Wallet knife/ multitool....the long journey to find a cool one

Loulasher

Loulasher

Joined
Jul 29, 2013
Messages
379
So last night was a night of searching through hundreds....or so it seems...of little keychain multitools, prybars and other things edc. I have been trying to streamline an absolute barebones.....if i only had one of either keys, wallet, multitool,knife....what would get me the most bang for the weight and size. Heres a little backround-
I typically carry a leatherman sideclip , a spyderco saver salt, my wallet with just "wallet stuff" in it, my phone and keys. My keys typically have any array of multitool or knife usually only one will be on there at any time- swisstool 9 in 1 , wenger esquire, leatherman micra or style cs, buck whitaker , old p38, etc....

So i thought if i didnt have my keys or lost them.....and my knife or tool.....and needed a knife or something in a pinch, like last resort type stuff and my wallet was in my pocket, i wanted something to have in there.
My goal is to always have some sort of a tool on me just in case.

Well i pre ordered a zootility wild card. Its 2mm thick and weighs 1 oz.
Its a folding knife with some utility. Just google the name and it should come up, i dont want to post the website and break any rules or anything.
What do you guys think? Its made in USA and seems like a good idea. I may have found my new solution to the "problem" but they dont ship until march. I will update when it comes in.
 
Those wallet things perform terribly at anything they claim they can do.

I'd recommend a County Comm Widgy Bar:thumbup:

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To each his own.
This one is not for me.
Looks too flimsy and on certain places, I cant carry anything knife-like at all.
Would be easy to forget this was even in ones wallet (which I guess is sort of the point until you need it).
I carry a Raptor or a tool and bits. Dont want smaller 'compromise' tools than that.
 
Blues Bender said:
Those wallet things perform terribly at anything they claim they can do.

I'd recommend a County Comm Widgy Bar:thumbup:
Click to expand...
This.

These come in three sizes and in titanium IIRC.

I have the mid-sized one and it punches above its weight/size and have carried it quite a bit, but still all these small tools are a a poor substitute in lieu of the full sized tools..
 
I have thought about the widgy bar, and gerber shard.....just keep going back to the leatherman style cs because it comes off the keychain easily. I guess i could hook it to a split ring with a small clip for easy access. Also checked out the nite ize doohickey. The reason i picked the wild card was to just be able to have a "knife" even if i didnt have my keys or knife. I know these things usually dont live up to their promises, but since the guy makes them in the US i figured for the price id give it a chance. The spyderco dogtag is more than the wildcard, but it seems too small to be useful for anything but opening boxes........after looking at the small clip you have on the widgy bluesbender, it looks like a good option. I will wind up getting one eventually, i think everyone does:)
 
Have you looked at Victorinox' SwissCards? There are several different models and they actually have well thought out, useful tools.

I've bought a few different ones and somehow always end up giving them away to somebody who likes them. My latest one was a SwissCard Lite, it has a little knife blade (about the size of the small blade on a regular SAK), tweezers, pin, scissors, magnifying glass, LED light (rather weak), ballpoint pen and a little screwdriver with four different drivers (which also makes a nice keychain mini tool). My girlfriend took it.
 
I did look at the vic card but i think it would find its way out of my wallet fast, not that i dont like vic stuff, because i do. I just think it seems like something i would try to keep from using it because id be afraid of breaking it, kind of why I rarely carry the wenger esquire.
I think the wildcard seems to be a good comprimise between thinness and weight....and the knife looks fairly usable.
The thing doesnt ship until march so im going to be just waiting to see if its what they say it will be.
In the mean time i started looking at the Anso V3 carabiner to replace my old carabiner. Id love to see one in person before i pony up the cash though.
 
Somewhere along the line, I picked up a lightweight nylon tri-fold wallet with an outside zippered coin compartment that's big enough to hold a folder with a 4" handle. Needless to say, a lot of lightweight folders with 4" handles can fit inside that compartment. The folder I've been carrying in there for a long time is a William Henry B7-FT. At 1.4 ounces, it's barely noticeable. Here's a borrowed pic:

2011-06-02210610.jpg



I've searched relentlessly for that wallet and I can't find it anywhere. But if I ever do, I'll pick up a case of them and sell them on the Exchange. They're perfect for carrying a backup EDC.
 
Wow, thats a heck of a back up blade! Great idea with wallet zipper compartment, i never would have thought of doing that.
 
Yep. The first trick is finding a lightweight nylon tri-fold wallet with an external, zippered coin compartment. The next trick is finding one that's about 4" x 5". I've had no luck in doing that. Fully loaded with the knife inserted, my wallet weighs right around 6 ounces. That's less weight than some people carry in their folder alone.
 
Be wary of carrying expensive blades in your wallet, I lost around $800 in knives when I lost my wallet, 2 of them were Pat Crawford and one was a SS Damascus Maserin framelock. Now I carry a very flat SAK with Alox scales,(about the size of a pen knife) you have to strike a balance.
 
I'm very careful about keeping track of my wallet. That's not to say that I've never lost my wallet, but it hasn't happened in over a decade. To be honest with you, I'd be more inclined to worry about losing a folder clipped to my pocket. Folks carry clipped folders all the time, of course. So keeping a folder in my wallet doesn't concern me too much. But I do keep an eye on it.
 
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I hadn't lost a wallet in 30 years and I lost this one. I don't clip to my pocket anymore unless it's for a second while I'm working with it.
 
You're preaching to the choir on that one! I've always felt that the true test of a person's conviction to carry a knife clipped to their pocket is if they'd be willing to turn the knife around and clip on the outside. That makes about as much sense to me. And I haven't had anybody take me up on it yet. ;)
 
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