Are you looking to buy a knife or multitool for a friend or family member as a holiday gift this year? I put together this short gift guide to help you out.
If you see something you’d like to ask for, you can quickly email this page to a friend or relative via a form at the bottom of the post!
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Kershaw Ken Onion Leek Pocket Knife
These medium-sized Kershaw Leek knives are incredibly sharp out of the box, and are pretty stylish as well! I um… I mean manly looking. Not that we care about how our tools look or anything like that! Made in the USA!
Kerhsaw Ken Onion Leek $32+ (I paid $40 for mine) Read more about ’em.
Leatherman Wave Multi-Tool
This is by far my most well-used multi-tool. The Wave is regularly at the top of sales charts as well, and there’s no question as to why. It has a great feature-set, it’s relatively compact and pocket-friendly, and is very solidly built. Its engraveable surfaces allow for personalization.
Leatherman Wave $60-65
Leatherman Skeletool Multi-Tool
The Skeletool is a much more compact multi-tool compared to the Wave. Maybe not as compact as the Freestyle, but its screwdriver and carabiner/bottle opener come in handy. I own both the regular and CX versions and love ’em!
Leatherman Skeletool $45-60
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Gerber Suspension Multi-Tool
While not as good as the above Leatherman multi-tools, the Suspension is more affordable and is still quite robust. I’ve kept one in the lab for nearly four years for quick and dirty jobs, and it hasn’t disappointed me yet. A recent Gerber 2-tool $30 deal also makes for a great gift idea.
Gerber Suspension $25-30
Gerber Bear Grylls Survival Knife
Gerber’s new Bear Grylls survival knife has been at the top of Amazon’s bestseller/most wished for/most gifted charts for a few weeks now.
Ordinarily I would scoff at the celebrity/athlete branding, but it looks like the Bear Grylls knife is a close adaptation of Gerber’s very well-reviewed LMF II Infantry Knife. The knife comes with a sheath, blade sharpener, fire starter and whistle.
Bear Grylls Survival Knife $60
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2wykd
A) the mobile site looks great! I access TG from my iPhone >80% of the time.
B) thank you for the info, a multitool is at the top of several lists this year. I guess the story just reaffirms my thoughts on a skeletool. If it doesn’t stand up to what is needed, maybe a Wave will be next in line because like you say, why not just have two?
Stuart
You’re very welcome, glad you’re liking the changes!
From what I’ve seen, the Skeletool remains ahead of the more recent Freestyle, and is fairly balanced in terms of size vs. features. It includes all of the day-to-day features I use most on my Wave, but there are some situations where the Wave’s tools are needed.
The Charge ALX is also a nice tool, with upgraded blade steel and a slightly different tool set. I’ve been meaning to try a SOG multitool, but could never figure out which one to start out with!
Maikeru
I agree, the Charge ALX is a very nice tool! When I was replacing my lost Juice XE6 (that tool saved my day more times than I could count in the 3 years that I had it) I considered the Wave, the Charge ALX, the Charge TTi, and the Surge. I picked the TTi because I wanted scissors, the S30V blade, and the cutting hook, but less weight than the Surge (I was worried that if I slipped while using the small bit driver that I’d end up wrecking the workpiece).
Personally I’m trying to find a good EDC knife that has a locking blade can be safely opened and closed one-handed (sometimes you can’t free up the other hand for closing for the same reason you couldn’t free it up for opening) with at least a 3.5″ blade length (can’t go to 4″ since supposedly my state doesn’t allow for folders with 4+” blades). Any idea what might fit the bill? Hopefully nothing over $80. The Onion Leek is really close, but is just a bit short and I’m unsure if the SpeedSafe opening assist can be closed one-handed.
Stuart
The Onion Leek is a great knife, and while it *might* be possible to close it with one hand, I always use two.
Earlier today I received a Benchmade mini-Griptilian that I had ordered. The blade is a bit small, so you’d probably be more interested in the full size Griptilian. A few select styles are available via Amazon, but there are more styles and better prices elsewhere if you don’t mind paying for shipping. The 550 series features a hole-opener, and the 551 features a thumb-stud.
The blade on the Griptilian is 3.45″, but its extreme ease of opening and closing (going by the mini version in my hand right now), might still make it a good choice for you.