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Leatherman Blast Review
Submitted by An Outdoor Idiots Team Member.
Introduction
A while back, a forum member (admittedly he only ever made one post, but that's not bad for our forums) started a thread to tell us that multitools are useless. We were not in a position to pass comment, because somehow it seems that everyone at Outdoor Idiots.com has managed to get through their outdoor adventuring lives without ever owning or using one.We were, however, curious, and a few carefully placed words in Ray's ears resulted in him needing to buy one, "purely for research". Ray has been mishandling said multitool for some months now, and he's even occasionally let us have a go, so we feel we are now in a much better position to pass comment on the whole multitool thing.
However, the debate about whether multitools belong in Room 101 will be looked at some other time, when we can be bothered. This article is simply a review of a particular multitool, the Leatherman Blast.
Leatherman and Multitools
Legend (i.e. Leatherman's web site) has it that Leatherman's first multitool was called the "Pocket Survival Tool", or PST for short. A name like that might give the impression the device contained tools aimed squarely at surviving in some jungle somewhere, but in fact the whole idea of the PST was born during a road trip around Europe in an old banger (multicultural language note: in the language of the British, a banger is an old and somewhat less than reliable car) that regularly needed fixing up. Although the PST is no longer being produced, the Leatherman web site still has information on it, and it seems it contained tools that had little to offer the tree-hugging outdoorsman.Leatherman now make various flavours of multitool, including ones that are very suited to outdoor hobbies, and it is worth studying the choices carefully to see if there is anything that jumps out as being particularly suited to whatever it is that you do.
We should probably point out here that while we are happy to give plugs for exciting outdoor equipment that we feel may not be very well known (such as the Kelly Kettle), we feel no urge to give a special plug to Leatherman, who are very well known. Therefore, if you are looking around for a multitool, you might also like to check out the offerings from the likes of Gerber, SOG, Victorinox or even, if you are feeling brave, our very own TatMaster.
Why the Leatherman Blast?
A Leatherman multitool was chosen because the Leatherman name seems to be synonymous with multitools. The choice of the Blast model was less easy to make. After all, it has an array of tools that are not necessarily aimed at the outdoor enthusiast. Indeed, there is a picture of the Blast on Leatherman's web site which shows it being used to put together a steel shelving unit.The Blast was chosen because Leatherman say it contains the "most-requested features", and therefore it probably gives a good example of what one can expect from a multitool, particularly a Leatherman multitool.
However, one never knows what obstacles one's outdoor adventures will throw up, and the Blast seems quite a versatile thing. On one hand its wood saw could help you fuel the aforementioned Kelly Kettle. On the other hand, if you are driving to your outdoor playground in a car and break down in the middle of nowhere, the pliers might help you change a spark plug or something.
In the course of the review, we will attempt in many cases to apply the Blast to tasks which outdoor enthusiasts might encounter.
Sneak Preview
We will be covering all the tools contained in the Blast in due course. First, though, we should probably present you with one of those pictures that multitool marketing people seem to love producing, presumably to make tool-fetishists produce saliva.Here is ours, showing the features of the Blast model:
While opening up all the tools to produce the above photograph, it became apparent just how dangerous the process is, and just how careful you need to be. The people that set these sort of photographs up for multitool companies should demand danger money. Or free sweets, depending on preference.
Page 1 of 18 Next [Top of Page]
Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: Overview: Vital Statistics; The Metal; The Plastic; Quality of Construction
Page 3: Overview: Usage
Page 4: Rulers
Page 5: Wood/Metal File
Page 6: Small Bit Driver
Page 7: Screwdrivers
Page 8: Bottle Opener
Page 9: Wire Stripper
Page 10: Can Opener
Page 11: Needlenose Pliers
Page 12: Regular Pliers
Page 13: Wire Cutters
Page 14: Hard-Wire Cutters
Page 15: Saw
Page 16: Scissors
Page 17: Knife
Page 18: Conclusion
Page 2: Overview: Vital Statistics; The Metal; The Plastic; Quality of Construction
Page 3: Overview: Usage
Page 4: Rulers
Page 5: Wood/Metal File
Page 6: Small Bit Driver
Page 7: Screwdrivers
Page 8: Bottle Opener
Page 9: Wire Stripper
Page 10: Can Opener
Page 11: Needlenose Pliers
Page 12: Regular Pliers
Page 13: Wire Cutters
Page 14: Hard-Wire Cutters
Page 15: Saw
Page 16: Scissors
Page 17: Knife
Page 18: Conclusion
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