Leatherman Skeletool Bit Driver

Regardless of where you are working, you are likely to encounter screws of some kind. From the tiny screws that may hold your eyeglasses together, to those which are used in the construction of a laptop computer; from screws used in the construction of engines to those which hold together wood in everything from houses to fences to wooden toys, these rotating fasteners have come to be among the most common features of modern-day human artifacts. Even if you are a wilderness enthusiast, camping, hiking, or fishing far from civilization, you are likely to have some screws on various pieces of equipment that you have.

In recognition of this fact, there is basically no type of multitool that doesn’t include at least some screwdriver heads – whether flat blade or Philips or both. Usually, several sizes are included, a testimony to the frequency with which various kinds of screwdriver are needed nowadays to handle our daily tasks.  Even more versatility is offered by those with bit drivers – sockets which fit a range of different bits and which allow you to change from one type of screwdriver to another in a moment.

Universal and proprietary bit drivers are different in that universal bit drivers can be used with all bits of a certain size, regardless of manufacturer, while proprietary are designed to work only with bits manufactured by the same company.

The Leatherman Skeletool line is based on the notion that the onboard tools of most multitools (including those found on many non-Skeletool Leatherman implements) are superfluous to a certain section of users. These users, the Skeletool’s designers believe, prefer to have just a few functions on hand in their multitool, dispensing with the rest in order to save weight. Although those who use their multitools for complex, heavy, demanding work on a daily basis may find the grouping far too limited, others clearly enjoy these lighter, leaner instruments, which offer full-sized functionality at a weight approaching that of some heavier keychain multitools.

In making the Skeletool, the Leatherman engineers were obliged to choose which few tools to keep out of the dozen or more found on a typical multitool. In view of the abundance of screws, it is not surprising that the screwdriver is included among this select group chosen to make up the array found on the Skeletool.

Although including just one screwdriver would immensely boost the utility of the Skeletool, the engineers chose to add a universal bit driver instead – thus allowing a single onboard tool to offer the ability to use flat blade screwdrivers, Philips, hex screwdrivers, and all the other exotic types that have been invented during the past century. You can switch out bits in a moment or two, and carry a spare bit or two inside the hollow handle of the Skeletool – and with the large bit kits offered by Leatherman, you can easily expand the versatility of the multitool to cope with any of these fasteners.