The Cap Lifter Rage Thread

[Happy Gilmore]

I'm just.....maybe I'm overreacting...but why do companies consistently sacrifice structural integrity of a tool to add a flipping CAP LIFTER!

Seriously? Who here is unable to get a cap off a bottle without assistance from a dedicated tool?? If so, go to YouTube and learn of the 100000000 alternative methods for doing the same flipping thing!

/end rant

This mostly came because I found an amazing multitool that is significantly worse because of the cap lifter addition.



Correct me if I'm wrong..but this makes the tool a lot worse right?

[RF52]

It must have a cap lifter to qualify as a multitool

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[Happy Gilmore]

It must have a cap lifter to qualify as a multitool

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If all the manufactures got this memo, I'm going to kill the sender....

[RF52]

It seems they already have
My Gerber wallet even has a cap lifter

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[Rapidray]

It must have a cap lifter to qualify as a multitool

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Good one 

[Rapidray]

Well it does have the screwdriver and pry bar so why not make the bottle cap  opener with it. Three tools in one.

[Myron]

Honestly, I like bottle openers and use them even when the bottle cap is a twist-off.   Also being brutally honest here, I'd never, ever, carry that "multitool" or mini-ratchet thing or whatever it is that is the original subject of this post.  I mean honestly, what is that thing actually useful for?   The bottle opener looks like the best part of it.   Just my 2 cents; no offense or judgment intended.

Myron

[Happy Gilmore]

Cap lifting is an action, not a tool imo. Hell... I see caplifters even on shovels..   

[spudley112]

Just to make your life complete, I am going to design a caplifter that attaches to a rifle bayonet lug, and another you can snap onto the rails of your Glock.

[Huntsman]

It must have a cap lifter to qualify as a multitool

You may - But this certainly seems to be Leatherman's philosophy - Check out their tools/models !!! Hard to find one without a BO

Talking of LM - My cap-lifter rant is about the useless Squirt BO - Which seems to prefer ripping a cap to pieces rather than lifting it off the bottle 

[Jaypeebee]

 ........ About the Squirt, pretty useless!

[Gerhard Gerber]

Back in the day any self respecting Land Rover had to have an old style cap lifter from a cooldrink fridge fitted at the rear 

[Myron]

Back in the day any self respecting Land Rover had to have an old style cap lifter from a cooldrink fridge fitted at the rear 

Actually mine has a hole in it below the right tail lamp that I've been thinking of "fixing" with a bottle opener. 

[Mike 56]

I grew up in the days of returnable bottles I  always carried a pocket knife a Camp King or a Buck knife my bottle opener of chose was house key or a coin. On the other hand beer and soda cans before pull tabs, most ice chests had a church-key tied to it. 

[Rapidray]

Actually mine has a hole in it below the right tail lamp that I've been thinking of "fixing" with a bottle opener. 

(Image removed from quote.)

Ouch...

[Myron]

Haha, yes, it sucked when it happened but I'm over the feeling of profound stupidity now.    I really had been thinking of patching it with a reinforcing plate on the inside, and mounting a bottle opener to this plate.  Two birds, one stone.  I mean, as Gerhard points out, it's almost de rigueur for an old Landy.   

[cody6268]

With one-piece tools, particularly those with a prying function in mind, I find it pretty silly. It adds an extra feature., but compromises its ability to do heavy prying without bending. As well, quite often, the tool doesn't work. It's basically there to up the function count. And, use as such may damage the tool. I've always been irked by the fact CRKT advertises the KERT/Raker Ring Tool as a bottle opener. It's a cutter, and a cutter only. I like it and my Pocket Wrench II for one reason. They do their jobs well, and have no extra junk. The PocketWrench, small, tough (I have the Chrome Vandanium version), and only has a wrench, 1/4 bit driver, and pry function. It's been out of production for some time, and only the knockoffs are available.  The Raker--1/4 driver, tank key, and cutter. As well, it's an effective, compact tool. And the CRKT version (as I have) is cheap.

In terms of openers on a well-known tool, my biggest complaint is the Leatherman Mini Tool. Within the handle extensions is a can opener and bottle opener--can't do either worth a hoot.

[Sos24]

I especially hate when they add a bottle opener that doesn’t even work very well.  If you are going to put a bottle opener, or any tool for that matter, make sure it is functional. Include a tool that doesn’t work is even worse than not including the tool at all.

[spudley112]

No one can argue that one of the finest, most useful and sought-after knives was made WAY more useful by the addition of a cap liter!! This knife had it all...a fine mystery stainless steel blade with a heat treat that could cut through most major brands of butter...loosely attached to a hollow handle made from beer can class aluminum. The hollow handle came with the tools one would need to rebuild society in the wake of nuclear war, and it had a compass in the butt that pointed in a direction most of the time...sometimes North! All of this was housed in a sheath made of "linoleum leather" that would hold up to the rigors of...well, not much. In the pouch was a sharpening stone that I am convinced was just a piece of pumice so you could grind away any callouses.

[RF52]

No one can argue that one of the finest, most useful and sought-after knives was made WAY more useful by the addition of a cap liter!! This knife had it all...a fine mystery stainless steel blade with a heat treat that could cut through most major brands of butter...loosely attached to a hollow handle made from beer can class aluminum. The hollow handle came with the tools one would need to rebuild society in the wake of nuclear war, and it had a compass in the butt that pointed in a direction most of the time...sometimes North! All of this was housed in a sheath made of "linoleum leather" that would hold up to the rigors of...well, not much. In the pouch was a sharpening stone that I am convinced was just a piece of pumice so you could grind away any callouses.

(Image removed from quote.)

good one!

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[Top-Gear-24]

No one can argue that one of the finest, most useful and sought-after knives was made WAY more useful by the addition of a cap liter!! This knife had it all...a fine mystery stainless steel blade with a heat treat that could cut through most major brands of butter...loosely attached to a hollow handle made from beer can class aluminum. The hollow handle came with the tools one would need to rebuild society in the wake of nuclear war, and it had a compass in the butt that pointed in a direction most of the time...sometimes North! All of this was housed in a sheath made of "linoleum leather" that would hold up to the rigors of...well, not much. In the pouch was a sharpening stone that I am convinced was just a piece of pumice so you could grind away any callouses.

(Image removed from quote.)

You know, we can laugh about those knives, but the inventor of that specific type of knife must have done quite well for himself. 

I mean, back when I was like 8 or 10 years old, all of my friends had one of those, and I was over the moon when my father got me one (my mother on the other hand wasn't very happy about that).

And I would like to think that, even though it was a piece of cr*p, it did pave the way for some more serious knives for a lot of boys back then, and at least, we learned how to handle a knife when we were young, and to look at it as not just a knife, but a tool as well.

Who of us (who owned one of these) hasn't used the two rings with the foldable saw (read, piece of thin metal wire) that was inside the handle. Or the fishing gear, or indeed, that "50% chance of pointing north" compass.  Yes, we could handle anything as long as we had our knife  .

Great memories... 

[Rapidray]

 
It also gave us a standard to judge other knives!

[Myron]

OMG, I remember these Rambo-style "survival" knives so well!  Great mini-review, Spudley.

And others who have pointed out that the only thing worse than a superfluous bottle opener is a superfluous bottle opener that doesn't even work are exactly right.  I really only bother with SAKs these days, so when we talk about bottle openers that's where my mind tends to go. 

This is a great thread.

[Sawl Goodman]

Not a happy Gilmore here! (Sorry! Couldn't resist.)

Have you damaged a flat SD because of the cap lifter? I've got no problem with the cap lifter in the flat SD of SAKs. I use my tools within the limits I imagine them to have, and I think the pivot pins would fail before the tool itself would.

[Sos24]

No one can argue that one of the finest, most useful and sought-after knives was made WAY more useful by the addition of a cap liter!! This knife had it all...a fine mystery stainless steel blade with a heat treat that could cut through most major brands of butter...loosely attached to a hollow handle made from beer can class aluminum. The hollow handle came with the tools one would need to rebuild society in the wake of nuclear war, and it had a compass in the butt that pointed in a direction most of the time...sometimes North! All of this was housed in a sheath made of "linoleum leather" that would hold up to the rigors of...well, not much. In the pouch was a sharpening stone that I am convinced was just a piece of pumice so you could grind away any callouses.

(Image removed from quote.)

Awesome description that is accurate.

[Happy Gilmore]

Not a happy Gilmore here! (Sorry! Couldn't resist.)

Have you damaged a flat SD because of the cap lifter? I've got no problem with the cap lifter in the flat SD of SAKs. I use my tools within the limits I imagine them to have, and I think the pivot pins would fail before the tool itself would.

I will say this, the one on both the SAKs and the new Free series in no way impede the use of the primary tool and give it an extra function. Its when it compromises the tool in any way that I have major beef with it... There are just too many examples of this to count.

[Pauldmmwc]

Hello there
This thread is heading my way of goodness.
Some Multitool chat and then some Land Rover stuff as well !!!!!
There is any number of places on a Landrover - Series and Defender - to open a beer bottle and I have used many of them.
Until I fixed one with a bit of string in the cab my most common trick was to open the door, hold open with my elbow and use the door latch as an opener with the other hand, all whilst driving. I must however say it was always  low alcohol beer so not much drinking and driving.

The LM is/was always  on hand as well because Land Rover.

 

[spudley112]

Cap lifting is an action, not a tool imo. Hell... I see caplifters even on shovels..   

[Gerhard Gerber]

Hello there
This thread is heading my way of goodness.
Some Multitool chat and then some Land Rover stuff as well !!!!!
There is any number of places on a Landrover - Series and Defender - to open a beer bottle and I have used many of them.
Until I fixed one with a bit of string in the cab my most common trick was to open the door, hold open with my elbow and use the door latch as an opener with the other hand, all whilst driving. I must however say it was always  low alcohol beer so not much drinking and driving.

The LM is/was always  on hand as well because Land Rover.

 

That's how you do it!