MooseMan3000

Age: 19
Country of Residence: USA/Canada
Occupation: Student
Sex: Male


Questionare:

1. I own a Leatherman Wave that I carry with me most of the time. If it's not on me, it's nearby. I use the two blades (straight and serrated) most often, but I use the pliers (with wire cutter), scissors, and screwdrivers frequently, as well. While I seldom use the file, I do find uses for it often enough to make it worth having.

2. I adore this knife. It is very small, for a multitool, but it has all the functions I like in larger ones. The saw, file, and two blades are on the outside of the knife, and with a little practice I found I could open either of the blades with a flick of my thumb - greatly appreciated when I only had one hand available. The locks on those 4 parts are also very sturdy, but easy to close down. Again, I can do it with one hand without too much difficulty (though I did cut myself once before I knew what I was doing). It is lighter than most multitools (4ish ounces, I I remember correctly), which is nice. The variety of sizes of flatheads is useful, along with a good Phillips head screwdriver that fits in every screw I've tried it on so far. All around, a very good knife. It helps that the blades are some of the sharpest I've seen on a multitool.

Oh, and I nearly forgot: the edges of the handles when it's folded out to use the pliers are rounded. SO NICE. That small fact alone makes this knife so much more comfortable to use as a real tool than any other I've had, at least among those that were all stainless steel.

3. Problems? The OTHER side of the handle isn't rounded. Why would you do one and not the other? It's not THAT important, and I don't notice it often, but it would be nice to have.

The biggest problem? THE SCREWDRIVER HEADS ARE OFF TO THE SIDE. When you fold out a head, it's on the SIDE of the tool, not the MIDDLE. This makes using the screwdriver nearly impossible, and I only use it as a last resort. It's still possible to use any of them, but extremely uncomfortable. There is ROOM in the body of the knife to have all the screwdrivers in the middle, but they're still pushed off to the side. What. The. Fuck.

If you could find a way to reinforce the bits against the torque from using them, it would also be nice, because they tend to twist a little. I, however, can't think of a reasonable way to do that (except for using a stronger material, which would likely make it much more expensive) that wouldn't make the knife bulky and unwieldy.

Note: This is a slightly older Wave... I bought it in 2002? Something like that. The newer model is probably slightly different.

I use this knife for many things, from fixing computers to building theatre sets. It's versatile and useful, and even though it's seen a lot of action, it's still going strong.

Moose



Edit: I was just looking back through the posts, and the majority of people that don't carry knives with them cited that they didn't feel they needed one to defend themselves, or they thought police were more important, or something along those lines. I've NEVER considered carrying a knife for protection. I have my brain, mouth, and (if need be) several years of training for that. My knife is strictly utilitarian. I don't see why anyone would see this questionnaire and immediately assume "why would I need a knife to protect me?" Knives are tools, not weapons. Meh, just my opinion.

Disclaimer: I know knives can be used as weapons. I've done that, too. But anything can be a weapon in the right circumstance. I can use my belt to strangle anyone, but I don't wear that for protection; it's to hold up my pants.