Pen knife door opener.

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Oct 2, 2004
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A few minutes ago my nieghbor, an elderly lady named Pat, rang my doorbell. She had went out to the mailbox and left her house door open but the storm door closed, and somehow the storm door locked. I went over to see what I could do. The storm door had just been installed this past fall, and she had bought a nice solid well made door. They had installed it well, with almost no gaps around the edge. I could see the cross bolt, but there was no room to get a screw driver in there without bending thongs up, and the credit card trick was not working. It was a good door.

There was just enough room to get a thin blade of a small pen knife into the door jam, and using the point, it would dig into the soft brass finish of the latch bolt. Very gently I was able to move the latch just enough so I could get a credit card into the bevel on the back side of the bolt.

Open sez me!

Pat got in out of the cold, I got a double shot of Jack for my rescue, and I never cease to be amazed at how even a very small pen knife can be a handy thing to have.
 
Jacknife to the rescue!

which pen knife did you choose for this particular task?
 
Jacknife to the rescue!

which pen knife did you choose for this particular task?

The sak classic I have on my keyring. It had enough point to stick on the brass and move it just a bit. I pried VERY gently! actually sort of gently pushed.

The funny thing was I walked over there with a small tool box with a bunch of stuff in it. But the crack between the door edge and the door frame was so skinny, not even a very small thin screw driver could get in there to push back the bolt. There was only room for a thin knife blade.

Something to be said for simplicity. A whole box of tools and I end up using a tiny pocket knife!:confused:
 
When I was in junior high school back in the '70s,it was a school built in the '20s,there were quite a few doors that got opened with a pocket knife.Poor kids now days can't even carry a knife to school.
 
I have had a Buck 309 somewhere on my person since this summer. It started as an experiment but ended up being part of my routine. The little two bladed workhorse is amazingly handy for all sorts of things I wouldn't normally use a "good" knife for. Yesterday, the mouse on my kids pc was all boogered up with crud. It's the old kind with the ball and rollers. Well, I pulled out the small blade on the 309 and went to town scraping, poking and picking the guts of the mouse. About a minute later it was good as new. I love pen knives!
 
jackknife,

hehehe...

Sounds like something I'd do...wait...I have numerous times!

*grin*

Little person can beat a big person- if'n in they in the right and they keeps going at 'em - anon.
 
I have been carrying a Vic classic for over 20 years. Great little knife that has come to the rescue many times.
 
The sak classic I have on my keyring.


OK Jackknife, I'm going to stop you right there. This story would have been much more sexy if you'd have written: "My amber stag Queen Tuxedo in D2", or "My Dad's brown-boned Peanut in 1095 that got him out of East Berlin", or just about anything besides a SAK.

But yeah, SAKs are pretty handy, and I love my Classic and Cadet. :D Git 'er done!
 
Jackknife,

Congrats on the rescue and the toddy for your work. I'll have to say that I'll be a little nervous if your next story has anything to do with cat burglary:D!!

Long live the penknife and the man that knows how to use it!!
 
Long live the penknife and the man that knows how to use it!!

It's little things like this that make me realize that dad and his generation may have been more intuitively intellegent than us.

I walked over to Pat's house carrying a small tool box with different screw drivers, pliers, wrenches, hammer, box cutter, and other things. Yet none of them would work because of the tight fit of the door to frame. In the end, all that was needed was a small thin, pointy knife blade. It was a moment for one of those cosmic dawning of a concept thing. I am begining more and more to understand how dad got by with his peanut. First, look over the situatin carefully. Sometimes the solution is more simple than we realize. Then our mind is the best tool.
 
I think I'm gonna save a link to this tread, just for when the "A big knife can do every thing a small knife can-But a small knife can't do everything a big knife can" argument is brought up again......and again ....and again.

We are still all waiting for the book Jackknife, how long till you start writing it?
 
I have a very fond high school memory of using a SAK to open a locked door that stood between me and a cute little honey and some privacy. :D
 
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