Why I should never be left alone to kill an hour at Canadian Tire.

[Chako]

I woke up this morning to a big problem. My front passenger tire was flatter then soda left out in a hot room for a day. I was forced to call a taxi to get to work this morning. When I got back home, I called CAA's road side assistance and they quickly dispatched a truck to my home. We attempted to find the leak after pumping some air into it, but couldn't find or hear anything. As a last resort, he decided to up the PSI a little and true enough, we could hear the siren call of escaping air. After removing the tire, we quickly deduced that the rim was bent and that air was escaping due to a bad seal. After banging on the rim a little with a 2x4 and a mallet, he was able to put it back into shape. The bend wasn't all that much and I strongly suspect I did it when I rolled out of my driveway before noticing the flat...all of 4 feet of roll, but there is a dip in the sidewalk there...and I figure that is what did it. Either way, the air leak was noticeable. I asked him to pump me up again, and I would race across town to Canadian tire. After assessing the leak, he figured I would make it. So off I go with him following just in case. I love CAA.

I made it to the garage part of Canadian tire, and after a little wait, they pull my van in and check it out. It appears that the bead was gone and thus wasn't making a proper seal. Can't repair that, so I had to buy some tires. I decided to buy a set of 4 as I figured if one went like that, the others might in the near future. Time for a complete change in tires. Well that took an hour to do, and thus an hour to kill.

I should have known....



...about all the goodies I can find in such a toy store.


I was very surprised at how many new utility knives they had. Seeing that I have a soft spot for the utility I had to get some.

The first one was neat in that if had a knife blade along with a utility blade.









The second only had a utility blade, but had a neat pop out blade storage option.



It also featured a pocket clip.



The third knife featured a ratchet system. The 3 position switch locked the blade in the center position, up to move the blade out, and in the down position you can close the blade. The neat thing with this system, you can lock the blade in any position you want.



Here they all are together. Each has its own unique features.






I also found this N Gage Outfitters Multi-tool. I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it felt in the hand with the pliers deployed. The tools are non-locking, and to be truthful, it is a cheap tool. But boy it feels real nice in the hand.









I should have stopped wandering around Canadian Tire by this time. However, I once again came across this tool which I have pondered for quite some time but always left it on the peg due to its price. Well today, it was on sale. I guess I can stop wondering about it.

The tool is a weird multi-tool called a Kelvin 23. It contains a built in hammer, screwdriver, LED flashlight, level, measuring tape, magnetic nail/nut/bolt holder, and bit holder. No pliers, which is also one of the reasons why I kept leaving it on the peg each and every time I saw it.



The blocky and rather thick brick ergonomics handle opens up for a nice selection of screwdriver bits.



One side of the handle features two buttons. The top smaller one is for the flashlight…which by the way throws hardly any light. The second larger one on the bottom will automatically swing out the screwdriver. Now if you control the swing, you can lock the screwdriver at a 90 degree or 180 degree position.



One on end of the tool, is this laughable little measuring tape. I guess it is better than nothing, but you would be laughed off of any construction job with this. Come to think of it, don’t wipe out the Kelvin 23 on any job site unless you don’t care about your image. As far as utterly weird tools go, I love it.



The screwdriver is nice and long. Both sides have a nice strong magnet. I can’t fault the driver. The handle is another matter though.



After seeing and finally buying the Kelvin 23, I came across something else in another part of the store that I just had to have. Some of you know I have been looking into upgrading my flashlights. Well I found this Lightmates flashlight that looked interesting.



It features 5 LEDs, the 4 outer LEDs are white, and the central is a red flashing light. The simple 3 positional switch makes this flashlight simple to use.



But what really got my attentions is this…


How crazy is that?


By this time, I should have gone home…but wait, I was stuck waiting for my tire replacement. Bored, I made the mistake of going to the flashlight section. I remember someone on here telling me that Canadian Tire had some descent lights for little money.

I was curious about the LED MIniMags. All my 2AA cell MiniMags are the old style incandescent.  I figured I would go a little bigger and get a 3 AA Cell MiniMag.



It throws a lot of light. The flashlight also came with a belt holder, but I would think it is too long for comfortable wear.

Then I came across this Noma rated for 140 Lumens. I remembered being told this was more like 120 lumens. Well holy smokes, what have I been missing in my flashlight inventory? This is easily the brightest flashlight I have ever seen.  I think I may have to get some more powerful flashlights to see the difference sometime in the future.


The noma is a 3 AAA celled flashlight made out of nylon. It sure is bright.




Thankfully, by this time, my vehicle was ready to go. Whew.

[Freudian Frog]

Oh my God! You're worse than me! You actually buy the stuff I look at and consider!

Good to see you had fun today. If you're good I'll take you to another toy store. >_>

[jzmtl]

You need to get the 2AA minimag too, it use a newer generation emitter than 3AA, comes in multiple modes. 

[Chako]

I noticed that...and am not a big fan of fiddly light gear.

[Styerman]

Stay away from Lee Valley ! Neat haul !

Chris

[Chako]

I will take that into advisement.

There was a tiny lead warning sticker on the N Gage Outfitter packaging. Guess I will have to refrain from tasting it. 

[MultiMat]

That was an expensive puncture 

[gunga]

THose are pretty cool utility knives!  I may have to look at some next time I'm around.

Chacko, if you want to upgrade your lights, take a look at 4Sevens store.  Free shipping, lots to choose from.  IF you prefer deals, well, CPF Marketplace is very good, just have to know what you're looking for!

 

[Styerman]

CTC has good quality utility knives . My partner has beat the Doo out of a couple of them .

Chris

[Andreas]

Seriously, Chako, how do you afford all this? 

[Chako]

I rob banks for a living. 

Seriously, it is called a disposable income.

[Andreas]

Well sure, but that term isn't meant as a direct challenge

[Chako]

I was just going to leave it at "I rob banks for a living".

Then I got a second though, what if someone actually thought I did that? Figured I should make amends before I have RCMP breaking down my door for naught. 

[Andreas]

Lol yeah you never know who's snooping around the net. Seeing your collection wouldn't exactly help disprove the statement either

[jekostas]

Told ya about the Noma - it's actually pretty close to the stated rating of 140 lumens, and they're re-badged Brinkmann lights using Cree XR-E emitters.  No multi-mode switch, but pretty cheap for the quality and output you get.

[SlackOne]

I'm fairly sure that the ratchet-action utility knife is a rebranded Seber.  Grant had a report on several ratchet action Seber knives on here somewhere, and they had the three-position switch just like that one.

Ah, here it is.

[ecfiffer]

you my friend have a tool junkie problem!  but i'm ok with that!

[Chako]

Thanks for the link. I missed it the first time around. Yes, that is a Seber produced for Canadian Tire. They even had an automatic blade feeding utility knife that was possibly mentioned in that other thread, which I stayed away simply because of the added bulk and the large trigger lever. Now that I think about it, I might have to get one at a later date.

Me have a problem?     

[Freudian Frog]

Thanks for the link. I missed it the first time around. Yes, that is a Seber produced for Canadian Tire. They even had an automatic blade feeding utility knife that was possibly mentioned in that other thread, which I stayed away simply because of the added bulk and the large trigger lever. Now that I think about it, I might have to get one at a later date.

Me have a problem?     

Nah, you're absolutely normal like the rest of us.

[Chako]

Which is why I like this place so much. 

[Chako]

Well I got very curious about the auto loading utility knife, and because I was back in the toy store for another item, I sort of left with one in my possession.

The knife itself is a bit big, but not overly large. It fits my large paws rather nicely. The bottom has a trigger lever, and the side has two buttons. A smaller yellow button is pulled towards you to remove the blade. The larger blue button is pulled downwards and held to disengage the locking mechanism, and let go to lock the blade in position. Activate the blue switch; squeeze the trigger and the blade pops out. There is also a half detent if you only wish to have the tip of the blade exposed.







There is a side hatch that you can remove to load blades into the knife. The hatch is easily removed and held in securely by a spring loaded latch. The hatch also has a large spring that pushes the blades down into the cavity.




Now the neat thing about this knife is the automatic blade feeder. Once you remove a worn or damaged blade, simply slide the blue switch, pull the trigger, and a new blade is automatically loaded and ready to go. I took out all the extra blades that the knife came to see what exactly is going on. The blades ride on one metal guide which ends with room enough for one blade to get fed into the knife. The hatch pushes the blades downwards. There is a sliding metal mechanism with a ridge that catches one blade and locks it into place. It is rather ingenious.



So there you have it. This is one unique utility knife. Not exactly portable, but it does have a neat autoloader feature that is sure to get a conversation started.

[ryan1835]

 If you get chance could you maybe do a quick video of it please?

[Chako]

Not the best video, but it will give you the general idea.

[Neil]

Cool, thanks for the vid.

[ryan1835]

Cool, thanks for the vid.

+1 thanks