Skeletool CX / Leatherman
The Skeletool CX starts from a subtractive question: what can be left out? What remains is an open-frame, pliers-based tool stripped to essentials, a premium 154CM stainless blade, needle-nose pliers with wire cutters, a bit driver, and a carabiner that doubles as a bottle opener. The skeletal frame is the design, structural and visible rather than wrapped in housing, with a carbon-fibre scale on the show side. At around 142 grams it sits in a pocket rather than dragging on a belt, and the 154CM blade is good enough that the tool reads as a proper knife that happens to carry pliers, not the other way round. A spare driver bit stores in the handle. It does a handful of things well and declines to pretend it does more.
Design intent
- +Cutting scissors, saw and secondary tools to the bone keeps weight and bulk down and removes the hunt for the right implement; what is left is what most people actually use.
- +The premium 154CM blade is chosen so the knife, the most-used tool on any multi-tool, performs as a primary cutter rather than a token folding blade.
Trade-offs
- -Without scissors, file or saw, the Skeletool reaches its limit quickly on jobs a fuller tool would manage; the design is explicit about that bargain.
- -The bit driver takes Leatherman's flat proprietary bits, so standard quarter-inch hex bits need a separate adapter to use.
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View allThe Skeletool CX starts from a subtractive question: what can be left out? What remains is an open-frame, pliers-based tool stripped to essentials, a premium 154CM stainless blade, needle-nose pliers with wire cutters, a bit driver, and a carabiner that doubles as a bottle opener. The skeletal frame is the design, structural and visible rather than wrapped in housing, with a carbon-fibre scale on the show side. At around 142 grams it sits in a pocket rather than dragging on a belt, and the 154CM blade is good enough that the tool reads as a proper knife that happens to carry pliers, not the other way round. A spare driver bit stores in the handle. It does a handful of things well and declines to pretend it does more.
Design intent
- +Cutting scissors, saw and secondary tools to the bone keeps weight and bulk down and removes the hunt for the right implement; what is left is what most people actually use.
- +The premium 154CM blade is chosen so the knife, the most-used tool on any multi-tool, performs as a primary cutter rather than a token folding blade.
Trade-offs
- -Without scissors, file or saw, the Skeletool reaches its limit quickly on jobs a fuller tool would manage; the design is explicit about that bargain.
- -The bit driver takes Leatherman's flat proprietary bits, so standard quarter-inch hex bits need a separate adapter to use.
