Camping is one of those activities where you do need equipment to survive. If you don’t have the right tools it can certainly make your life alot more difficult and your experience with camping alot less enjoyable.
So do you need a multi-tool for camping? The short and simple answer is yes. A multi-tool has a purpose when you are camping especially when you need certain tools to carry out certain tasks. It is an essential tool to have that will come in handy when you need it.
You will get different kinds of multitool sets a Leatherman is a good multitool to use as you have more options for different tools and if you go for a heavy duty one you can really use it for more tougher tasks.
But do understand that not every multitool have the same obvious tools such as that of a bottle opener, or a tin opener they all do differ so it all depends on the type you want to go for and the tools you’re going to need.
Why Should I Take A Pocket Knife for Camping
Camping is an exciting and relaxing activity or hobby, it’s a great way to get away from everything that is stressing you.
It becomes alot less stressful when you have the right tools to carry out certain tasks. The last thing you want to do is carry alot of tools with you only to find out that some of them you won’t need which will end up taking up unnecessary space which you could use for something else.
This is where a multi-tool would be ideal, especially for camping. On a side note, I have written an article about different multitools for camping over here. When your camping you will need to cut some rope for that you would need a sharp knife a multi-tool has one built in to help make any kind of cuts.
If you need to repair your tent and you need to make some kind of slit that you may need to feed some rope through a tool such as an awl would work well as the teeth on the blade is tough enough to create that slit without causing any damage.
When it comes to cooking your food you will can have your own utensils but if you are limited on space your multi-tool can work quite wonderfully, if your cooking some meat and you need to turn the meat over your multi-tool will have a simple tool packed in there to act as a pair of prongs or even to be used as a knife to cut the meat up to eat.
There are many ways in which you can use a multitool when your camping. It is highly recommended that you think about looking into using a Leatherman or some form of multitool to really help make your life more easier and enjoyable while your camping.
Do You Use A Knife Or A Multitool For Camping
This will purely depend on a few factors if your driving to a campsite and you’re with the family you might want to use a knife to make life simpler for yourself. If your camping with children they will want to eat and can be quite demanding on wanting their food. If you have a knife with you, it can be easier to cut your meat up or food up quickly. This is when it makes sense to use a knife.
If your backpacking and you’re with friends or that you’re doing some bushcraft camping then you will need to use a camping knife that will be alot more rough and rugged for more tougher times aswell as general camping. I wrote about the best camping knife that will make your camping experience better over here.
Sometimes using a knife to cut through a rope or some string to help make repairs easier sometimes can work if you don’t have the right tools with you at the time, something like a multitool.
When you use a multitool while your camping it certainly makes a huge difference as you end up having more options for tools that you can use to help some problems that you will encounter.
For example, if you get stranded with repairing your tent and you need to create an extra hole to hold down your tent with a peg. You will need a tool that can cut through the material of the tent, this is where a multitool would work well as it has a tool called AWL this is like a small knife with holes in the blade, this tool can certainly punch a hole through the material of the tent and it makes it easier and quicker to create the slit that you need to attach the rope to the tent and eventually the peg itself.
Another reason to use a multitool is when your cooking your food and you need a knife to cut up your food just simply pull out the multitool and use the knife tool and you can cut up your meat or even use the knife tool to cut up your food in general.
If you have tinned food with you at all you can simply use the tin opener to open up the tin using the multitool, if you have a knife you won’t be able to use it to open up the tin so you will struggle.
So I have given you simple examples of what each tool can be used for and in different situations, so I would recommend using both a camping knife and a multitool as they will benefit in either occasion. I have written an article on the different camping knives and multitool over here
What Is An AWL Used For On A Leatherman
On the leatherman, there is a tool called an awl this helps with puncturing a hole into any leather or fabric to create a slit so that you can either place a grommet into it or slide some rope into the material. You can use an AWL for creating holes in wood material aswell, it is great for being used for holes when your placing a screw into some wood and need that initial hole to start a few of the threads of the screw into.
You’ll find the AWL will come with most multitools from leathermen to swiss army knives they are commonly used for creating holes and can also be used for sewing. Most AWL’s will have a hole or even a few holes to help sew any rope or thread through the slit.
The AWL is a long sharp looking knife it can be mistaken as a knife, the end of the tool is sharp enough to puncture a hole into the material. Some people who smoke using a pipe tend to use the awl to help clean out the bowl of the smoking pipe that is full of tobacco.
You can also use the awl for getting grit and dirt out of areas in your tent that you can not seem to reach to well, so when your back home and need to clean out your tent before storing it away the awl can be used to get rid of any dirt or muck that is stuck in those hard to reach places.
This tool can certainly come in handy when you least expect it, even though most people don’t know what this tool can be used for, at first most people like myself were stumbled on what it was for but once you get an idea then it just clicks into place and you’ll find ou be having some good uses with that tool.
What Are The Tools In A Multi-Tool
There are so many multi-tools on the market these days that everything will depend purely on the type of tools that you will need and are going to use while your camping if you’re going for more heavy survival then your tools will differ just that slightly more.
For example, if your going bushcraft which is nothing but pure survival skills then your definitely going to need to invest in more heavy duty tools as the requirements are going to be alot more demanding. Having a handy basic multi-tool does work just a good but they would be for more the simple survival skills.
So now you have an idea on why you need to have a multi-tool while your camping I’ll break down the types of tools you can commonly find in a multitool and what each one is roughly used for so you get a better idea on how they can be used while your camping.
Most multi tools will come with some basic tools which are the following:
Nail file
Tweezers
Folding scissors
Toothpick
Magnifying glass
Screwdriver bits
Knife blade
These are just simple basic tools that you will find in the very basic multi tool kit but as you go into the more heavy duty multi-tools then you get other tools added on.
For the more heavy duty tools you will be looking at other tools such as:
Double Tooth saw
Large screwdriver
¼” socket drive
AWL
Can opener/small screwdriver
Bottle opener/medium screwdriver
Wire strippers
Handle covers
C-4 punch
V-cutter
Blast cap crimper
Wire crimper
Wire cutter
Compound leverage
Ruler
Below is a description of each tool and what they can be used for while your camping
Double Tooth Saw
This tool on a multi tool is handy to use when you need to saw some branches and use them for fire wood. The two blades give it a strong grip to cut through the wood or branches or most wood. It’s a handy tool to have if you ever need it while your out camping, the tool can be replaced if you ever do happen to break it depending on the multitool itself or the brand that you go for.
Large Screw Driver
Some multi tools you can easily use different screw driver heads that can help with any screws that you might need in order to get some work done. You can use multi tools that offer different sized screwdriver heads that are interchanable to use to screw any type of screw in, or there are some multi tools that have a large screw driver that can screw in most common screws into wood or other materials.
¼” Socket Drive
With 1/4″ socket drive, this is a handy tool to have as you can place many different sockets onto the drive itself. The socket drive will look like a flat bit of metal with a 1/4″ of metal sticking out. Attached to that 1/4″ metal will be a spring on the side that helps keep the bit attached to the driver.
Once you place the bit onto the metal with a bit of force it will hold in place and you can attach any screwdriver bit that you need to use to the bit.
AWL Tool
This tool is avaiable on most multi tool as a standard tool, it looks like a knife and shaped like a small knife, with either one hole in the middle of the steel or it will have a number of holes in the middle of the steel.
The shaped like knife is there to help punch a hole in most materials such as leather, fabric to create a hole to place any kind of gromet into or even some rope to tie any lines to to hold your material together.
The hole is where you would run the thread through and as you punch the hole in the material you begin to sew the material together to hold it in place.
Can Opener/Small Screwdriver
This tool is pretty much self explanetary it’s a small metal piece with a that almost looks like a fish hook which curves in, and on the other end is a small metal hook that catches itself onto the tin. The curvurture part is a small blade that is sharp enough to cut through tin and alluminium. You will need to be careful when you do handle the opener but it certainly works well.
Bottle Opener/Small Screwdriver
A majority of multitools tend to have a bottle opener as a standard tool. This tool is small in shape and will have a hook like shape at the end that is nearer to your hand just like most standard bottle openers that you can find in your kitchen.
You will need to be a little careful as they can be sharp but usually they are enough to have a grip to grab hold of the lid itself.
Some multitools will come with a smaller screwdriver but again you can use them with most common screws.
Wire Strippers
This tool comes as standard and most multittools have them in order to carry out in wire strpping tasks. Electricians tend to use them alot due to the nature of their work. The wire strippers are handy to have and you can strip most sized wires as the tool has a number of different sized holes for the sized wires that you may have to strip.
You can use these wire strippers for camping aswell just incase you may come across a situation where if you happen to be using a generator while your camping, and for some reason you end up with a wire issue and you need a tool to help you reconnect the wires together again but, you have to strip the wire away to get to the raw copper to intertwine them, this would be a handy tool have.
Handle Covers
These are simply covers that help cover and protect your component tools while they are not in use. It’s a way of protecting yourself from any form of harm and even protects your components getting damaged.
The handle covers can come with some multitools as a standard feature on the tool itself but on occassion they can either break off or get lost. They are replacable so you can buy them seperatley or if you did not have them on your multitool and wish to buy them you can. Its also a good way of holding your multitool with a stronger grip.
C-4 Punch
This tool can be added if you need it more for explosives when you have a rock that is quite large. It’s mainly miners that use this when they are working and trying to blow out rocks to find minerals and gold and silver.
V-Cutter
The v cutter tool is part of the multitool it sits at the top of the v cutter head with two blades built in to what looks like a pliers. You would take the material that you are trying to cut right to the end of the pliers where you will see both blades be careful as they are sharp.
You can cut most materials with these v cutters with a bit of pressure you will need to hold down the handles quite tight to cut the material such as a washer. It can cut through some thin metal.
Blast Cap Crimper
This is a tool that can be added sometimes they come as standard with most heavy duty multitools. The cap crimper is mainly used for attaching a fuse to the cap, it’s basically used for detination of rocks and mainly used amongst miners for work purposes.
Even the USA Military use this tool for those pruposes it’s not essential for camping unless your more of a survivalist then you will need to use this tool.
Wire Crimper
The wire crimper is a handy tool to have as part of a multitool, the tool is used to help crimp together two pieces of metal which helps keep them together by simply deforming them so that they combine into one and hold each other.
This can be a handy tool to have while your camping incase your in a situation where you need the crimper to create and hold the metal together to hold some rope tight this would work well to join them together.
Wire Cutter
The wire cutter component of the multi tool is good to use for cutting away at wires that need to be reduced in size to help with anything that your using while your camping. If for example you need to use some wire for placing up a hammaock or even some parts of a tent and you need to cut some of the wire it’s handy to use this tool.
The wire cutter component is handy to use if your doing alot of electrician work aswell, as each wire cutter will be able to cut through most wires, some wires may need a bit of extra force to cut through. It will all depend on thickness of the wire that you are trying to cut. Overall it’s a handy component to have and most multitools come standard with the wire cutter component.
The Compound Leverage
This component is ever so handy to have as it allows you have alot more leverage and more power without having to apply too much force, so you wont even need to have large muscles on your forearms to have alot of force.
The way it works is by having two teeth like gears that help push the pliers end of the cutter down alot more, by having the gears move alot more faster then when your moving the actual handle of the multitool, this gives you twice the gripping force to be able to cut through coins, coat hangers and any thick cables or wires.
It’s a very handy component to have to get alot more force from your multitool and be able to cut through thick wires.
Ruler
There are some multitools that use a ruler to help you make a quick measure on anything that your trying to cut or saw off. It’s handy to have if your sawing some timber to create a simple tool for survival without damaging to much of nature or any trees.
What is the best leatherman for camping
The beauty about a leatherman or any multitool is the fact that it’s quite small and is easily portable so you can carry it around with you in a small pouch usually. These multitools can get you out of a sticky situation quite quickly or in general they are handy to have at the time if you need some tasks done that will help you get out of a situation.
When it comes to camping using a multitool would definitely work well a leatherman would be pretty good as you can get some heavy duty ones. But it will all depend on what you are looking for in terms of what kind of tools you are looking for while you are camping.
Besides most leatherman’s having the basic tools such as screwdrivers, bottle openers, tin opener, scissors, a bit driver an AWL or saw, there are other components you can get with the leatherman that you can add and some come standard with most heavy duty leathermans.
So when it comes to asking which is the best leatherman is the best for camping it is a little difficult to say because it will all depend on what tools are going to be essential to your use while your camping. However there are many different brands of leatherman on the market today that would be good for camping I have written an article about the best leatherman for camping over here.
Choosing the right leatherman for your camping experience you will need to ask yourself the following questions:
- What price are you willing to pay
- Will you be hiking to your camping site or will you be driving
- What kinds of tools will you be needing for your trip
- Will you be using it for survival purposes or just general camping
What Price Are You Willing To Pay
When it comes to the cost of a leatherman it will depend on what your willing to pay in order to get the right multitool for your use. It’s quite easy to fall into the trap of going cheap with a multitool thinking that your saving on buying a cheap leatherman only for it to break on you while you’re either repairing something while your camping.
That is the last thing you want to happen as it will leave you in a situation that you dont want to be in. So try not to go cheap i would say if you can afford to pay for camping equipment and gear then you can certainly fork out some money to buy a decent quality leatherman for your time camping.
Will You Be Hiking To Your Camping Spot Or Will You Be Driving
When you do go camping you will need to take into consideration whether you will be driving to your campsite or if you will be hiking there. Why does this matter ?, well if your hiking then you will need to carry your leatherman multitool even though it is small you could already be packed up with camping equipment that the extra weight might cause a bit of an issue.
Plus you will need to pack into your hiking backpack so it is out of the reach of anyone else and only you can access it incase you might be in an area where it highly regulated on the use of a multitool.
However if you are going to drive to your campsite then you wouldn’t need to worry too much about the weight of your leatherman as you will have plenty of space to put your multitool and your weight wont be as heavy.
What Kind Of Tools Will Be Using for Your Trip
You will need to know or have some idea on what tools you will be looking to use while you are camping. It can be a little difficult if you have never been camping before and it’s your first Time going, so naturally you won’t be knowledgeable on what tools you will need. You can always ask someone who has been before and has an idea or if someone is going with you who has gone camping many times would be ideal so you can always them.
If you stick to the basics with what comes with a multitool you won’t go wrong and you can always add on other tools such as the awl saw, knife etc.
Will You Be Using For Survival Or General camping
If you are looking to go on a survival camping ground you will need to look into a more heavy duty multitool that is suitable for survivol purposes, it will be a little more pricey but it will be worth it because of the tools that you will be using just to survive.
If your looking to use the multitool for general camping then you won’t need to worry to much about having a heavy duty multitool.
You will just need the basics to get you by for any repairs or pull you out of any situations.