If you ever wondered if carrying a pocket knife was worthwhile, a story like this has to put it in clear focus for you. Yes, it is worth carrying; someone’s life may actually depend on it — a bit dramatically put, but in this case entirely true.
Striker designed their new folding multi-blade to help drywall guys perform the normal steps for slicing up drywall without grabbing extra tools. Striker thinks it’ll save some time on the jobsite — we’re not sure, but it certainly looks cool.
Seems like everybody’s trying to redesign the ubiquitous utility knife. Not wanting to be left out, Olympia Tools gave their TurboKnife X some features like tool-less blade-changing and ergonomic design, and they threw an X in the name to make their knife stand out from the crowd.
Christmas is coming early and often for me this this year — trying to get families together at the same time has resulted in at least four different Christmas gatherings. At the first of these many gatherings I scored a Craftsman folding utility knife with rosewood handle.
Utility knives like this MaxiKnife are so commonplace around the shop, you’ll find about as many different kinds as Baskin-Robbins has ice cream — the trick is finding which one works for you. And it better be sturdy, ’cause once you single out a model to place in harm’s way, it’s in for quite a beating.
The lightweight MaxiKnife features a crooked handle like many knives on the market now. Blade storage is in the handle, and the blade slide feels pretty solid. However we haven’t put one through its paces in the shop, and anyone can tell you that’s where the action’s at.
We’re curious to see if anyone’s tried one of these. Did the angled handle work out well in everyday shop work? How did it hold up against being dropped? If you haven’t gotten ahold of one yet, how do you think it’ll do? Let us know in comments.
Street pricing starts around $8.
MaxiKnife [Redback Tools]
We’re not sure the world needs another utility knife, but this model from Nack Products piqued our interest. Instead of taking apart your knife to flip or change the blade when it gets dull, with the Nack knife you retract the blade, rotate the end cap, and slide a fresh blade back out in one of six cutting positions.
The fat man in the red suit probably won’t bring me one of these $700+ R.B. Johnson custom knives — I don’t think I’m capable of being the shining beacon who would rank so highly on his Nice list — but a man can dream big if he wants to.
What’s that you say? You need a light on your box cutter for when you’re working in a dark warehouse? A light for when you’ve climbed to the top of the stock bins where holiday merchandise is piled to the ceiling? I wish I’d had one of these during my stint as a stock boy — it would have meant less risk of management catching me where I really wasn’t supposed to be, and a lot less time spent trying to figure out why the computer says I have fourteen, but only one is on the shelf.
It looks like Sheffield put this together to be a good quality knife to start with, then added the kicker of an LED. You know whether you need this, and whether you ought to be where you need it.
Lighted Utility Knife [Sheffield]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Case is celebrating the tenth anniversary of their XX Select brand by releasing a few limited-edition blades, with handles made of some of the most popular materials. Each knife features a surgical steel blade with a series-signature tang stamp and a special “XX” shield on the handle.
My barber is a retired machinist who loves to talk tools — this is largely why I go to him. A few weeks ago we were chatting about how some of the most breathtaking knives aren’t made by large companies or factories at all but by a skilled craftsman, one at a time.
He then added, “Like Joe Pardue custom knives over in Sanger, Texas.” I was embarrassed my barber knew about this and I didn’t, especially since Joe turns out his knives about 30 minutes north of the Toolmonger shop.
The Christmas swag starts coming a little earlier every year. It’s not even Halloween, and already St. Nicholas’s bearded face has popped up in the ad for the Smoky Mountain Knife Works Schrade Old Timer Sweepstakes. I believe they win the Holiday Season Jump-the-Gun award this year.
Carry Stanley’s Mitey Knife on your keychain and you’ll always have a miniature utility knife with you. This lightweight knife weighs less than an ounce and measures 3-1/2″ inches when closed.
Where I grew up, people who didn’t carry knives weren’t real people; that’s just the way it is in some parts of the South. So I shouldn’t have been surprised to hear country-music singers Brooks and Dunn talking about knives -– but I was. I’m also totally jealous that Case helped them make their own knives at their factory in Connecticut.
For some reason when I think of tactical knives the image of Chet from Weird Science always pops into my head and ruins any interest. That’s not to say tactical knives are bad, but some of them can get pretty out there in design. The Ferret from Tops Knives, however, didn’t give me that impression — perhaps because it looks like it might be handy in everyday life.
I can honestly say I’ve never skinned anything in my entire life, but I love what Buck has done to their skinning blade. I grew up with an old-school black-handled, silver-trimmed model, and the Gen-3 was a step in the right direction — but the Gen-5 looks gorgeous.
The makers of the CarBee-Sharp, a small multi-surfaced sharpening tool, claim that it’ll sharpen, finish, and polish without any lubricants or cutting fluids. It looks like a tool that’ll either work very well, or be found at the big box checkout line right next to the gum and flashlight batteries.
The carbide multi-head of the CarBee-Sharp is always used dry. The sheer portability of this interests us — anytime you find yourself out and about with a dull blade, just fish one of these out of the nearest toolkit and it’ll get you on your way, in theory. With six different surfaces on its head, it can finish out a blade in a number of ways, from honing to polishing. But you’ll probably need to practice with it a bit to achieve the maximum effect.
We’re curious to know if anyone has gotten their hands on one and how it went. Are these a novelty, or a handy solution to dull blades? Let us know in comments.
Street pricing starts at $12.
CarBee-Sharp [Website]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
This insulation cutter from Stanley isn’t a glamorous or expensive tool — just a simple piece of transparent plastic added to a standard utility knife — but it compresses the insulation batt as you cut, and at the same time it keeps your hand from coming in contact with the insulation.
Stanley’s insulation cutter costs somewhere between $6 and $10 and includes a utility knife in the deal.
Insulation Knife [Stanley]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]
www.flickr.com
|
Tool Talk #58: Flashlights & The Stanley/B&D Merger
Tool Talk #57: Tactical Knives & Adjusting Your Garage Door
Tool Talk #55: Returning Tools
Tool Talk #54: Shop Cabinet & Sean's New/Old Shopsmith
Tool Talk #53: Old Hardware Stores & Pocket Knives
Tool Talk #52: Listener Calls & Reader Projects
Tool Talk #51: DIY Wedding Rings & Heirloom Shopsmiths
One Beer Projects: Repairing Wood Surfaces
One Beer Projects: Fixing Simple Problems With Your Dryer
One Beer Projects: Winterizing/Storing Your Bike
One Beer Projects: De-Badging Your Truck
One Beer Projects: Staining Your Fence
One Beer Projects: Doing Your Own Brakes
One Beer Projects: Balancing Your A/C For The Summer
One Beer Projects: Installing A Dimmer Switch
Hands-On: Resurfacing A Tiny Anvil
Hands-On: Stanley Fat Max Lighted Level
Hands-On: Stanley Fat Max 16oz Hammer
Hands-On: Milwaukee M12 Power Port
Hands-On: Caterpillars Fix Wiggly Outlets For Good
Head 2 Head Hands-On: Bosch SPS10 vs LI3000 SmartDriver
Hands-On: Striker Magnetic LED Light
Hands-On: Dremel Duo Kit -- Dremel Driver
Budget Shop Truck Build, Part 5: Engine Teardown
Budget Shop Truck Build, Part 4: A New Transmission
Budget Shop Truck Build, Part 3: Building An Engine Stand
Budget Shop Truck Build, Part 2: Pulling The Engine
Budget Shop Truck Build, Part 1: The Truck
How-To: Cut Angles With A Circular Saw
Project Garage: Yukon Engine Swap (Part 5) -- Complete!
Project Garage: Yukon Engine Swap (Part 4) -- Installation!
Project Garage: Yukon Engine Swap (Part 3) -- Fabricating Engine Brackets
Project Garage: Yukon Engine Swap (Part 2) -- GM Performance Parts
How-To: Top Gear-Style Game Room Seating
How-To: Choose Home Air Filters
How-To: Remove Stripped Screw Sans Extractor
How-To: DIY Airplane (Pietenpol Air Camper)
How-To: Make Perfect Saddle Cuts
How-To: Build A Wooden Combination Lock
How-To Question: Repair Drywall
How-To Question: Best Way To Hang Lights?
