A look at the Leatherman Juice CS4

[SteamKit]

Hello there, it's Steamkit again. Recently I've been searching for a smaller multi-tool, and since I found I could get a Juice CS4 cheap, I figured I'd give it a try. It's a smaller Leatherman for those not familiar with them, and has a fair selection of features for something so small. I lack pictures for lack of a camera, but please don't let that stop you from hearing my opinions.

So, the Juice CS4 retails for roughly $60. Like most of Leatherman's offerings, it's a pliers based multitool. It measures roughly 3.25" long, 1" wide, and 0.5" inches thick. Sitting in my palm it's curved outsides fit nicely in the hand, it may be a little bit small for some one with massive hands, but I can't say for sure. It's just right for me, who has medium. I honestly can't say it utterly disappears in a pair of jeans, it fits comfortably in my pants and takes up roughly the same amount of room as my cell phone.

This handsome anodized blue tool has the usual suspects when it comes to features, with a few things that really caught my eye like the leverage based corkscrew, but more on that later. On the outside it has a knife, the aforementioned corkscrew which also incorporates a bottle opener, an awl with sewing hole, a saw, and a pair of scissors. Opening it up, there's the pliers of course, as well as a phillips head that occupies one arm beside a small fold out lanyard loop. The opposite arm contains a useful compliment of small flat head screwdrivers.

The heart and sole of the standard Leatherman is it's pliers, probably why this style is sometimes even referred to as "Leatherman type multitools." So let's have a look at the pliers. The Juice opens easily, in one smooth swing for either arm with a single stop at the end where they become the handles of the pliers. The head is a smaller version of the one standard for the brand. Needlenose, with a big grippy cutout and a wire cutter with hard wire notch. New, the pliers are stiff. Enough so that I can't use gravity to manipulate whatever arm's on bottom, requiring a little more work for one handed work. Not much though, and like other tools I highly suspect that with time it will loosen. I hope so, for the first time I gripped something strongly the pliers seemed to come out of the ordeal tighter! I suppose that is much better than having something like play. There is none, here, the machining seems to have been done quite well. I like how small a point the pliers come to, they'll be really handy for working with small fiddly bits. Surge and SwissTool users beware though, these are not the jaws of death you are used to. Emphasis on small and fiddly, but not so tiny as to be like those odd pliers you'll find on the larger Swiss Army knives. The handles are very comfortable to use as they are very rounded and smooth. Be warned however, the curve on the inside has a place it touches and may pinch if too much force is applied and the jaws slip.

As someone who's in the field of electronics engineering, I'm interested in the wire cutters, because well...I cut wire. It's part of what I do. Tests show that these perform just fine on both hard and stranded wire, fitting together neatly to shear that copper in twain. For the hard wire cutter I tested it on a bit of small brass rod, and it gobbled it up without issue. I get the feeling that if Leatherman released this tool with a few electrically geared tools on it, like a dedicated wire stripper, it'd become fairly popular amongst technicians and the like as a pocket tool.

While we've got the pliers open, let's look at the inside tools. Screwdrivers. Almost nothing but screwdrivers. On one arm we have the #1 phillips head which is about as long as can be expected from a small size tool. In use, it works. It's not a miracle of engineering, it's a standard phillips, and it does it's job without complaint or particular acclaim. Beside it is the lanyard loop, which you may wish to beware of if you use the phillips head a lot because when it's out, the screwdriver slides flush past it, and may catch on a lanyard if you don't push the loop as far to the outside as it will go. Provided at the base of the screwdriver is a hook like nail nick to enable retrieval because the handle's aren't wide enough to fit a finger inside.

The other side of the handle is populated by 3 small flat headed screwdrivers, with the same sort of the nail nicks as their phillips counterpart. I have trouble getting these out, and the corners are well ground and somewhat sharp. It's tricky to pick the right nick, and then drag it from between it's brethren which at least do the courtesy of staying in place due to the individual backsprings for each tool. Anyway, enough complaining, the drivers themselves. The shortest is also the widest, measuring in at 0.25" wide. Stubby for sure, but it works well as a screwdriver and would make a fair double as a small scraper for things like instant lotto tickets...although you could probably commandeer about any piece of metal on this thing for that. The driver beside it is slightly longer, and personally my favorite as it's also very tiny at the end. Good for small screws, I tested it by tightening my eyeglasses. Works quite well. The next driver is 0.125" wide (1/8" for people who don't like the decimals) and strikes me as odd. I haven't found any screws around my house at this size, it's a bit of an inbetweener, but it's made to the same standard as the others so I'm sure that if I found a screw I needed it for, it'd serve me well.

Now, the tool has been closed with a fairly satisfying snap, so we can examine the outside devices. For me, knife blades on a tool are somewhat secondary as I always carry a separate folding blade, which is why it doesn't bother me that the blade on the outside of the Juice is opened with a nail nick. 2.25" long, it's a narrow thing that in profile doesn't seem to have known if it wanted to be a spear point or a clip point when it grew up. The steel is decent, it came fairly sharp but I put my own personal edge on it and so far have found random bits of packaging around the house to hack open with it. Works just fine, although I must say I wish it locked, I would feel safer. This may be a plus for our friends in the UK, however.

On the same side as the knife is the awl and the saw. I list these two together because they are built in such a way that the awl curves over the top of the saw, making it impossible to open the saw without first opening the awl. So, the awl is opened, and pokes holes in things fairly well, although I must say it's dull from the factory, and is worthless as a reamer. The sewing hole is easy to thread as the awl is curved in a way that'd guide small bits of cordage through it in a quick and easy manner. The saw is surprisingly large for a multitool of this size, with 2.5" of aggressive teeth. It cuts well, but the teeth don't stay to clean so gummy wood may be an issue. Closing the saw, I'm a little disappointed as the machining on the body is slightly off, so the blade must be pushed out of the way so that the awl may be closed after it without locking up.

The scissors on the Juice are important to me, as sometimes scissors are just a better cutter than the timeless knife. Folding them open, they're large at a little over 1", with a cammed spring that you couldn't lose if you tried. The actual blades are quite sharp, and the scissors feel robust in the hand. It passed my paper towel and twine test, running through various doublings of both in a satisfactory manner. When closed, the spring won't totally retract them, and must be pushed the last bit of the way. Tisk tisk, Leatherman, give me a little precision, please. It's a little disheartening when a nicely made tool doesn't close quite right.

And now, ladies and gentleman, I give you the corkscrew and bottle opener. On this tool, these interested me most because Leatherman offers something you just can't get with Victorinox. A leverage based screw. For wine aficionados, it's very similar to a sommelier knife. For the rest of you, it's got a tab that folds out before you open the corkscrew. As you screw into the cork, you put this tab to the lip of the bottle. Screw it down a little further, and lever the cork out! Or at least that's how it's supposed to work, I would love to test it as unlike standard Swiss Army corkscrews, there isn't that embarrassing red faced moment where the bottle is clenched between your thighs while you yank that damned cork and probably spill something pricey. I can't say how well it works, but I've got to give them credit for having a good idea. The corkscrew can't fold out unless you unfold it's accompanying tab, which when folded out fully doubles as a fairly standard bottle opener. It opened the bottles it was tested on, for sure. Isn't the best opener on the market, it's given a sever beating by a bar blade, but it's a full lightyear ahead of hooking your brew on something and smacking your hand.

And now, before we conclude, I must say the Juice is a stylish piece of work. Mine's got anodized blue scales, with fairly polished tools, and would be great for carrying in an office setting where some lotsa function but no form monster would be on par with carrying around a set of channel locks and a stub hammer. The steel rivets are chunky, and polished and lend a certain charm to the tool.

All in all, I like the Juice. But then again, I didn't pay $60 for it, which I must say has probably influenced my opinion a great deal. Still, it's a decent buy if you're looking for a small tool that isn't as tiny as say...the Micra. Good job, Leatherman. If only I had some wine to open in your honor.

-Kit

[donvito]

Very nice review, enjoyed reading the whole thing. The bottle cap lifter doubles as a can opener as well. I agree with you on the importance of scissors on a multi, a must for me as well. Glad you're enjoying your juice. Thx V.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Another damn fine review mate

Seems you've got a talent for it

[SteamKit]

I was wondering if the cap opener could work as a can opener, wasn't sure if I wanted to try because it only looks vaguely sharp and not so sturdy I'd want to force it through metal it may or may not go through. Thanks for tellin' me! And thank you to the both of you for the compliments on the review.

-Kit

[duckman1975]

I was wondering if the cap opener could work as a can opener, wasn't sure if I wanted to try because it only looks vaguely sharp and not so sturdy I'd want to force it through metal it may or may not go through. Thanks for tellin' me! And thank you to the both of you for the compliments on the review.

-Kit

The can opener works I have tried it but its a bit messy, it does not cut it punctures so the lid will be irregular. I suggest you use it if there is no other alternatives.

[Gareth]

What a good read.  Well done on a nice review.  Now if some kind-hearted person would supply some pics it would be even better.

[Benner]

Nice review buddy. 

[Poncho65]

Nice review I enjoyed reading it very much I have a KF4 Juice and I like it alot as well

[J-sews]

I really enjoy your style of writing SteamKit. You put a nice turn of phrase on most sentences. That is sometimes difficult to do on a dry, technical matter such as a multitool review. Fine work there sir!  

[SteamKit]

Thank you all very much! J-sews, I try and write things like I'm talking to one of my friends about it, I'm glad you think it comes out well.

-Kit

[Nutznboltz]

Excellent review Steamkit,  very thorough.  Makes me want to go out and get one now, additions of pics would have been nice but in the future perhaps?.  Otherwise a great write up. 

[SteamKit]

If I ever get myself my own camera, my reviews will start to include pictures, although I must admit even then they'd be use sparingly. Perhaps one picture with all the tools extended, and maybe one if there's something fussy that needs it's own closeup. I'm not exactly a photographic fellow, and don't wanna turn them into a slideshow.

-Kit

[Freudian Frog]

I couldn't stomach all that text without pictures. =(

[Grant Lamontagne]

Tired from reading all the articles in Playboy are we?

Def

[duckman1975]

Tired from reading all the articles in Playboy are we?

Def

Hey boss, not because someone couldn't stomach text w/o pictures are tired of reading playboy! some are tired of reading HUstler 

[Craig]

Great review. Had one of these for six years now and it has had a lot of use. My wife used to make fun of it but it has made a believer out of her

The lever for the corkscrew does work but can slip unless you're very careful it is still easier to use than a corkscrew with no lever at all though.

Overall I'm very pleased with it - one of the best investments I have made!

[DaveK]

I missed this review somehow, thanks for bringing it back up Craig!

Excellent Steamkit, really easy to read!