Yes it costs a helluva lot of money. One hundred and eighty nine dollars in fact - and for what? A glorified pocket knife? What's all this about? Just who does he think he's fooling?
The Leatherman Wave tool is a hard one to categorise. In its family tree you'll fine genes from a pocket knife - but somewhere in the dark ages that pocket knife got together with a pair of pliers. Weird, huh? Then a file got into the act, followed by a wood saw and - get this - a pair of scissors. Grand daddy was big on stainless steel, and maybe gran was into very tricky fasteners. Confused? I'm getting that way too.
But what I'm talking about is a very expensive multi-purpose, fold-up tool called the Leatherman Wave. Leatherman make a whole range of these ingenious tools, but the Wave is the top of the line.
And what's it got to do with cars? Well, how many of you carry a full tool kit in the car with you? Yes, it is a bit hard to stop the box slamming around the boot when you're cornering hard, isn't it. Not to mention all those tools providing a great theft risk. In fact, chances are that you have only the few tools provided by the manufacturer (usually just a prying tool to get centre caps off the wheels after you get a flat tyre, one spanner and a screwdriver) - or even no tools at all.
So is the Wave the answer? Well kind of. It's compact enough to easily fit in the centre console or a door pocket and it has a huge range of functions. No, it doesn't have a socket set built in, and no, you won't find ring and crescent spanners in its shiny body. But if you need to change a leaking radiator hose (and perhaps have to cut the old one off to remove it), or you have to replace an indicator bulb, or repair some wiring, or temporarily tighten a nut that's coming loose - then perhaps the Wave has a place in your car.
And if you just love superbly made gadgets, maybe you don't need any excuse at all...
Anatomy
There's plenty of multi-purpose tools on the market, but very few have a 25 year guarantee (how old will you be in 25 years? Yep, it is a long time...), are damn strong, and work with engineered precision.
Closed up tight, the Wave is a compact 100 x 28 x 20mm; it weighs a chunky 320g.
Open the two handles and the tool immediately becomes a pair of long-nose pliers. The pliers incorporate a serrated inner section and shear-type wire cutters. The handles are comfortable to hold and you can apply real pressure to them without the tool distorting or getting unhappy in other ways. Score 9/10 for this function.
Shut it back up and you can open in turn each of the four exterior functions. First up there's a sharp pointed knife with a 60mm long blade. How sharp? Well the edge is keen enough that you can shave the hairs off your arm.... As with each of the exterior functions, the blade locks into place in its extended position, so that you can use the handle with assurance that the edge won't suddenly come back on your fingers. On the opposite side there is a similar knife, except this one's serrated and has a rounded end. Again, it's ultra-sharp.
If sawing - rather than cutting - is more your thing, you can open the 60mm wood saw. Each tooth is a razor sharp tetrahedron, and sawing through wood with it is dead easy. In fact you can go through a 1-inch square piece of dry timber in 15 seconds or less. It sure doesn't cut like the pretend blade on most fold-up tools! And want to clean up the cut? Just extend the file, which has three working surfaces. On one side is a bastard file, and on the other a much finer diamond-coated cut a little like emery paper. And on the edge of the file is another working surface, obviously the same narrow width as the file itself.
You need to use care when cutting and filing, lest the tool slip off the work - after all, the working faces are less than 2½ inches long. Also, because they're small, they get hot quickly when they're working hard - but with these provisos, they work beautifully.
Okay, open the tool up again, as if you were aiming to use the pliers function. But instead of opening it fully, reach inside one of the open arms and rotate out the tools that are normally hidden within. Inside one arm you'll find a flat screwdriver (7mm wide blade), a Philips screwdriver (medium/small), and a can/bottle opener (which incorporates a second insulation stripper). Aah, here's a disappointment. The flat screwdriver is ground on one side of the blade only, so the tip is asymmetric when viewed end-on. This makes it more likely to slip from a screw slot, although in practice we couldn't make it do so. Both screwdrivers have tips which extend and then click into place - so the blade won't close up when being used. At the opposite end of the tool, one handle can be extended at right angles to the other, giving enormous leverage to the screwdriver action. With the handles closed, the grip is also good.
Inside the other handle you'll find three more screwdriver tips (also all asymmetrically ground); each is smaller than the one described so far. In a way it's a pity that one of the flat drivers wasn't deleted and replaced with another Philips head, but we imagine that Leatherman has researched which type of driver is used more often. (And if you go to the Leatherman site you'll find that they have available a quarter-inch hex driver adaptor that works with the Wave - then you've got a whole range of bits to pick from.) Also in this side of the tool is a very functional pair of scissors. The blades - together with a small handle - extend and lock into place. With the tool then closed, the 25mm blades can be easily operated with the thumb or forefinger - and they're sharp enough to cut cleanly through cardboard, let along multiple sheets of paper or substances like heat-shrink tubing.
The Wave comes in its own leather carrying pouch, which can be clipped to your belt if needed.
Conclusion
The Leatherman Wave is a superbly made and designed tool that combines many functions into a single, usable entity. While it is expensive, even if it only lasts as long as its warranty period it'll still cost you only a bit over $7 a year... cheap insurance to have in your glovebox.
Our tool was purchased from the Australian Geographic Shop - www.australiangeographic.com
www.leatherman.com
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