Choosing the Best Survival Multi Tool: Tips from an Ex Multi Tool Industry Insider

by Morry Banes

As far back as I can remember the preparedness community has dwelled and kept getting back to one elusive dilemma – a survival knife or a multi tool.

It is to us what “Brenda or Kelly” dilemma is to the fans of 90210, the male ones, all three of them…

It’s my opinion that the only answer that makes sense is BOTH.

Granted, nothing much to screw or unscrew when you are making a trap in the wild, and it would be hard making a decent shelter by using a flimsy multi tool blade but let us take a step back here and think about one basic fact:

Flexibility of a multi tool use is unparalleled

Smart preparedness goes beyond thinking about every possible scenario and adding stuff to your backpack. It’s about knowing that a real life situation is bound to face you with scenarios you could not have fathomed.

Here, your brain is your main weapon, and you only need things that can be creatively and flexibly used. Sometimes you’ll need a light piece for small cutting tasks and sometimes you’ll need brute force of a rigid, heavy-duty tool. Nothing fits the description better than a wisely chosen multi tool.

• How about field stripping your firearm if you carry one?

I know from experience that, with a little practice, you can strip and clean pretty much any weapon if you have the right multi tool

• How about a medical emergency?

Ok, you have your first aid kit in place but what if you need to cut through a booth to release the ankle of an injured person or cut through close to get to the injured area. Scissors are OK, but what about having something that’s better than standalone scissors and can do a lot more…

• The list goes on and on…

I think I’ve made my point why I think having a multi tool in your BOB is just common sense, so let’s move on to talk about what I promised in the title – choosing smart and saving money while we’re at it.

When you start researching multi tools, reading multi tool reviews and specs, it gets pretty complicated pretty fast. That’s how it was for me when I started working in a multi tool factory like a decade ago and started my multi tool collection.

It kept getting more complicated before it got really simple.

Here, we are in luck because we know exactly what we are looking for – a strong, heavy-duty survival multi tool free of stars and sparkles of advertising.

I am here to tell you how to simplify things and look past all that, because, in a survival situation, it won’t matter much if your tool is nice shiny red and packs a zillion pieces you will never use.

When choosing a survival multi tool for your BOB, as far as I am concerned, it’s about getting back to the basics and keeping things simple.

We’ll keep things simple by looking at three main aspects:

• versatility
• quality of the materials
• safety of use

Again, I’ll keep things very simple.

Versatility

Sure, you can be “that guy” who spend over a grand on something like Swiss Army Giant that has 141 functions, but if SHTF you’ll find yourself using 5 pieces and carrying over 7 pounds of steel.

As I said, for me, choosing smart is looking at the basics:

• sturdy pliers and wire cutters
• two types of blades – serrated and regular
• quality screwdrivers – regular and Phillips
• bottle and can opener

Whichever tool you get, you’ll find that the Pareto or the 80-20 rules apply – you are likely to do 80% of the jobs using 20% of the tools.

It’s far more important playing your cards right when it comes to reliability of the tools.

Quality

I do know the industry inside out, and if I were to design my perfect survival multi tool today, I would look for the following:

• titanium for the handles because it will not corrode
• 420 stainless steel for all the tools except the blades because “size-to-size” this steel is stronger than titanium and far less likely to break because of low chromium content
• 154CM steel for the blades – because it will keep it’s edge up to 3 times longer than 420 steel

Simplicity and Clarity

That’s what I was aiming for when talking about a quality of a multi tool.

The word “quality” is so easily thrown around these days that it loses all its meaning. Every company will tell you that their tool is of “highest quality” while they are profiting on your confusion about the meaning of the word.

Well, consider me your insider in the industry and make a mental note of this definition of quality in a multi tool.

Just one more thing – stay away from anything “coated”. Read the specs carefully and look for terms like “dye-coated steel” and “titanium coated”. It’s just a way of the company to say “It’s not really steel, we just painted it so that it looks like it is”.

One could argue that titanium coating does make some sense since it will keep the corrosion of for a while. That “for a while will” usually with the time your warranty expires.

It’s money out of your pocket and not worth it. The aim of this article is to equip you with the knowledge to get a multi tool that you will likely pass on to the next generation.

Safety

This one is pretty simple. We just want something that will:

• be easily and safely deployed using one hand
• allow us to us a tool while a few other pieces are open
• features a safety lock

The industry has gone a long way over the last decade in this category and a vast majority of tools that meet the criteria we’ve set in terms of versatility and quality will also be smartly and safely designed.

Still, it doesn’t hurt to read a review or two about the safety of a multi tool before making a choice. You might stumble upon specifics like how the design fits the size of your hand, which makes a lot of difference.

Resume

Not all multi tools are created equal, and it might be a cliché saying it, but every one of us has different needs.

But play your cards right with the basics, and the rest of it is just putting a few remaining pieces of the puzzle together and you’ll have a winner on your belt.

Stay smart and safe.

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About the author:

Morry Banes is an ex multi tool factory worker. Today he runs a small hardware store in Oregon and talks about his passion, multi tools over at bestmultitoolkit.com.

It is a blog dedicated to all things multi tools. It’s where he shares his experiences and reviews the best multi tools on the market today.

He is also a husband and a proud father of two daughters, Dolores and Liana.

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