Review: Victorinox Compact

The Victorinox Compact is a special little Swiss Army Knife (SAK). It offers a lot of useful items in a really small (ie, "compact") package.

tools on the Compact:

1. Knife
2. Scissors
3. Hook with nail file: the nail file is coarse and will aggressively file your nails.
   
4. Combination tool: bottle and can opener, flat screwdriver, wire stripper, wire bender.
   
5. Corkscrew
6. Eyeglass screwdriver

Tucked inside the plastic scales

1. Pressurized pen: this is veryuseful. How often have you needed a pen and one wasn't handy?
   
2. Tweezers
3. Toothpick
4. Straight Pin

It took me awhile to find the straight pin. It's tucked in behind the corkscrew:


This particular combination tool from Victornox looks like a bottle opener but it can also serve as a can opener:



You can mount the mini screwdriver backwards on the corkscrew to give yourself a larger handle:


And how do you hold the tiny pen? Like this:

Lift up the hook, and place the pen in the groove where the hook sits:


and write like so:




The Victorinox Compact offers the tools you'll need on a daily basis, and it vanishes in your pocket.

Review: Victorniox Explorer Plus

The Victorniox Explorer is a 4 layer knife that can be purchased with the optional "plus scales". Plus scales add the following:

• Pressurized pen
• Mini eyeglass screwdriver
• Straight pin

The Explorer is a four-layer Swiss Army Knife and is about the upper limit for what most people would want to carry in their pocket. A four-layer knife is not heavy, but it is bulky in the pocket. Interestingly, a pliers-type multitool, that has more features and weighs more, can fit in the pocket easier due do its slimmer profile.

The Explorer has the following tools:

• Large blade
• Small blade
• Can opener with small screwdriver
• Bottle opener with large screwdriver & wire stripper
• Scissors
• Magnifying glass
• Awl
• The rare inline Phillips screwdriver
• Corkscrew
• Hook
• Toothpick
• Tweezers

The Explorer has the rare inline Phillips screwdriver.



Most Victorinox knives mount the Phillips on the bottom of the knife (in place of a corkscrew) creating a T-handle phillips .While the T-handle phillips offers more torque than an inline phillips, it also has a limited reach. Many prefer the inline phillips for its longer reach.

The corkscrew is useless for many people since the opportunity to open a bottle of wine out in the field is more limited in the 21st century. The advantage to the the corkscrew is that it stores the eyeglass screwdriver.


The eyeglass screwdriver can also be revers-mounted on the corkscrew to give it a larger handle.



With its ample compliment of tools, and the bonus items of the "plus scales", the Explorer Plus is a very versatile pocket knife.

Appying a cane grip.

All the bows that I craft have a cane grips for the handle. Cane is waterproof, sweat proof, low maintenance, durable, provides a good grip surface, and looks good.

I use binder cane. Binder cane is used in chair-making and basketry. It can be found in crafts stores or online. It takes about 10-12 feet of 6mm cane to wrap a average handle.

I prefer binder cane of around 5.6-6.5mm thickness (often called "wide binder cane"). Place the cane in a shallow dish. Cover the cane in boiling water and let soak until it is pliable, for about 30 minutes. Wrap the cane like so:


If there are gaps, push the cane together to close them up. Allow the cane to dry for a few days and then trim the ends with a sharp knife. Sometimes the cane get loose and a drop if glue is needed to secure it. Be sure that the ends to the cane are under at least two coils and then they won't unwrap. The end above (on the left) is only tucked under one coil and it came loose.

If there are stray cane fibers, then trim them with scissors. Sanding them will just result in more threading and make the problem worse. Do NOT sand the cane. Sanding will cause more fibers to lift up on the cane.


Apply the finish of your choice over the cane and you are ready to go.

On God

Pretty summarizes my perspective on the subject.






"... it makes your believe that you are less than what you can be; as long as you can blame everything on some unseen deity, you don't ever have to be responsible for your own behavior."

FOLLOW THAT TRUCK!

I was trying to figure out how to pull up to that baby with my thermos out the window and do my version of aerial refueling.

Review: Wenger Clipper AT

The Wenger Clipper AT (Airline Travel) is a unique keychain multi tool. It is the only multi tool that has a set of nail clippers. Many people have nail clippers on their keychain, and Wenger offers you the option to carry a set of clippers that has some other useful tools.


The Clipper AT is approved for airline travel. It has no knife. The clipper has the following tools:

1. Tweezers
2. Toothpick
3. Eyeglass screwdriver
4. Nail file and cleaner
5. Scissors

6. Nail clippers.

The eyeglass screwdriver is a handy little tool. The scissors are micro serrated. The nail clipper works decently for it's size and is a unique offering for a keychain tool. The only negative to this tool is that it may be a little bulky to put on your keychain.

The Clipper AT is interesting tool that serves a niche. If you like having a set of nail clippers on your keychain, you should check out this tool.

Review: Leatherman Mini Tool

The Leatherman Mini tool has been discontinued. It's an odd missing link between the full-sized Leatherman and their smaller Juice line.


tools:

• Pliers/wire cutters
• knife
• bottle opener
• can opener
• file/flathead screwdriver
  

The Mini's only practical use is the ability to carry around a set of pliers in a really small package.