Benchmade 7 Hook

The 7 hook is a tool designed for emergency situations that can be used for general purposes due to the low profile of the tool and how it can be carried.

It is basically a hook knife with a elongated handle, the handle is covered in black PVC and the tool is made of 440C stainless steel. The hook at the end is very sharp and can be used to cut seatbelts, clothes, nets, cord and rope.

The tool comes with a nylon sheath so it can easily be strapped to a vest or a backpack and be ready to be used when needed, besides the emergency uses we found the tool very practical to cut rope and cord while camping or hiking without the need to use a blade, we didn't test it with seatbelts but there should be no problem at all.

The tool is 4.30'' long and weights 1.6oz. Being made of a single piece of steel there are no weak points that can break and there is no sharp edge besides the hook to avoid cutting yourself in an emergency. Using the tool is simple, the grip is very good with knurling at the top and a good ergonomic handle.

The 7 hook is a very safe emergency tool that can become a low profile general purpose cutting hook in many situations.

You can order for $40 from Benchmade, with a choice of 3 colors for the Sheath.

Atwood's Mini Son of PryThing

This is a very small tool that can be used as a knife, a pry bar, bottle opener, scraper and nail remover, other uses are possible depending on your imagination.

The MSOPT is about 3 inches long and it's made of S30V steel with a satin finish. As the picture shows the tool is really very small and cute. The blade is sharp and can be used to open boxes, cut wire and other jobs. The bottle opener works perfectly and the front of the tool can be used to pry, scrape, clean and remove nails. The only small detail to remember is not to put your thumb over the blade when you use the bottle opener, unless your thumb is very thick or the blade very dull but the blade comes very sharp from Peter's shop.

The MSOPT comes with a cord handle, either rubber or paracord and it has a hole that can be used for a lanyard. They come with a kydex sheath that is setup for neck carry but can also be used in your keychain, in your backpack or dropped inside one of your pockets.

The blade being sharp means you need to store your MSOPT in the kydex sheath to carry it and while the tool is really small it is not so small with the sheath so it may be a little bulky for your keychain.

In short words this is a very very nice and useful little tool that is not only beautiful and cute but also very strong and does many things very well.

You can read more and order for $80 from Peter Atwood's website.

Titanium Key Tool

This is a very small tool made of Titanium, it is shaped as a door key measuring 2 1/2 inches in length and about 1 inch wide.

The tool can be used as a flat head screwdriver, as a bottle opener and to bend wire. The screwdriver works well. Since the top side of the bottle opener is the screwdriver the suface in contact with the bottle cap will be thin so a little extra force is needed compared to other bottle openers but of course this is not an issue since opening a bottle isn't a task that demans a lot of strength.

Made of titanium the tool is very light and stronger than steel with incredible resistance to corrosion. This property makes this a good tool for boating or environments near the sea where corrosion due to salt water may be a big problem. You can put this tool in your keychain and it won't get rusty. It is a little pricey but Titanium is not a cheap material.

You can order for $25 from this site.

Keychain Lock Picker

This is a very small keychain lock-picking tool measuring just 2.25 inches in length it can go in a keychain and won't be noticed among all the normal keys.

The tool has 3 picks and a mini tension tool. The first pick is a car lock pick, a double sided jiggler pick. The second pick is a double bump rake pick that is good for drawers, padlocks and doors the double bump makes the work faster since the chances of hitting the correct pin are doubled when raking.

The third pick is a feeler pick, with just a single bump to set pins individually, this can be used in more difficult locks or for training to detect the individually setting pins.

The tool comes with a small tension tool that can be removed turning a screw, it is good for tension in small locks but won't work with big sturdy locks. Make sure you don't lose the tension tool because otherwise all the picks become useless.

This small tool can be ordered for $6 from this site.

Keychain Screwdriver

This is a very small keychain screwdriver featuring both a flat screwdriver and a philips screwdriver in a small presentation.

The keychain consists of a strong stailess steel flat-style split ring attached to a chain link that is in turn attached to a stainless steel swivel, the swivel is then attached to a small delta-shaped steel chain link. The link is threaded to a small hole in the top part of the screwdriver.

To use it just unscrew the end that you want to use to get either the philips or the flat screwdriver, both of them are small in size, the flat end works well with glasses and can be used as a very small scraping tool or for very light prying. The philips is useful for small philips screws typical in some electronic gadgets. You can remove it from the delta chain link and directly attach it to a split ring for an almost unnoticeable keychain size.

You can get this from this website (from europe) for about $13.50

Swiss Tech Screwball

This is a self-contained spherical screwdriver tool for a keychain.

The body of the tool is made of nylon plastic and the drivers are made from 4140 steel.

It has 8 different drivers: a flat #1 screwdriver, a philips #0, a philips #1, a 3/32'' Allen Wrench, a 1/8'' Allen Wrench, a #10 star wrench, a #15 star wrench, and an eyeglass screwdriver.

The keychain has a split ring and can be dettached from the body of the tool.

Besides being a novelty item this tool will be useful if the drivers it has are useful for your tasks, being a spheric object the grip is usually good as long as you don't need a lot of force, the other drivers stored help the grip and it will not be slippery.

You can order for about $15 from this site.

Atwood's Area 51 Keyton

They Keyton is a small keychain tool inspired in the classic rock climber's "piton".

The keyton is basically a prytool, you can use it to pry things, scrap, sepparate, mix etc. While it seems that a prytool is only useful in very special ocassions the prybaby has demonstrated that it will be a very useful tool in many ocassions. You will be surprised by the number of times that pulling a solid piece of steel from your pocket or keychain is a good idea.

The keyton has two screwdrivers bevels in the handle end that might become handy if you need a screwdriver in a hurry. The tool is made of 1/8'' thick S30V steel, extremely solid and resistant. It weights just 0.8oz and is almost 3 inches long.

You can order for $45 from Peter Atwood's website.

OpenX package opener

Plastic packaging produces more injuries than knives. Cuts, blood in your fingers, broken teeth lead to madness and frustration when you are dealing with one of those "impossible to open" platic sealed packages.

The idea behind the stubborn plastic packages is to make stealing a lot harder, it turns out they make stealing impossible unless you steal the whole package but it makes opening for the legitimate owner the same impossible task.

The open-x is a tool specifically designed to open such packages it has a retractable piercing blade that you use to perforate the plastic and make a small incission (about 1 inch) once you have that incission made you insert the tip of the tool and slide through the plastic cutting it open. The dual-blade design works great and is safe to have around when opening boxes or packages without risk of getting hurt.

Can you do the same with other tools? Probably but the sliding blade is really the ad-hoc tool for opening the plastic packages so if you do that a lot this tool will help you reduce damage to your person and your mental health.

You can read more information at the official website or order for about $5 from Amazon.

Nite-Ize Figure 9

This new product from nite-ize is a rope-tightener and tension tool. It can be used whenever you need to keep rope tigh as for example to close a car trunk, carry something above the car roof, tie boxes together for transportation, camping, boating and other scenarios. It is also suitable for improvised lanyards.

The tool is made of aluminium offering different ways to thread the rope with a dented opening to keep the rope tight. The instructions to thread the rope around the figure 9 are engraved in the tool itself so you don't have to remember anything to use it just loop the cord around the figure 9 and keep it tight.

The tool works up to 50lbs of tension so it is not suitable for rescuing or climbing applications just a tool for general use involving ropes. It works great with paracord and can also be used with utility rope.

You can get it in two sizes, small or big in different presentations with some included rope or not. A single figure 9 retails for $2.50 the small one and $4.50 for the big one. A pack of four small ones with rope costs $9.50 and a pack of 2 large ones with rope $7.50. You can read more in the product webpage or order from Flashlightlens.com.

Sterling Systems Pocket Sharpener

This is a very small and flat pocket sharpener made of stainless steel with a tungsten carbide wedge.

To use the sharpener just place it on a flat surface, a table, a rock, a tree branch etc and then slowly slide the edge of the knife downwards through the carbide wedge.

With almost no pressure and a few passes any respectable knife will be razor-sharp, if the knife blade was very rough you may need some extra passes or apply some extra pressure. The sharpener is very gentle with the edge without leaving marks or creating dangerous dents.

As small as it is you can put it almost anywhere and it will be unnoticeable, a very recommended companion if you frequently use edged tools.

You can read more in the official website. Or you can order it for $12 from TAD Gear.

McFeely's Pocket Wrench II

The Pocket wrench II is a very small tool that can adjust nuts and bolts of different sizes the tool can also be used as a screwdriver, cap lifter, ruler and some other uses that depend on the imagination of the owner. The tool is only 4" long, 1" wide.

The main feature of the pocket wrench is the wrench tool that using a micro serrated edge can handle hex nuts from 3/16" to 11/16". The bodie’s 1/4" hex opening accepts any 1/4" hex power bit, so you can easily drive virtually any style screw. There is also a ruler that can measure up to 5cm or 2 inches useful for measuring screws and bolts if you need replacements.

The pocket wrench is made of 420 steel and is a very strong tool, it can go in a keychain unnoticed and be used to adjust hex nuts as long as they fit and about 90% of the hex nuts you may need to adjust will fit unless you are repairing the Golden Gate Bridge. For prepared individuals, craftmen or as a backup tool the Pocket Wrench is certainly great, it will fit your keychain without a problem and will be ready to be used in many situations.

They can be ordered for $10 from McFeely's website.

Belomo 10x triplet loupe

This small magnifier is a 10x 3 element loupe, commonly used in hobbies, geology and jewelry. They are made in Belarus and are a lot better than the similar jewelry loupes you can get from other brands.

The 10x of course means you get things 10 times bigger when you see them under the loupe, you may think that more power can be better but often in 20x or 30x loupes you can only magnify a very small area and you get a blurry image that shakes a lot so all the details are lost, 10x is usually more than enough for regular jobs.

The lens has 21mm of diameter, 19mm of viewable area which is often twice the area that other pocket loupes offer. The focal distance is 28mm. In case of need the loupe can be disassembled for cleaning.

This very nice pocket loupe can be ordered from $15 to $25 from Geo-Tools.com and they also sell a specialized lanyard to carry the loupe on your neck.

AG Russell's Field tweezers

Tweezers are quite useful items in your kit, they can be used to untie rebel knots, remove splints, remove insect stings, pick up very small items like screws and bolts, etc.

The normal tweezers you can find in SAKs are useful for many tasks but sometimes they are either too small or too weak for your needs. These tweezers from AG Russell are stronger and much more precise than regular tweezers, they are point-ended to be able to pick very small objects from very narrow places the pin-point precision is a huge difference in many tasks.

They come with a small stainless steel sheath that can be put in a keyring so you can remove the tweezers in milliseconds in case of need. If you replace your SAK tweezers with this ones you can use the SAK compartment for a toothpick and have both tools available in an upgraded version.

There are many different manufacturers for this style of tweezers so you can check and order according to your preferences, the ones in the picture came from LightHound for $7.50

SwissTech UtiliKey

This tool has the size of a normal key so you can put it on your keychain and it will be very hard to distinguish from a normal key.

The utilikey can be opened, removed from the keychain and used as a tool, it offers a blade with plain and serrated edge, a phillips screwdriver, a bottle opener, and a small flat screwdriver useful for glasses.

The blade is small but surprisingly sharp. The screwdrivers work well, maybe the small one is too fat. The bottle opener is fine, does the job. The best about this tool is the ability to go absolutely unnoticed with your keys ready to be used if needed.

Two small problems are that sometimes the tool can open accidentally and might fall from your keychain, so you may want to secure it better; a piece of shrinking tube can help. The other problem is that not having a handle makes the tool not so confortable to use, I tend to grab it from the blade and that is not a very good idea if you need to hold it firmly. The price is about $12, you can get it from several stores and read more information in Swisstech's website.

Lee Valley Pocket Screwdrivers

These pocket screwdrivers have the size (and shape) of a quarter. The edge is shaped like a ramp so they can be used for different screw sizes. The range of edge thickness goes from 0.030" to 0.090". They are specially good for flat screws but can be used for Phillips too.

They are certainly more convenient than using a coin, the nails (ouch!) or other objects. You can carry them in a keychain, wallet, etc. The pricing is $7.20 for a dozen and you can read more about this curious item at Lee Valley's web site.

FPS7 Lock Picking tool

Lock-picking is both a useful skill when you are in need and a fun hobby too. The FPS7 Tool by Southern Specialties is a EDCable set of picks and a tension tool packed in a ver small and light aluminium frame.

The tool has 8 different picks for different types of locks and a removable tension tool. I have tested the tool and it is a pleasure to work with, most locks are easily opened and you can't tell the difference with the bigger tools.

The lever that is used to "lock" the pick you select in place is particularly good giving very good tactile feedback while keeping the pick firm. You can check this and other fun lock picking tools at Southern Specialties Website. And if you want to be curious about lock picking you can check the MIT guide to lock picking or visit the site of lock picking hobbysts in the US (http://toool.us/).