Leatherman Signal Multitool – Gear We Like

I was never a multitool guy until we got a little bird dog, Elko Baby.

Mr. Elko Baby loves to run around in the deserts of southern Nevada, but he does not love his inevitable run-ins with the chollas that can be found in abundance in some areas, and it’s my job to extract them from his paws should an unwelcome one find its way in.

For this task, I chose an elegant tool, from a more civilized age — Pop Pop’s old Leatherman Flair, circa the year 2000. It had everything (cheese knife, pickle fork, wine opener, etc), except a comfortable handle and a pocket clip. For reasons unknown to me, these are now somewhat of a collector’s item. I put up with the stamped metal thing for a year, until I decided that upgrading to a modern Leatherman would be money well spent, and give me an opportunity to add efficiency to my gear. I went with the Signal, and, let me tell you, it was money well spent.

Modern Times

Compare this to an original Leatherman Tool (or my old flair) and you’d think there was a century separating these things. Gone are the uncomfortable, cheap stamped handles and tools only accessible from the inside.

Instead, the Signal feels heavy and substantial in the hand and devoid of any pressure points you’d usually find if giving the pliers a good workout. It’s well-machined, and comes with a belt pouch in addition to a pocket clip. There’s a few different colorways too, but I am a fan of the simple black and stainless aesthetic.

What Works

Another complaint I had about multitools in the past was that you would get three “tools” that nobody on earth would ever need for every one tool that someone would. I’ll refer you back to the cheese knife.

For an outdoorsman (or woman), the toolset on the Signal is just about perfect in both size and scope. The kludgy screwdrivers of old have been replaced by an interchangeable bit driver, and Leatherman also sells a kit of bits, which are the perfect size to keep in your pack lid to address loose scope ring screws and things of that nature.

The knife is good enough that I don’t miss my old Spydercos. In fact, we ended up caping out a bull’s skull with just the Leatherman knife this past season, and it did well. Easy to touch up and keep razor sharp, and I don’t absolutely hate the serrations like I thought I was going to. Thank God that Leatherman has seen the light and moved their knife access to the outside of the tool, where one-handed operation is smooth and easy, with an extremely positive lock-up.

The saw is good, a little small for saw-type stuff. The included striker material is great to have on you as a tertiary back up and sparks well when the back of the saw is drawn over it. If you were using it frequently, you’d probably burn thought it pretty quick.

I’ve used the awl before — can’t remember for what, exactly… — and it works, same with the can opener. And, yes, the bottle opener does do well to crack open some cold ones. All of these tools fully lock.

Never used the whistle yet and hopefully I won’t have to. If a trip ever goes real sideways it could be a good thing to have. If you have the urge, you can buy 3D-printed items that replace the whistle and add the ability to carry an extra bit on the tool itself.

Leatherman Signal — Photo: Matthew Shane Brown

The Hex Drivers

Another important reason why I upgraded to the Signal was the inclusion of two sizes of hex drivers machined into the hammer-end of the tool. You can use traditional hex bits here for whatever you’d like (scope ring or iron sight screws always come to mind), but as a muzzleloader hunter, these are worth their weight in gold to me.

I’m shooting a CVA Paramount Pro with the Arrowhead breech plug upgrade, which requires a socket and extender to remove from the gun. In the past, I had carried around a small 1/4″ drive ratchet in my belt pouch, and have had to use it to remediate issues with the gun in the field on several occasions.

With the hex driver built into the tool, I can now ditch the ratchet (which is a ridiculous thing to haul into the elk mountains), and simply carry a hex-to-1/4″ adapter and the accompanying socket for my breech plug. This might seem like an odd thing to get excited about, but for the Paramount shooter… it’s been an awesome way to pare down my gear a little bit more.