Review: MetalDreamer - PINCH multitool

Always on the lookout for new and exciting titanium pocket tools, when the Pinch tool came up on Kickstarter, I could hardly restrain myself. Given the very affordable pledge levels I didn't feel bad about chipping in, and was pleased to see an envelope arrive in the mail not too long after. Created and designed by Jeff Morin the Pinch is the smallest tool in the MetalDreamer lineup it is billed as the go-to tool when you're in a Pinch! Cute.

Packing 11 functions into its 1.5" x .5" design, the Pinch has a surprising amount of home-fixit application in mind in one little package.

With a mini pry bar, bottle cap opener, 6-mm hex wrench, wire stripper, nail puller, keychain eyelet, 1” mini scraper, hex driver bit holder, and two flathead screwdrivers. I ordered mine in metric, so it also features a 3cm ruler etched into the scraper side as well.

I opened a few bottles, pried open some tightly sealed tins, and scraped some stickers with it, and it seems to live up to its intent, but the small size makes it quite difficult to apply much torque, but you'd expect that from a tiny keychain tool like this. If you wanted a big prybar, you'd go the County Comm Breacher Bar, or the like. This is a keychain fixit tool, not a dedicated tool-box replacement.

The Pinch was on Kickstarter, and is still only available to backers it seems, but keep an eye out, and look over the other offerings from Metal Dreamer, they have some very pretty, and functional looking designs.

Review: Gerber - GDC hook knife

I love keychain tools, I have quite a bundle in my pocket, so much so that I don't even keep my KEYS on my keychain. One thing I like is to carry a blade to add to my utility, so having a safe, secure and stealthy cutter like the Gerber Daily Carry Hook Knife really adds to my lifesaving potential, in the form of a reliable, easily stowed in my pocket. I added this to my keychain of mini tools, and it's been a very useful addition.

Gerber's idea behind the stainless steel hook blade is simple; it's an ultra-stealthy cutting tool that lives stealthily on a keychain and can be quickly deployed to quickly cut yourself out of a piece of clothing, seatbelt or other safety strap, or do the same for a loved one, or a battle buddy, if you should you ever find yourself in a rough spot. I've also found a number of day to day uses for the little knife. There are plenty of other ways to use a safety knife on a ring.

Using the ring at home, I put it to use opening boxes of goodies and dreaded utility bills. I cut ribbon, opened snack-packs and trimmed tags out of clothes. Out bush I've used it for cutting costs and fishing line, and opened up vacuum sealed food. I even used it to cut long grass for some little weaving craft jobs I was showing off to Tactical Baby and Triceratops Girl with.

At just over 2" long, it's innocuous and barely stands out on my keychain, the cutting edge is secured neatly in the hook, which in turn is stowed away in a small hard nylon friction lock scabbard, with a keychain loop to secure it. I gave one to each of my partners for Giftmas, and they went directly into handbags. One reported that they often found the blade loose in the bag, having come unstuck from its scabbard. A little alarming, but more from a loss perspective rather than risk of accidentally cutting things.

The ring is copper lined, which is a nice accent, and go feels good around the finger, and there are rounded crenellations on the back to give a good thumb lock on it when you are getting ready to do the cutting. The angles all work nicely to allow you to put some real power into the cut. My favourite test materials of paracord and cable-ties, neither of which offered much trouble, singly but due to the small size of the ring and its hook, you wouldn't want to load it up as heavily as you might with a full size rescue hook like the Gerber Crisis Hook. It's easily comparable in cutting power with the Benchmade Figure 5 Cutter

Since it's a pocket sized tool, I don't expect it to be for heavy use, rather for "I just need to cut this little thing, but right now" moments, especially if they are in delicate situations.

Wish-Lust: Kickstarter - PACE lid

 I love modular and multi-purpose kit, and if I can get and everyday piece of equipment like a drink bottle to do double duty adds a significant thumbs-up from me.

This Kickstarter project, from GoRuck badass, and innovating outdoorsman, Chris Way.



This is the PACE lid, and it's Kickstarter is underway.

PACE stands for Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency. When planning for events in life you have to expect that unforeseen things may happen and knowing this is empowering.

The container in the PACE lid is 300mL (10oz), it's deep enough for an ID or credit card as well as a variety of other gear.

The container is 7.6cm (3") in diameter and 5.7cm (2.25") inches deep. There's a small well around the perimeter that can secure items vertically and in place if they are bent, like cards, matches, other gear items. It's a feature Chris designed in and finds very useful in certain loading particular items in.

So far Chris and his team have tested the PACE lid and found it forms a water tight seal on wide mouth Nalgene, Klean Kanteen, Hydroflask, and MSR bottles.   I have a couple of Nalgene's so their perfect for me.

The prototypes seen here are apparently 3D printed, but the production models will be tooled plastics.

As well as the lids themselves, Chris is offering a pre-filled First Aid PACE, stocked with products from MedTraining Group, who specialize in non-permissive First Response fitting and training. 

If you're super keen, high-end backers can also get training and adventure time with the PACE team, so there are all kinds of benefits to backing this project, big or small.

For me though, it's all about the lids, and stowing my gear, wherever I go.

Be sure to check it out and hopefully, we can get it over the line.

Reblogging: >>>ISO NSA EDC pics, Hosting Now<<< -MadDuo4You (Everywhere) pic [x]

Cut and Pasted and swiped wholesale from BreachBang&Clear to boost their signal .....

my EDC was featured in the last picture ... check out my pocket-dump!


>>>ISO NSA EDC pics, Hosting Now<<< -MadDuo4You (Everywhere) pic [x]

If you can decipher the acronyms in the subject, you’re ahead of the game (and you prob'ly Craigslist). Read on to find out how to win $511 credit toward 5.11 Tactical gear.

Mad Duo Merrill's EDC. #madduo #511EDC

We’re hosting a 5.11 giveaway… you just have to send nudes post your EDC. Sharing is caring, and we’re giving it all around. We mean that in a no-homo way. Unless, you know, you're into that, in which case carry on with pride and motivation.  Even though we said NSA, we don’t mean it. We’ll pick one lucky winner for the 5.11 credit…it’s NSA for everyone else.
Rules:

1. You must use the hashtags #madduo #511EDC when posting your EDC pic
2. You can post on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Tumblr, the more places you post- the greater your chances are to win. If you post to our Facebook page, you've still got to use the hashtags.
3. Make sure wherever you post, the picture is set to public
4. Winner will be selected 10/26

Mad Duo David's EDC. #madduo #511EDC

Civilian as F#@k Craig's EDC. #madduo #511EDC

What is EDC? If you're seriously asking that (which is certainly possible) then bring it in, take a knee and allow us to explain. Not too long ago IG blew up with a gearcentric new trend that combines people's natural narcissism with the reach of social media and a burning love for braggadocio. Huge numbers of tactitools and tactards posted vast numbers of pictures in which they claim to carry three pistols, five knives (fixed and folders), two rifles (sometimes an SBR), 11 spare mags, a bottle opener shaped like an animal, a beard comb, brass knuckles, flashlight, some sort of metrotactical key fob and a tactical pen. Typically the only thing missing is an IFAK, a Cerakoted dildo and a pair of custom ben wah balls in AOR2.
If you have seen any of those, then you are probably familiar with the term "Every Day Carry."
Grunts: braggadocio.
So we're clear, we think a bunch of those people are full of shit. Unless you’re a traveling, temple indexing pseudo-Asian magician, we don’t believe anyone carries all that shit every day. EDC is (or should be) legitimate every day carry; it is what you carry with you no matter what.

All the lumens, all the grains, and all the magic. Petty's EDC.

There is of course and another "EDC." That one is Electric Daisy Carnival. Go on and Google image that, you can thank us later… here’s a preview of what to expect from that kind of EDC:

Check out what some more of our minions carry:





Post your #madduo #511EDC pic before 10/25 at 11:59pm EST to enter for your chance to win a $511 credit towards 5.11 Tactical. Good luck!

Mad Duo, Breach-Bang& CLEAR!

Review: Platatac SUP pouch

Here's a very useful pouch that has gone un-sung for a while, but I wear one every day. This is the Platatac SUP II Small Utility Pouch.

It was primarily designed as a pistol magazine pouch, which I got to model with one of the Glock style iCombat CO2 training magazines the SUP mk II can carry a range of items including pistol magazines, multitools or knives, flashlights of up to 1” diameter bezel, flexicuffs and even OC spray if that's your thing.

The pouch has a hook-and-loop removable lid can be adjusted to securely fit items varying in length. There is an internal hard plastic plating within the flap, for one handed operation during the reload or access to your needfuls. Internal elastic retention on the sides allows the SUP mk II to act as a shingle for CQB application. Might not be as tacticool as a TACO pouch but they fully work. I have my second-hand Gerber multitool in one of mine, which lives in the small of my back on one of my rigger belts, everywhere I go.

These low profile pouches are great for storage of quick access items and are small enough to be placed anywhere on your rig without hindrance to your freedom of movement.

The pouch is fitted with PALS/MOLLE attachment system, with a single channel of two rows, one after another (no gape) so you can loop it a couple of ways. Instead of a press-stud closure it has a fiddly hook-field sewn into the bottom webbing loop, and the stiff plastic reinforced tongue has a corresponding field-loop, and a tab of webbing to use as a draw pull. I found this really difficult to set up right, as it was on the opposite side of the tab than I would have expected. This means that to fasten it it has to be doubled over, which made me pretty nervous about how well it attaches.

It's never come loose, even when I have had it rigged for a belt loop, rather than fed through other PALS/MOLLE but I'm just hesitant.

The drainage grommet in the bottom of the pouch nicely frames the needle-nose Gerber pliers, and seats them nicely, and having a good pouch for my multitool has been a crucial part of my EDC. 

Review: Smart Wrench

Here's a little tool that I backed on Kickstarter, and was really expecting big things from. The idea was elegantly simple. A CNC milled titanium ratcheting wrench, with storage for additional drivers built-in the housing. 

It was a relatively small project, and only had low numbers, due in no small measure I suspect to the high price, but at the time I was flush, and eager to add some more multi-capable titanium tools to my collection.

The development was a bit slow, but we had design and prototype pictures along the way, and this is often the case with first-time Kickstarters, so I didn't worry much. Eventually, the tool arrived, and I was really impressed with the beauty of the thing. Smooth lines, lovely graduations and a very smooth screw-on tool housing in the handle. The tool bits were also very nicely produced, and nested really well, without any significant rattle when fully stowed.

The bits included are: 2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 4mm, 5mm hex bits, and a flathead bit, all CNC turned from the same Grade 5 titanium alloy (commonly known as Ti6Al4V) as the rest of the tool.

The extender bar that marries to each of the bits to the wrench body has a rubber o-ring on the tool-mating head, as well as the two sides where the extended marries to the wrench. These bind the bits to the bar, and the bar to the tool by friction, some other users commented eu were disappointed that a ball-bearing indent attachment wasn't offered, but it seems to work well enough for me.

The ratchet has a cute engraving to indicate the direction of ratcheting to use, but here is where the tools biggest fault lies. The ratchet slips extensively, and either doesn't catch at all, or slips under what I would call "normal use" in hand tightening or loosening bolts, screws and the like. 

I was really disappointed with this, and it seems my fellow backers were too. Such a beautifuly put together tool, and when it comes to the primary action, such a disappointment. With some angling, you can get a better or worse ratcheting action, but even then, it's barely functional. 

Considering I'd want to be using for small electronics and devices access, where bolts are often held in with Loctite glue, and need a fair amount of delicately applied torque to initially shift. Outstanding ergonomic and practical design, such a let down for the functional basis of the tool.

Review: Propper 19/67 notebook

 I've been a big fan of digital documentation for quite some time. I was an early adopter of PDA's, with Palm Pilot V and Mitac Mio-168 before settling on iPhones ... Before then I was a firm user of Filofax binders.

Sometimes there is just no substitute for dead-tree edition. Propper were kind enough to send me a set of pocket-sized notebooks in my recent delivery, and I've had one sitting along side my iPhone in my Hazard4 Escape RG harness and beside my passports.

There are times where you just need to be able jot some thoughts down in a way that you can share, or destroy, easily. Take these notes and map: I've got a map, shopping list, a to-do and task management right there. 

I could tear this page out, and take it with me, pass it to a friend, eat, burn or whatever.

The 48 pages are grid printed, and whilst the grids aren't either in fractional cm or inch increments, they are nicely uniform and pleasant to write on. They aren't waterproofed like the pages of a Rite in the Rain notepad, and could even be used as kindling, in a pinch.

Notepads, still not a dead technology, and better yet, they never run our of battery or need software upgrades.

Review: Hardcore Hardware Australia - TWI-02

I signed up for, and was one of four winners in a Hardcore Hardware Australia Facebook competition to take home their new and improved Tactical Writing Implement, the TWI-02. His has been a nice addition to my tactical pen collection. Currently I have the Cybernetic Research labs Tactical pen in my Hazard4 harness, and the Ti2 magnetic pen as part of my daily pocket collection the HHA TWI-02 is a very substantial competitor to what goes in my EDC.

The shaft of the pen is constructed from 6000 series, non-reflective, black anodized aluminium for extreme longevity and wearability, and features a recessed crown for positive thumb control with integrated steel pocket clip. The crown recession is via a series of stepped rings, which gives a very nicely textured grip, without leaving sharp edges to catch on anything. It is 147mm (5.78") long and 14mm (0.55") at its widest, and weighs in at
51g (1.8oz).

At the opposing end of the capped pen, they have incorporated a 46-48 HRC steel ‘ball’ tip for emergency glass breaking and impact applications. 

I've pounded a few things with this, and so far it's held up very well to my tentative testing, with no damage to either the ball, or the housing on the body of the pen. The cap screws down onto the body of the pen at the writing end, giving a very secure connection for when you want to deal out some percussive or pressure point based persuasion, but HHA avoid putting machined threads on the "outside" of the pen, by having a "clip-on" connection when you use the writing end.

There is an O-ring at the writing end to give a full seal making it completely waterproof when the cap is screwed down.

Knurling at key points along the pen aids a positive grip, as does the differing profile through the piece. Coupled with the recessed crown, you can get some really good gripping angles from this, whether you are writing or using the glass-breaker.

A steel clip fixed onto the side around the crown end of the pen is well sculpted and gives a really positive grip to a pocket notepad or wherever you stash your pen.

When it comes time to replace the refill the TWI-02, it will accept standard Parker and Fisher Space Pen refills, but for the life of me I haven't yet worked out how to do this. I think it must be the very tight tolerances that it is put together with, and I'll have to get in touch with the HHA guys when I run out of ink. 

Putting the TWI-02 up against a couple of my other "tactical" pens, the Cybernetic Research Labs pen
and the Ti2 Techliner pen the TWI-02 certainly comes up on top when it comes to imposing presence and size.

I had one attentive reader noted in my Sneak Peak post that the TWI-02 looks considerably like one of the Boker tactical pens and whilst they are very similar I don't think the resemblance is anything other than coincidental, the Tactical Pen world isn't very big.

I really like the feel of it as a pen, and also as an impact tool.

Review: McNett - Gruntline

The Gruntline - braided rubber goodness

As first seen on BreachBangClear. Inexpensive and useful they say, just like me!

Here's an unusual bit of kit that I've recently added to my regular load. I've covered a number of uses for paracord previously, and it's pretty ubiquitous in the preparedness world, but it lacks in some areas. It has very little give, over short lengths, but has a minimum 30% elasticity over long lengths

Usually for smaller elastic jobs
you could use shock-cord
but it's usually not up to big tasks in small diameter cords seen on gear. The usual alternative is to use the metal hook-ended bungee ocky-straps but these have a long history of being flying eye-ball gouging flails of doom.

The Gruntline - Boots, blades and baggies

The good folks at McNett have come up with a solution, the GruntLine. Consisting of braided natural dry rubber tubing, with cords affixed at either end which in turn end with plastic clip hooks. The line is 1.10m (43") long, all told but when stretched out, it will reach up to 2.15m (7'), when all played out.

The braiding gives you as many no-peg points where you can feed and bind up whatever you are wanting to hang. It's just a matter of feeding a part through the braid, and it will bind it up and hold it pretty tight.

The Gruntline - MOLLE storable

The Gruntline is rated for up to 9kg (20lbs) of gear, although the braid-feeding of any single items wont come near to bearing that load, (but when taut they hold tighter). It will hold as many items as you can fit it with, up to that weight limit. I don't know how well the cords are attached to the webbing, as they are secured under loops of rubber, so might be a potential weak point.

As well as acting as a clothesline, and a gear suspender the Gruntline could be put to any number of other uses. McNett also suggest it can be used as a lanyard, and gear retention, but also as a tie-down strap, pack strap. I have been keeping mine fed through three loops of PALS/MOLLE on the side of my pack, so I can have it on-hand wherever I go. They also suggest it could work as an emergency medical tool, for use as an arm sling, I.V. support and even as a tourniquet.

The Gruntline - wrap that hat and conceal your melon

You could also use it as a slingshot elastic, an animal snare and as a natural camouflage holder, much like the netting on a helmet or as part of a ghillie suit.

Those same braids that can be used to secure foliage and other materials to break up your silhouette and conceal yourself. It loops nicely around a hat, so should serve this use well. Even crisscrossed over a pack, or the like, it would give good purchase to attach your foliage coverage. The downsides of the GruntLine are only few; the plastic clips on the ends are pretty narrow, and don't open wide enough to clip over some of the points I tried to use, and there is always the worry that it might give out, or the cord used might give out. However, I've had no such trouble so far, and kept both my eyes, so there is that.

Review: SharpShooter

I saw a cool impact weapon in one of my feeds, and got in touch with its creator, Karate Master Robert Moran,  to see if I could try one out. Master Moran was kind enough to send me one, and I've carried it in my pocket for some time now, and can give you my thoughts. This is the SharpShooter keychain and what I can tell you about it.

The keychain consists of four distinct components. The core element is the paracord that runs through the center. This is doubled up and serves as the main conduit for the Sharp Shooter's action.

Knotted at one end, a length of steel tubing, covered in a silicone sleeve for grip is set up to run freely, apart from a silicone gasket, which pins it in place as a friction lock.

A steel o-ring is looped into the main paracord loop and is used as the retention system for the keychain, and its as easy to use as wearing a ring. Being free-floating the ring and the steel tube can slide freely. 

The last component is the keychain component, which features a steel oval screw link as you might find in climbing or in boating. It holds your keys in a nice tight bunch, ready to open your doors, or perhaps offer a face-full of "please unhand me, uncouth ruffian" as needed.

The idea of the keychain is to offer an alternate means of carrying your keys as well as offering a flexible weapon, that unobtrusively sits in your pocket or purse.

Master Moran offers an instructional DVD as well as on-site training at his Dojo. The tool works by cinching up the pipe all the way to the top of the knot, up near the screw-link, and by slipping the toggle back, you can transition from a downward strike with the pipe as a pressure point tool, but which a flick of the wrist, you can "shoot" out the keys, to form an impromptu flail or mace. 

The ring keeps it secure and locked into your grip, but subtly enough that it certainly doesn't LOOK like you have anything other than a set of keys dangling over your knuckles. 

I have tried the flick and swipe techniques, and the strikes with the pipe piece a couple of times, on a couple of different materials, and with some of the techniques I remember being shown by Sensei Guest at a Bujinkan winter camp in flexible weapons, I could see how this could give you a very game-changing strike in a last-ditch self defense situation.

I'd suggest you check your local concealed weapons laws, but if you fancy adding a little something to your EDC to give you an edge, that doesn't raise a lot of eyebrows, for the otherwise noncombative members of your family, this might well be something to look into.

Review: RaidOps - TM-Joe & MF-Delta

Check out these bad boys! I got in touch with a long time source of Wish-Lust for me from RaidOps out of Korea.

They make a wide range of titanium impact tools, knives and hard-wearing and multi-function pieces of wearable art. The two items that I got are the triangular MF-Delta and the evil platypus skull shaped TM-Joe.

Both are made of grade 5 titanium, and are double heat-treated to over 500oC to achieve HRC 50-52. They are finished in a dark-brown patina.

The TM-Joe is 84mm (3.31") x 58mm (2.2") x 5mm (0.2"), weighs in at 42g (1.5oz) and features 11mm (5/16") nut holes in the "ears" and nose" with a smaller, 9mm nut hole adjacent to the larger one in the nose. The very tip of the tool is shaped to act as a pry-bar, with nail-pull at the center. The pry-bar is not chisel edged, so there is no fear of cutting things accidentally, but will limit that "first bite" width needed to get a pry happening.

As well as the mean looking eye-holes, there is a lanyard hole in the middle of the top of the piece which mates with the RaidOps Quick Release attachment clip, a small piece of polycarbonate plastic with two rounded pinching surfaces that fill the lanyard hole, and hold with sufficient force to prevent any accidental dislodging.

A quick forceful tug and the tool comes away in the hand, ready for action. Both tools feature attachment points for the Quick Release mount, and come with a standard ball-and link chain.

The MF-Delta is made from the same Grade 5 titanium alloy with it's dark brown finish.It measures  61mm (2.4") x 70mm (2.76") x 5mm (0.2"), and weighs 31g (1.09oz), 31g (1.09oz). It features two hex driver cutouts, one of which also doubles as a bottle opener. It also features a single 7mm bolt hole, but has four lanyard holes in its middle, and another at one tip.

The MF-Delta, being shorter and more evenly dimensioned is a little less obtrusive to the eye, where as the TM-Joe is more stylized to look like a piece of art. Neither are bladed, with all the edges being rounded if not fully milled. Even compared to the NukoTool Skully or the Nuko ACDT they look more like jewelry or abstract art than an impact weapon.
When snapped off their neck-lanyards, both the MF-Delta and TM-Joe fit both snugly and safely in a palmed fist, those rounded edges don't dig, nick or snag.

The rounded "necks" of both tools quickly slip around the inter digital gaps between fingers, giving you a really secure grip, and bracing against the palm to let you drive them with considerable force into whatever you felt the need to. I put some pretty effortless divots into furniture around the house, with a very satisfying sound. I found that the grips were probably the smoothest and best fitting for my hands that I've encountered for this kind of tool. Great thickness and width of contact points and sufficient aperture to be held naturally.

Worn around the neck, or attached to a keychain, these innocuous tools are both elegant to look at, have a beautiful finish and even a "chime" when struck, I have been really pleased to add them to my collection, and will probably keep one on me whenever I travel, not to mention visit anywhere that regular defensive items might be frowned on.












Be sure to check with local regulations and legislation when it comes to this kind of item. It would be an easy enough thing to confirm, rather than falling foul of LEO's just doing their job. Being booked, fined or incarcerated won't help your ability to respond to an emergency, so be smart.


But be smart with gorgeous looking items that work well and are robust, like the RaidOps tools!