... but I Still Miss the Screwdriver

pertinux

pertinux

Joined
Feb 1, 2012
Messages
11,783
I don't remember the last time I needed a bottle opener, or in the Traditional Forum vernacular as I understand it, a "cap lifter."

However, the one tool I've consistently missed when carrying traditional slipjoints is a small screwdriver, as found at the end of the nail file in a Victorinox Classic.

Examples: the other day I went to open a can of Naphta, with its turn-the-cap-slightly-and-pry-off lid. More recently, I opened various cans of MinWax. All these fancy-pants and/or utilitarian blades on hand, but no screwdriver/small pry device. Oh, for my simple Classic.

I know I can always keep a Classic somewhere on my personage or in near reach, but I like the idea of having a traditional slipjoint that includes a narrow, light-use(?) screwdriver, without the added (relative) bulk of a cap lifter.

Has anyone ever produced such a thing, one or two blades plus a slim screwdriver, bone scales and savoir-faire?

~ P.
 
I guess you haven't seen the GEC 2011 Bladeforums knife?
It's a 3.5" easy-open jack with a spey blade main and cap-lifter/screw driver secondary.
Beautiful traditional and very well made. I can't find a single problem with mine.
 
There are lots of examples but here are a couple

schrade-electrician-1.jpg

electrician knife

img569.jpg

2011 forum knife

This knife is traditional also...
magick_preview30.jpg

original Victorinox Soldier
 
I really like my Camillus Electricians knife, I do wish it had a bottle opener sometimes but 90% of bottles are screw caps now a days.

7205324248_821b1659eb_b.jpg
 
Another option is the Camillus Cub Scout knife. Spear point blade, caplifter/screwdriver and awl.

Really, GEC should just make the White Owl with the Spear point caplifter combo.

Or, somebody else should make a Canoe with that combo.

Please?
 
Thanks, everyone. An "electrician's knife" looks the most like what I was picturing.

After over 35 years of SAK's, I know I don't need a cap lifter, nor many other extras, so -- going for minimalism-- don't prefer one on a traditional. Besides, I still have three (or more) on my SAKs.

On the other hand, I like the length of the cap lifter on the Bladeforums knife better than that of the Camillus(?-- electrician's), and the cap lifter itself looks fairly streamlined. (Does it work well as a cap lifter? That's a rather shallow angle.)

(The Sears 4-way screwdriver is interesting, but stubbier than I prefer. Even more, if I'm going to carry something extra, I might as well take a Classic along.)

~ P.
 
HuntBomb said:
I guess you haven't seen the GEC 2011 Bladeforums knife?
It's a 3.5" easy-open jack with a spey blade main and cap-lifter/screw driver secondary.
Beautiful traditional and very well made. I can't find a single problem with mine.
Click to expand...

Huntbomb, you got that right buddy. I lucked out and joined the forum right when they were taking orders and I can honestly say in over fifty years of carrrying a knife and using one hard, this little forum beauty is perfection. Hats off again to those here who designed it! As for the screw driver, it is even of perfect dimension, almost like one you'd use for a firearm, and there's just enough extra spring on the driver so it doesn't slam shut on you while you're turning a screw.
 
Wait a minute, just wait a minute!

You mean theres a knife person who doesn't have a Vic classic on the keyring? Or any other 58mm sak? :eek:

I thought it was a written rule someplace about that. "Thou shalt have a little sak on keychain all the time, no matter what other knife is in the pocket!"

This needs to be checked up on.

Carl.
 
I guess you'll have to take away my "knife person" card, because I've never carried a Vic Classic. I think I have a dozen of them, but I've never had much use for one.
 
cory1337 said:
I really like my Camillus Electricians knife, I do wish it had a bottle opener sometimes but 90% of bottles are screw caps now a days.
Click to expand...

Only if you drink macro brews ;) Good beer is found in bottles with either a pry off cap or a cork. I think a bottle opener is a nice thing to have around, which is why I usually have a Victorinox knife handy.
 
jackknife said:
Wait a minute, just wait a minute!

You mean theres a knife person who doesn't have a Vic classic on the keyring? Or any other 58mm sak? :eek:

I thought it was a written rule someplace about that. "Thou shalt have a little sak on keychain all the time, no matter what other knife is in the pocket!"
Click to expand...

<stifling my gag reflex>


I get those little trinkets given to me quite a bit - a frequent tradeshow give-away. I've probably owned as many Vic Classics as all of my other knives combined.

The toothpick and tweezers disappear, in that order, in about 6 months time. No loss. Neither of them work for intended purpose. After that, the big question is, which will bust first; the spring on the scissors or one of the scales. By the 18th month or so I get my answer. By 24 months, it doesn't matter. I keep the busted ones laying around. The scissors are insanely useful and if I was King of GEC, I would be making a 4 blade camper with the can opener replaced with (Wegner style - more durable) folding scissors. But still... If I never have to hold another Classic again I would be happy.

I've had a Leatherman Micra for something going on 5 years now. I just can't kill it. It rides in my laptop bag along with my TV-B-Gone (another killer useful tool). My last deployed Vic Classic was pulled out of service a while back. It was in my 1st aid kit. I replaced it with a Squirt PS4 combined with a proper pair of tweezers (splinter extraction). Much much handier and much much more durable.

Anyway.. tying this back to the OP, both the Micra and PS4 end up satisfying the "I really need to open this beer bottle" need or "I need to pry this open" need. But even still, the second blade I want added on any knife is the screwdriver/cap lifter.
 
P,
I agree that the SD/cap lifter tool found on SAK's is a very very useful tool.
Yes, you can get a knife with that feature (like the 2011 BF knife), and be fine every time you need to open a bottle or need some kind of pry tool.
Personally, I prefer to have something else on my person for those two tasks (there are some cheap and functional options), and carry the knife I like without being llimited in my choice by the presence (or absence) of the cap lifter or SD/light prying tool.
As always, just my point of view :)

Fausto
:cool:
 
jackknife said:
Wait a minute, just wait a minute!

You mean theres a knife person who doesn't have a Vic classic on the keyring? Or any other 58mm sak? :eek:

I thought it was a written rule someplace about that. "Thou shalt have a little sak on keychain all the time, no matter what other knife is in the pocket!"

This needs to be checked up on.

Carl.
Click to expand...

Nope.

I have never owned a SAK!!!! How is this possible? I don't know.
 
Picked up my first SAK a couple weeks ago. A Victorinox Executive Electricians Knife. It's so "nifty". I can't stop carrying it and I have much more expensive knives.
 
quattromori said:
P,
I agree that the SD/cap lifter tool found on SAK's is a very very useful tool.
Click to expand...

I suppose it is!

The funny thing is, in my original post I mentioned that I didn't want the cap-lifter tool. ;)

(Not picking on you, Fausto, it's just amusing to me that so many recommended something I ruled out in my original post, if not as clearly as I maybe thought-- a cap-lifter, and/or an additional tool to do the job.)

It's the little, straight nail file/screwdriver found on the Vic Classic (SDs-- which stands for "screw driver;" some have pointed nail files, similar to the Wenger Executives) that I reach for and then miss if carrying a "traditional" only.

Carl, I carried a Classic only for years (and years). I still have one or three clipped into various bags. I like to keep my car key chain as minimal as possible (the new-fangled key itself is too big for my tastes).

I was simply musing that, with all the very fine bone-handled knives I have, and as much as I love them, I think I'd like one with a slim screwdriver included, thus keeping the "carry" minimal (and: Classy :)) while still having a small pry tool.

The electrician's knife comes closest, although I'd prefer a knife 3" and under (and I'm guessing the standard electrician's knife is bigger?), or simply less bulky. Maybe I'm just after a souped-up Classic, sans scissors...? If my Tiny Trapper had a small pry/screw tool instead of the clip blade, that would do it. (Though, should it even be a possibility, Case would probably replace the wharncliffe instead of the clip, and I would be Sad.)

[Pinnah, Victorinox replaces the scissors springs free, but I doubt that would even begin to address your Classic distaste. Heh. I consider the Wenger mechanism far superior. Until it jams.]

~ P.
 
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You could always just grind off the tip on that Trapper blade and make your own Screwdriver tip on the clip point blade.
 
db said:
You could always just grind off the tip on that Trapper blade and make your own Screwdriver tip on the clip point blade.
Click to expand...

Interesting thought. That, or use the clip blade as a pry tool until it becomes a screwdriver. ;)

The design is such, the clip blade so long and yet dropping quickly to its point, that the screwdriver end would be both beyond the nail nick and tucked into the liner (so the aesthetics of the knife would not be altered when closed). Hmmmm.

~ P.
 
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