Everybody hates clamshell packaging, and with the holiday season fast approaching we’re going to see a lot of it shortly. Many companies market tools make opening this viscious packaging easier, but Zibra’s Open It! has me intrigued.

The Open it! is more diagonal cutter than scissors, delivering the leverage to cut through those nasty clamshell packages — and to snip strapping, too. Built in to one of its handles is a retractable utility knife for cutting boxes and slicing through DVD packaging. And for opening battery compartments and minor assembly, the other handle hides a built in screwdriver with interchangeable Phillips and slotted heads.

The Open It! sells for about $12 at Amazon, Target, Walgreens, and other stores, so it’s a tempting buy right now. But is this $12 tool the solution to my clamshell woes, or is this a piece of junk that belongs only in As Seen On TV store?

More specifically, have you tried one? And if it sucks, can you recommend a good one? Let us know in comments.

Open It! [Manufacturer]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s this?]

Since I can remember, I’ve watched my father slice up Thanksgiving turkey with a long, sharp blade and serve the rest of the family like we lived in a Norman Rockwell painting. (We didn’t.) So when my dad took me aside this year and showed me his new tool for carving up the bird — and it had a cord – I was shocked.

Though I’m sure the electric meat carver is a perfectly good tool (for cutting automotive seat foam) I just can’t get over the negative idea of a small, humming recip saw at the Thanksgiving dinner table. Something about this corded blade wounds my sense of traditional holiday spirit even more than the thought of my brother eating all the cranberry sauce before I get any.

Then I think of how much faster that thing can rip off hunks of meat for us to wolf down (with stuffing and homemade rolls) and it’s a complete toss up. What do you think? Let us know in comments.

Electric Carving Knife [Cuisinart]
Street Pricing [Google Product Search]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Our friends over at Case checked in with us today to let us know they put out a few cool Halloween-themed knives this season. The one pictured above is a Small Saddlehorn pattern with an orange bone handle. Instead of the standard Case shield, the knife features a “spooky Halloween scene” on the handle. Its skinner blade is partially-serrated and the knife ships in the pictured gift tin. Production of this model is limited to 350 units, which MSRP for $120. Sadly, Case says they’re likely already sold.

But if you’d still like some Halloween joy in your knife, you’re not completely out of luck. Case tells us they’re also producing a Mini-Trapper pattern in orange bone with similar engraving and a partially-serrated clip blade that’s cheaper — MSRP is $94 — and probably still available as it was produced in larger numbers.

If you’d like one, you’ll find ‘em at your local Case dealer.

Check out Amazon’s sweet 10% off knives and multitools sale. A few gift-worthy items include the Gerber Paraframe set, Leatherman Micra and Squirt tools, and SOG’s combo-blade Flash, all also eligible for the 4-for-3 sale.

You can’t really go wrong with this kind of selection in tools. They are all solid toolbelt options for on the jobsite or around the house.

Gerber Paraframe Set Via Amazon [What’s This?]
Leatherman Micra Amazon [What’s This?]
Leatherman Squirt Amazon [What’s This?]
SOG Flash Amazon [What’s This?]

Here’s a deal for all you Gerber knife fans: over at Amazon they’re offering this Gerber 22-47188 Paraframe II and Mini-Paraframe lockback knife set for $25 — with free shipping. The set includes the Paraframe II (3-1/2″ blade) and Mini-Paraframe (2-1/4″ blade), both equipped for single-handed opening. Both knives have stainless-steel handles, and are lightweight at 4.1 ounces and 1.4 ounces, respectively, with a 1-year limited warranty.

Paraframe [Gerber]
Via Amazon [What’s this?]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

Leatherman’s new Skeletool is a stripped down, lightweight (five ounces!) multi-tool with all the tools you expect from a Leatherman: a screwdriver, a knife, and pliers.  And unlike with previous Leathermans, the knife and the bottle opener (the hook at the back) are accessible without opening the tool.  Oh yeah — it also looks bad ass.

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You’ve probably owned a Gerber knife or multi-tool, but did you know they make a machete, too?  The machete is a nice compromise between an axe and a knife, and Gerber’s model, complete with a polymid fiberglass handle and hooked high-carbon forged stainless steel blade, looks lightweight and durable — perfect for making short work of brush and small branches.

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The X-ACTO basic knife set hasn’t changed much in decades, and it’s as useful today as when it first hit shelves.  It’s equally at home scrap booking as it is shaving the flash off a new plastic toy.  And it’s not just for the hobbyist, either.  It has a special place in the shop, too, trimming pieces to fit, reaming holes, cutting out woodworking patterns, cutting circuit board traces, cropping heat shrink to length — just about anything that requires precise cutting control.  The bottom line: if you’re one of the few people who don’t already have this set somewhere in the shop, get one.

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Most Toolmongers know that I’m a total multi-tool hater.  Most of ‘em are designed primarily as a combination tool (that just happens to have a knife blade), and while that’s handy, I want a real knife.  That’s what the X-Tract claims to deliver: a multi-tool that’s primarily a knife, but offers some other functionality, too.

It’s really intended as an “outdoors and sports” knife, but we decided to see if the X-Tract could serve a more traditional working-shop role.  The results were surprising.  Read on past the jump for lots of photos and hands-on goodness.

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Over the years we’ve heard dozens of ways to sharpen a knife ranging from leather to stones — even to numerous crazy contraptions.  And clearly the exact method will vary based upon what type of knife you’re sharpening.

But let’s assume for a moment that you’re sharpening a simple medium-sized drop-point pocket knife blade.  What’s your favorite method?  Let us know in comments, and be sure to explain why you do it the way you do.

(Thanks, pate, for the great CC-licensed photo.)

Victorinox’s Victoria collection consists of Swiss Army knives — bascially just a regular Executive model — with a twist: they feature engraved blades and a freakin’ gold or platinum handle with 430 diamonds inlaid into each knife.  At least they didn’t go overboard.  I mean, 500 stones would have just been excessive, yeah?

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I’m getting older.  I don’t wear black socks with sandals while grilling out yet, but I’m getting there.  So when I saw Klenk’s “dual duct knife” I instantly thought, “that’s a stiletto someone’s trying to pass for a work knife.”  And after a closer look, I still think that’s what it is.

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As TM readers know, I recently added a new Swiss Army Pioneer to my knife collection.  But something was missing from what otherwise would be a completely sweet utility knife – a lanyard or “pull-tail.”  Truthfully, some people dig lanyards and some don’t.  I love them on larger work knives because they make the knife easier to find in your pocket with a gloved hand.  If you’re a “lanyard dude,” too, here’s an uber-simple process to make one for your knife. 

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With the Cheetah on its way to “the vault,” I found Case’s announcement of the Tony Bose-designed Swing Guard lock blade knife to be welcome news.  This limited-production blade looks a lot like the Cheetah, but adds a classic ”swell center” (read: the pointy bits in the middle). 

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In 1897 Karl Elsener created the Original Swiss Army knife in the small village of Ibach, Switzerland.  Ever since then, two things have remained true of Swiss Army knives: they’re red and they contain multiple blades.  The Pioneer is no exception to these rules, but it’s different than any other knife I’ve seen bearing the familiar silver cross — and it’s the only Swiss Army pattern I’ve ever carried daily. 

Even so, I haven’t carried a Swiss Army knife since I was a Boy Scout.  But this last week I was reunited with a childhood friend.  Read on past the jump for the rest of the story.

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It may look like a pirate’s sidearm, but Cepco’s Insul-Knife actually does a pretty good job of slicing through fiberglass insulation and foam board without shredding it.  Normally you wouldn’t want to shell out for one of these unless you’re in the trade, but Amazon has ‘em for $25.01 right now.  (The extra penny qualifies it for free shipping.)   I just ordered one for my basement insulation project.

The IK-10 Insul-Knife [Cepco]
Via Amazon [What’s this?]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

I found this Van Hoy Snap Lock Knife by CRKT on Back Country’s website for $28.  Check out the sweet opening mechanism: it opens sideways via a cam-locking system.  Plus, it’s got thumb wheels on both sides and the clip is removable, so you can set it up to open from either side.

Van Hoy Series [CRKT]
Van Hoy Snap Lock Knife [Backcountry]
Street Pricing [Google Product]