Some of you may be wondering why the sudden logo change at the top of the page- it is in response to some very bad news I got last night.  One of our early members, and serious Leatherman and Victorinox collectors, Joe Wright, aka JoeBW on ours and other forums has passed away.

In 2011 the company formerly known as Wenger Swiss Army sponsored the Patagonia Expedition Race, also known as the World's Toughest Adventure Race.  Even though Wenger has been absorbed into Victorinox it seems the spirit of adventure is still alive and well with the upcoming National Day of Adventure on October 16th.

Assume for a moment that you want a decent multitool, but you don’t have or want to spend a lot of money. In fact, your budget is a total of $5US, including shipping. I realize this may seem a bit extreme, not to mention a bit of an impossible task, but I like extremely impossible tasks, so I thought I would give it a shot.

Looking on eBay you will find all manner of cheap tools, many from the Far East, many cheap knockoffs of existing designs from major manufacturers like Leatherman or Gerber, many from custom makers like Peter Atwood or Ray Kirk, and many that just leave you scratching your head as to what the heck they are for, or what was the designer thinking when he/she designed that?

With all due respect to Sir Mixalot, I have a deep fascination with trucks. To me, a good truck is a vehicular multitool- it carries anything you need and manages both highways and dirt tracks with relative ease no matter the weather.

Anyone familiar with CRKT knives and tools knows that CRKT has never been interested in making the “same old, same old” kind of product, and you have to respect both their ability to create new and exciting products and share the lime light with their designers. Elsewhere designers aren’t credited on a product unless they have a big name, and how are you supposed to get a big name without being able to put it on anything?

After Megan and I had finished swimming for the day at a friend’s cottage (ie the impending thunderstorm chased us out of the water!) we decided to relax and open a bottle of wine. The only problem being that the rose we had bought had a cork, and we had no corkscrew as I’d misplaced my trusty yellow scaled Compact after our last trip. Luckily I have since found it, but that didn’t help us then!

Going without wine wasn’t an option, so I had to dust off an old trick that Tim Leatherman himself taught me. I’d say that he would be proud of me for remembering it, but as the only tool I had was a SOG PowerLock, I think the shine might come off that a bit…

As part of the 10th Anniversary Celebration we are offering these Limited Time Multitool.org Shirts so that you can celebrate with pride!

What we have are two designs, in three colors each, for a total of six different shirts. 

Leatherman USA has launched the New Skeletool RX First Responder Multi-Tool. In a release last week the company explained that the new tool will help first responders “be ready to respond quickly and safely in emergency situations.”

It looks like the tool has many of the same features of the regular Skeletool with a few minor changes. This model contains a carabiner/bottle opener, hybrid needle nose pliers/wire cutters, 154CM serrated knife and a replaceable carbide bit- strong enough to break windows.

As always, we’ll post a review as soon as we’ve had a chance to really use the New Skeletool RX First Responder Multitool.

Have you used this tool? Let us know at forum.multitool.org.

According to our friends over at Knifenews.com (full story HERE) the famous firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson has purchased Taylor Brands LLC for $85 million.  For those who don't know, Taylor has long produced knives and multitools with the Smith & Wesson name on them, and I have often commented on the quality (more accurately, the lack therof) of Taylor knives, whether they are marked S&W, Schrade, Uncle Henry or Imperial. 

For years I had labored under the impression that the folks at S&W were blissfully unaware of the crap that Taylor was producing with their name on it- I am a big fan of Smith & Wesson firearms, and that name has become (in my mind at least) synonomous with quality revolvers.  I had assumed that someone at Taylor had arranged for a dump truck full of cash to arrive on a bi-monthly schedule at the house of S&W's licensing manager, and that as a result, he or she just didn't ask any questions.  It seems that isn't the case, and that S&W is fully aware of the crap that Taylor is producing, and that is very disapointing to me.

The worst part is that S&W doesn't appear to even want to fix it- they seem content to merely take advantage of the distribution network that Taylor has, so that they can make their own in house accessories more available.  As if having their name on crappy knives wasn't damaging enough to the brand, now Smith & Wesson will be selling their actual merchandise on the shelves right next to crud, strengthening the connection.

This is one of those times when I really hope I am wrong.  As I said, I have lots of respect for S&W, and I hate to see them take a bad decision (like giving a license to Taylor in the first place) and make it worse.

Def

Were you looking for an expert on multitools, Swiss army knives, outdoor gear and more? Well, you won't find just one here. You'll find a few thousand. This is easily the best place to find up to date and historical information on multitools and more.

Whether you stay here on our website or browse and join our active Multitool Forum you'll be among experts.

What kind of people would write collect and review multitools?
Quite simple really- we are designers and do-ers, outdoors types and indoor types, mechanics, doctors, problem solvers and problem makers. As such, we have, as a world spanning community, put every type, size and version of multitool, multifunction knife, pocket knife and all related products to every test we could manage in as many places and environments as there are.

The results are quite exceptional- we have a vast and comprehensive shared experience with virtually any tool that one can be curious about- and we continue to push the boundaries with more tools in more places and situation.

Multitool.org is the brainchild of Grant Lamontagne, a guy with the desire to do more and go further than he did yesterday. Respected in the outdoor gear industry, Grant made his mark testing and using multitools, knives and many other outdoors products while shooting, kayaking, camping, cycling and Jeeping his way across the vast Canadian Wilderness. On lazy days he stays home and clears plugged drains, changes locks and paints walls and fixes things.

Grant is joined by his partner Megan Blumenthal, a former outdoor gear marketer and avid outdoorswoman with a love of archery, paddling, fishing and campfire cooking. Anything but a glamper, Megan dreams of tenting in every Canadian National Park. The second she leaves the office she's outdoors cycling, kayaking, camping and more. 

Multitool.org has a crack team of technicians and designers such as Micah Johnson and Esteban Soler, who maintain the vehicle that brings Grant’s testing and experiences, plus those of a planet full of members via our forum and Facebook page.