Practical Tools

Horn Dog

Horn Dog

Joined
Sep 9, 2005
Messages
4,363
A knife is a tool. All real men love tools. It's what separates us from women and monkeys. Just kidding about the women part. Suppose you were out in the bush and broke the handle on your leaf rake. Ok, maybe a spear or gig or camp shovel. You would need a tool to repair a tool. I was out back on this glorious cool morning and broke my rake handle. It had rotted from me leaving it out in all the rain we had this summer.
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I found a nice stick that would make a crooked rustic handle. So which of my knives would serve me best to make a new handle? The first thing I had to do was remove the screw that holds on the old handle. Of all my glorious survival knives I had with me, only one had a screwdriver. The SAK. Too bad the HEST didn't have one. Nope, that prybar pommel just won't work.
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Once I got the screw out, the handle was still too tight to pull out of the socket, so I used the HEST prybar to open the ferrule just a bit. But the screwdriver blade on the SAK worked better. I used the spine of the RC-6 to drive the rake off the handle. I used both the HEST and RC-6 to carve and shape the wood to fit the socket. The RC-6 actually worked better. I just rotated the new wood while "chopping" or scraping with the blade until the profile would fit the rake.
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Then I inserted the new handle. I needed to make a starter hole for the screw. I tried the HEST prybar. It sort of worked, but the awl on the SAK worked a lot better.
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So after replacing the screw with my screwdirver on the SAK, I had a functioning rake again. While all of these knives were useful for some parts of the repair, there was only one that could do the whole job, including sawing the wood handle.
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Which is why I always carry a Swiss Army along with whatever fixed blade I might have with me. A good multi-tool in the Spec-Ops sheath pouch for the RD-6 would be another good option. I know I could have easily done this job with normal tools like a drill, screwdriver, pliers and hammer. But I just wanted to see what I could do if I had to do a similar repair in the bush.
 
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Great post! Exactly the way we think. Logical, common sense stuff. Instead of carrying a SAK every day, I carry an SOG multi-tool, but it's for the same reasons.
 
Boys love toys like these, because they allow us to control an environment that would otherwise control us. Knives, multitools, flashlights, guns, manbags, GPS, and so on. Allows us to impress the chicks and strike fear in our adversaries.

Reminds me of Conan the Barbarian:

Mongol General: Hao! Dai ye! We won again! This is good, but what is best in life?
Mongol: The open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair.
Mongol General: Wrong! Conan! What is best in life?
Conan: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
Mongol General: That is good! That is good.

The remants of our Mongol heritage are manifested even today, as we repair rakes in our back yards with multitools. If you listen to the wind, you can hear the ancient echos of the women's laminatations as the fallen leaves are defeated with tools of our own making.
 
nice rack handle. Ihad a sak just like that one, can you believe I lost it even with the bright handle...damn that mt. washington. btw I like your post just let's us know there is no one knife for everything. I always cary aleast 2 and one is usually a sak.
 
powernoodle said:
Boys love toys like these, because they allow us to control an environment that would otherwise control us.
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Man's unique reward is that while animals survive by adjusting themselves to their background, man survives by adjusting his background to himself. - Ayn Rand
 
Great post horn dog. Thanks for sharing.

I'm slowly realizing that survivalism is a state of mind . It seems not to only be about where you are but rather how you think.
 
yea i carry a sog or other multi tool with me most places... but that is the first sak in a long time that has me wanting to pick one up... mainly for the blade lock...

yep... we change our enviroment around to suit our selves... but it takes practice ... and skills... and being a tool user they help... looking at just the basic simple machines , and see how they build up to make more complicated machines... there are other cool things about tools in general like a lathe is one of the only machines that can replicate itself with out the use of any other machine...

Knowledge i see as just building blocks... the more basic blocks you have , the more solid foundation to build that knowledge on the higher you can go safely. so keep reading and learning and practicing... thats been my goal in life is to never stop learning.. building and changing , and when possible teach others the things i have learned.

Thanks HD always dig these threads. and i might be getting out and building some simple handles for some old tools i came across. its funny now things are so cheap and avalible its easier to just go and pluck out another rake , then it is to make one. but i dont think its nearly as good... or useful as what you did here. and if we didnt have access to these mega stores ... a lot of people would be SOL.(me included in some aspects)

keep it up man
 
On the last episode of Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs, a camera guy got his hair totally wrapped up in the rigging of a rappelling harness while he was hanging several stories off the side of a building. They cut his hair loose with a multitool. You never know when its going to come in handy.
 
Thanks, guys. I thought this thread might bore you rugged outdoorsmen to death. But really, this is what survival is all about. Using the resources you have available to accomplish your task. Maybe it was a frog gig handle and your were depending on those frogs for some of your food. It's just simple stuff. But little things like not having a screwdriver can become big things. One of the things I really like about this particular SAK is the locking screwdiver blade. How many times when you're really putting some torque on a screw have you had your blade fold on you? Some of the multi-tools available now are fantastic. You see folks using them at work all the time. I really need to get a good one.
 
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check out a movie called alone in the wilderness .... it does give facinating insite into packing and hiking long distances to build a cabin.... watching that was amazing.... how he made all the handles on site , with min. of drops.... really rather amazing. and the tools he uses and how he puts what is avalible to him to build shelter and get and store food for -30 winters in alaska.
 
I'm likin' this a lot. :cool:

Reminds me of the day I stopped my father-in-law short of driving to the hardware store for a new push-broom handle. I swigged the last of my Coca-Cola, pulled out the Vic Farmer that's always in my pocket, cut a shim from the aluminum can and re-joined the handle to the ferrule.

The look on his face made it clear that he judged it a half-assed fix, but months later he's still using the repaired broom. :rolleyes:

Good show, Horn Dog. :thumbup:
 
Those 111mm SAKs are great.

I carry a SOG every day myself. I own Leatherman and Victorinox tools, but I keep going back to my black Powerlock.
 
powernoodle said:
If you listen to the wind, you can hear the ancient echos of the women's laminatations as the fallen leaves are defeated with tools of our own making.
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What does that sound like? Sorry I just have no frame of reference :D

Yes, SAKs are great, although I rarely use the knife blade on mine. I like them for all the other goddies they contain.

That spec-ops sheath looks really great with the RC-6!
 
There is alot to be said for choosing the right tool for the job, just as there is much to be said for improvising and making do with what you've got. You've demonstrated both concepts. Thanks for this cool post :thumbup:
 
R.A.T. said:
Great post! Exactly the way we think. Logical, common sense stuff. Instead of carrying a SAK every day, I carry an SOG multi-tool, but it's for the same reasons.
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Great minds think alike. That said it should really worry you that your mind thinks like mine.
 
Yup it really sucks cause you really want a "cool" knife to do everything, BUT day in and out my most used knife is my LM Wave and my Swiss Champ second. Actually that SAK rescue tool looks nice may have to grab one.
 
SAK's are great, everyone should have a farmer model or one with similar tool options. :thumbup:
 
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Wow a HEST, RC-6, and a nice SAK for yardwork. That is all kinds of cool.

Originally posted by AKnife
SAK's are great
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I agree. I keep one in my pocket pretty much all the time. You never know when you might need a screwdriver.
 
Locust said:
Wow a HEST, RC-6, and a nice SAK for yardwork. That is all kinds of cool.



I agree. I keep one in my pocket pretty much all the time. You never know when you might need a screwdriver.
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Yeah it's funny. I could have bought a new chainsaw, rake, and pitchfork for what I had out there today in knives. :D
 
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