KIT & GEAR
AIRSOFT MULTI-TOOLS
AIRSOFT AND
MULTITOOLS:
A RETHINK…
FRENCHIE COVERED THIS SUBJECT SOME WHILE AGO AND NOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED, HE
UPDATES US ON HIS THOUGHTS REGARDING AIRSOFT AND MULTITOOLS.
S
ome considerable time ago I wrote
a series of pieces on the value of
multitools to airsofters and I made
some recommendations, based on
experience, as to which I thought were
worth buying. That was then, and this is
now. If, like me, you spend or have spent
years with a lump of metal strapped to
your belt you may occasionally wonder
if you need all that capability, day to day.
I certainly did, and that started me on a
journey through alternatives to the ever-
capable Leatherman or Victorinox Swiss
tool.
My end point was not one I had
anticipated but my argument here is that,
maybe, this is actually all you need on the
skirmish field.
LOOKING BACK
Let’s start a while back: Throughout my
school days I carried a Victorinox swiss
army knife in my pocket, not something
that is deemed acceptable these days sadly,
but it ruffled no feathers then. It was the
“Executive” model, fairly slim and discreet,
with the usual raft of tools. Since it was
the only tool I carried, it did everything;
a classic case of “if all you have is a
hammer, every problem looks like a nail”.
Somewhere at university it disappeared,
I think, and I can’t remember what I
used after that. Eventually I was given a
Leatherman, the original Pocket Survival
Tool. I still have it and I still use it a lot. That
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APRIL 2020
was to set a trend of the next God knows
how many years; why carry a limited knife,
when you can have all that capability?
Over the years I have bought, used,
lost and given away many multitools and I
wouldn’t be without them – my thanks go
out to Tim Leatherman for his persistence!
However, they are moderately heavy, some
more than others and are better carried in
their sheath on your belt.
As my work patterns changed, I found
I had less call for the sort of facilities they
offered, and I was less inclined to lug one
around on the off chance that a Land
Rover door should fall off and
need to be reattached. I
started to look again at
the venerable Swiss
Army Knife (SAK), of
which I have always
had a few, and ask
if this wasn’t better
suited to my needs?
I was also cognisant
that we live in a world
these days where knives
are seemingly always
in the news and nearly
always for the wrong
reasons and, while I am
not a natural target for
a quick stop and search,
I didn’t want to cause
alarm by doing a Crocodile
Dundee, no matter how legal
or appropriate it might be.
My complaint with SAKs is that to
be reasonably useful they had to be
reasonably bulk. I have a Tinker with pliers
amongst other invaluable tools and in
terms of weight and bulk it is pretty close
to the Leatherman PST, not something I’m
comfortable popping into my pocket on a
regular basis. The answer came by accident
during a holiday. My wife bought me an
Alox Classic SAK. For those of you who
know your knives, the
Classic is the