light is generally smaller and lighter for comparable brightness in an LED light - though 1/10th or 1/20th the battery life.


As a grunt-level tech, I use almost all of these almost every day - even the flashlight. If there was some way to add a Cat-5 crimper, a proper wire and cladding stripper and longer, thinner screwdrivers, and maybe some Torx bits, I'd never, ever have to actually visit the tool cabinet while out and about at work. But it's real nice that 99% of the time I don't have to go anywhere when I have to fix something.

Though, I realized a while ago I'm turning into or have turned into "that guy" with all the crap on his belt and in his pockets. But I think I'll refrain from worrying until I take up some ludicrously expensive and arcane hobby like RC helicopters or something.
posted by loquacious at 11:33 PM on January 11, 2006

I'm another fan of the Leatherman Wave. The "inverted" knife compartments make all the difference between a barely useful toy and a useful tool.
posted by eriko at 5:38 AM on January 12, 2006

I would suggest things like a standard Leatherman that look like "normal tools for normal folks". Your knife and that key thing look more like "easily concealable weapons for psychos" (one was a knife-disguised-as-key and the other just plain scary-looking). I can see why they'd set off TSA alarm bells and get all your stuff swiped.
posted by nowonmai at 7:24 AM on January 12, 2006

I've got a Victorinox "Swisstool" (leatherman clone). I quite like it. Very construction, solid, good lock mechanism, feels nice in the hand. And I believe it is cheaper than the Wave.

The current version is a little different from the one I've got, and appears to be an improvement in most respects (they've sacrificed the ruler marks for a curvy body), but I haven't actually handled it.
posted by adamrice at 7:28 AM on January 12, 2006

I actively dis-recommend both of the Swiss-Tech tools: I used to have both but managed to break each of them in normal use.

This is currently my favourite keychain tool. Not really useful for anything but bikes (for which it is really quite useful), it certainly has the highest wow factor of anything I carry. It has a usable slot tip on on of the fishbones that the link doesn't mention. Unlike the cheap whitemetal Swiss-Tech crap, the X-AXIS wrench is laser-cut tool steel, just like their cone wrenches.

Lee Valley occationally has some nifty pocket tools. I find their tape measure probably the most useful thing I carry on a regular basis. The pocket screwdriver, while small, much less so.

Finally, I still think the best pocket light is the Photon (tiny compared to anything else and very bright), and the old metal Swiss army pocket knife (which they don't make anymore, so no links) has been on my ring for a very long time. They are making TSA-safe ones apparently now, but I have no idea if they're any good.
posted by bonehead at 8:31 AM on January 12, 2006

I love my Charge XTi. Love, love, love it. And I'm a former Wave user, so I know. The cutting hook is more useful than you'd ever think, and it's got a pretty high gee whiz factor, what with the titanium handles and all.
posted by SlyBevel at 12:48 PM on January 12, 2006

I use a "Tinker" style swiss army knife when I can't get away with anything on my belt. But, I use pliers and a knife almost daily, so I need a mutli-tool.

I'm torn between the Leather Wave and the Swiss Tool.

I tend to prefer the Wave for two reasons: locking blades (the SwissTool has this, too) and one-handed blade opening. I find the latter to be *very* useful, though no substitute for a proper folding knife.

On the downside, I don't like how all the little tools are inside the Wave's pliers handles -- the Swiss Tool has these on the outside, which I prefer for easy access.

My biggest beef with the Wave is that the knife blades seem slightly warped - and thus a pain to sharpen on a flat stone. I'm not sure if my particular knife is faulty, or if it's the model in general. But, I've had this issue with all the various Leathermans I've owned. In general, I think Victorinox knives are easier to sharpen.

I plan to buy the new Wave (or Charge - I forgot that was out!) and see how it holds up. If I still have sharpening issues, I'll switch to the Swiss Tool.
posted by Sangre Azul at 1:18 PM on January 12, 2006

Dan's Data on care and feeding of pocket tools and knives.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 4:27 PM on January 12, 2006