The End of an Era

I'm confident that 90% of you reading this will not understand why I feel compelled to write this post, and 100% of you will laugh about it, but here goes anyways.

I stand at a crossroads in my life.  Without consciously realizing it at the time, I hit the 20 year mark a little while back.  I guess I felt like it was time for a change, time to try something a little different.  I'm talking, of course, about my pocket multi-tool.

I've carried a Swiss Army knife in my pocket since I was 14 years old.  Since that first knife, I've upgraded, changed models, occasionally down-sized to save room, but always stuck with that familiar red tool.  As anyone who's owned one knows, the Swiss Army knife is fantastically useful.  From the entry level Classic Pocket Knife (with pen knife, file, scissors, toothpick, and tweezers) up to the completely over the top Swiss Champ (seriously, it's got 31 tools and weighs a hefty 6 oz), you can find a model that fits any need.

I've had my latest model for at least 4-5 years now (can't remember exactly the last time I bought one), and I still love it, but I felt like maybe it was time for a change.  Kristen is baffled by this, as I tend to be a "don't fix it if it ain't broke kind of guy" (her words, very true).  And it's true, I'm a creature of habit, I find the things I like and I stick with them.  I can't fully explain why, but I felt like it was time to branch out from my familiar red handyman tool.

I started looking at reviews of some other popular brands and came across an unfamiliar acronym: EDC.  After a quick Google search (and ruling out some pretty hilarious options - Electric Daisy Carnival, seriously?), I learned that in the DIY world this stands for Every Day Carry.  There's actually a whole culture out there built around the fact that what we carry on us every day says a lot about our core persona, there's some pretty intense stuff (check this site out for example).  I'm not that crazy about it, but I did want a nice multi-tool with great features that I could carry in my pocket without weighing me down too much.  I eventually settled on the Leatherman Wingman.

Out of the box the Wingman is slightly wider than my Swiss Army, but not as deep, right about the same length, and maybe an ounce heavier.  I really loved the all-stainless look and the mechanical feel - this looks like a tool that's designed to do things.  I've been living with it for about a week, and I'm happy to say that I think I made a good choice.  So, now we have to compare under the hoods, of course.  First, my steadfast Swiss Army:

This particular model has 12 tools: a large and small knife, scissors with spring handle, large flat head screwdriver + bottle opener, small flat head screwdriver + can opener, phillips head screwdriver, corkscrew, and several others that aren't shown because I couldn't open them (seldom used: awl, parcel carrier, and plastic magnifying glass).  All the ones shown above are crazy handy, and I used something on my knife at least 4-5 times a day.

Now, the Wingman.  Without opening up the main part, you can access the knife and scissors.  Both can be opened one handed and both have a locking mechanism to prevent closing - especially nice on the knife for obvious reasons.  I like that I can open and close the knife one handed, quite handy when you're holding something with the off hand already.

Opening up the tool transforms the main part into a spring loaded set of pliers, both needle-nose and regular, with wire cutters at the base of the pliers.  This also gives you access to the rest of the tools: phillips head screwdriver, large flat head screwdriver, can+bottle opener, file+ruler+small flat head screwdriver, and plastic package opener (haven't tried this one out yet).  This is a really nice range of tools for my use without going overboard.

I have to say that the pliers alone have made this a fantastic purchase.  I can't tell you how many times I've encountered situations where I just needed some pliers for a few seconds and didn't want to or couldn't run out to my truck, garage, etc.  Seriously, pliers are handy.  And of course I've known for years how handy it is to have 2 screwdrivers at your fingertips.

Well I'll wrap this one up.  Hopefully provided some entertainment and a change of pace.  I'll be back soon with more posts about our garden (first big harvest!) and entertaining Liam stories.  My new multi-tool is fully 100% Liam approved, by the way.  I believe his exact words on first seeing it were: "Oooh, Dada's new tool is pretty!"