The EOD isn’t for everyone, but if you love things that go boom then it’s absolutely essential. This one isn’t for everybody, but if you’ve ever worked in explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), engineering demolition, or just like to play with C-4 (I won’t judge), then you’ve probably owned a Leatherman 300 EOD. I guess I could also use another carabiner, but I never seem to bring enough. When camping my favorite hack at night is to clip my SKELETOOL to the central pole, then wrap my solar light string around and through the teeth so they stretch across the length of the tent, giving me plenty of visibility without getting hit in the face. While a lot of their multi-tools have carabiner clips to hang them from belts, most people don’t realize you can also place lightweight objects in the plier’s teeth and hang the tool from a support or cord. Save yourself some pain and have a box of various battery sizes and a Leatherman on standby for when the holiday dust settles. While your spawn get to spend the rest of the holiday running around playing with all their new awesome stuff, you get to spend the rest of yours cutting, screwing, assembling, and cursing while you look for that tiny part you just dropped into the maelstrom of Christmas trash strewn about the floor. Most boxes are stamped with those three dreaded words: “SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED.” The living room is a post-apocalyptic hurricane of shredded wrapping paper, bows, ignored gift cards, and lots and lots of toys. If you’re a parent, then you know this pain. Holiday saved! Speed up the post-Christmas assembly line Family coming to visit for Thanksgiving unannounced? No worries: when it’s time to dice that Turkey, just whip out the Leatherman’s 420HC Serrated blade and go to work. Unfortunately, most people under 25 don’t have a decent carving knife anywhere in their home. While some of you savages cut meat and meat-based products with a standard knife, true experts know that a serrated blade is the best way to go. Plus, it saves you from being that guy walking around with a measuring tape (and probably a cell phone holster) on his belt. Doesn’t seem like much until you’re in a hardware store looking at a section of piping without a label and trying to figure out the width. When opened and laid flat, you can get at least an 8” measurement. Believe it or not, most Leatherman users never seem to realize that the handy gadgets all have a ruler etched into the side. The ruler is by far the most underused tool on any Leatherman. Put a small bottle of CLP and a few brushes in the pouch with your MUT and never use that Vietnam-era green cleaning bag again. In addition to the usual gizmos you’d expect (pliers, knife, saw, etc.) the MUT has a purpose-built bronze carbon scraper, disassembly punch, bolt override tool, and a cleaning rod and brush adaptor. The MUT – Tactical Multi-Tool isn’t something you see on the belt of most civilians, but to a military or law enforcement member who hates cleaning their weapon (like, all of them) this bad boy can save a lot of heartaches. While everyone is familiar with the basics, I decided to dive into some other uses for your favorite type of specialized Leatherman. I’ve personally carried a Leatherman FUSE since before my first deployment to Iraq in 2007 and am still surprised at how often I pull it out. You can cut barbed wire, crimp metal, shave tinder - you get the idea. Grunts can use the pliers to extract misfires.

As anyone who has ever served in the military or enjoys outdoor activities will tell you, the Leatherman multi-tool should be a mandatory piece of kit.

Winchester multi tool