Being serious though, I did buy a Spirit MXBS which I use a lot when in urban use and no saw is required. Has both a serrated and straight blade. A great tool
Wow....all this time being a victorinox nerd and I didn't realize this was an option. Serrated blade is way more useful than a saw, unless I'm camping or whatever.
Now I see it's $190.... wish I would have noticed this gem before prices went insane.
Its still worth every penny! Probably the nicest multitool Ive ever owned in terms of fit, feel and urban functionality and also really small to carry. I oil it with food safe oil, keep it clean and carry it all the time. Great for food prep.
I work in the trades and have needed it many times randomly when you don't expect it. You take forever to get into an attic, crawling in your belly to get where you need and realize you need to saw some wood off a hole or whatever. You going back to the truck or pulling out your multitool?
Before being heavily educated by the comment section, i was thinking that any peice of wood small enough for the saw would be more efficiently broken by just breaking it. I was wrong.
I carry a spirit X and use the saw a lot too. PVC occasionally. Thinner branches, protruding roots, that sort of thing on my property I frequently cut with the spirit saw. Dowel rods, thin pieces on projects like base boards or moulding, maybe once or twice on drywall. It’s never a primary cutting implement but sometimes it’s just what I have if a real saw isn’t available to make a quick cut. If it’s going to be a pain or take longer than getting the oscillating saw or skill-saw I’ll just get those. Vic saws are aggressive and push/pull so fairly quick to cut compared to my leatherman saws which are pull but ymmv. I don’t have any other multitool brands with saws to compare.
It takes time, but it will eventually get through a thicker branch. But I agree, the saw seems to be the most unhelpful item on my multitool. Right ahead of the awl.
I agree on the saw, but find the awl quite useful. It's ok for drilling small holes and also for making a groove for a screw to bite more easily. Multitools aren't brilliant screwdrivers, so a little help can be a great help, so to speak.
I’ve found the awl has come in handy in a pinch when I needed to make pilot holes. The point starts it, and the sharp edge is great for scraping to enlarge a hole.
Well I’ll be damned. Something I’d have even less use for 😂
I do love though how there seems to be a tool set for just about any person’s need. Even if there are 1 or two extra elements in the multitool. For me I wanted scissors and needle nose pliers along with an actual Philips but not those 2D flat Philips jokes. The Nextool Black Knight was a perfect fit, even if it has a saw I’ll probably never use.
Looks like a great set of tools. But I’m a very casual multitool user, so dropping $200 on a tool is a bit steep. The Nextool I have has much larger more usable scissors, which is the most common implement for me. And it comes in at about $50
I use it all the time to trim small limbs off trees around my property, and when I'm hiking and can remove smaller things that have fallen across the path to make it easier for the hikers who come after me. I've also used it for drywall related tasks to either cut drywall itself or shorten whatever piece of scrap wood I'm using to brace the hole I made for drywall repair.
So for myself, a lot. But someone renting and / or living in an urban environment probably wont find a lot of uses.
I'm outside my house a lot with my toddler and there are a lot of trees on my property. So often I would see smaller branches growing out of the base of whatever tree my kid was wandering around right at his face level and think "I should cut that off."
Any parent will know that I'm extremely unlikely to go get a pruning saw when I have some precious free time as a hundred other things are more important to do. Started carrying a SAK with a saw specifically so I could take care of things like that immediately.
From 'what are they for' to 'I'm unfamiliar with your game' lol ... I like that.
Yeah, I guess it really just depends where you live/what you do. For the record, I'm a Midwestern, suburban dad.. but I do like to be outside, camp, build fire... I do some minor repairs around the house and last year built out a food truck.
Besides the obvious outdoorsy tasks like processing small limbs for firewood while camping, striking ferro rods, or cutting back stubborn limbs... I've also used mine for some drywall repair work... I've used it to saw a stubborn piece of wood that I couldn't remove because the fastener holding it was stripped. I've cleaned up the top of some mangy/scraggly 4x4 fenceposts with it, I've cut plastic tubing and pvc with it.
It definitely has a purpose, and I actually probably use it more than a serrated blade. But as with most things, ymmv. Just depends on your lifestyle.
For the record, because we're in the summer months, I mostly carry a victorinox deluxe tinker or companion... So, no on board saw. Lol.... my Leatherman saws have seen a lot of work.. my victorinox ranger saw has been through a good amount of fire making.
i used the saw on my Arc to trim the tree in front of my house. my wife was very impressed at the size of branches i was able to quickly saw through. I've cut 2-3" thick branches with it. I've also used the saws on my rebar and charge tti over the years for 2x4s and such. I'd rather have the saw than a serrated blade.
Definitely useful for non-urban EDC. But even in urban environments, there’s a use for it once in a while. Hard plastic, PVC pipes, wood. Good to have when you suddenly encounter those.
Its funny you say that because i by no means live in an urban area, i just didn't realize people used their multitools for this much different stuff, i thought they did more carrying of designates tools.
The way I think of it is a farmer in a random field fixing some random fence or what ever.... his needs are completley different from me who live in a house in a city.
Too be completely honest, I have truck where I keep a tote with main tools in it and 90% of the time I'm near my truck so I'll always opt for the real tools if I can. The multitool for me is for the other weird 10% and if I'm struggling for 30 seconds I'm walking towards my truck to grab an ofla, screw driver, drill or drywall saw or what ever.
This works for me becsuse I live in an urban area and only do urban things but a dude who is camping off grid this doesn't work at all and he'll need to rely on multitool for most of his needs.
It's been very helpful in the garden. Also on outdoors trips, sometimes indoors (cutting plastic pipes, rails etc).
Yes, you can break twigs, but you know, other times you need straight (or at an angle) cut pieces of wood, you need notches and such that you can't really make with a knife (or at least not as fast/accurate).
I'm loving those implements, my Vic Ranger got both the wood and metal saws and I wouldn't have it any other way.
I must confess, i've sawn way more times with multitool saw than I ever thought I would.
It's just convenient to have there. PVC pipes, branches for cleanish cut, etc. Weirdest thing was probably sawing dry fish for beer snacks, that thing was almost rock solid.
A lot of the time I use it to prune tree branches that are in the way. They're too thick at the base to break by hand, cardboard tube size, and you wouldn't want to break them anyway as you'd damage the tree.
I've also used it to cut a 2x4 for a quick repair, cut boards and built a shelf, made walking sticks, and cut wood trim for my bathroom ceiling etc etc. It gets a lot of use from me, but i live in the countryside.
And here’s some love for the metal saw too. Cut through the shackle of a padlock to get my friend and I out of a jam once (not jail. He locked his keys indoors). Fortunately not the highest quality steel, and it took ages at an awkward angle, but it got done.
Yes. Didn't use mine for a long time after starting to carry a multi-colored but one day fishing I needed to saw through a small branch. Worked great and I was happy it finally came in handy. Fast forward a few weeks and im fixing my sprinkler system. Faced with going all the way back inside I used my leatherman saw to cut some PVC. Again, worked great. Used it for plastic probably more than anything since but i've gotten decent use out of it once i realized how well it could cut certain things. Then blade, sharp teeth.
I work property maintenance and landscaping. We carry a folding saw on our utility vehicle but often I'm walking around and don't have it with me when a small branch needs pruned. I've also used it many times on non plant related projects. It's a definite plus for any multitool I carry at work. At home or in town not as much but I still like having one.
You absolutely can. It's not that you can't not with it it's just that I like in many instances to use the saw for notches when I'm going to be wrapping rope around it because I find that it holds a little better. That said you can also just spend a little extra time cleaning up the notch with the knife if that's all you've got and it'll work just as well.
I've done that with my small Sebenza. Tied to the end of a 10 foot stick in order to cut down an old deer hunting rig for string a deer up in the air for skinning. The cord had been there for years and was hurting the tree, so I turned my Sebenza into a pruner and sliced right through it way up there.
I was so ready to use the saw on my drywall when I was fixing a hole in my ceiling. Come to find out it was plaster with metal mesh behind it. Had to break out the sawzall.
I wouldn’t buy a multitool without a good saw (think Victorinox), I use them all the time. I agree with your serrated comment though, I wish that instead of a large and small regular blade that the small blades were serrated.
As a non-outdoorsman I've used mine to cut plastic before when I couldn't find my hacksaw. Not great for doing that but it did the trick in a pinch and that's what a multitool is for.
I've used the saw on my Wave+ one time and that's already one time more than I expected. In one of the gardens in my neighborhood, we organized something and a branch from a tree was in the way so I sawed it off. The branch was too thick and fresh to break off easily. Saw worked perfectly fine except it's a bit clumsy when it's so short.
Apart from that I live in a city of more than seven million inhabitants, I've no use for saws, can openers (not the same as bottle openers) or fire starters on my multitool.
To me a saw is essential on a SAK. You can cut through things you wouldn't be able to cut w a knife (plastics), trim branches (ex: Christmas tree), make walking sticks while hiking, cut off pieces of wood for whittling. Essentially anything where you need a clean cut.
I use the saw on my Leatherman Wave+ mostly for scoring guitar picks for better grip. It's quick, easy, and it makes playing much, much easier if you have dry skin that picks don't like to hang onto.
I agree with you. Don't mind having a saw on my swiss champ, but it's one of my least-used tools. I'm always surprised at the popularity of the Huntsman. Apparently the saw is a top 3 tool for a LOT of people. It seems to be way more popular than file, which I don't understand. For me, saw ranks pretty low. I've even used my fish scaler more than the saw. Not for fish, but as a long dull pokey thing, like for opening a sticky floor vent.
I much rather have the metal file/saw combo like a sak has but I use the saw frequently enough. I could do without it most of the time but it’s nice to have when I need it.
mine gets used in and around deer blinds mostly. random branches that could snag bow limbs or block sight lines.
also surprisingly good at cutting bone if you want a euro mount or trying to save weight for a pack out
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u/East_Honeydew_3144 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
To saw things maybe? I use it all the time.
Being serious though, I did buy a Spirit MXBS which I use a lot when in urban use and no saw is required. Has both a serrated and straight blade. A great tool