Sharp Sharp Go! July 2016 We Scoured the Country To
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Sharp sharp 2 In the Faroe Islands in Denmark there’s a saying: “A man without a knife is a man without a life.” This month we test knives, multitools and sharpeners Pop the star and flat for fishermen, surfers, screwdriver bits in here rescue personnel 3 when needed. and more. WORDS NICK DALL PICTURES JAMES 1 GARAGHTY KNIVES 1 ARS 210DX a thick branch. A serious bargain. whole thing weighs only 51 g and trademark ring-lock mechanism Pruning Saw About R180 at most agricultural the blade is made from good- and the classic handle shape, My apple-farmer uncle gave co-ops or online at pruning quality Chinese steel. Snug in its but the 8 cm stainless steel me one of these folding saws tools.co.za nylon sheath, it’s just what you need blade now incorporates a wire for Christmas a few years back. for your tackle box or your belt. stripper and a wire cutter at its Made by Japanese brand ARS, it 2 CRKT Clark R285 at sharpedge.co.za heel, and there are star and flat has a tough, injection-moulded Fork Fishing Knife screwdriver bits stowed in the handle and a vicious chrome- Whether you’re preparing bait or 3 Opinel No. 9 handle. Simply pop them into plated blade. It’s popular in vlekking your catch at the end of DIY Knife the magnetised bit-holder in the the vineyards and orchards of a hard day’s fishing, a fisherman Iconic French brand Opinel has butt of the durable polyamide South Africa, but it’s also great needs a knife that is long, slender just added another string to their handle if you want to use them. for domestic gardening or as a and sharp. This one uses an inno- bow. At first glance this appears to R410 at leading outdoor and bush saw in the bundu. You’d vative folding mechanism that I’ve be a standard No. 9 folding knife, speciality retailers or direct be amazed how easily the never seen before, to fit a 15,5 cm but closer inspection reveals a from the supplier at 16 cm blade glides through blade into a 12,5 cm handle. The handful of secrets. It’s still got the awesometools.co.za 84 July 2016 GEAR KNIVES & MULTITOOLS We put each knife through its paces by chopping biltong and slicing and dicing oranges. Then we gave it a rating out of five. BILTONG ORANGES CRKT Clark Fork 3,5 5 Opinel No. 9 DIY 4 4 Cape Union Fitch 3 2,5 Buck 818 Apex 3,5 3 (too short) Bossie Hunter #5 5 5 5 4 6 4 Cape Union Fitch The tanto shape does reduce the holds an excellent edge and This fixed-blade hunting knife Paracord Knife usable cutting surface, however: is corrosion-resistant. The liner is full tang, which means the This mean-looking knife is made Between it and the serrated section lock is sturdy and the anodized blade extends all the way to the from corrosion-resistant 440 at the heel, there’s less than 4 cm of aluminium handle cuts down on back of the handle. It’s made from stainless steel, making it great conventional blade. It comes with the overall weight. It has a pocket top-notch Austrian N690 steel and for watery pursuits. The handle a decent sheath and a length of clip and a carabiner to attach to it features a Dymondwood handle: grip is provided by paracord orange paracord so you can tie it your belt loop or key ring so it will a high-grade plywood commonly wrapping: The idea is that you to your boat or belt. always be at hand. used to make rifle butts. The knife can unwrap the cord and use R450 at capeunionmart.co.za R700 at duesouth.co.za sits so snugly in your hand that it in an emergency. The knife it feels like an extension of your itself is made from a single 5 Buck 818 Apex 6 Bossie Knives arm, and the blade is unbelievably piece of metal so there’s little This tiny folding knife weighs only Hunter #5 sharp. This is the kind of knife that chance of it breaking. The pointy 48 g, but still features a 6,6 cm blade. Fritz Boshoff, aka Bossie, has been will become an heirloom. It comes tip of the blade is what knife Like all Buck knives, it’s made from making bespoke knives at his forge with a leather sheath. aficionados call a tanto blade. high-carbon 420HC steel, which in Clarens for a decade and a half. R2 650 at bossieknives.co.za July 2016 85 GEAR KNIVES & MULTITOOLS THREE KNIFE RULES 1 A knife is only as good as the steel it’s made from. You get what you pay for. 2 A good-quality flat blade 8 should be able to cut just about anything. Serrated blades were only invented for cutting rope. 3 No matter how sturdy the locking mechanism, a folding knife will always be weaker 7 than a full-tang fixed blade. The Gerber Suspension Multitool comes with this folding knife. 9 There are two knives (plain is mature enough for the extra and serrated) and a saw. Although responsibility. Installing the they’re sharp, they’re on the short knife is surprisingly easy, but it side so it’s a good thing they’ve can only be done once so you’d thrown in a proper knife. The tool better be sure the time is right. also has flat and star screwdrivers, The tool pivots around the MULTITOOLS can and bottle openers, and a tiny needle-nose pliers and wire 7 Cape Union 8 Gerber Suspension but functional pair of scissors. Given cutters, which unfortunately Cutlery Set Multitool + Mini all this, it’s easy to forgive the fact aren’t spring-loaded. There are Given the meagre price tag, I Paraframe Combo that the tool is on the heavy side also four lockable tools: a Phillips was impressed with this little This good-value kit combines a and the nylon sheath is a bit flimsy. screwdriver, scissors, a saw and fella. The tool splits down the decent, mid-sized multitool and a R900 at duesouth.co.za the aforementioned knife. Other middle so you can use the fork small folding knife that is similar in tools include tweezers, a bottle in one hand and the spoon or design to the Buck Apex featured 9 Leatherman Leap opener and a flat screwdriver. the knife in the other. (Open the on page 85. The multitool is built Leatherman’s first multitool The Leap comes in blue, green fork before trying to separate it.) around a pair of spring-loaded designed specifically for kids is and red and is designed to fit In addition to the trio at its core, needle-nose pliers, which include like a bike with training wheels. snugly in smaller hands. What’s it also features a small knife, a a rather robust wire cutter. In It’s a fully functional tool with one more, all the tools (apart from bottle opener, a can opener and addition to the pliers, there are a notable omission: The main knife the pliers) are accessible when a corkscrew. The duck-egg colour further nine tools, all of which are blade is packaged separately so the tool is closed. scheme is nice. lockable – quite something at this that Mom or Dad can add it once R1 000 at capeunionmart. R125 at capeunionmart.co.za price point. Junior has proved that he or she co.za 86 July 2016 10 Leatherman 11 Victorinox Crater c33Sx Rescue Tool Ride the wave with this tool Victorinox spent years consulting designed for surfers. The lockable with firemen, paramedics, policemen blade measures 6 cm in total and is and other first responders to design half-serrated, half-flat. Other tools a tool that comes into its own at the include a ¼" flat screwdriver and a scene of a car accident. It includes 3/32" hex key (also called a fin key) three blades, although none is what for dealing with the standard screws you would call conventional. The used to mount fins to a surfboard. lockable main blade features wavy There’s also a carabiner that doubles serrations to slice through the rubber as a truly exceptional bottle opener. seal on the side of a windscreen The entire tool is made from salt- (it’s also good at cutting normal resistant 420HC steel and it’s coated stuff), while the other two blades with black oxide powder – the are designed to cut seat belts and sole purpose of which is to make shatterproof glass respectively. it look rad. There’s also a glass breaker in the R1 370 at leading outdoor and butt of the knife, screwdrivers and speciality retailers or direct from the a reamer/punch, not to mention a supplier at awesometools.co.za toothpick and tweezers. The glass breaker and the glass saw are re- 10 place able and the yellow plastic parts of the tool are designed to glow in the dark. Check out goo.gl/On3fCr for a video of the tool in action. 11 R900 at trappers.co.za; sharpedge.co.za 12 Leatherman Crunch When closed, the Crunch looks like any other Leatherman, but 12 open it and you’ll realise you’ve got something different in your hands. Assembling it for the first time requires a bit of head-scratching, but this is soon forgotten.