What’s the best survival multi-tool?
The best survival multi-tool? There’s certainly a lot of multi-tools that would be pretty useful to have handy – but which one is the best? I’ve written an article to help you choose the RIGHT multi-tool for you but not how to choose the best survival multi-tool.
If you’re trying to survive in the wilds of the jungle, or in a post-apocalyptic world, what sort of tools do you need? I’m not sure myself as I don’t have any personal experience yet of trying to survive with only my multi-tool, but if I did, my ideal survival multi-tool would include tools like:
- good sharp straight knife
- a strong pair of pliers
- wood saw
- ferro stick
- awl with a sharp point and a thread loop
- hammer
- axe
- slingshot
- spork
- can opener
- bottle opener
What do you think of that list of tools? Maybe it’s a tall order to get them all to fit into one multi-tool but there are some very talented designers out there so you never know what they could come up with! Thought it might take a while for a manufacturer to make my custom survival multi-tool, so in the meantime, I looked around for any multi-tools specifically designed for survival. Although there are many multi-tools that would be useful for survival, there is currently only one multi-tool that’s designed specifically as a survival multi-tool.
Leatherman’s Survival Multi-Tool
The Leatherman Signal is a fairly recent addition to the Leatherman range. It features a number of the usual tools like pliers, a combination straight and serrated blade, a bit driver and a 1/4″ hex driver. That’s the sort of tools you expect in most multi-tools but it also comes with a lot of tools that are designed for your survival needs. It has a bottle opener for keeping us hydrated and a can opener to open the vital tin food we’re going to need.
Where the Leatherman Signal really distinguishes itself from other multi-tools is that it has a small ferrocerium stick you can use to start a fire in the wild. Use the back of the saw tool to strike a spark. It is pretty small but it will do the job if your matches got wet in that last river crossing. The ferro stick is embedded in a very loud whistle. Great to have a whistle if you were running for your life from a pack of zombies and you get separated from your group. And if you blunt your knife blade, sharpen it up with the small diamond coated sharpener. Like the ferro stick, it’s small and I looked very hard but couldn’t see the diamonds but it’s better than nothing when the alternative is nothing.
Finally, the Signal has an awl with thread loop so practice your cross-stitch and you’ll be able to repair the torn sail on your makeshift log raft and make it back to land.
So the Leatherman Signal is a good multi-purpose multi-tool with multiple tools for survival. There are other tools though that have more specific tools to help you survive if you have a special skill or interest.
Fishing for survival
The Leatherman Charge ALX has a lot of great general use tools that you would expect to see in one of Leatherman’s popular multi-tools. The tool that makes it particularly useful as a survival tool is the very good quality 154CM steel knife that has a cutting hook (if you’re interested in how to tell if your multi-tool knife steel is good or not, check out my article that rates multi-tool steels for common brands). The hook is very good for gutting fish. If you’re going to feed yourself to survive by fishing, the Leatherman ALX could be just the multi-tool for you. The cutting hook is also good for slicing through seatbelts if you find yourself hanging upside down in your crashed car because the earth parted while you were leaving town.
Shooting for survival
If you’re going to hunt wildlife to survive the apocalypse then the Leatherman MUT EOD could be the ideal multi-tool for you. Besides being the coolest looking tool in the Leatherman range, the MUT EOD is designed for shooters and includes lots of tools to maintain your rifle.
It has a military spec cap crimper, bolt override tool, fuse wire cutters, a carbon scraper to clean out the junk from your barrel and a replaceable C4 punch. All these tools are going to help you to keep your survival hunting on track.
If the Leatherman MUT EOD doesn’t do it for you, have a look at the very classy looking Multitasker Series 3 or the Gerber Det Multi-Plier.
Camping for survival
You don’t need to go fishing or hunting to survive, well, not until you get hungry anyway. You knew something was coming so you packed a lot of tinned food into your BOB (that’s Bug Out Bag to those of you who aren’t up with survivalist lingo). You’re going to need to open those cans so at a minimum you need a multi-tool with a can opener. There are a lot of multi-tools to choose from that have a can opener so take your pick. How about a full-size multi-tool like the Leatherman OHT or the SOG PowerAssist.
Surviving with an axe
Maybe you want to build yourself a bivouac for shelter or a raging campfire for warmth and cooking. You can cut off some branches with your saw on your multi-tool – a lot of them have a saw – but being small, this might take you quite awhile to cut enough wood for a long-lasting fire. Wouldn’t an axe be handy? Well, there are a number of multi-tool axes that are very compact and can do more than just chop down branches and small trees.
The Klax Lumberjack Multi-Tool Axe. It’s just the axe head and it only weighs 7 ounces so it’s easy to carry around. The downside is that because it’s just the head, you need to find a good branch to make a handle so you can attach the head to it. Not much good without a handle but Klax do sell a handle for it if you want to take one with you. The other very cool and but pricey multi-tool axe is the Outland Multi-Mission Axe 1501. This axe has a handle and can be used as a pry bar and hammer amongst other tasks.
Helping others survive
If you’re the helping hand sort of MacGyver, you should look at a couple of emergency rescue multi-tools that Leatherman has. At the heart of the Leatherman Raptor is a strong set of shears. Along with the shears are a lot of other tools to help you help others or even yourself.
Feed yourself to survive
Now that you’ve found something to eat and you have your shelter organized, it’s time to eat. After the Apocalypse, we can all use our hands to feed ourselves if we need to but we don’t need to abandon all our table manners if we pack a very light and very useful tool. The UST Spork Multi-Tool. It’s called a spork because it’s a spoon and a fork combined (get it?) and also a multi-tool all in a single piece. It has a can opener, bottle opener, flat head screwdriver and other tools. Very cool and under $5 to keep you at least one step ahead of a caveman in a crisis.
You never know when you’re going to need to survive so now you know the best multi-tools to pack in your bug out bag, there are no excuses to NOT be ready. Be prepared.
Multi-Tools – Don’t Leave Home Without One!
What do you think of these survival multi-tools? Got some suggestions for better tools? Let me know in the comments below.
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