Keychain pliers tool Challenge (August) 2025

[AzteCypher]

That's a pretty neat idea Gary.  I like it.

[IMR4198]

   I meant it for laughs, but actually it is a practical carry.  The tools on the Wenger are first rate.  The pliers are very strong.  I think those things were intended for setting the timing on cars.  My Dad bought the things at an auto parts store to have a small pair of fishing pliers.  They are actually slip joint pliers with three settings.  Diamond made the same sorts of things as Crescent. 
   At least I didn't have to use duct tape or rubber bands like most of my innovations.  Best wishes.  G
 

[AzteCypher]

I think I might still have a small set like that in my tool box.  I need to go take a gander tomorrow as now I'm curious.

[Barry Rowland]

Looks great to me Gary!  I guarantee it's the best set of pliers!

[IMR4198]

  You know, this could be my Magnum Opus of tool designs.  Simple.  Cost effective.  Especially since I didn't pay anything for the components.  It is hard to tell if all the praise is real, or just folks chuckling you along.
   Like the deal with my Echo weedwacker.  It pooped out two Saturdays ago and just for funsies I started asking people if I should take it back for a refund to the shop where I bought it.  About 37 years ago.  To a person (I say person because several were gals) everyone said I should take it back.
One old badger almost choked to death when I told him, but other than that they listen and agree with me.  Nobody laughs.  Their eyes get a little bigger.  It is hard to tell if they really think it is a good idea or it's a case of "Agree with whatever he says.  He might bite somebody." 
    My driveway looks horrible.  The guys working on the lines came part way up the road last year and sprayed herbicide.  That killed all the indigenous annoying plants, but left a fertile spot for the other stuff.  Now it has Verbesina as thick as fleas on a camel.  That stuff gets 8 feet high and lops over into the driving surface.  And without a weedwacker, the Mullein has gotten up about 5 feet high. 
    I rather wondered if I might die down that driveway while thrashing weeds.  I have overdone it more and more lately.  I had visions of being found looking like Jack Nicholson in The Shining except holding a weedwacker. 
G 

[Barry Rowland]

I'd say a stroke of genius my friend!   

[Barry Rowland]

Isn't it amazing how that works? It kills everything except the invasive stuff!

[PitCarver]

   Thanks Pit.  I figured somebody would appreciate the minimal financial aspect of my invention.  Pliers belonged to my Dad.  Found the mini-biner.  Wenger came out of the surprise box last year sometime. 
    I saw your Mossy Oak.  Have you seen the 10-in-1 Mossy Oak that looks like a cross between a Ruike and a Swiza.  AmaZone has them for about $26.  It has tools about like a Victorinox Climber, but looks husky.  Looks good in the ad.  Best wishes.  G
 

I have seen those, Gary. I don't have anything against Mossy Oak tools.  Seems that they're likely made by the same folks that make Ozark Trail. Lots of VERY similar designs.
Unfortunately, I believe that I've reached the age of about having enough stuff.  I used to think that I'd simply pass on my treasures to my kids when I finally go.  I've started to realize that my girls ( one of them, for certain) would open up a booth at the flea market to get rid of it.
Id love to be able to pass stuff on to my grandkids but they're still too young.  Guess I'm saying that the Amazon deal is a pass for me.

[IMR4198]

   I understand.  I pretty much pay my bills and buy groceries.  I grew up in a time when I could go into one of the hardware places and pick out something I needed.  Sign a paper and take it home.  Make payments for it a little at a time if I wanted or just pay it off.  That doesn't work anymore. 
   I said the Mossy Oak thing was like a Climber.  It isn't.  It is like a Camper.  I already have three Campers that I don't carry.  Almost everyone on here has more stuff than I do.  I'm good with that. 
Best wishes.  G
 

[AzteCypher]

If you have neighbor with goats, you could ask him/her to bring them by to cut down your weed problem down to the ground.  There's several outfits here in Texas that offer that service.  I never had to mow the backyard while we were raising goats.   

[PitCarver]

Back when the girls were young, my father in-law let us have a couple goats.  The girls thought that they were pets.  They kept letting them in the house.  I hated having to get them either óff my bed or out of the bathtub.
The final thing they did was girdling our dwarf apple trees,   My wife said they had to go.

[IMR4198]

   The deer are working day and night around here.  They have cleaned up a big portion of the wild roses and honeysuckle and the lower hanging Chinese privet.  Unfortunately, nothing eats Verbesina (stick weed) or Mullein.  I could always just let the Verbesina go through the winter and sell dried out bundles of it to little boys for kite making.  It is also good for sword fighting and shooting in slingshots.  Just have to remember not to put your eye out with it.  I remember that part.  Best wishes.  G
 

[Fireman]

.  Made from Diamalloy, whatever that is. 

Diamond Tool and Horseshoe Company's secret stuff.   

I like your setup.  The volunteer fire chief where I grew up carried a similar tool and a pocket knife all the time in those pre-Leatherman days.

[IMR4198]

    I have another one of those Diamond channel wrenches.  Must be 12 inches or so.  My pal James carried a little one like mine every day.  We would stop to get a bottled Coke and out would come the little pliers for a bottle opener.  Never failed.  Best wishes.  G
 

[BPRoberts]

If he interested to see how many tools you could integrate together. Make a sort of utility belt deal out of them.

[IMR4198]

   If I integrate too many tools, I will have to use my galluses to keep my britches up.  Friend Gra had so many things on his Batman Utility Belt this month that he probably has to hold up his troosies with both hands.  I was wearing elastic suspenders in a W-Mart, of all places, and a female store employee started saying she was going to snap my elastics for me.  I thought of saying that two could play that game, but she was probably a married lady.  W-Mart, please put in your employee guide book that it is considered ill mannered to tug on a customer's clothes.  Especially since there is always a possibility that she could pull the supportive garment loose from its tenuous grip leading to the downfall of Jeans.  Possibly with no underwear. 
Best wishes.  G
 

[Echotech]

 

[AzteCypher]

 

I'm so glad I wasn't drinking my coffee when I read that.


Also, I found my little pliers.  Looks like they were made by Wilde.

[IMR4198]

   Those are cute.  Nice pliers.  Probably made from Wildalloy.  The Diamonds have the same sort of adjustment.  Be sure you try one on a bottle cap.  I carried mine as a part of my dove hunting kit.  A steel surplus ammo box with a couple boxes of shells, cleaning rod, and a few tools.  Get rained on?  Box is waterproof.  Get tired?  Sit on the box.  Pick up all your fired hulls and carry them back in the same box.  I had a folding army camp stool that worked great.  And a cooler.  Good times.  Nobody does it anymore.  Best wishes.  G
 
 

[JonesE]

1.  Barry Rowland
2.  Farmer X
3.  PitCarver
4.  ReamerPunch
5.  lazar
6.  Cody6268
7.  LoopCutter
8.  IMR4198
9. Echotech
10. Fireman
11. AzteCypher
12. JonesE

I am going to try and make this challenge. So today, I went over to Autozone. I went to the counter and picked up a Gerber Dime. When I was checking out the girl at the counter asked if I would like anything else. I said I would like a gallon of halogen fluid since the headlight are getting a little dim. She just looked at me a shook her head. My family doesn’t get my Dad jokes either.

JonesE

[IMR4198]

   Like the couple I saw in ACE hardware.  The woman kept asking for Creosote.  Evidently she thought it was a spray.  I told her I had never seen it in a store.  It used to come in drums for commercial use on poles and cross ties.  A no-no for home use. 
    Does anyone remember Creomulsion cough syrup?  Smelled just like the telephone poles.  Best wishes.  G
 

[powernoodle]

Does anyone remember Creomulsion cough syrup?

I looked into that after your post.  It is available on Amazon.  Beechwood creosote is listed as an inactive ingredient.  It was formerly used a disinfectant and expectorant, but maybe they cannot claim it as such and so now include it as an inactive ingredient.

I would be mighty strange to take cough syrup that smells like telephone poles.   

I will be watching this thread, peoples.   

[IMR4198]

   Time is almost here to make a decision about whether or not to participate in the challenge.  I signed up quite a while ago, before the thing got rescheduled.  Never did pick up anything interesting to use.  I pulled out a key-chain and I'm pretty sure I know where I tossed the Swiss+Tech tiny tool.  I'm not sure that 30 days of that kit will keep anyone interested.  Got to be boring for the readers.  And for me. 
    We will wait and see.  I will put a bucket on my head and sit in a corner to think.....
Best wishes.  G
 

[JonesE]

Well, I hope you decide to join us. It is always fun to hang out with Barry and gang on these challenges. If I can manage to bore everyone all month carrying my might Peanut, I think we could survive you carrying what ever tool you can come up with. I know I have a small Leatherman plier base keychain tool around here but am unable to locate it. I think my youngest might have got ahold of it. So, I will be packing a Gerber Dime for the challenge.

JonesE

[IMR4198]

    I did figure out one thing.  Sitting in a corner with a bucket on my head didn't help.  Either my head was too big, or my bucket was too small for comfortable thought generation. 
     We will see how many people show up for this thing.  I had planned on starting a Spartan challenge this summer, but other things got in the way.  I will probably float along for a couple more days and see how I feel. 
Best wishes.  G
 
     

[Barry Rowland]

Funny you mentioned the Spartan Challenge Gary  . I've been planning on sometime later this year.  I can't believe August is staring us right in the face already. 

Come on down!  We'd be glad to have you along!

[IMR4198]

   I will try it for a few days and see how it goes.  I could always assemble another keychain pliers tool.... I have plenty of duct tape left and found a rubber band in W-Mart parking lot yestiddy......?
Best wishes.  Gary
 

[Barry Rowland]

Home made is the best!! 

[Fireman]

   I will try it for a few days and see how it goes.  I could always assemble another keychain pliers tool.... I have plenty of duct tape left and found a rubber band in W-Mart parking lot yestiddy......?
Best wishes.  Gary
 

Just do it, G! 

[IMR4198]

   I dug out my Swiss+Tech teeny tool yestiddy.  And a key ring/fob thingie.  Might as well get a return from the $2 that I spent on the little plier based toy that I bought years ago.  Too late to take it back to the store and ask for a refund.  Besides, it was on closeout.