Bushwalk Australia

I'm tossing up whether to save myself a few grams and leave behind a multi tool with knife and pliers (it doesn't have anything else - a Leatherman Freestyle CX). The pliers have saved me with bike repairs and occasionally as a pot holder but I can't think of a use for it bushwalking.

The knife is certainly handy, but it's small and fiddly so prefer a larger, lighter Opinel or such.

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I do but really only because they happen to be part of the multitool I use (Gerber Dime) rather than a specific desire to carry pliers - I probably use the scissors the most!

Off topic a bit, but do the scissors do anything that a (sharp) knife won't? I trim nails before I go. I do have some in my first aid kit but have been considering jettisoning them too.

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I trim nails but mine are pretty brittle at the best of time and grow very quickly so I find it useful to have scissors for splits and breaks. I find them better for cutting tape as well but that could just be a pedantic preference on my part!

In winter I do as a part of my multitool, I also carry a Posi-Drive #2/#3 and other repair gear

I've never carried pliers or a multi-tool. I carry the mini Swiss army knife (22g) which includes scissors - I often seem to break a nail mid walk so I find them essential. Maybe I've been lucky, but my on track repairs have been satisfactorily carried out with needle and thread, and/or string. That included sewing the bottom end of the shoulder strap back onto a pack. Pliers would have been useful to pull the needle through the strap material but I got there all the same.

I like my multitool. It always seems to get some sort of use, the scissors in particular.

Titanium knife only. Never had any use for a multitool, pliers, scissors etc... unnecessary weight IMO. Might consider getting small lightweight saw for group trips when there's a camp-fire involved maybe, but can't see any use for pliers?

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Gerber LST wherever you go.
Sweet knife maybe 36g too?

Day to day in society I often think, hmm if only I had my pocket knife. Officially you can't carry a blade but other than a night at the pub when its best to not have a knife in your pocket... my excuse would be travelling, camping, horticulturalist, carpenter, all-round non-criminal record.

Pliers only if you have hard gear that might need fixing, like snow shoes, electrics etc. Have a selection of hand tools tucked in each vehicle plus a handsaw.

A UL spoon handle is good for levering or bending some things.

Leatherman Squirt. Has been good for hiking and bike riding. Overtime I have used all the tools - especially the pliers. About 57gms.

The Squirt looks good. I got a cheapie off the counter at a tackle store once, it wasn't very good quality!

I do carry a small Gerber Dime that has mini pliers as well as a Gerber pocket knife, both in what I call an Admin/Emergency pouch I take everywhere on a hike. However, I’ve only ever used the Gerber Dime once and that was to repair someone else’s gear. I do have a small pair of scissors in my Admin kit too, that get far more use cooking, etc and are great for medical incidents like cutting plasters or medic tape when applying bandages, etc.

The Gerber knife and Dime are about 70g each according to my spread sheet
Scissors 30g

I’ve always tried to shave weight elsewhere and hold onto all three

To those who have used the pliers - what for?

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For me it is holding ski parts together while the glue sets and for making strong twist ties in wire for ski and CC binding repairs, but as mentioned really handy for holding large needles when making tent and rucksack repairs too.
I've also used them as spondonicle replacements due to fumble fingered loss of the aforesaid tool and with some elastic of a rubber band as a third hand when trying to join two small parts with a nut and bolt.

I've pulled thorns and splinters with pliers that tweezers wouldn't touch. I've also been able to set some tent pole repairs that otherwise would have been very difficult.
As for scissors vs, knife. (keep in mind that I'm first and foremost a knife guy, but I'm giving scissors all the pros they deserve) they are often sharp, as in, someone won't likely borrow your scissors for a ground spike, or use a rock as a cutting board. Dexterity, it can be tough to cut certain things delicately unless your tools are very good, along with your grip and eye-sight. Even a small set of good scissors can be used if your hands are numb, cold, full of adrenaline or otherwise not at their best. I'll also hand almost anyone a pair of scissors, my knives... not so much.
To me, tools are a substitute for time. I can fix anything if I have the time. Tools make that job shorter, possibly to the extent that they then matter (no point in a repair that would take longer than the trip)
Who I'm walking with and what my overall role is, plays a part as well. Sometimes I carry the extra gear because I know that everyone else has planned on me having it. Not generally that big of an issue. If I was solo, I might not take pliers, probably not even scissors, but that also comes down to me knowing what I could get away with, if all I had with me was a knife.

For a couple examples, I could carry my leatherman skeletool cx and Vic pioneer x for 230 g which is pliers, two knife blades and scissors, or the skeletool and style cs for 185g. Or knife alone the lightest one I'd be willing to carry is my benchmade bugout (54g) but knowing I'm pretty much not cutting any wood, or ESEE izula with scales for about 100g, with limits to what wood I could cut, but at least a small capability. This is where environment is going to play a huge role, and what sort of "worst case" tasks you might think of needing to perform. Even "oversized tweezer" pliers have a place.

I have a Leatherman, carried it once then decided all I needed was a small knife and a pair of tweezers but I do carry it on the bike.

Like Moondog I've carried small pliers on ski tours. Even thought I've rarely needed them they were critical when I did. For general bushwalking I've wanted pliers exactly one time in the last 30 years. But even that one time it wasn't important (one of my hiking poles was jammed so that I couldn't fold it up). And by chance I met someone who was carrying a pair. He was so happy to loan them to me because they were heavy and he said he never actually needed them.

Snafuspyramid wrote:Off topic a bit, but do the scissors do anything that a (sharp) knife won't?

What does a knife do that a tiny pair scissors won't? For me that list is very short. I carry a single-edge razor blade for those rare instances where scissors won't, um, cut it. I use it about once every five years. Scissors get used every other trip or so. At 18g they aren't the lightest possible, just what the pharmacy had.

Never used pliers bushwalking. I do a have a couple of cheap multitools at home that have them, which get used for odd jobs around the house only.
I've found scissors to be pretty much the only tool I ever use bushwalking, and almost always take the smallest, lightest, cheapest pair of folding travel scissors I have, from a $2 shop.
I do own a tiny Leatherman Micra (51 grams) which has spring loaded scissors as the main tool. They work nicely and I have taken the Micra on overnight bushwalking/longer trips.
But I found I only used the scissors to open food packets and a few other odd things. So these days mostly leave it at home in favour of the much lighter travel scissors.

I think I'm persuaded to leave the pliers / multitool behind (I'll leave it on the bike). The knife, too, unless I'm doing meal preparation. I'll keep the first aid kit scissors.

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It doesn't hurt to get opinions from people who've been at this for a while. But ultimately you need to figure out what works for you. If you were a fisherman you'd for sure want some sort of knife. And if not pliers then something else grabby for the hook, like a hemostat. It takes some time to get that balance and most people carry extra stuff at first. It's normal.

A friend of mine, when he first started, not only took a huge knife with him, he also carried a whetstone to sharpen it.

I also carry Leatherman Squirt. I only use occasionally (the small knife is always kept very sharp). The pliers are very useful when pulling cord through a small place when you don't want a massive hole (stitching up a pack). I have also used them when repairing boot chains and micro spikes (when the chain is caught and pulls apart). As stated above, they are also good at removing thorns and sticks that have penetrated equipment.

Never needed pliers. Scissors are useful, but many scissors on multi tools are not so good. Depends what I’m doing and where I’m going though - can’t recall ever using scissors in winter ski touring; would possibly have got away with a knife with any field repairs I’ve done, though scissors cut thread ends cleaner when I’ve need to sew things, which has occurred more frequently than I’d have thought. Forceps/“haemostats”, whilst being different, would probably perform most of the functions that a multi tool set of pliers do - I always have them on backcountry fly fishing trips, for hook removal from fish, or myself, but otherwise, no.

Generally most of the extra stuff you take isn’t used, and probably won’t ever be!

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