Review: Card Sharp -credit card folding safety knife

My fellow blogger Ninja Space Monkey blogged about  getting his monkey-paws on one of these awhile back and I was lucky enough to get one as an early Giftmas present from my partner's boyfriend, who share several interests with me (obviously). He didn't have ANY of the issues in getting it that Mr Space Monkey did, as he acquired it from the improbable http://www.alibaba.com/ a site of dubious renown.

This is the Card Sharp, a credit card sized folding safety knife. 

Unfolded it is a little ungainly, the plastic body is flexible, not only along the folding seams, but also the main parts. It is a polypropylene type plastic, not polyethylene rather than the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic of regular credit cards. The blade is recessed, which adds to the thickness of the unit overall, but also protects the edge, and the user, when it is stored. It locks into "safe" storage with a rotating disk which covers the tip.

A Series of lugs, and lug-holes can be seen on the opposing edges. These lock together when the blade is flipped out, to form the handle and keep the unit fixed in position.

When it is extended, the long thin blade is held quite snugly, and firmly bu the folds of plastic. Small crenelations at the back of the blade give a gripping place, and the folded corner that extends forwards of the blade acts as a subtle guard against fingers slipping forwards onto the surprisingly keen blade. The blade, being very thin, is actually akin to a razor or scalpel, with a very fine point, and whilst feeling very fragile, birdlike even, made quick work of this orange.

This is the kind of "keep in your wallet, purse or binder" blade that comes in handy when you have a box that needs opening, oranges sliced, threads and cloth cut and splinters extracted.

Not very Apocalypse resistant, perhaps, but certainly useful, and worth keeping on hand for those every-day occasions where having a little blade comes in very handy and you can be the hero of the moment, in your own small way.