The SAK parcel-hook

Jack Black

Jack Black

Seize the Lambsfoot! Seize the Day!
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Personally I HATE this thing, particularly where it replaces the awl. I think it's a waste of space, and it annoys the hell out of me! Does anyone actually have a use for one (apart from wandering down to the post office with your string-wrapped parcels of course)?
 
The parcel hook is pretty stupid. But, maybe it's something a bit more useful in less developed countries? No idea.
 
Sometimes when you go shopping, they have these crappy/flimsy plastic bags of which the handles fold together and start cutting into your hand. At some of these occasions (when I edc'd my Vic Climber at some of those occasions), I did use the parcel hook on my Vic Climber to carry a heavy plastic bag and I was happy I had that SAK with me.
 
Galeocerdoshark said:
Sometimes when you go shopping, they have these crappy plastic bags of which the handles fold together and start cutting into your hand. At some of these times (when I edc a SAK at that given time), I did use the parcel hook on my Vic Climber and I was happy I had that SAK with me.
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Yeah, I know the problem. Unfortunately if you did that in the UK there'd be people screaming "HE'S GOT A KNIFE!!!!" and cops everywhere! :(
 
Its better than the corkscrew, how much frickin wine do I drink!!?? None is the answer, ill take the phillips head.
 
HardTripper said:
Its better than the corkscrew, how much frickin wine do I drink!!?? None is the answer, ill take the phillips head.
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Yeah Philips head is useful. The thing I like about the corkscrew is it's hard to pull a cork without one. Mind you, the corkscrew on my 30 year-old Victorinox Mauser Officers Knife has seen so much use it's bent out of shape! Hey, if it was good enough for Dean Martin....!:D
 
Heard someone say they use it as a camp lid lifter but I don't know about that.

Corkscrew is good for getting knots out of my kid's shoes or whatever else they touch that can possibly be knotted.

I do use it for wine but more so out of fun. Always use the can opener as a philips...have taken apart, put together, and tightened up countless things using it for them.
 
I have no idea how I would use the parcel hook. I am also not particularly fond of the cork screw, but it does come in handy for getting knots out of fishing line, but I usually use a needle if I just "have to". The normal approach is snip, retie, snip...

I don't have any SAKs any more with the cork screw on them that I use. I much prefer some of the other tools. The awl does come in handy from time to time.
 
From a different forum:

for carrying parcels (some places/countries still use them/string),
for a hanger for clothes (you can use the entire tool as a hangar for your jacket if you place the hook over a wire or in the hole in a public bathroom stall, really),
for pulling laces,
for a longer/more comfortable pen (put ink cartridge under hook while open, then close hook onto it. It will hold cartridge in place and makes for a comfy pen),
for pulling wire and cord,
for holding hot pots (with a bail) like at a campfire,
for hanging food from animals camping,
for getting in tight places to retrieve something,
I've used it for pulling apart panels easier because the leverage you get is pretty good in the hand with the "T" configuration.
for mounting bicycle chain without dirting hands
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People often wonder what the parcel hook is for. It is for whatever your imagination can put it to use for in your daily life.
 
RogueBowie said:
From a different forum:



People often wonder what the parcel hook is for. It is for whatever your imagination can put it to use for in your daily life.
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Thanks RB :)

Be nice to hear some more suggestions. For very particular reasons I'll go into at another time, someone is buying me the Vic Compact I've been meaning to get for ages. Would love to hear some more parcel-hook suggestions - So far, I'm afraid I still hate it! :D
 
The Swiss Army knife is still made primarily for the Swiss who still have packages wrapped in string...
 
tvhaugen said:
The Swiss Army knife is still made primarily for the Swiss who still have packages wrapped in string...
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Indeed they do! :) The Compact was originally called the Golfer, but that name seemed a bit random to me, just as the choice of the parcel hook over the awl seems a bit random. When I reviewed the Golfer for a UK publication in 1991 or 92, I suggested Victorinox change the name for this good compact little knife.
 
Here is the video that inevitably gets posted every time someone asks about the SAK hook. I think the hook is a total waste of space (like the corkscrew) and would like to see an awl or just about anything else in its place.

[youtube]PVEZl-32iTE[/youtube]
 
Like the video above, it's good for fishing stuff out of somewhere you don't want to stick your hand. I used it to get some pieces of my travel mug lid that fell into my scalding hot coffee.
 
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powernoodle said:
Here is the video that inevitably gets posted every time someone asks about the SAK hook. I think the hook is a total waste of space (like the corkscrew) and would like to see an awl or just about anything else in its place.

[youtube]PVEZl-32iTE[/youtube]
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Powernoodle - and BK! - hadn't seen it before! :)
 
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I double knot my shoelaces. Sometimes they knot up untying them. A parcel hook opens knots nicely.
 
If you ever use camp cookware, or a camp coffee pot with the wire bale handles, you find that the parcel hook is perfect for picking these vessels up off of a hot fire.
 
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