My take on EDC (by lister)

[Zed]

Im the same thith manbags ,now bumbags  i wear one at work,its a joggers small one and very flush fitting,i keep a small torch,farmer ,pen,and a key for the lift door,works well as frees my cargo pockets for tones of latex gloves 

[Aloha]

Im the same thith manbags ,now bumbags  i wear one at work,its a joggers small one and very flush fitting,i keep a small torch,farmer ,pen,and a key for the lift door,works well as frees my cargo pockets for tones of latex gloves 

Oh if we're talking work gear then space it not an issue for me its weight at that point.   I carry a loaded tool belt with attached pouches with suspenders to help with the load. 

[Zed]

  i was the same on my maintenance job,although ive been thinking about using a bumbag in normal life  problem is ill over weigh it 

[glorn]

I started with a backpack.. A small day pack type. That was more or less what I lived out of.

When cycling became my principal means of transport, a messenger bag took that spot.

When a truck became my new means of transport, I was kind of in limbo for a bit until I saw the Maxpedition Fatboy bag a friend was using. The organization was just brilliant, and I didn't really like my messenger bag off bike that much.

This worked well for me save for water carry. Truth be told though I never was 100% in love  with the "man bag" looks of it though. Shoulder bag.. Long strap.. Always flinging it around to retrieve things. Eh. Great bag mind you, just not me.

Ultimately the lack of water carry killed it for me.

I am back to a day pack now. Right where I started. A Sitka from Maxpedition, so technically a sling bag, but for all intents and purposes a one strap day pack.

Maybe I am biased, but I never think "man bag" when I see a guy with a day pack of any sort. I do groan a little if I see one festooned with blood type and a flag and some militant slogan "humor" catchphrase on a man over 30 at the grocery store. I am of the mind that even a bag with MOLLE should be considered in terms of color and accessory taste when worn by a grown man outside a war zone or off an air soft park. But I digress.

Pocket carry, my friends! If you can manage. Bum bag away if you haven't a care for stares! Rock that day pack if you don't mind the sore shoulder!

If it makes you happy, who am I to judge.

But I will poke fun if you look like Airsoft Rambo in flip flops at the check out. And I might snicker if you actually have one of those true designer Hollywood man purses.

[NKlamerus]

Still Waiting for some Philosophizing (spelling way off?) 

[tommywp]

Great thread. I too exclusively pocket carry and obsess on figuring out the best set up.

The key to my whole system is that I don't carry a dedicated folder and my primary tool is carried in the far side of my back left pocket with a bandana filling the rest of the space to keep the tool vertical. The tool doesn't get sat on in that portion of the pocket and sitting on the bandana isn't uncomfortable.

The tool can't be too thick. I favor a 2-3 layer Alox SAK with the lanyard sitting inside the folded bandana to help keep it in place (see picture) or a Skeletool with the pocket clip removed and the bandana flipped 90 degrees so that its taller and skinner. Believe it or not, the Skeletool is a more comfortable carry in jeans then the 3 layer Alox SAK.  If you wear very loose pants this might not work too well, but for me the SAK or Skeletool stays in place incredibly well. I also only use my tool a few times a day and the carry method might not be great for a more frequent user.

Wallet goes in the back right pocket and phone in the front left. That leaves the front right pocket for keys on a suspension clip and the rest of my EDC.

When wearing slacks I go with a SAK Pioneer in the back left, a AAA flashlight on the keys clipped to the front right pocket (picture), with  maybe a 58mm SAK Manager on the keys too (but I've been finding even that too be a little much lately).

When wearing jeans I go with the Skeletool in the back left, Style CS/Brewzer/AAA flashlight in the coin pocket, and keys clipped to the front right pocket. Sometimes I'll also get rid of the small AAA and clip a Preon 2 penlight to the right pocket and let the keys fall to the bottom of the pocket. I also dream about replacing the Style CS and Brewzer with a custom SAK that was just scissors, saw, bottle opener, and can opener ground in to a technicians screwdriver ...but it would need to be an 84mm SAK so that it didn't stick out the top of the coin pocket.

Still trying to figure out my shorts carry...but currently thinking a Farmer SAK in the back left, and keys and a Squirt PS4 clipped to the front right pocket. But I'm not liking the loss of the flashlight. Thinking that keys, the Squirt, and a Veleno Quantaum D2 on the keychain might be doable but not sure how much less bulky that's really going to make the front pocket (as opposed to the AAA). Also thinking about replacing the Squirt and Farmer with a custom 3 layer Alox SAK but that would end up costing me the saw and pliers which I'm also not liking.

When I'm  doing yard work or heavier chores I generally wear Dickies carpenter pants. My MUT gets clipped to my  front right pocket, a AA flashlight gets clipped to the carpenter pocket and a Pirranha falls to the bottom of the carpenter pocket. I added Swisscard  scissors and tweezers to the MUT (someone elses idea) and ground the punch in to a small screwdriver (someone else's idea too) and really think it's a great around the house tool. Now if I could just replace the MUT carbon scrapper with a stronger awl 

[Obi1shinobee]

I decided that I would like to start my own EDC thread, and this is it. 

So now what? Well I'll start with a group picture of my edc items (my htc desire z is missing from the picture since the picture is not its selfie  ):


Ok, so there aren't so many cool gadgets in my EDC as in some I could mention, but there are some unique ones. 

In following posts I'll be adding pictures of individual parts of my edc with brief explanation what they are, what I use them for and so on. But the pace will be slow as I am quite pressed for time lately. I mentioned some of these items before and I'll add links to the previous descriptions.

A word of caution dough, I am bound to do some light philosophising on the subject of EDC so bear with me, or just ignore that parts if you cant. 

+1

[lister]

It's been pointed out in I failed to do all the philosophising I threatened you with at the start of this thread. So after a long pause off we go to some light ramblings about the effects of mass on movement  .

Mass of all the stuff we carry can be annoying. When we are expose to gravity, as most of us are every day (any astronauts around here? ), the mass gains weight that can get in the way really quickly. At this point note that I talk about mass and not just the weight. Of course too much weight tiers us out and makes it hard to move. In additon there are problems even without all the mucking around with gravity we usualy. The more mass an object has the harder it is to change its velocity.  That means the more you carry the harder it is to accelerate and decelerate and to make turns as all of your mass wants to continue to move in the same direction and at the same speed. So the less mass you have to edc the better.

In addition to the liner movements we do a lot of rotational movement. When we walk we swing our legs and arms as a sort of a double pendulum in a rotary movement and if we place some of our edc on our extremities the edc is of course moved in the same fashion. The equivalent of the mas moving linearly for the rotary movement is the moment of inertia. It is the product of mass and the second power of the distance of the center of that mass to the axis of rotation. So it is important for the ease of movement to place the mass as close to the axis of rotation as possible. In other words anything that is on your legs must be as close to the hip as possible and anything on your arm as close to the shoulder as possible. If that is not possible the item must be as light as they can be (light shoes and wrist watches anyone? ). It is also important to be aware of the fact that if you carry something twice further from the joint the resistance to movement increases fourfold! Also the torque increases the further you get from the joint but not with the power of two.

Also, here is the Vitruvian man with some graphs for the moment of inertia and the torque : :   




 
I hope to get the next instalment up much sooner...

[lister]

Anyone want to guess what this is supposed to be? 

[zoidberg]

A sewing awl? 

[NKlamerus]

Tattoo needle?

[lister]

Yes it is an sewing awl but also a possible upgrade to my sewing kit.

It should be about 5 cm long and accept sewing needles form a sewing machine. The upper part of the body is still a thimble, the same as with my current setup. On the inside of the body There should be some kind of spool with severe separations for different threads and a hole in the middle for storing needles and the res of the stuff. I didn't design the spool yet that's why it is not on the picture.
The thimble is supposed to be screwed on to the body but I didn't manage yet to draw the threads in the FreeCAD.

I will be needing some advice form someone who knows a bit about lathes, as I imagine this could be made on a lathe? Maybe from someone that made custom flashlights (am I wrong or do we have a member or two with such experience?  )?   

[zoidberg]

Make plenty of them, I want one and I'm sure others will too. 

[lister]

Make plenty of them, I want one and I'm sure others will too. 

If I get around to doing an actual prototype and if it works well I will get a few more made if anyone will be interested.

[lister]

This is how the sewing awl and the spool might look like:

[lister]

And the awl assembled:

[lister]

I have a question for mods: If I open a new thread about my sewing awl with questions about designing it further am I breaking forum rules? Do I need subscription for the multi tool think tank? 

[pfrsantos]

I have a question for mods: If I open a new thread about my sewing awl with questions about designing it further am I breaking forum rules? Do I need subscription for the multi tool think tank? 

You mean... There are rules for opening threads?!...

 

[lister]

I have a question for mods: If I open a new thread about my sewing awl with questions about designing it further am I breaking forum rules? Do I need subscription for the multi tool think tank? 

You mean... There are rules for opening threads?!...

 

Well I don't know that is why I am asking. We do have multi tool think tank subforum where you can't open new threads If you are not a member of no life club. And what I am doing is kind of designing a new tool so... ? 

[ToolJoe]

I keep my pocket carry to a minimum now. Phone in my left pocket and Crater or Tinker, wallet and cheapstick in my right pocket. Keys get clipped to a belt loop.

[zoidberg]

I have a question for mods: If I open a new thread about my sewing awl with questions about designing it further am I breaking forum rules? Do I need subscription for the multi tool think tank? 

Open your thread.    I will take the heat if there is any.

[pfrsantos]

I have a question for mods: If I open a new thread about my sewing awl with questions about designing it further am I breaking forum rules? Do I need subscription for the multi tool think tank? 

Open your thread.    I will take the heat if there is any.

I'd say if you can open a thread in a sub-forum, you can open a thread in that sub-forum. Anyway, Z-man as got your back so I'd say you're safe!

 

[lister]

Open your thread.    I will take the heat if there is any.

I sent a PM to Grant about this. So if all goes well no heat will need be taken. 

[lister]

So I have a new addition to my edc:



Ok, so it is nothing spectacular, it is a travel belt. But it is useful, not just for the obvious reason (holding my pants up) but also because I added a zipper to the inner side so I can store stuff inside. I use it to store 100€ and 50€ banknotes taped inside two plastic sleeves and 10 2€ coins. So this sums up to 170€ of backup cash. It already came in handy a few times. The only problem is you need to find a private space to take the money out. You can imagine that it would get weird quick if you had to pay for something and you started undoing your belt to that end. 


Good thing is that to the outside it look just like a normal belt so nobody will accuse you of being batman or is likely to steal it from you. If anyone is going to make one for him/herself Just make sure that the zipper pull ends next to the belt buckle when the zipper is closed. That way the zipper pull wont rub against your waist.

[twiliter]

Sorry to interrupt fellas, I'm a pocket carry minimalist type, but this thing looks kinda Batman cool >> https://www.leatherman.com/tread-425.html , and paired with an Apple watch would be a fairly portable complete package? I don't wear jewelry of any type, it drives me insane, but the ideas are cool. 

Of course any Swiss Army options are always my preferred route... 

Very good reading on this thread! 

[Leathermended It!]

I've found that I don't like really complicated small edc packages. I couldn't carry a pocket organiser because In my job I frequently need to use a tool and get back to work fast, I can't spend time trying to re-organise my gear. I like to sheath carry my multitool, and I also carry medium to large tools. My normal carry is an Ontario Rat 1, Streamlight Stylus Pro, Leatherman Core or Wave, Paper Napkins, and "dog spray". Living in Canada, I'm constantly dealing with Robertson head screws, so the sheath carry really helps to organise that system.

[lister]

I am not sure that you will be able to put the tread to any watch but it would definitely be coll if you could. I would combine it with this watch if I had enough funds:

https://azfinetime.wordpress.com/2013/06/14/casio-pro-trek-manaslu-prx7001t-7-review/

But the price would be steep: 950 usd for the watch + import charges + falling value of the euro + 200 for the tread... 

My stile of EDC is not well suited for someone who needs the tools really fast. But it offers me a way of carrying an absurd amount of absurd stuff without anyone noticing it if I don't want them to. 

[lister]

Yeah, I am resurrecting this thread.

I figured out that you can stash a sewing needle with a pre-threaded piece of thread wound around the needle (the end of which should be glued to prevent it unwrapping). I don't know if I am the first to come up with the idea, probably not, but I guess I found a use for the hook... 


Also, I reali must make a post about my current EDC, as it has changed somewhat. 

[lister]

I could't attach this image before I got to my computer so:

[lister]

And this is my current basic (basic as in the stuff in my pants pockets). The image is not the best as it was taken by my phone, but that is all the photographic equipment I have... 


Anyway, I simplified my system a bit.

The keychain is still hangs from my belt loop, tucked in my left pocket, but I removed the sheat, and some tools. The flashlight got a sheath (variation on the theme of my hooded sheath from my early days on this forum) and a clip so I can carry it clipped on the back of my left pocket.

The LM mini tool and the lighter reside in my coin pocket. I lost the denim superglued cap I used to heave on my lighter somewhere in France...

The SAK is new. It is the fieldmaster with the plus scales. I exchanged the pin for a bit bigger sewing needle with a piece of string tied trough the eye so I can get it out of the slot. And as mentioned earlier I keep a small sewing needle with a length of a thread under the hook. I carry the sak cliped to the back of my right pocket. The front is reserved for my phone.

The shortened and fake pocket wrench is normally in my left back pocket.

I still haven't gotten around to making a better sewing kit. The old one is on the keychain tucked in the black web tube held in by a chinese finger trap effect. And that's all for now.