Last updated on May 29th, 2024 at 11:17 pm

My first pocket knife was a Swiss Army Classic. Angus MacGyver could fashion a batch of thermite with his SAK. Imagine what he could do if he had pliers. While some SAKs have pliers like the Swiss Champ or Victor Inox Handyman, they don’t appear to be very robust. My SAK of choice is the Camper. I love the idea of carrying an adult version of my first knife, having a saw for branches and the leather awl for shoe repairs, but how often does that kinda stuff happen in my day-to-day? The Skeletool CX covers most of what I need and has it’s place in the outdoors.

Skeletool As an Everyday Carry

I work a desk job. My day-to-day doesn’t really require opening boxes, or cutting wires, or freeing myself from entanglement. I have, however, always carried a knife going as far back as I can remember.  After binge rewatching Macgyver on Netflix, it made me think that a multi-tool for EDC might be far more useful. Being a knife nerd, I wanted some decent steel with a large enough blade to be useful, but also thin in the pocket to EDC. Queue the Leatherman Skeletool CX. 154CM blade, a flat-head bit with two sizes, a phillips bit with two sizes, pliers, wire cutters, bottle opener, in a package slightly thicker than a regular pocket knife.

I like to work on cars, perform house touch ups, and generally sort through things. While I generally have most tools stashed throughout my place like a squirrel, I can never find the right one when I need it. This covers 90% of the mundane tasks that don’t require specialized tools such as a bit small enough for eyeglasses or allen keys.

Pocket Carry:

I thought about other Leatherman offerings, like the Surge, the Sidekick, and the Wingman; but I think that those fall too far into ‘thick’ for my pants. With the Levi’s 510s jeans I wear in that skinny-fit territory, the Skeletool is on the end of the spectrum. I can pocket these with the pocket clip, but any bigger than this is a deal breaker.

This isn’t much thicker than a knife, though it is noticeable when you first wear it. After a week, I hardly notice it with my aforementioned skinny jeans. I would not consider this a concealed option in deep pocket or pocket clip carry.

But since it is a multi-tool, I don’t consider it threatening. I experienced this when a security guard asked me for my knife. When he saw that it was a multi-tool, he waived his hand to rescind his request to take my knife.

Skeletool CX Cons

The price tag on the CX model is a bit high. I bought mine in early 2017 for just over $80. Were I to do it again, I think I’d take a longer look at the basic Skeletool model for $50. Here’s why:

1. The Skeletool is Not a Knife

It has a knife, but a KNOYIFE (in the voice of Crocodile Dundee) it is not.

It’s truly a multitool even with the respectably sized 2-inch blade. It won’t be getting batoned through wrist-sized logs, but will work for small kindling in a pinch. It’s main purpose is to be useful for every-day tasks, like box cutting or cutting through paracord. For the everyday stuff, I don’t find the 154CM blade upgrade of much use. Sure, it’ll last longer, being made from the same steel as Benchmade knives, but I’m around a sharpening stone enough to keep a regular blade sharp. It is definitely cool to have if you do spring for it, though.

2. Lack of Spring Return on Pliers

Aside from blade steel preferences, the real con is the lack of a spring-returning set of pliers. The pliers are stiff out of the box. They aren’t naturally one-hand operating when they are stiff and don’t have a spring-assist, which isn’t to say they CAN’T be operated one-handed. It’s just not natural to do so. I can see the pliers smoothing out over time, which should open one-handed operation up.

3. It’s Big Compared to a Knife

Carrying in the pocket is big, as mentioned. While the Kershaw Cryo II looks to be similar in size when placed on a table, the size in pocket is much different. The Cryo II can be carried deeply in the pocket with it’s deep pocket clip and isn’t noticed even with skinny jeans. The Skeletool CX is noticeable from both bystanders and the wearer.

4. There’s No Hard Edges

The 154cm blade doesn’t have an efficient 90-degree angle for striking a ferro rod. I actually haven’t found a piece on the tool as a whole to strike a ferro rod on that works well enough. I imagine this won’t be solved with the basic model, but it is something to consider.

5. Other drawbacks of a multi-tool as an EDC:

The blade doesn’t flip naturally out. With a pocket knife, you get used to whichever opening mechanism pretty quickly, as there’s only one function. My Benchmade Griptillian didn’t take more than a few days of getting used to manually opening the knife one-handed when switching from my Kershaw Cryo II spring-assist. After owning the Skeletool CX for a month, I still need two-hands to navigate the tool. With a multi-tool, there’s more to think about.

Skeletool CX Pros

1. The Blade Steel is Fantastic

The 154cm blade needs less sharpening than plain stainless steels. My 440c knives feel like they degrade with every use. The Skeletool CX is sharp and usable out of the box, but could use some work. I like my knives to be able to push-cut circles in paper after I’ve worked on them. This slices, but could use a bit of sharpening to be scary sharp. Its still is sharper than most production knives straight out of the box.

2. The Multitool is Thoughtfully Designed

Having pliers, wire cutters, wire strippers, and a bit driver are much more useful for everyday use for obvious reasons. The Skeletool covers the basics and not much more. The bonus to only covering basic tool is the size.

With just the Skeletool, I can take apart my car’s door panel and rewire my speakers without having to reach for secondary tools. Having two sizes of each a phillips and flat-head screw drivers is much more useful to me than trying to use the tip of a knife (not recommended). Having pliers enhances tasks that requires heavy grips and can even be useful when you don’t have a wrench on hand.

3. Expandability

The bit-driver and bits on this tool is designed perfectly for it’s own ecosystem. There are two bits, with 4-heads in total that are of use. There is one bit compartment that locks in the bit you aren’t using, while the but that is in the bit-driver stays hidden when the tool is closed. The negative side of this bit design that it requires bits made for it. I can’t use the bits from my drill and use those. The mating between this tool and most tools is completely different.

You can, however, buy bit kits specifically made for Leathermans like you would chicken nuggets: 5-piece, 21-piece, 21-piece with a side of extender. The Skeletool comes with 2 of the most useful bits out of the 5-piece kit, which is more of a replacement. It should be noted that each “piece” is two-sided, so the 21-piece set covers 42-tools.

4. It’s More Useful than a Knife

This is a damn useful thing to carry around as an EDC since it crosses the size threshold for carry. I’ve been able to fix cookware handles in the kitchen when I noticed they were loose without having to find the right screw driver. Interestingly, I’ve adjusted the suspension settings on my car with it. I’ve used the pliers, the knife, and zip ties in my trunk to hack a length of jumper cable wire to my battery when my battery terminal clamp rotted off. I wouldn’t have been able to do this with just a knife.

To channel some MacGyver stuff, I can also bend paperclips to makeshift other tools (like a lock pick set).

Multi-tool for Outdoor Use:

If I’m in the desert or in the sticks, I’ll always have a full tang knife on me. With that in mind, a multi-tool in my pocket is much more useful than a pocket knife. Outside of tasks that a normal knife would accomplish, there are a ton of uses for the other tools on the Skeletool.

Pliers are Useful for Bushcraft:

Pliers have their place outdoors. As a Californian, I’m more often in the desert than I’m around wood for carving tools. Pliers are great for handling hot items coming out of the fire like cups or mess kits. They work great for taking a hook out of a fish. Pliers are incredibly useful for gear repair when things fail. The Skeletool pliers aren’t spring opening, so that’s something to get used to.

Wire Cutters are Semi-Useful:

There aren’t many places that are totally untouched around here. Having wire cutters in the field is indispensable when you need to take apart barbed wire or bailing for your own use. With wire resources, there’s more than you can do with just a knife: make fish hooks, cook-set handles, roasting sticks, gear repair, hunting spears, and more. You can try to cut through wire with a knife, but you’ll be wrecking your blade in no time.

Bottle Openers are Critical:

This is one of the most underrated tools in the set that may get the most mileage. I camp with beer. I know people that camp with beer. Umm… beer. I’m sure it’s useful for other things, but I don’t want to damage the most important part of the tool. One thing I can think of using it for are prying pinecones apart for pine nuts. But again, beer. The Skeletool has a carabiner attachment for clipping on to your gear, too, though I don’t have much use for it.

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