Or yesterday. And the day before that.
I made a post a while back about the update on my experience with the Leatherman Squirt. The tiny little squirt, the smallest plier tool they make. Over the course of 5 1/2 years, the squirt has wormed its way into my tool loving heart, and now its over lapped into the small knife field where I have always been. Yeah me, the Case peanut guy. The lover of all things 58mm and 74mm.
From July of 2018 to recent, my Victorinox executive has been a steady team mate of my squirt. These two items have been my EDC in a very wide variety of events/activities. But...that little three letter word that pops up now and then...there are times when a little more blade is needed than the small squirt or executive. Then my Vic florist or Opinel number 6 is carried and I have three knife/tools in my pockets. No good. As a die hard practitioner of maximum minimalism, I don't want to clutter up my pockets with more than need. Sooooo....
I may have deserted the realm of Sakdom, for a bit. I've been carrying my trusty squirt, and for cutting things, the Victorinox florist or Opinel number 6. Its been a strange sort of light bulb over the head moment. Maybe what you'd call an epiphany. An awakening of a realization of a simple fact. I've come to really love the little plier tool. It has screw driving capability beyond what the small SAK gives me, it has a bottle opener the executive lacks, it has a real file with fine and corse sides, it has the scissors that seem to cut as well as my 58mm and 74mm SAK scissors, and it has the small pliers with wire cutters that the small SAK lacks. Those pliers have been a real eye opener for a arthritic fumble fingers senior citizen. Most of all, it has near bomb proof construction, with real metal scales and good size rivets holding it all together under heavier use.
All this has come to be a bit shocking to me. I got my first SAK in 1969, and I've carried one literally all over the world. When I was stationed in Germany, I had a SAK. When I was stationed stateside, had a SAK. When I did my tour in Vietnam, I had a SAK. When I got married 50 years ago, I hd a SAK in my pocket. My kids carry SAK's because thats what daddy had. My grandkids carry SAK's. Is this some sort of senior senile treason?
On the other hand, I've been fooling around with the Opinel since 1981 0r 82. They do cut like the dickens. Its been an on again and off again kind of love affair, but as I got older, the finicky side of Opinels seem to annoy me less, while the iron clad bomb proof construction of the Leatherman product attracts me. No cheap celidor scales to break, no tweezers to go missing, and factory support like mad. The one time I had to send a squirt back for a broken scissors spring, I had a new squirt in my mailbox in like two weeks. Considering mail travel time between Georgetown Texas and Portland Oregon, both ways, thats pretty remarkable.
Even the quirks like the inside opening tools on the Leatherman micra don't seem to bug me like it used to. Yeah, I'll take the squirt over a micra any day, but if the micra is there, I'll use it. Maybe a little grudgingly, but I'll use it. and like the squirt, the micra is a sturdy built little tool. It has the all metal Leatherman construction and it will take a bashing if needed, and with the knife blade and tool folds up, its sort of like a lock blade.
This is all very disturbing. I feel like Batman has kicked Robin in the butt and told the kid to scram. Like Holmes has dumped Watson. Dirty Harry has tossed the S&W and went with a Glock. As I sit here typing this, my squirt is on my carabiner keyring, and the Opinel is in my pocket. If I change anything, I may replace the Opy with my Victorinox florist knife. That thing cuts like the dickens as well.
I made a post a while back about the update on my experience with the Leatherman Squirt. The tiny little squirt, the smallest plier tool they make. Over the course of 5 1/2 years, the squirt has wormed its way into my tool loving heart, and now its over lapped into the small knife field where I have always been. Yeah me, the Case peanut guy. The lover of all things 58mm and 74mm.
From July of 2018 to recent, my Victorinox executive has been a steady team mate of my squirt. These two items have been my EDC in a very wide variety of events/activities. But...that little three letter word that pops up now and then...there are times when a little more blade is needed than the small squirt or executive. Then my Vic florist or Opinel number 6 is carried and I have three knife/tools in my pockets. No good. As a die hard practitioner of maximum minimalism, I don't want to clutter up my pockets with more than need. Sooooo....
I may have deserted the realm of Sakdom, for a bit. I've been carrying my trusty squirt, and for cutting things, the Victorinox florist or Opinel number 6. Its been a strange sort of light bulb over the head moment. Maybe what you'd call an epiphany. An awakening of a realization of a simple fact. I've come to really love the little plier tool. It has screw driving capability beyond what the small SAK gives me, it has a bottle opener the executive lacks, it has a real file with fine and corse sides, it has the scissors that seem to cut as well as my 58mm and 74mm SAK scissors, and it has the small pliers with wire cutters that the small SAK lacks. Those pliers have been a real eye opener for a arthritic fumble fingers senior citizen. Most of all, it has near bomb proof construction, with real metal scales and good size rivets holding it all together under heavier use.
All this has come to be a bit shocking to me. I got my first SAK in 1969, and I've carried one literally all over the world. When I was stationed in Germany, I had a SAK. When I was stationed stateside, had a SAK. When I did my tour in Vietnam, I had a SAK. When I got married 50 years ago, I hd a SAK in my pocket. My kids carry SAK's because thats what daddy had. My grandkids carry SAK's. Is this some sort of senior senile treason?
On the other hand, I've been fooling around with the Opinel since 1981 0r 82. They do cut like the dickens. Its been an on again and off again kind of love affair, but as I got older, the finicky side of Opinels seem to annoy me less, while the iron clad bomb proof construction of the Leatherman product attracts me. No cheap celidor scales to break, no tweezers to go missing, and factory support like mad. The one time I had to send a squirt back for a broken scissors spring, I had a new squirt in my mailbox in like two weeks. Considering mail travel time between Georgetown Texas and Portland Oregon, both ways, thats pretty remarkable.
Even the quirks like the inside opening tools on the Leatherman micra don't seem to bug me like it used to. Yeah, I'll take the squirt over a micra any day, but if the micra is there, I'll use it. Maybe a little grudgingly, but I'll use it. and like the squirt, the micra is a sturdy built little tool. It has the all metal Leatherman construction and it will take a bashing if needed, and with the knife blade and tool folds up, its sort of like a lock blade.
This is all very disturbing. I feel like Batman has kicked Robin in the butt and told the kid to scram. Like Holmes has dumped Watson. Dirty Harry has tossed the S&W and went with a Glock. As I sit here typing this, my squirt is on my carabiner keyring, and the Opinel is in my pocket. If I change anything, I may replace the Opy with my Victorinox florist knife. That thing cuts like the dickens as well.
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