The left hand must be punished

[BigV]

Originally Posted by mitheral

--snip--I've lost the larger swiss though and have been contemplating a leatherman or one of it's cousins but I'm not sure I want to be carrying a belt knife around all the time; sometimes I'm not wearing a belt. For those of you with a leatherman do you ever just put it in your pocket?

I do suffer sometimes carrying my leatherman when I am not wearing a belt. It's uncomfortable and awkward, like a roll of quarters in your pocket, but square in cross section. With rare exceptions, like swimming, or exercising, on the occasions when I choose to leave it behind, I mostly regret it. Not because I found something wrong I couldn't fix, but I might. The Leatherman Supertool I carry most often is an extremely versatile tool. I have used every built in tool for its designed purpose, more than once. Additionally, folded closed, it makes a serviceable hammer; extended can be used as a probe to reach into a narrow space; I have gripped it in my fist to add power to my punch; I have unintentionally used it as a circuit breaker tripper when removing the base of broken incandescent lightbulb (we were both quite dim ). My original Leatherman
was so well exercised that I could and would take it out and whirl it around like a butterfly knife to deploy the pliers as a nervous habit. The new tool is too stiff for that though. I think for non-belt days, the best solution is to get another tool (like I needed a "reason") that is tiny enough to ride in the pocket comfortably.

Originally Posted by mitheral

As to the topic on hand the only single edged tool scar on my hands is actually from an axe on my left thumb. So I guess my left hand is more cut up but it's a pretty small sample set.

I have a great book called Bushcraft. It is by this fella that needs only a knife to clear some ground and make a shelter, etc. He has a chapter on Axecraft. His hand drawn illustrations are very good and informative, with a check mark for "do it this way" and an X for "Stop before you hurt yourself". I had to re-read a section about a manuver with the axe a couple of times before what I thought was a typographical error became chillingly clear. He described a move where the axe is headed downward and toward one's feet. He said "...be careful you don't make your toes longer or shorter." Huh? ... Oooohhhh. Ewww. :shivers: An axe leaves little room for error once commited. Be sure you make room before the axe does.