Which tool do you find the most useful?

[SteveP]

Could be the one you use most. But could also be the most handy. Or maybe the one that's got you out of a jam.

I'm assuming we all use the knife blades pretty regularly (otherwise we wouldn't be carrying Swiss Army Knives) so I'm not including them in the choices.

Please share good use stories or pics in the comments.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the rankings!

[pfrsantos]

Large blade.



 

[Tasky]

Actually, I find I use the Can opener, Toothpick, Wood saw, Inline Phillips and Scissors all more often than either of the blades... and probably in that order.
I was considering a bladeless mod with all the other tools, to carry in addition to a simple Spartan.

[pfrsantos]

Ok, scissors. I mainly use SAKs for cutting. Most other tools can be improvised with the use of a blade.

 

[Kraken]

Great question SteveP ! For me it's those amazing SAK scissors, followed closely by the inline Philips driver.

[Fireman]

Large blade.

Defintely that, but going by Steve's rules it's a close one between scissors and pliers.  I picked pliers because I can cut most things with a blade and there's no way to improvise pliers.

[Simon_Templar]

Good thing the small blade wasn't an option, I would have had a hard time to decide between it and the scissors.

[kamakiri]

Pliers. Just yesterday, one of the kids jammed *something* in the seatbelt buckle receiver in my wife’s car.  Pliers on the Troubleshooter (and Dad) saved the day.

Last week I found the broken FireAnt that I did the break test on. Pliers on my Troublemaker mod were able to grip the rod well enough to light tissue in one strike on the spine of another knife’s wood saw.

All summer…pliers on the Work Champ did tent peg pulling duty. Including a couple of pegs abandoned by other campers.

[Ron Who]

Most useful: I voted woodsaw. I work 4 days a week in a small gardening team. We carry hoes and rakes, often shears and sometimes saws. The woodsaw on my SAK comes in handy for small pruning jobs when we´re not carrying dedicated tools.

Most used: scissors.

I don´t need a knife blade very often.

[Jothra]

I voted for the scissors, because they probably get almost as much use as the blades.

My favourite absolute hero of a tool is the large driver. You can get away with absolutely nutso bonkers stuff with that driver.

[Sneider]

The most useful tool for me is the tool that I use the most and that is the small blade.

Of the options: scissors and pen
 

[Altis]

Another one of those tough questions where you have to pick only one 

I chose pliers, with scissors a close second. The pliers are so handy and when you need them, there's no substitute.

Scissors are likely my second choice, but at least in a lot of cases I can make do with the blade.

Having said that, I often carry models without pliers but rarely without scissors... 

[vadsoom]

Maybe this is obvious, but the most useful tool is the one you have with you when you need it. It’s the essence of EDC.

For me, this one…

[smiller43147]

I voted scissors, but I use ALL the tools on my Pioneer X regularly.

[Farmer X]

Had to go with the wood saw here. The usefulness of most tools was ingrained in me early on, but it took me 30 years to realize how brilliant that wood saw is, and I've really made up for that lost time.

[Storm]

In line awl on the Farmer for reaming plastic conduit and poking holes in things. Followed by the large SD bottle opener for prying

[Explorer]

For me it’s the scaler/ruler with the magnifying glass coming in second.
I’ve been EDCing my Outdoorsman quite a bit lately and it’s amazing how many uses the scaler has in every day situations. I’ve used it grab a hold of something I was trying to pull through a tiny space. The tiny notch on the end works quite well for hooking things or picking things up that are hot. I’ve used the ruler several times when I didn’t have my tape measure on me and I needed to just get a small measurement. I’ve used it as a straight edge to draw straight line or to cut a straight line. Have used it in a photograph to show the scale and size of a gold nugget. Even used it as a makeshift compass to draw a partial circle during some woodworking. The little notch on the end also works well for light prying or in a pinch to pull up a small finish nail out of softwood. The scaler portion works well to remove tree bark, corn from the cob and or general all-around scraping stuff.

However I have never used this tool as an actual fish scaler or hook remover   ha go figure!

[BPRoberts]

Can opener. Besides the intended use, it's a decent clam shell ripper, and the tip fits a #2 Phillips, which is the most common screw around here. Since I'm mostly a corkscrew man, I don't have a back side driver to fall back on.

[andywork]

I’m another one of those people that uses the scissors a lot. Around five times more often than the knife.

I sometimes wish Victorinox would make a knife-less 91-93mm option.
Think of it as a Jumbo Jetsetter.

[Singh]

the tools listed indicate 91mm SAKS, so I voted based on that.


The Corkscrew: I use it every day to carry the eyeglass driver.

[trichosirius]

93mm SAKs: scissors, awl, can opener; in that order
91mm SAKs: exactly the same 

On 93mm SAKs I rarely use the blade, using the inline awl for most of my knife tasks such as breaking down boxes and opening packages.

[Reinier]

Maybe this is obvious, but the most useful tool is the one you have with you when you need it. It’s the essence of EDC.

For me, this one…


(Image removed from quote.)

Wait.. that's... er...?

My answer: fish scaler.

[getahl]

Small blade, scissors, tooth pick are the most used items. Nail file and large blade a semi close third.

[hsherzfeld]

I use the scissors for trimming plants in the garden, cutting string and fishing line, and trimming the rigging (either thread or fishing line) on my model ships.

I use the magnifying glass to examine bugs on the aforementioned plants and to read small print on engineering drawings at the office.

I use both openers/drivers to tighten the clamp on my Lansky sharpening system; in fact, I keep an old Recruit next to the Lansky clamp with both drivers open so that I can use it like a double-ended screwdriver.

These are the things that I can say I've used my SAK for "naturally", that is, I wasn't intentionally looking for opportunities to use my SAK. They just happened.

[nate j]

Most used (after knife blades):  scissors

Handiest (if I could only have one tool in addition to knife blade):  combo tool

One that’s gotten me out of a jam (other than knife blade):  can opener

[maxdog]

Hi Steve
This is an interesting question.  I kind of have two answers depending on how I look at it.
Most useful, I would say the scissors because I use it the most.  But another aspect to this question for me is, which tool is the most important for me on an EDC SAK, next to the main blade?  For survival, it would be the wood saw.  I think you can get by without the scissors as the knife can take care of all the cutting needs.  You can pretty much do everything with the main blade and the opening layer (bottle/can openers + screw drivers), after all that is all MacGyver needed right!    But in the woods, the wood saw enables you to cut up kindling for fire, cut branches to make a shelter.  You can't do that with just a blade, so the wood saw is an indispensable survival tool on a Swiss Army Knife I think.

[Helvetica Bold]

It chose the large screwdriver as I use that for screws, prying, beer and wire ;o) but outside of that tool it would probably be nail file which I and other members of the household use regularly

[ulzhan]

The bit driver. Use it frequently for almost every screwing duty in the house. But also pliers and scissors.

Where's the spatula BTW?

[kamakiri]

Interesting shift in the voting since I last checked in.

I consider the small blade and scissors ‘mandatory’. Combo Tool OR Opener layer also mandatory. Probably the reason why I don’t consider them ‘most useful’ in context of this thread.

[MadPlumbarian]

I would think either the can opener or bottle opener being a multifunction tool, although with cans nowadays they are starting to be mostly only a finger lift away, so no opener needed,,
For me a large blade, no need for a small, both openers, a saw, scissors, Phillips, and toss in a nail-file and then you got my perfect sak,, oh wait I had that made..
JR