Best multi-tool for plumbers

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The best multi-tool for plumbers is the Leatherman Surge at around £130. The reason is leverage. Its pliers are the largest Leatherman make, and holding a fitting steady while you back a nut off, or pulling a stubborn olive off a tail, is where a smaller tool gives up and the Surge does not. If you carry the tool in a pocket rather than on a belt, the Leatherman Wave+ at around £100 does the same jobs 100 g lighter. If your work is damp all day, the Leatherman Super Tool 300 has a black oxide finish that resists the pitting flux causes on bare stainless. What none of them are is a spanner, and we will get to that.

What a plumber actually uses a multi-tool for

Not the joints. The joints get proper tools. What the multi-tool does is the fifty small things between joints: cutting the cable tie on a coil of pipe insulation, trimming PTFE, holding an olive while you saw the tail, pulling a nail out of a floorboard to lift it, opening the boiler carton, nipping a self-tapper on a casing, cleaning burr out of the inside of a cut with the file, snipping a zip tie off the wiring loom on a pump. It saves the walk to the van and it lives on you, which the pipe slice and the grips do not.

What matters for wet work

Plier size. The jaw length and the handle length decide how much force you can apply and how big a fitting you can hold. The Surge is the biggest here and the Rebar has needle-nose jaws that get into a tight bit of pipework behind a cistern.

Locking tools. On your back under a bath with a blade or driver out, you want it locked. Every Leatherman here locks its tools. The cheap tools by the till do not.

Corrosion. Stainless steel is not rustproof. Flux, hard water and a wet pouch will pit it. Rinse and dry the tool after a soldering job, put a drop of oil on the pivot now and again, and consider the black oxide Super Tool 300 if your pouch is always damp.

Replaceable cutters. The Surge, Wave+ and Super Tool 300 let you swap the wire cutter jaws. On a tool that snips stainless cable ties and the odd fixing pin, the cutters go first.

The tools

Leatherman Surge

21 tools, the biggest pliers and cutters in the range, a blade exchanger for a saw or file, all tools locking, 25-year warranty. 340 g, so it wants a belt pouch, and it is more tool than a domestic plumber strictly needs. It is still what most plumbers who own one reach for, because the leverage is the whole point.

Leatherman Wave+

18 tools with outside access to all of them, replaceable cutters, locking blades, 241 g. The best-rated multi-tool on Amazon with over 12,000 reviews. The pliers are a size down from the Surge, which is the one thing a plumber will notice.

Leatherman Super Tool 300

19 tools, replaceable cutters, all locking, black oxide finish. At around £110 and 298 g it sits between the other two, and its resistance to corrosion is the reason to pick it over the Wave+ if you work wet. Tools open from inside the handles, which is slower on a ladder.

Leatherman Rebar

17 tools, needle-nose pliers, all locking, nylon sheath in the box, around £70. No outside access and no replaceable cutters. The needle-nose is what makes it the value pick for a plumber, because it reaches where the Surge's jaws will not.

Leatherman Wingman

14 tools, spring-action pliers, some outside-access tools, around £50. The Wingman is the apprentice's first Leatherman. The spring pliers are kind to your hand on repetitive cutting, and the warranty is the same 25 years.

Gerber MP600 Bladeless

Heavy-duty pliers and drivers with no knife, for sites, schools and hospitals that ban blades. The MP600 at around £70 is heavier and less versatile than a Wave+ off site, and the only option on some jobs.

Side by side

Tool	Price (around)	Pliers and weight	Replaceable cutters	Best for
Leatherman Surge	around £130	Largest, 340 g	Yes	Belt carry, most leverage
Leatherman Wave+	around £100	Standard, 241 g	Yes	Pocket carry, outside access
Leatherman Super Tool 300	around £110	Large, 298 g	Yes	Wet work, corrosion resistance
Leatherman Rebar	around £70	Needle-nose	No	Tight pipework, value
Leatherman Wingman	around £50	Spring-action	No	Apprentices
Gerber MP600 Bladeless	around £70	Heavy-duty	No	Sites that ban blades

What a multi-tool must never do on a plumbing job

Tighten a compression fitting. Serrated plier jaws chew brass, and one pair of pliers cannot give the opposed force of a fixed spanner and an adjustable. A rounded nut is a nut you now have to cut off. Hold with the multi-tool if you must, tighten with spanners.

Stand in for grips. A 340 g tool is not a pair of water pump pliers. Anything with a 22 mm nut on it wants the grips from the bag.

Touch the gas path. If you are Gas Safe registered you already know this. Casing screws and cable ties, yes. Anything carrying gas, no.

Cut pipe. The saw on the Surge will go through 15 mm copper in an emergency and leave a burred, out-of-square end that will not seal. Carry the slice.

What we'd buy

A plumber on a belt: the Surge, in the pouch, oiled monthly. A plumber in a pocket: the Wave+. Anyone always working wet: the Super Tool 300. First year: the Wingman. Prices for all of them are on the multi-tools for plumbers list. If you are kitting out a van from scratch, what is in a working trades van puts the multi-tool in context with everything else, and electricians have their own version of this argument in Leatherman for electricians: which model.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best multi-tool for plumbers?

The Leatherman Surge. Its pliers are the largest Leatherman make, which gives you the leverage to hold a fitting or pull a stubborn olive that smaller tools cannot, and every tool locks open. Around £130 with a 25-year warranty. The Wave+ is the lighter pick if you carry it in a pocket.

Which Leatherman is best for plumbers, the Wave+ or the Surge?

Surge if it lives on a belt and you want leverage on fittings. Wave+ if it lives in a pocket and you want the same outside-access layout 100 g lighter. Both have replaceable wire cutters and both lock. Most plumbers who try both keep the Surge.

Can I use a multi-tool on compression fittings?

To hold, yes. To tighten, no. Multi-tool pliers have serrated jaws that chew brass and they cannot apply the even, opposed force two proper spanners give. Tighten compression joints with an adjustable and a fixed spanner. Use the multi-tool to hold the olive, cut the tape and nip the cable tie.

Will a stainless multi-tool rust in plumbing work?

Stainless still pits if it sits wet with flux on it. Rinse it after soldering, dry it, and put a drop of oil on the pivot once a month. The Leatherman Super Tool 300 has a black oxide finish that shrugs off damp better than bare stainless if that is a worry.

Is a multi-tool any use for a gas engineer?

For the same small jobs as anyone else: packaging, cable ties, screws on casings. Not for anything on the gas path. Gas work uses the tools and the procedures your Gas Safe registration requires, and a multi-tool is not among them.