Gearzilla » Tools

Wetterlings Wildlife Axe

nborchelt — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 08:00:11 +0000

www.wetterlings.se
The Swedish company of Wetterlings has been hand-forging axes since 1880, and it shows. The curved hickory handle fits into your hand like the comfortable handshake of a lifelong friend and the 19-ounce turpentine axe head is perfectly balanced for maximum drive with minimal effort. Forged out of Swedish carbon steel by expert blacksmiths, the slightly rounded, sloped bevel blade is 5.5 inches long and 2.5 inches wide—perfect for splitting firewood, shaving kindling, or removing blown-down limbs or small trees. Our tester admits to using the hatchet as a paperweight on her desk when not in the field—from the handsome leather blade guard to the Wetterlings Genuine Hickory brand on the handle, this isn’t an axe that will gather dust in your tool shed.

Light My Fire Swedish FireKnife

nborchelt — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 08:00:54 +0000

www.lightmyfire.com
This ingenious creation might as well have been plucked from the overactive imagination of our adolescent past: How do you make a great knife even better? Add fire!!! But perhaps it’s better that we found it now, when we’re (arguably) more mature. Light My Fire, a Swedish company dedicated to easily starting fires (and manufacturers of some cool camp kitchen products) paired with Mora of Sweden, who’ve been making high-quality knives for more than 120 years. The result? A camp-friendly knife with a sturdy, profile-grounded blade made of 12C27 stainless steel mounted on a comfortable, grippy rubber handle. The firestarter is mounted at the base; a small twist, and you’ll find the FireSteel. Draw that across the blade and the shower of sparks will ignite your campfire or gas stove, even in wet conditions. The knife clicks satisfactorily into the hard plastic sheath, and a belt loop makes it easy to carry the FireKnife pretty much anywhere you go. (Note to self: We don’t always need to take it with us.)

Benchmade 530 Folding Knife

nborchelt — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:00:52 +0000

www.benchmade.com
We’ll always love our multi-tools, but there’s something engagingly simple and graceful about a well-crafted knife. The Benchmade 530 achieves our Platonic ideal of the flip-knife, with its spear-point blade made of 154cm stainless steel, an ambidextrous thumb-stud opener, horizontal “scales” along its svelte black handle, and reversible steel pocket clip. At a feathery 1.88 ounces, it’s one of the lightest, most trail-friendly knives on the market, with a 3.25-inch blade that’s long enough for all back- and sidecountry uses—cooking, light camp work, and the like, and Benchmade’s proprietary Axis locking mechanism will help prevent the slim chances of user error. For more rugged applications, you should upgrade to the 530S, which adds a serrated edge on the lower half of the blade for deeper cutting. Either way, you’ll likely spend almost as much time using the knife as you will admiring its craftsmanship. As one tester—who had used only a give-away utility knife until he found the 530—said simply, “This is a knife.”

McNett Samish Outdoor and Dive Knife

nborchelt — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:00:44 +0000

www.mcnett.com, 4.5 ounces
Whether you’re swimming with sharks or simply setting up camp, you’ll be glad you have the Samish at your side. Hewn from corrosion-resistant 420 stainless steel, the stiletto-tipped three-inch blade has a serrated edge for sawing and a traditional straight edge for cutting. There’s also a notch for cutting fishing lines or cord. The well-balanced knife has a molded nylon scabbard that’s designed for mounting on a vest, belt, or leg. The 3.75-inch molded nylon grip fits well into your hand, with no slipping. We like the fact that the knife can be completely disassembled for cleaning. Also, the sheath comes off with a quick flick of the thumb, making it easy to use with one-hand.

L.L. Bean 100 Year Anniversary Swiss Army Knife

nprichard — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:00:31 +0000

www.llbean.com
A hundred years ago, a pocketknife was an essential piece of everyday equipment. From cutting twine to peeling an apple, everyone carried one (and every young boy aspired to own one). In celebration of 100 years of supplying outdoor adventurers, L.L. Bean has brought back some of their own time-honored classics. The two-inch anniversary pocket knife is hewn from sustainably-harvested Swiss walnut, so each knife has a unique, beautiful grain. The walnut case is contoured to fit snug into your hand, with a groove exactly where your thumb wants to rest. Despite its pocket-friendly size, inside are 11 stainless-steel tools, including a Philips head and standard screwdriver, cork screw, bottle and can opener, file, hole punch, and a sharp, nearly 2-inch blade. Both the blade and case have L.L. Bean’s 100-year commemorative logo—making it a special present. Trouble is, you’ll want to buy one for yourself, too.

Leatherman Style PS Multitool

nborchelt — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:00:53 +0000

www.leatherman.com, 1.58 ounces
For those whose love of gear and gadgets conflicts with today’s go-light approach to travel (nevermind the insult of paying to check a bag), there’s finally a multitool that’s TSA-compatible. Leatherman’s new Style PS gives you a hearty handful of tools in its 2.9-inch-long body, including a petite pair of narrow, spring-action pliers (with a wire cutter); small scissors; flat- and Philips-head screwdriver with a nail file; a carabiner/bottle opener; and a pair of tweezers that ingeniously slide into the tool’s black handle. As with most Leatherman tools, the construction is top-notch, including the 100-percent stainless steel body and 25-year warranty. No, you won’t find any sort of blade, save those on the scissors (which are shorter than the four-inch max-length dictated by the TSA). But until they stop making you remove your shoes at the security line and allow pocket knives on planes, this is one of the best carry-on multi-tool available.

Wenger Ueli Steck Special Edition Knife

nborchelt — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:00:47 +0000

www.wengerna.com, four ounces
We love products that are built with input from of hardcore outdoor athletes. Not because our skill levels are equal to theirs, but because their insight into what makes something perfect means the product will never fail us. So when Wenger announced a partnership with alpine climber, Ueli Steck, we took notice. The result? Pretty damn impressive. Wenger’s Special Edition Knife is built to Steck’s rigorous specifics—which makes it more of a tool that just another knife. The titanium blade is 50 percent thicker than standard blades, making it one of the strongest available. The 65 mm blade is partially serrated near the base, which adds to the cutting power. The knife boasts a long metal file, regular head screwdriver/bottle opener, a can opener/wire stripper, and a variety of hex keys (7, 10, and 13 mm) that slide into the grooves of the knife blade for loads of torque. The soft pouch also carries a quarter-inch bit adapter as well as the flat- and Philips-head screwdriver bit, making it one of the most versatile tools on the market, even with a modest 2.3-inch length (when closed). The handle even has a nice Ueli Steck graphic—it won’t make you climb the Eiger in under three hours, but it’ll perform admirably whenever you need it. We do wish the blade was easier to unfold one-handed; your thumb fits into the large hex in the knife blade, which allows you to flick it open—but we’ve seen other models that perform this action more smoothly for on-the-go, quick access.

Leatherman Super Tool

nborchelt — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 08:00:12 +0000

www.leatherman.com, 9.6 ounces
I’ve owned the Super Tool since 1997. Whenever I travel or have an adventure my trusty tool comes along with me. This particular one has accompanied me ever since the previous model base jumped off Yosemite’s El Cap without a parachute. It’s versatile enough to slice cheese, cut bread with a serrated knife, poke holes in stuff with the awl, file my nails, adjust a derailleur, remove a fish hook, or open a can of tomatoes. The locking blades were a big improvement over the previous model; I no longer had to worry about a blade inadvertently closing on my fingers. I intend to keep using this tool until it is pried from my cold dead hands.
The Super Tool sports 19 appliances, including multiple knives, pliers, wire cutters, screwdrivers, openers, and crimpers.
-Barbara Howe

Gerber Crucial F.A.S.T Pocket Tool

nborchelt — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 08:00:38 +0000

www.gerbergear.com, 5.8 ounces
Most of us have admired switchblades from afar: West Side Story, The Wild Bunch, even The Terminator. And while these spring-operated stilettos aren’t practical (or generally legal), there’s a more down-to-earth version that’s equally as sexy and, even more useful. The new Gerber’s Crucial F.A.S.T is an assisted-opening knife. In layman’s terms, that means that a with a flick of your thumb, the blunt-tip half fine/half serrated 2.5-inch blade is out and ready for action. The ridiculously compact, lightweight tool sports so many other handy components, you could potentially perform in-the-field brain surgery: pinch style wire cutters, pliers, needlenose pliers, a long square cross driver bottle opener (try saying that three times, quickly), and flat head screw driver. F.A.S.T. stands for Forward Action Spring Technology—a patented one-handed opening mechanism that isn’t found anywhere else. We also love the locking mechanism on the tools; the spring-loaded needlenose pliers are so cleverly built into the tool that you don’t even know they are there, until you need them.
Closed length 4.8 inches

Avenir Road Micro Tool-8

nprichard — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 08:00:01 +0000

www.avenirusa.com/; 2.8 ounces
Every gearhead knows: size matters, especially when you’re wearing a cycling jersey with narrow pockets. This leads to what we dub “The Boy Scout Struggle”: the need to always be prepared vs. the urge to keep things light. And the Road Micro Tool-8 from Avenir, the accessory-and-parts arm of Raleigh Cycling, hits that sweet spot. The ultra-compact tool is shorter than a tube of chap stick and about as thin as four quarters, but it boasts eight tools, including four hex key wrenches (2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 mm), flat-head and Philips screwdrivers, and a t-25 Torx. Bust a chain, this tool won’t save you. But for quick adjustments to the bike (or, in our case, to fix an inexplicable loosened cleat), its tiny enough to stash in your pack or jersey and then forget about—until you really need it.